What, Your Momma Didn't Teach You No Manners?

12 years ago

Awesome post!

For anyone on the other side of the fence running a support desk. You can massively help yourself with points 5 and 6 by setting up an auto reply email (or listing it on your support page) that manages the customer's expectation.

At DigiResults, if you submit a support request the first reply you get is nearly instant and automatic and explains that our office hours are 9-5, Mon-Fri GMT and we aim to reply to all tickets within 1 working day (We have a 99% success rate on this, even during our biggest launch last year).

This MASSIVELY cut into the number of angry and impatient customers from when they just didn't receive anything, had no way to know if we'd even got it and just wanted an answer. Our response times didn't change a bit, but our customer experience changed massively from it.

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stevet563

12 years ago

Aboslutely. I agree with everything you have said here. Although I do not have a support staff, I will have at some point in the futer and I will remembeer these points when training my staff. Thanks fo the great post.

Steve

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webcashuk 12 years ago

All the points made are excellent.I honestly believe that whilst Apple make fantastic products one of the really big reasons why they are so successful is the quality of their customer service.If something goes wrong with your device you book a genius appointment and take your product in.Over the last few times i have advised friends to do this with their iphones they have been in there for a total of maybe 5 minutes.Whats the problem sir ? ..... Ok Let me just check that for water damage , yes no problems there here is a replacement device.Immediately the customer goes out the store with as new product and feels like they have been treated like a king.Compare this with the other manufacturers who make you send the phone away for weeks on end and sometimes don't even return it fixed and that shows the huge difference.

Provided you can provide top quality support i honestly believe this will go a long way to your overall success

Peter
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Marcus Rockey

12 years ago

This is great thread to bring up, thanks...

Many of my problems arose in the early months when I lacked the skills or understanding to complete a task.

Distancing myself from my emotions before "sending a ticket" is perfect advice. I believe that successful entrepreneurs have that ability across most/all areas of their lives. So really it is of benefit to us first.

And we should appreciate the society we live in today, that there is almost instant support and help at our finger tips 24 hours a day. It's not like the old "direct mail" scenario where patience and tolerance needed to be a prerequisite. Speed is the essence of today's society.

I think it's important that there is a balance between prompt support and expectations from the user.

Marcus Rockey

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sbucciarel

Banned 12 years ago

Very well said. Some people don't seem to realize that good support goes a long way to increase the value of your offer. People remember good support.

Take Hostgator for example: One of the bullet points that many people mention is that they've always gotten great support and pretty quickly. It's something that sticks in people's minds.

I rarely ever have a problem getting good support from those I do business with. Some people have unrealistic expectations ... I don't. If the company isn't "open" on the weekends (at least not their support department), I don't expect a reply on the weekends. Being polite to support staff has always worked well for me.

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FIP

12 years ago

Very good post Big Mike. That said, it is from the viewpoint of someone with a support team. So your comments could be seen as being biased towards support teams and the issues they themselves face from frustrated customers and other associated issues.
Whilst that is valid, i'd assume the majority reading this thread may not have support teams..
Your 30 years of experience has given you a lucky streak judging by your comments.

My experience, particularly with support teams, is that often there are issues with time frames and responses and generally the support is fantastic either prior to buying the product in the enquiry phase, and immediately following a purchase.

2+ weeks after purchase usually sorts the good operators out from the unprofessional ones.

I am less than impressed with the professionalism of some operators who fail to adequately service software or have staff skilled or interested enough to answer...let alone respond to questions relating to purchases.

All that said, you do make some valid points in regards to attitude relating to the consumer.
However, consumers sentiment is often a gauge to the level of service they are provided.

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sloanjim

12 years ago

No matter what you should NEVER EVER resort to swearing or threatning emails.

I asked a vendor some questions yesterday he seemd to think were stupid questions. He told me so.

I calmly replied that I didn't think he should be replying with such remarks...if he honeslty thought my questions were stupid he should have kept that to himself.

The next email i got was telling me to f*** ** and **** ****** ****

I then calmly told him to take me off his list as I wolud never do business with such a person. Now I know he's not a business person but probably some college kid, holed up in the attic, fly by night person pretending. This is the part of online I hate. You'd never get away with that offline.

It's the worse form of unprofessioanilism to swear and curse at people. Yes i too feel like it smetimes and do it under my breath. I even write the email reply but wait..then delete it before replying with a professional reply. It looks very poor on the sender and wil lcome back to bite you butt one day.

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sloanjim

12 years ago

Some of the busienss support is an absolute joke! I can only hope they wil lgo out of business actually.

Very good post Big Mike. That said, it is from the viewpoint of someone with a support team. So your comments could be seen as being biased towards support teams and the issues they themselves face from frustrated customers and other associated issues.
Whilst that is valid, i'd assume the majority reading this thread may not have support teams..
Your 30 years of experience has given you a lucky streak judging by your comments.

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sloanjim

12 years ago

My experience, particularly with support teams, is that often there are issues with time frames and responses and generally the support is fantastic either prior to buying the product in the enquiry phase, and immediately following a purchase.

That goes for about everything you buy these days. Sadly.

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Troy_Phillips

12 years ago

First off, I probably own 80% of Mike's amazing toys. Of no lesser importance is the fact I am not the most technical person in the world. Combine those two facts and I could be a nightmare customer for someone who doesn't have a highly honed support desk.

Daddy taught me a long time ago if I was going to be stupid I had better be nice.

I needed assistance on my first purchase with them and it was all me, nothing wrong on their end. They didn't act like I was an idiot and actually took the time to walk me through. This was smart on their part as they educated me the first time to the point of not needing that advice again.

This is the reason, if I need something now, I search their site first. I know if I run into problems I will be taken care of. By giving me the technical skill I was missing they in turn created a repeat customer.

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Brandon Tanner 12 years ago

This thread should be a sticky in the WSO section, IMO!

Great points, Big Mike. Also, from a vendor's perspective... I have found that one of the best things a vendor can do to significantly reduce their support tickets/emails is to have a detailed FAQ / knowledge-base that covers all popular support issues, and put a quick link to it at the top of the 'Contact Us' page (ie "Before contacting our product support dept, please view our FAQ page first, as 90% of the inquiries we receive are answered there").
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Adie

12 years ago

I worked as DSL technical Support for Verizon for 3 years and only about 2 out of 100 customers observed the above items...

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Reprise

12 years ago

It's so hard for me not to lose control... Advices are cool but obvious, yeah, I know, I should have counted to ten... Sometimes it's too complicated for me to be calm. But this is a problem.

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JohnMcCabe 12 years ago

I learned a long time ago that amazing things can happen when the support person is on your side. Being courteous and calm go a long way toward that objective.

I also know the power of a well-executed tantrum when dealing with some so-called support persons. While I might look and sound almost homicidal, it's an act meant to escalate matters up the line, where the person who should have been handling the situation has little trouble 'calming me down'. Even the 'tantrum' lacks cursing, swearing or name-calling personal attacks - that doesn't impress anyone. It's also a tactic of last resort, and it only really works if the support personnel are a captive, public audience. If they can screen you out by hitting the delete key, fuhgeddaboutit.

Before contacting support, have two things clear in your own mind. One, a description of the problem and what may have triggered it. Two, what you want as a result of your interaction with support.

And here's a tip for support people...

When someone starts the interaction by breathing fire, let them get it out of their system. Once they wind down, acknowledge their feelings. Make them feel heard. Then proceed to deal with the real issues.
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Michael Ten

12 years ago

Nice. Yes. Keeping cool and using manners is always quite important.

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Raydal

12 years ago

I must confess that I'm not very patient with
customer support agents maybe because I've
had so many bad experiences. Not really on
the internet but more with cell phone and
cable companies. That's why I try to provide
the best customer service as possible because
I place myself in the customer's shoes.

When I purchase something I want it to work and
right away. Some day I'll grow up to be like Mike.

-Ray Edwards

P.S. The reason why I'm not happy about the latest
maps update for my iphone.

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ijohnson

12 years ago

Great points, Big Mike!

However, I think you missed one that makes all the difference in the world, especially here on the Warrior Forum .... READ the sales copy, FAQs and/or other posts that may have already rendered an answer. PEOPLE DO NOT READ!!!!!!

I see so many people ranting and raving over customer support and repeatedly posting service requests in the WSO thread when it plainly states to send all support request to XYZ (do not post any issues with the product in the thread)!!!! Then, they wonder why they haven't gotten a reply?!?!?

Upon posting a series of mad posts every hour, they threaten the product creator with "I WANT A REFUND because I haven't gotten my login info yet!" Or, it's 3:00am and I still haven't heard from anyone!

I see so many displays of childish, impatient behavior like this on almost every WSO thread. It makes me want to go off on them and start a rant about them ranting!