A Steaming Pile of Crap is Not How You Want Your Customers to Refer to Your Product or Service

Seems like a harsh title for an article on a sales blog, doesn’t it? Well, these were actual words from a review of a product, posted online, for the world to see. Makes you wonder what people are saying about your product, service or company.

If you take pride in your job and believe in your company’s mission, this is not what you want out there for prospects to see. Nothing is perfect in life, especially when it comes to technology. There are somethings companies can’t control but bad customer support is not one of them.

When Things Go South! Call Support!

When something isn’t working the way it was designed, taking the time to call customer support can be a frustrating experience. Especially, when you are told how important your call is, and then put on hold waiting for the next available technician.

Did you know the top six things that make customers angry when calling support? Check out our infographic:14 Customer Support Facts You Need to Know to find out!

Customer Support: Taking Frustration to Another Level.

What’s it like to have the technology you rely on at work malfunction? Everyone has a million and one things to do all the time, so having your day come to a complete halt when a tool times out not only makes you want to pull your hair out of your head but is also costing your company money and costing you your time.

We’ve all experienced this. When your urgency for help is blatantly ignored, your anger is only intensified.

        78% of customers ended a business relationship because they experienced bad customer service which is estimated to cost U.S. businesses more than $62 Billion per year.

Nevertheless, you are forced to call customer support for help. When you finally get a live person on the phone, after navigating your way through the automated menu, you’re probably not in the best of moods.

75% of customers say it takes too long to reach a live person on the phone.

It’s inevitable; your product isn’t always going to be 100% perfect 100% of the time. One thing you can control though is how your support team reacts to customers when they are in need of help.

After ending a business relationship, 61% of customers seek out your competitors if they felt they received awful customer service.

Here Are the Top 6 Ways to Improve Your Customer Support:

• Train, train, train, and train again. Keep learning a constant and train your customer support team. Keep them abreast of any changes within the product so they can speak to all ends of it confidently. Confidence is key. 
• Have empathy and really listen to what the client is saying so you can solve their problem. It is only going to fuel the fire if your customer service rep’s tone is anything but sympathetic to the caller. Have a calming disposition.
• Don’t keep the caller waiting. Make sure you have enough support reps to answer calls. The caller is already upset they had to pause whatever they were doing to call support. If you put them on hold while you are working through their situation, check in with them every so often to make sure they know they’re business and time are important to you. 
• Put a positive spin on communication by avoiding the use of “negative language. For example, if a customer calls with an issue you haven’t encountered before, never say “We haven’t experienced this problem before.” Come back with something like “We have a team looking into this as we speak. We understand your frustrations and will keep you posted on our progress.”
• Communicate clearly. Thoroughly explain to the caller the remedy to the problem so they understand what is going on and how to potentially prevent the same issue from happening again.
• Follow up. If you looking to go above and beyond your customers’ expectations, have someone personally follow up with them with a phone call. Find out how their experience was, if their problem solved, ask if they need additional support, etc.! YOU will be amazed how far this will go.

Did you know that clients are willing to spend on average 13% more with companies they believe provide excellent customer service?

What have you done to improve customer support? Let us know below!

Just an FYI, our clients don’t wait on hold for support. If you would like to see a demo and find out why, give us a call or click here to contact us.