A strong support infrastructure is critical for the growth of your B2B organization. Not only will it improve your client’s relationship with your product, but it will also lead to higher retention. A good customer experience also has a huge impact on your business reputation and the conversion of new clients. That’s why businesses today seek out the very best tools such as B2B customer support software that aligns with their goals. However, even with this technology in place, you still may see areas of weakness.
In addition to high-end technology, you need to have a good grasp of basic methodologies regarding the customer experience. One simple idea many companies gloss over is the difference between customer support and customer service. Understanding what sets these two ideas apart will allow you to take your customer experience to the next level. Let’s go over what makes each of these concepts unique.
Customer Support
Years ago, when customers had an issue with a product or service, they’d reach out to a company to either find a solution or make an exchange or return. Now, businesses provide a wide range of services designed to help consumers find the right product for their needs and ensure they use it correctly. This could involve everything from implementation, training, and upgrading. This is referred to as customer support.
As a business, it’s important you staff support reps that have an intimate understanding of your products and the goals of your clients. These reps must have the technical skills needed to navigate every possible scenario regarding your products. This involves utilizing configurable customer support software to fully understand each client’s unique needs. These reps must also have the people skills required to handle upset clients. This is an important part of the overall customer experience you provide.
Customer Service
While customer support involves a targeted interaction that helps a client with a specific technical issue, customer service is a much broader idea. In fact, it’s easier to think of customer service as an umbrella term. It involves any client interaction geared toward improving the customer experience. It’s not only focused on a company’s product, but also includes customer relations as well. Therefore, customer support is actually a facet of customer service.
A customer service team must be able to improve a client’s experience with a company and their products so the client feels they’re getting good value for their investment. This requires a high level of versatility from reps. They should be able to field calls and connect clients to the right support reps. In addition, they need to be able to direct clients to content in a knowledge base, onboard new clients, and provide touchpoint once a new customer starts using a product. This requires knowledge of configurable customer service tools used within B2B customer support software. Service reps should also be able to upsell clients when new services become available.
Improve Your Customer Experience Now
To promote business growth, you need to keep your customer experience in mind at all times. Whether it’s enhancing the functionality of your support team or implementing tools that will help your service reps, PhaseWare can help. We provide B2B customer support software with a wide range of capabilities. Contact us today to learn more.