The day you release your first software product is your first opportunity to begin wowing your customers with sensational service. It won’t be long before your customers call your support number or use your self-service portal to get extra help or report an issue. With that first interaction, you can begin to set your company apart from the competition and build customer loyalty.
Make customer support part of the company culture
Before launching your product, make sure every employee—not just your customer service representatives (CSRs)–is steeped in the service excellence culture. Your receptionist, accounting clerks, sales reps, engineers, and C-level executives should all be evangelists for putting customers first. If your company needs training in this area, take advantage of online training and books that will teach, or refresh, your staff. Your customers will know that your company is sincere about providing sensational customer service when they experience it at every touch point.
As the Boy Scout motto says, “Be Prepared.â€
Good customer support software, like PhaseWare Tracker, enables anyone in your company with a secure login to view customer details. Your employees will immediately identify the customer, will know something about their business and what they represent, and know what product versions they are running. New customers will be impressed by your company’s professionalism and will appreciate that they don’t have to waste time answering a lot of basic questions.
Give your customers the golden-touch treatment
Any company can be good, so set your company apart by making it great. What is great? Doing things like keeping your customers informed throughout the issue resolution process, always keeping your promises (if you say you’ll do something, then do it.), and speaking warmly to your customers, letting them know that you will go the extra mile to help them be successful
Listen to feedback and act on it
Teach your employees to listen to customers. Feedback can happen at almost any time–during a support call, an event, a site visit, or maybe through an email. Regardless, employees need to know how to respond when they get customer requests or complaints. Teach your team to clarify the request or matter by repeating it to the customer for accuracy, to thank the customer for feedback, and to provide a timeline for follow up. Don’t let customers believe their suggestions or complaints will be lost in a black hole. If you’re unable to implement a feature request or make a suggested change, don’t simply ignore it and hope the customer forgets about it. Instead, let them know why you’re unable to implement the feature or make a change. If applicable, give them a projected timeline if you think you may include the feature in a future release.
Give your business the best advantage
You don’t have to wait until you become a large company to afford a robust, highly configurable customer support solution that offers a platform on which to build your top-notch support. Tracker Suite costs far less than the competition and provides strong ticketing features, customer/contact management, knowledgebase management, multi-channel support, customizability, email handling, and automated workflows.
