Customer Support and Service Articles

When most people think of “customer support,” they think of calling a number or popping up a chat window online and getting a helpful someone on the other end. This customer support person deals with all their support needs whether it is billing, repairs, or general questions. After the call or session ends the customer heads along their merry way.

Increasingly, however, this model just isn’t how it’s done. Customer support is becoming more of a focused experience, with separate CSRs handling different issues and different products.

Take for instance Apple’s Support page. There are entirely separate phone numbers and “Express Lanes” for the iPad, iPod, Apple TV, and even iTunes. Since Apple is such a widespread product, each country has its own phone number too – the US alone has six!

While this may seem like it’s confusing for customers, companies are finding this type of customer service has many advantages over the typical “one size fits all” model. On the contrary, there should be less confusion on the end of the consumer if the customer support is laid out correctly.

More Knowledgeable

With the traditional help desk model, you have CSRs who are expected to have knowledge of every part and product of the company. If a customer calls up and asks for “Tech Support”, that could mean nearly anything to the representative answering the phone. The customer could need help on any number of devices – and for a company like Apple, that’s quite a few devices!

By splitting CSRs into specialized groups, each representative can focus on the device or subject they’re best at. If Rep #1 really digs iPhones but only has a working knowledge of the other stuff, you want that person to work in the iPhone department. Rep #2, who really loves iPads, can focus on those.

Of course some may say this is just a lack of training and CSRs should be trained in all areas. As well they should; you don’t want to constantly bounce your customers around when they have a different problem. They may get frustrated or lost. However, having specialized reps can lead to less phone time, faster resolutions, and a happier customer base.

Happier CSRs

It is a fact; dealing with customers can be tough – especially if they happen to be irate! So sometimes you’re going to end up with unhappy or at least frustrated representatives. Part of this frustration can stem from not knowing exactly what the customer wants, often because the rep is dealing with a part of the company they’re unfamiliar with. However, if that CSR is categorized into his or her specialty, the chance of them experiencing this frustration goes down. If an unusual or confusing issue comes up, they are going to have better odds of knowing what to do.

When your CSRs are happy, your customers will take notice. Even the most irate customer in the world will be impressed by how upbeat and knowledgeable your reps are. When that happens, everyone wins.

So consider compartmentalizing your customer support team by specialty, to at least some degree. Although it might take some effort initially, you may find it’s worth it in the long run. And with TeamSupport managing the help desk process, all those teams and your customers can communicate effectively and easily in one simply navigated application!

TeamSupport.com (http://www.TeamSupport.com) – the popular provider of web-based customer support and help desk software solutions – has announced a successful integration of the company’s Enterprise Edition by ClinicSource.com, an innovative developer of management software for individual and group therapy practices. Their rapidly growing user-base includes thousands of Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational and Physical Therapists, and Mental Health professionals. ClinicSource is 100% Web-based and fully HIPAA compliant.

Launched in 2006, “We quadrupled in size in 2010,” said Eric Pita, vice president of operations. “I couldn’t imagine having come this far without TeamSupport in place … it was the only one we evaluated that could replace the four separate programs we were using to manage Billing, Inventory, Customer Service and Development. And do it all in a secure, encrypted environment with 24/7 accessibility.” View the full case study at http://teamsupport.com/case_study11.php

“It’s always gratifying to hear that our software has contributed to the success of a growing technology company, especially one using a SaaS business model like ours,” said company CEO Robert C. Johnson. “We designed TeamSupport to allow our clients to provide exceptional customer support by facilitating better internal collaboration and workflows; ClinicSource embraced our concept and took full advantage of its power and functionality.”

Used by customer support and help desks worldwide, TeamSupport is easily configured and customized; the application is offered in several reasonably priced, upgradeable versions. TeamSupport is scalable from a simple help-desk application to a 100+ seat enterprise-wide customer support and product defect tracking system.

About TeamSupport
TeamSupport.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dallas, TX-based Muroc Systems, Inc. (http://www.MurocSystems.com), a holding company focused on developing productivity enhancing software products delivered via the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.

About ClinicSource
ClinicSource.com, headquartered in North Miami, FL, is a subsidiary of Ingenium Business Solutions, Inc., a developer and service provider of Web-based, database driven applications. Please visit www.ClinicSource.com.

Check out the latest edition of our customer support newsletter! There are plenty of Customer Service  Articles inside along with some Tips and Tricks for the help desk and customer support teams.

During the beginnings of the Second World War, the British government produced a poster intended to keep public morale up if an invasion came. The poster, “Keep Calm and Carry On,” was actually little known during the actual war, and only became popular at the turn of the century! The phrase, however, is very useful as a motto for everyday life – especially when it comes to customer service.

While not quite as dramatic as a world war, customer service can still be a hair-pulling experience at times. When this happens, it may be difficult to remember the “keep calm” part. But even if the most insane customer in the world is on the other end of the phone or email conversation, you can still muster up a stiff upper lip and power through it. Just remember the poster!

Keep Calm

When dealing with tough customers, staying calm is key. Why? Because if the energy level you are emitting is rising, you’re going to whip an already irate customer into a frenzy.

It’s just like dealing with an adorable new puppy. Of course you want to play with it all the time, but if it’s easily excitable, you have to keep the energy level low sometimes. Otherwise you’ll have a few dog-shaped holes in your walls as you chase it around.

Most customer service interactions are just like those of  an owner with a puppy. The more excited you get, the more excited they get. And the last thing you want is that irritated person on the other end to get more riled up.

One trick to try when you sense the energy level rising is to concentrate on bringing your own level down. Slow your breathing, keep your voice levels low, and use more sympathetic phrases (“I’m so sorry,” “That’s truly awful,” “I understand completely”). Eventually, the customer will come down to meet your calm level, and you can have a productive conversation.

Carry On

Now that you’ve calmed the situation down, it’s time to get everything back into control. Namely, you don’t want your customer to call in again with any complaints! It’s time to knock your customer service out of the park and fix everything that needs fixing. This is going to be much easier now that you’ll be able to talk to the customer in a non-frenzied state.

To truly “carry on” and fulfill your mission, try to go a step beyond what’s expected. If there was any lingering doubt or animosity, it will quickly dissolve once the customer realizes you truly want to do all you can to make things right!

If this takes sending out a coupon or two to ease things over, so be it. But you should do everything within your power to win that customer back into your ranks. Only then can you truly uphold the spirit of “Keep Calm and Carry on”!

Managing Customer service on your website is much like coaching a soccer team. When playing soccer, your goalie is the absolute last line of defense. Good teams don’t treat the goalie like they’re the only line of defense – in fact, it’s best to pretend there is no goalie. This means your back line puts in all the work and the goalie only cleans up when all else is lost.

This is exactly how you should treat the customer service capabilities of your website. You can answer so many of your customers’ questions simply by optimizing your website to its full CSR capacity. You want your back line, your website, to be so helpful that when they call you, the goalie, you know it’s of utmost importance. Here are three ways to make sure your back line is doing its job.

1. Wiki

Back in the old days, websites would have a short FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section to answer the most common inquiries they received. However, the more complicated the online commerce world gets, the more in-depth a guide you need.

Instead of a FAQ, how about an entire Wiki? This makes a great member of your customer service backline, perhaps even the Sweeper or Center Fullback. A Wiki can cover however much information you need it to, from standard operations to intricate mysteries that have arisen over the years.

Plus, one of the best things about having your information on a Wiki as it’s easily edited by staff. When something changes, it’s easy to put it up for everyone to see. Now you have the most up to date information and your customers have instant knowledge about your company.

2. Knowledge Base

In the event your Wiki doesn’t catch something and your customer still feels confused, you should offer them further means to find out the answers. This can even include articles and questions from other customers. Often, consumers find errors and issues with products or services nobody in the company ever dreamed.

When submitting them to your website, these questions can go into a knowledgebase. This way, your customers simply search for a question they have. If it’s been raised before by a customer, it will pop up and they hopefully have their answer. If not, they can pose the question themselves and an alert will inform you there’s a question waiting to be answered.

3. Forum

Some soccer plays sail in on the sidelines, completely out of nowhere. During these times, you want strong Left and Right Fullbacks to rush in and save the day. On your website, these sideline plays are akin to completely random issues that seem to pop out of thin air. When these times come, your Side Fullback is your community or user forum.

On the community, your customers can not only interact with each other but also directly interact with members of your staff. This way, if there’s a particularly difficult problem and everyone is up in arms about it, you can let everyone know you’re working on it as well as get feedback on progress you’ve made. In certain circumstances, customers can even help you figure out the issue! We all need a little help sometimes and a forum is a great way to get it.

Better yet, the community facilitates more than just customer service. Users can talk about new ways to use your product or service, share war stories, and even find ways to collaborate. What’s better than a user base who feels connected to your company and to each other?

TeamSupport offers a one stop portal for these and all your customer service needs! While we all want to be the player who scores the goals, more often than not it’s more important to have all the positions on the field covered. With these features from TeamSupport, you can rest assured your defense is up to speed!

TeamSupport.com – the popular provider of web-based customer support and help desk software solutions – has announced a successful integration of the company’s Enterprise Edition by the InTown Veterinary Group (IVG), a New England provider of compassionate care to pets and their families.

With some 300 professionals and support staff in four 24 hour veterinary hospitals, IVG decided on TeamSupport as the most flexible system to meet the needs of their growing organization. “It had all the help and ticketing features, along with progressive, user customizable options we needed, and TeamSupport’s cost was reasonable,” said hospital manager Luanne Barry. “We turned it on and people started using it with little need for formal training. It’s become our preferred method of communication; members know what’s happening and stay up-to-date reviewing open and previously answered support issues.” The full case study is available at http://teamsupport.com/case_study10.php

“We appreciate the opportunity to help IVG grow and improve their intra-company communication and collaboration,” said company CEO Robert C. Johnson. “We designed TeamSupport to tear down workgroup barriers and promote the kind of information sharing that satisfies customers and leads to a more profitable enterprise.”

Used by customer support and help desks worldwide, TeamSupport is easily configured and customized; the application is offered in several reasonably priced, upgradeable versions. TeamSupport is scalable from a simple help-desk application to a 100+ seat enterprise-wide customer support and product defect tracking system.

About TeamSupport
TeamSupport.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dallas, TX-based Muroc Systems, Inc. (http://www.MurocSystems.com), a holding company focused on developing productivity enhancing software products delivered via the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.

About IVG
Established in 1979, IVG’s veterinary professionals provide pet owners with the most comprehensive and advanced medical care available. With three hospitals serving the greater Boston area, and one in Portsmouth, NH, the IVG network provides board-certified specialty services, sophisticated diagnostics, and emergency/critical and general care. For more information, please visit www.IVGHospitals.com

The January edition of our customer support newsletter is here! And it is overflowing with Customer Support and Customer Service Advice, Articles, Tips and Tricks.

TeamSupport.com (http://www.TeamSupport.com) – the popular provider of web-based customer support and help desk software solutions – has announced the release of a powerful new screen capture capability. It gives users the ability to record audio and video of a discrepancy and embed it in tickets submitted to a TeamSupport-enabled customer portal.

Available to users of both TeamSupport’s basic and advanced ticket submission portals, the option offers an “Add Screen Recording” button below the description box when filling-out a new support request. Users can add audio, such as a detailed narrative, to their recorded video. The combination of visual and verbal input gives Help Desk staff a compellingly clear understanding of any issue. For details, please visit: http://help.teamsupport.com/integration/screen-recording

“This feature will help customers relay more useful information with greater ease,” said company CEO Robert C. Johnson. “Support teams can more rapidly resolve issues when they’re able to fully visualize, understand and replicate the variables. It’s one more tool we’re adding to TeamSupport in our ongoing efforts to improve the customer support experience.”

Employed by customer support and help desks worldwide, TeamSupport is easily configured and customized; the application is offered in several reasonably priced, upgradeable versions. TeamSupport is scalable from a simple help-desk application to a 100+ seat enterprise-wide customer support and product defect tracking system.

In her article 7 Ways IT Can Improve Customer Service Kate Leggett discusses several ways that a company can improve customer support. We find her insights spot on! Providing outstanding customer service is truly the differentiating factor in so many successful businesses. And reaching that level of customer service excellence truly IS a challenge. When pressed to choose between two establishments providing similar products, the customer service experience can very easily tip the scales in favor of one over another. The steps outlined here are ones that if taken into consideration when evaluating your own help desk and the level of customer service being provided can hopefully elevate that service standard and your business.

It’s a brand new year, and now is the perfect time to plan out the rest of 2012 for you and your entire customer support team! Just like New Year’s resolutions, it’s good to have milestones throughout the year to remind us to pick up the pace or improve our situation.

Making a calendar can keep you from putting off important maintenance, especially when it’s so easy to dismiss and do something else – but it’ll be the holiday season again before you know it! So here are some events you can schedule throughout the year to help keep your customer support game in tip-top shape.

Schedule More Help During Busy Times

When are your busiest times? Naturally, a lot of companies have increased business during the holidays, but that might not be the only really busy time for your team. If you own a fireworks company, for example, you’re most likely swamped during New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July as well.

Look back at your past schedules from the last couple of years to find out when your most busy times are. Instead of your team getting overly stressed and strained during these times, map out these cycles and perhaps consider bringing on a few more people to share the load during these periods.

Training Days

Speaking of new help, you need time to train them properly. Even if they stay for just a few weeks or months, you will want for them to know how to properly handle any customer service situation. And a refresher could not hurt for the rest of your staff!

To this end, schedule a few days or weeks during the year to catch up on training. Not only will new situations arise during the months between, but your agents will most likely have new questions that they can address and get answered. You can also take this time to forecast plausible problems or issues you’ll face in the future.

FAQ Improvement

Want to cut down on your agents’ work load? Updating your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is a great way to insure that your customers don’t leave your website again without getting the answer they are searching for. When your customers have troubles, they can simply check the FAQ and hopefully avoid calling or emailing your service center. With this tool properly utilized, all of your agents (and you) will have more time to do other things than field commonly asked questions again and again.

Morale Building

You most likely are not slammed 24/7. Well, I suppose it’s possible, but then you clearly need to go back to point #1 and reevaluate your staffing needs! In any case, there will eventually be down times for your customer support team. During these instances, you still want to keep your team busy and engaged, and you can’t train all the time.

What better time could there be to hold some team building and morale boosting events!? Take everybody out for a night of bowling or have a random party or potluck in the office. So when making that calendar, be sure to schedule for some fun and recognition!