Holiday season is the “big game” for your business. Make sure you’re delivering the best customer support!

Whether you’re using TeamSupport service desk software or something else, ensure this holiday season brings out the best in your software company help desk (and not the worst)

If you’ve ever been in a locker room right before a big game, you remember the palpable energy. It’s time to focus, put your game face on and then tear out of there and show them what you’ve got!

In the business world, the “big game” often happens during holiday time or as we approach year-end. You know there’s a lot at stake since it’s such a profitable time for your company. You don’t want to make any mistakes and want to show everyone you’ve got what it takes to succeed.

But getting ready for the big game doesn’t start the day before kickoff or first pitch (or, in this case, on the first day of the holiday season). It starts months ahead of time. The same goes for your customer service – you don’t improve things seconds before customers come flooding in. You want to ensure that you’re delivering the best collaborative customer service for the very FIRST person who contacts you.

Training Up

This is why it’s important to get some training in before the big show. The last thing you want is for someone on your customer service team to drop the ball because they simply didn’t know what to do.

So make sure to schedule some time in with your customer support team as soon as possible. Ask them what they feel like they’re missing out on and what they might be able to improve. One great place to start is with their last “trouble account”: any customer service request by e-mail or phone that just didn’t go so well. What was the key problem, and how can you prevent it from happening again?

If you have a large customer support team, gather topics ahead of time. Have a blind suggestion box (or if you’re more digitally oriented, a SurveyMonkey survey or Wufoo form) for members to offer up their ideas. Gather them up ahead of time and sort out the topics that pertain to the holiday season coming up. Anything irrelevant to the busy time coming up can be covered at a later date.

Find Your Focus

Your help desk employees won’t know everything they ultimately will need help with, though. It’s up to you to identify the trouble spots that could lead to a big-time disaster later. This usually comes simply from knowing your team, your company and what your customers are likely to contact you about.

For example, if you know your software product is issuing a new release right after the new year, you’re going to expect lots of calls about that come January 1. If your team members are not ready to field these calls, you’re going to have problems. They may think they know the necessary steps and the problems areas, but they might not actually have them down. These are the kinds of cracks in your armor you should identify ASAP.

Also go over the entire support process from top to bottom while you have a chance. Should certain tickets be categorized in a certain way? And don’t forget that pre-programmed support templates can help them deal with the routine tickets so their skills are fresh to handle the out-of-the-ordinary matters that are sure to come through.

Are the holidays a big deal for your business? How are you preparing your support team to deliver the best customer service possible? TeamSupport's award-winning B2B help desk software can help you take advantage of these critical times and deliver exceptional customer service. Learn more today about why TeamSupport is considered one of the best request tracking system apps out there.