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Superior Support

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Re: Superior Support

#11

Post by chrisleydon »

arethuza wrote: post #10

"The customer is always right - no exceptions" Well, if I am a customer and I am asking for something stupid I'd rather have this pointed out politely and then let me make an informed decision. Indeed, some of the best examples I've had of customer service is where the salesperson politely pointed out that what I was wanting to buy might not be such a great idea after all.

That's true for certain feature requests, but we're targeting support problems with this particular sheet. It's best not to assume that the customer is 'stupid' and instead see them on the same level as them, it's all about a mindset. If you go in with the customer is always wrong you won't go that extra step to try and help them, more dismiss them.

Re: Superior Support

#13

Post by vibrunazo »

justshipit wrote: post #8
chrisleydon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand where you're coming from. From a support mentality they have to be viewed as being right, although admittedly there are some customers that are probably worth losing in the long run. The idea behind that point was more to push the team to get things right and go that extra mile to help the customer. If they're rude though then the rule doesn't apply.

From my perspective, customers should be viewed as having great value. This is an entirely different thing from saying that the customer is always right (which by the way contains the additional team-killing undercurrent of suggestion that management will always back the customer over their own employees). Some customers will use vast amounts of your time and constantly expect you to accommodate them. Especially in a…

You're both right.

"Every model is wrong, but some are useful"

While it's technically correct that the customer is not always right. It is useful to push this mindset on employees who directly interact with costumers. Leaving to your employees to figure the gray areas by themselves my cause you a larger net headache than telling them there's no exceptions, when it might not always be true.

Re: Superior Support

#14

Post by jen_h »

justshipit wrote: post #5

Rule #1: "The customer is always right: no exceptions". This is absolutely flat-out wrong. Bad customers will chew up your support time, engineering resources, and mental health. The sooner it is recognized that some customers are simply toxic, the sooner you can get rid of them. If you fail to even entertain the notion that customers might be wrong, you're doing yourself and your employees a huge disservice.

In my experience, the most toxic customers have been our biggest advocates and salesmen out in the world (yes, men, they're almost always men for some reason, not sure why), but you'd never know it based on the crazy abusive stuff we see in our email box.

The key is treating all customers, even the crazy & abusive ones, with respect and knowing when to cut bait. Staying above the fray and not letting it affect your tone when you respond can be really hard some days, 'cause we're all human, but it's worth it.

Re: Superior Support

#15

Post by marginalboy »

chrisleydon wrote: post #11
arethuza wrote: post #10

"The customer is always right - no exceptions" Well, if I am a customer and I am asking for something stupid I'd rather have this pointed out politely and then let me make an informed decision. Indeed, some of the best examples I've had of customer service is where the salesperson politely pointed out that what I was wanting to buy might not be such a great idea after all.

That's true for certain feature requests, but we're targeting support problems with this particular sheet. It's best not to assume that the customer is 'stupid' and instead see them on the same level as them, it's all about a mindset. If you go in with the customer is always wrong you won't go that extra step to try and help them, more dismiss them.

I've managed a high volume call center for 15 years and I agree with this very much. In my experience, it can be easy to view customers with cynicism. But answering an extreme principle with another extreme principle isn't useful, either.

I think it could be reworded and be more useful (see my comment further down).

Re: Superior Support

#16

Post by Cyndre »

justshipit wrote: post #8
chrisleydon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand where you're coming from. From a support mentality they have to be viewed as being right, although admittedly there are some customers that are probably worth losing in the long run. The idea behind that point was more to push the team to get things right and go that extra mile to help the customer. If they're rude though then the rule doesn't apply.

From my perspective, customers should be viewed as having great value. This is an entirely different thing from saying that the customer is always right (which by the way contains the additional team-killing undercurrent of suggestion that management will always back the customer over their own employees). Some customers will use vast amounts of your time and constantly expect you to accommodate them. Especially in a…

This is to be expected. Even for isp bandwidth 5% of the customers use 95% of the bandwidth. But like internet bandwidths, the 5% that use the most are also the most vocal. People communicate and the bigger pain they are, the more they communicate with others.

Re: Superior Support

#17

Post by jen_h »

Great advice, I live by this stuff, so it's neat to see it codified. ;)

One thing I would add - always strive to respond within 24 hours, but do NOT respond in seconds/minutes.

Five minutes after sending, users are often still frustrated and a good number won't read your response before firing back as their adrenaline is still up (also, they think you're a robot because you're too fast and robots can't possibly have the right answer!)--it'll take twice as many emails to solve the problem.

Re: Superior Support

#18

Post by chrisleydon »

marginalboy wrote: post #7

Whether or not the rule that the "customer is always right" applies is context-dependent. In an educational environment, for example, we can't embrace this principle; it is contrary to our mission to leave people with misinformation that can affect their studies or research. I think it can be reworded to be useful guiding principle in more environments if you're willing to parse it more carefully. Perhaps something l…

Thanks guys! It's only a version one document at the moment so we can update it with your feedback in the next version.

Re: Superior Support

#19

Post by slantyyz »

#13 is a tricky one, but important:

Don't be too technical. Gauge the technical ability of who you're talking with and match it.

I can't tell you how many times I've called customer support with a problem that I've done all my homework for the support call and then get greeted by a person who absolutely must follow a script.

You could tell them you restarted the server, restarted the process, etc., etc. but they don't care - they just force the script on you. I get that the first line of support needs to triage the caller before escalation, but annoying them right up front makes the experience very unpleasant.

Re: Superior Support

#20

Post by snookca »

justshipit wrote: post #5

Rule #1: "The customer is always right: no exceptions". This is absolutely flat-out wrong. Bad customers will chew up your support time, engineering resources, and mental health. The sooner it is recognized that some customers are simply toxic, the sooner you can get rid of them. If you fail to even entertain the notion that customers might be wrong, you're doing yourself and your employees a huge disservice.

I think there's a difference between "the customer is always right" and "the customer gets everything that they want."

For example, a customer calls and says, "You overcharged me!" You look at the account and see that, no, the customer wasn't overcharged. The customer is right in the sense that they have through some influence of factors thought that they were overcharged. Was copy misleading? Was something not clear on one page or another?

There are a couple ways to handle this. One is where the customer is wrong: "no sir, you were not overcharged." and then argue with them until they hang up in frustration. Or you can get to the root of the misunderstanding (unclear fees? they forgot about taxes?) and then possibly choose to offer a refund as a thanks to them for helping you prevent other customers from becoming equally unhappy.

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