Customer Support Technique #21
Disengaging
Disengaging is a technique that's most commonly used with an aggressive customer to help halt emotions and prevent arguments from occurring.
Disengaging means taking a break from the interaction to allow both parties to calm down or think more clearly, so when the conversation resumes it’s not as heated.
Once a conversation becomes unrewarding, it's easy to offer an excuse for the completion at a later time.
Here are two common ways to end a conversation:
"Mr. Smith, let me check on your file for a minute before we continue."
"I think it's time for both of us to take a break and then approach this issue fresh tomorrow. I can be available at any time you choose."
Disengaging is similar to using time-outs in that it gives the customer an opportunity to calm down. Unlike a timeout, disengagement does not require the customer be left alone, but relies on suspending conversation as its power.
Customer Support Technique #20
Contact Security/Authorities/Management
Most employees are not trained in security, self-defense, or other methods for dealing with a violent customer. The situations is outside of the employee’s job scope.
Don't take on the responsibility of policing. If you are faced with any situation that may be violent or pose a security threat, contact security personnel, management and/or the police. If your company has an established policy on this issue follow it.
When threats are made in person, it is important to only record the incident and call the authorities.
At the very least, you need to notify your manager immediately. Safety in a crisis is paramount for all parties involved.
Customer Support Technique #19
Completing Follow-Up
Obtaining a follow-up is simple if you arrange for it in advance. If you don’t have as much time to spend on the task, then contact the individual assigned with that duty and communicate your request for information accordingly.
Why Does Your SAAS Needs a Help Desk Software
What is help desk software?
The company's customer support team is the only point of contact for customers who have questions or problems.
If you are starting out, then provide your customers with only a personal email address or phone number to contact you with any questions.
As the company scales, customer service needs to be enhanced so that it is easily reachable and efficient.
A help desk software is a solution to use for customer service by automating as much of the process as possible.
What are the advantages of using help desk software?
There are many advantages to using Help Desk software:
Customer communications are collected and stored in one place, so there’s always someone available if your team member leaves.
Customer communications can be logged and tracked quickly. This means that someone in the company who isn’t necessarily handling customer service directly can still keep tabs on things through help desk software, and see a ticket pop up whenever something new happens.
Customers can easily reach out to your company on social media. Larger companies may have a team dedicated for this type of customer service, but smaller businesses may not be able to dedicate resources that are best left to professionals.
Automated helpdesks ensure customers get responses to inquiries from someone capable of providing them. If you email the CEO of Ford, do you think he will personally reply? I doubt it
Would you still expect some sort of response from the company? Yes. What about when someone leaves the company mid way through supporting a customer – who will make sure this customer gets what they need?
The system for automation is set up to notify our help desk agents when a ticket has been left unanswered. In addition, the system can make sure tickets are routed in front of the right agent.
More and more software for help desks comes with reporting and optimization features. This means that managers can figure out the turn-around time of customer issues and the resolution rate, as well as improve them both.
A help desk software can make it easier to prioritize what matters most when helping customers. One example is support for a customer who does not know how to use their mouse properly.
The helpdesk software helps to encourage collaboration and teamwork. More than one person can handle an issue at a time, without worrying that communications will get lost in email limbo.
Guaranteed customer satisfaction with our quick and reliable, efficient support team. We've created a repository of pre-written answers for commonly asked questions; agents can simply search through and use any available answer depending on the question they are being faced with. FAQs can be stored at your convenience in this dynamic database, so you will never run out of responses.
Using helpdesk software can open up the day to day processes beyond the scope of individual problems. Helpdesks are often designed to have a strategic, long-term view; businesses using helpdesks are more efficient and freeing up employees valuable time is a common effect.
The importance of process
Process can sometimes seem awkward and overwhelming, but it’s inevitable in a business world where there is always more than one way to do something.
To be efficient in your business and scale, documenting processes is essential. When you have a documented process, any new employee can pick up on it quickly and keep others focused on the project at hand.
Having a process with a standard operating procedure will provide consistency to your customers, both internal and external, as the company inevitably goes through changes.
Customer Support Technique #17
Common Courtesy
Depending on the country or area, common courtesy may range from using thank you manners to standing in line.
Many people take politeness for granted, but this simple courtesy matters more to a customer/guest than you might imagine.
You can add your own ideas to what constitutes common courtesies for the people you serve.
When employees are stressed or rushed, they can unintentionally stop using common courtesy. It’s a natural mistake because it's easy to focus on simply getting the task completed (being task oriented) without considering how you interact with your customer (process orientation).
In the absence of a pressing emergency, it's important to be polite and courteous.
A customer’s bad behavior can have seemingly unavoidable repercussions for those at the customer service desk.
When you fail to display basic manners, the situation will deteriorate. You may have experienced this for yourself when your polite conversations and gestures change someone’s attitude from hostile to friendly.
Customer Support Technique #16
Closing Interactions Positively
A relatively simple way to end conversations, ending interactions with pleasantries often involves offering some pleasantries (e.g., “Thank you for coming in” or “I appreciate your patience and apologize for the delay”). You should end every interaction, even if it is tough, on a positive note.
Customer Support Technique #15
Broken Record
This technique is used with customers who won’t cooperate when it comes to finding a solution. Its intent is to send this message: We're not going to continue talking until we figure out the issue I want us to prioritize first.
It involves restating the same thing in different ways until it is clear to your customer. An example of how this might work, "You have a number of options. Which would you prefer?"
You can [option one] or [option two]. Do you have a preference?
One message can get broken up into four or five messages in order to make the customer's decision.
It can also be used to express empathy when a customer is too angry to engage in problem solving.
Customer Support Technique #14
Bonus Buyoff
This technique is nothing more than offering compensation to appease a customer, which often takes the form of giving them something.
If an organization makes a mistake, they are sometimes required to apologize. Sometimes, these apologies are mandatory even when the organization didn't make a mistake.
Customer Support Technique #13
Audience Removal
At public venues where other customers are present, some angry customers will often play to the audience. You can tell when this is happening because they're looking at other bystanders or for approval from others.
One way to ensure privacy for customers is by arranging for them to be served away from the audience.
Skills You Need to Be a Customer Success Leader
As customer success becomes more critical to a company's success, the role is becoming increasingly complex. With customers who are smarter than ever and platforms that keep getting better at meeting their needs, CS leaders face an overwhelming number of questions on a daily basis.
CS Leaders must also have the right temperament to work with customers and develop specific skills that are not necessary in other disciplines.
To ensure the best customer experience possible, customer success managers and leaders should develop the following critical skills:
Problem-Solving and Resolution
Customer success is a challenging position, and the number one skill of successful customer success leaders are problem solving skills. There is always an issue during every phase of the customer lifecycle.
The ability to identify, analyze, and resolve customer issues is not easy for anyone; as such, the best customer success managers have honed these skills over time.
The result of this skill is trust and a larger customer account.
Establishing Goals
When expectations set correctly, customers have a good experience and feel like they got what they were promised. When expectations are not communicated properly, it can result in a poor brand and customer experience. In the best of worlds, this would not be an issue because marketing and sales did their jobs to set proper customer expectations at the start.
Customer success managers often find themselves having to set expectations for a customer when stakes are high.
Customer success managers need to have excellent communication skills.
Listening and Seeking to Understand
Successful customer success leaders understand the importance of establishing a deep connection with their customers. By listening to them and understanding what they want, you can begin developing strong relationships; without these skills, your customers will lose faith in you.
It’s important to listen and understand the customer’s needs before offering a solution, as you want them to succeed.
Level head
Customer success leaders are used to working under pressure, but they always know how to keep their heads when the stakes are high.
To provide a seamless customer experience, customers rely on their CSM to smooth the onboarding process and be an ongoing supporter.
No matter what, make sure you’re always calm. It doesn’t matter how bad it gets, CSMs should never be the ones exploding – even if they want to. Keeping a level head is essential, and cannot be overrated.
Data Integration
Customer data should be at the forefront of a customer success leader’s day-to-day job.
Having a good grasp on data security, customer relationships, and how the process works are all behaviors that would make someone a great CS Leader.
Providing detailed reports to our customers about how their information is being used will help them feel more comfortable and trust us.
Solution Knowledge
All customer service leaders are expected to know the company’s product, hardware, and software. The knowledge will enable them to easily answer any questions that come up and allow the CS leader to speak the user’s language when talking about features and benefits with customers
When it comes to selling products and services, customers who already plan to invest in your product don't want another pitch. They want a salesperson who can talk on an individual level about the benefits of this partnership.
Empathy
Empathy is another skill that CS leaders must have, but it’s sometimes considered the most important. CS Leaders should be able to read customers based on their input as well as how they are feeling about certain milestones and functionalities.
When managing a customer-focused business, it’s important to consider feelings and understand what sets a great CS leader apart from the others. This empathy can be key in acquiring customers - understanding them is crucial in creating good relationships.
Tenacity
Grit is an important trait of customer success managers. They never give up and they do whatever it takes to make their customers successful.
Successful customer service leaders identify skills needed to drive long-term success for their customers. They learn these skills, train employees in them and try to hire those who already have the skill set. The right mix of talent – grit and attitude as well as a good work ethic – are qualities common among top teams in the world.