When an organization boasts of great support teams, they don’t simply attract a large number of potential customers. Such organizations earn them too.
If you spend some time in your customer queue and study some of the case studies of your business, you will realize that customer satisfaction and loyalty are not built in a single day. They need lots of effort, conviction, and hard work.
Even when you do not have a feature, which your customers need desperately or have issues with your service, when candid conversations are conducted with them in the right tone, as well as, the right kind of an attitude, most of these customers can see your reason and continue with your organization. To put it simply, there is a positive customer behavior and they are not averse to being open-minded and patient to alternatives offered or ideas.
If one is associated with a reputable organization, all such skills and experiences are required to build up a great customer support team. Your best customer support team is ideally a combination of different roles and acts as if they are wearing 3 hats at the same time. The best customer support teams play the roles of teachers, friends, and students.
1. Teachers
As far as software is concerned, your best customer support team comprises of teachers. Typically, software products are always changing, advancing, and growing. As such, everybody is on a continuous learning curve. Good support teams get familiar with new tools and features due to their rich product experiences. Plus, they are always interested to learn the techniques used by other businesses. These people can connect the dots more quickly.
An excellent support member has to be a good teacher because they have to transfer their
understanding and learning to the customers. They teach skills or practices to make the lives of customers simpler. Teachers also can explain better ways of using your products and offers alternative strategies, which compensate for anything lacked in the product. They also demonstrate great traits that good teachers usually have – guidance, clarity, and patience.
You will always come across some personalities who are suited for this kind of communication more naturally as there is a deep-rooted urge to assist people to become better. However, it does not mean that you should not embrace an attitude or a tone where you can help people learn, as well as, inspire them to try out things they otherwise would not. The fact is, when you do support, this skill will be exercised by you daily.
2. Friends
Everyone expects their friends to support them and be present where they require them. People want their friends to have traits like being kind, honest, empathetic, understanding, and attentive. Every time you interact with an excellent support team, you get a feeling of being close to a friend, irrespective of whether you are their customer or not.
Such support teams show care when you have queries, they will listen to your issues patiently and also offer genuine suggestions or feedback. They would hate to waste your time. They will respond very fast, which is similar to sending a text to your close friend who sends their response very quickly. They also send responses to your emails fast. When you speak to them over phones, their tone gives a feel as if you are speaking to your close friend. Your conversation with such a support member always flows very naturally. They respond in such a manner as if they can understand your pain area and have deep empathy for you.
3. Student
Good students always exhibit the distinctive trait of possessing an unquenchable urge to learn. Plus, they are always curious and open-minded, take initiatives proactively and think critically. Best support teams always show an intent to improve their processes, products, or efforts, as well as, ways of serving their customers. These team members always show enthusiasm to do more and learn more. In fact, these members are not used to feeling comfortable as for them comfort results in stagnation.
These support teams also show an eagerness to understand the customers and their products. Such people are always in a discovery path of different strategies and ideas, which will guide them to work better for greater customer success. When a grave situation comes up, they show a great deal of enthusiasm in coming up with highly effective solutions.
Life can definitely become different and interesting when a team wears a number of lenses through, which they view their work. When a team shows a student-like mindset, with a strong urge to provide clarity and educate others, and characteristics of close friends, It can evolve as a fine support team.
The best part is these attitudes can be polished and adopted. After all, everyone cannot have natural skills in all these three different mindsets. In order to reach a level where all such attitudes can be infused like second nature, it may take months of practice and deliberate time. Every conversation with customers should be treated as a new opportunity rather than a widget, which is simply passed down an assembly line. If a support team perfects all these three crucial components of service, they should not simply wear different hats. Instead, they should be actually crowned.