Are Your Support Staff Affecting Your Bottom Line?

There are tons of contact centers in the Philippines that help companies like AT&T convert UNHAPPY customers (inbound calls) into actual ADD-ON SALES.

It all boils down to the right script and skilled CSRs

Speaking as someone who has handled customer support, I can say for a fact that most of our problems actually stems from customers not getting the product or service that they paid for. So by the time they get in touch with us, they're just angry. So instead of providing support and value, we're busy putting out fires.

Hi John,
Yes, you are so right with this perspective also. My take is a lot of online marketers are so intent in getting their product/service to the market they have failed to consider the impact on their customers who have placed their trust in them to purchase their product/service in the first place.

Therefore customers literally are being short shifted to a large degree. Maybe some genuine planning without the star dust or $$$ signs in their eyes would assist to a huge degree.

I would have thought it would be common business sense to consider as many scenarios as possible. By this I mean:

* If I have x number of sales, how will this impact on my customers and support staff if I do not have x y and z in place to handle the volume.

* If I have sales from this section of the globe how can I ensure my customers receive the most positive customer experience possible and become repeat customers for my products and services.

* If I am to sell this product/service exactly what strategies have I developed to eliminate as many bugs or flaws from the product/service which ensures I can in fact handle the volume of new and/or repeat customers taking up the product or service.

* What training am I required to undertake with my support staff to ensure they're able to handle every potential ? or issue that customers may present with.

* Do I need to contract more staff from a specific country to ensure my customers from this country are able to communicate effectively with my support staff.

* What other processes and systems do I need to put into effect to ensure if my first level support staff cannot deal with the ? or issues then they can quickly refer to the more experienced support staff.

* How do my customers want to communicate their ? or issues, that will meet the needs of my customers as well as my support staff. Let's face it waiting 24-48 + hours for a response and then only to be asked to do the same thing repeatedly is not an effective use of my support staff, not to mention will increase the annoyance and/or anger level of my customers.

Now whilst we're all human and we don't have crystal balls so to speak, we can all do some basic planning and implementation which will increase customer satisfaction.

However, you're right in many respects if the product/service has been poorly designed from the outset then no amount of friendly and supportive support staff will ease the angst of customers. The support staff become the genuine meat in the sandwich so to speak and as you have quite rightly pointed out are more intent on putting out fires than delivering great customer service.

Again, I say it does come down to fully testing one's product/systems/services to the inth degree rather than saying, that's close enough, and then expect customers to put up with trying to implement a shoddy put together product/service or support staff who simply cannot cope with the sheer volume.

A little example outside the online marketing niche. I have NBN (which is the national broadband network) and contracted an overseas disrupter company to deliver my broadband. All was going well until I decreased my plan therefore monthly payments. For 4 months I had to jump up and down da de da. After 4 months I wrote to the Communications Ombudsman in Aussie land to layout my complaint. I had been previously asking to speak to Australian supervisors da de da. Anyway magically an Aussie customer complaints handling guy got on the phone. During the course of the conversation he told me the reason the company hadn't put a complaints form on their website is they are getting too many complaints they have to handle from the Communications Ombudsman. I pointed out to the guy, the reason people are going to the Ombudsman is because they simply cannot get their complaints addressed effectively and as a last resort have to go to the Ombudsman to get the issues rectified!!!

Moral of the story. If you want to stop complaints, give customers genuine access to have their complaints resolved quickly, painlessly, effectively and easily regardless of whether your main systems are overseas or in the country the customers reside in. Not only will you stop chasing your tail, you'll increase your brand and customer retention big time. As it was once my initial complaint was resolved by a person who had the authority to resolve it, I no longer have any issues with my NBN provider and am quite happy to continue paying for the service they deliver.

Many thanks,
Desley

Hi,

Just wanted to say that you've raised some very good points. I do agree that cheap isn't always the best. Although I do prefer outsourcing to VAs in the Philippines, I don't just pick the one who offers the cheapest rates. I pick a few options that range from dirt cheap to expensive, compare them, and see who gives the best output. Sometimes I get suprised when the most skilled of them all charges very low prices for their services, although most of the time they charge quite moderately. Eh, it's a good investment if you hire someone with good quality work.

And yes, we should really take language barriers into consideration. It takes a huge load off your shoulders if everyone understands each other.