COnvergeHub #1 E as i e s t Co n v e r g e d C R M f or SMB
This Is How We Handled
5 CHALLENGING CUSTOMER SUPPORT SCENARIOS
This Is How We Handled 5 Challenging
CUSTOMER SUPPORT SCENARIOS
This Is How We Handled 5 Challenging Customer Support Scenarios Even when providing unparalleled customer support is your top priority, tricky and difficult situations still happen many times. Here are some of the tricky customer support scenarios you may come across and our best suggestions for handling them with ease. Remember, you and your customers have the same goal. Your customers much like yourself, want the best possible experience, just like what you always want to give them as a support agent for your company.
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However, in spite of all measures, often than not customer support agents are bound to run into trouble delivering that experience. That is exactly why we want to put together this guide, from our personal experiences- equipping you with the best strategies for managing those not-so-easy support scenarios with ease. 1# Problem: Vague support queries While it is you who spend all the day talking and thinking about your business, it does not necessarily imply that your customers also have the same insider knowledge about your company. You can know every feature, and every Easter egg about your product or services, while for your customers; they just want your products or services to work. This means you may have to ask certain strategic questions or do a little translating to determine the problem your customers are havingespecially if you selling a technical product like us, in ConvergeHub. You customer’s version of the bug report might pinpoint a couple of imminent or possible problems, while it is very likely that you may not have enough information to resolve that issue in less than 3 min. The ideal way to deal with vague support queries is to ask preemptive clarifying questions like “Are you experiencing the bug on your mobile or on your laptop?”
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It can always be if you do not have this answer, you can risk giving your customers the wrong solution, which will only increase their frustration without solving the problems. Solution: Check out their screen Although asking clarifying questions are always helpful, yet sometimes it still gets difficult to determine the problem, which the customer is experiencing on his/her end. For an example, if a bug is present within multi-step processes, the customer can always get tired and exhausted with all the back-and-forth on-screen maneuvers and finally decide to give up, which can be bad for the reputation of your company. We suggest, using a screen-sharing service allows you to find out and focus on the exact issue that your customer is facing, which can help you to solve the problem- with minimal explanations and ease. We found with our experience that our tickets earmarked ‘solved-with-a single-response’ jumped from 60% to 85% once we started viewing the customer’s screen. This is because the clarity of visual representation nullifies blind guesswork and so decreases the amount of effort your customers have to put in to take advantage of your customer support services.
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2# Problem: Negative feedback on social media Just because someone has posted an angry tweet does not mean that he/she is a bad. Venting frustration on the social media platforms is a natural reaction. Moreover, when people feel frustrated they tend to lose their vocal filters, which in turn increases the likelihood that they might leave behind less than friendly responses on your social media websites. However, trying to explain your side of the situation to a frustrated customer by getting defensive will only make your customer angry. Hence, always ensure that you listen to your customer’s frustrations with a swift, positive, and understanding response. Moreover, never delete your customer's comments on the social media site, as this action on your part will make the customer more frustrated and at times even revengeful towards your company. Solution: Take the conversation offline Be quick in acknowledging the issue publicly by replying to the customer “Sorry for the inconvenience. We fixed it!� and then try to move the conversation to a phone call or email. This will show the customers that not only trying to resolve the customer's complaint is your top priority, but also you are willing to go out of the way to help them. Now, once you have moved the conversation with your customer over to a phone call or email, try to offer a solution that might exceed his/her
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expectations. Always remember, even the most difficult situations can have a positive ending. There are many instances, we have seen, when enraged customers have become loyal fans because our customer support agents went the extra miles to help solve their problems. 3# Problem: A long wait for service Being on hold for a while or waiting in a queue might not seem like a big deal, however when you are helping customers all day, you might forget that the customer might feel after a prolonged wait as if help is not available at all. It is very natural on the part of the customer to expect a quick support. It is nothing demanding, as they are also human beings. They will always want their problems to be resolved fast so that they can have a product or service that works seamlessly.
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Diagram To Explain Why Customers Become Impatient.
While from your side, as a part of your company’s support team you can see every step that you are taking to help a customer, unfortunately, your customers only see whether their issues are resolved- and how long you took to get back. Mostly your customers will never understand that you are working hard not only to fix the issue but also to precisely diagnose the problem so that they do not have to call support a second time.
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Solution: Offer self-service support options Cut down on the number of customers with problems, waiting in the queue by offering them a Knowledge Base, to help your customers help themselves. It takes a long time and effort to create a Knowledge Base, but the goal of having this resource is to answer questions that your customers might have, so that they can get an instant access to any solution, without having to contact the helpdesk. Be sure to keep your Knowledge Base regularly updated so that your customers do not get informed about issues that are not relevant anymore. This generally happens when you forget to update the Knowledge Base after the release of a new version or upgrades of your product. Several studies have indicated that customers actually prefer doing self-service support, rather than calling a help desk, if it is available and “tailored to their needs�. A Forrester survey found that 68% of respondents prefer self-service than speaking to a company representative.
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Having a Knowledge Base also helps your support team to spend their time troubleshooting on more complicated and demanding issues.
Create A Knowledge Base Similar To This For Your Customers
Make sure that your Knowledge Base is clearly sorted with organized tabs and easily searchable to help your customers find their information with ease. 4# Problem: A happy customer will not hang up If a customer wants to appreciate about your team, it may not apparently seem like a difficult customer. They love talking about your product, even what they ate for breakfast, which can be a welcoming respite for any agent on a stressful day. But then again these customers come with a surprising challenge- making them wrap up the conversation. We have seen that every customer
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support representative at least have one story of a customer who kept them hanging on the call with a long list of suggestions that might help the company to improve their products or services. However, these conversations sometimes take away a resource from other customers if a situation like this occurs too often or continues for too long. Seasoned customer support executives have their own ways of ending these never-ending conversations politely and warmly, but here is another reliable way to close a talkative customer’s phone call. Solution: Pursue the conversation online When you think it is right to end the call, ask the customer to confirm his/her email address so that you can continue the conversation online. Tell the customer that you have another call coming through, but you would love to get more feedback from the customer and for that, you would follow up soon over email. Let the customer know that you value his/her time and also the person’s enthusiasm, which will give you an ideal opportunity to gain additional feedback from the customer through email, which later on you might use even as a testimonial on your website. Additionally, being willing to continue the conversation, will help your company to build a product or service that is customer driven, and so create customer experiences that exceed expectations.
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5# Problem: You need to say, “I can’t do that” Although you may always feel like waving a magic wand to meet every customer’s needs, there are always certain customers who have difficult requests that you cannot fulfill. It can be a request for a special discount or a feature that does not remotely match your product roadmap. In other words, it can be anything that you cannot deliver to your customer or cannot fulfill right away. These are hard times for any customer support agent, and so occasionally when you if you have to say “no”, phrase your response that can soften the customer’s potential disappointment. Solution: Use customer-centric language Although it is easy to add “customer-centricity” to your customer support policies, following on it can be really difficult and stressful, when you have to say “no” to any customer, on his face. In fact, it is hard for any customer support agent not to freeze up when they are put into such as spot. Nevertheless, changing your language whereby you can empathize that the customer is still your priority, even when you cannot give them what they want by using customer-focused language can help you to keep the focus on your customer’s needs, rather than your company guideline.
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This is what you should do: • Listen closely to what your customer is demanding even when you cannot give them what they want Sometimes customers have fantastic ideas what might not be possible today or even in the next few years or months, but these ideas provide valuable insights for future improvements. So encourage your managers to create a system so that they can process any feedback that comes from the support team. • Instead of saying, “I do not know” say “Let me find it out for you” Do not just rely on canned responses; signaling a customer that you are doing everything possible to help him/her often keeps your customer happy, even if you cannot keep up with their fanciful requests. • Avoid words like “won’t,” “can’t.” or “don’t,” These words signal to the customer that the customer support agent is not willing to solve the customer’s problem. Instead, focus on what you can give to the customer. Walk them through alternate solutions or better ask your support team’s lead to leave the customer with a promise that you shall follow up shortly in the next few hours or within a day.
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Takeaway Remember customers are always your company’s bloodline. As ConvergeHub is one of the few CRMs that offer (apart from emails) direct premium customer support for our customers over the phone, these proven strategies have helped us more than often- which is why we are sharing these tactics with you. We are hopeful that these tips will help you to offer top-notch support at all times, considering customer satisfaction (much like us) is also your North Star.
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ConvergeHub is the #1 easiest converged CRM for SMBs. It can manage all of your sales, marketing, support, and billing needs, with a converged, full-featured, yet extremely easy-to-use CRM that is priced within reach. The features are optimized for small to medium sized businesses that have the same needs as the large corporations–but don’t have massive budgets to integrate or pay for expensive add-ons. All ConvergeHub CRM features are built-in, work together flawlessly, and have a uniform look and behavior. You can use ConvergeHub to automate your typical day-to-day tasks and marketing automation processes within a simple and intuitive interface.
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