The pros and cons of customer support, from one startup to another!

Every once in a while, customer support teams meet leads (potential customers) who have no idea on how to use their product.They are vaguely aware of how it functions, and hence are unaware of its potential. Behold customer support (good thing products weren’t that customer friendly, it has created a huge job market) to keep your customer’s recurring and paying.

Handling customer’s is never an easy thing, is it? They always have the creativity of coming up with absurd requests that require a whole team to figure out and solve. Here’s a light read on how customer support is vital for your business.

Help! I don’t know how to use a computer.

Say what? You are going, “OMG! How am I going to handle this?” No worries, we faced this. A few years ago we got a lead from an unexpected source—a humble farmer who sold bulls. He did not know much  about computers and was clueless as to how to host videos onto our channel. To our astonishment, the worst part was that he didn’t use Gmail or Yahoo mail but AOL mail.

As a farmer who sold bulls seasonally, he wanted to auction them online. Ironically, metaphorically speaking, we had to grab the bull by its horns. We started at teaching him to use deeper computer functionalities than what he already knew and then taught him to navigate through our software. Mind you, all of this happened over screen share and online calls. He has since then been our loyal customer for the past three years. A pat on the back to our development and management team that took this up as a challenge and got through it successfully.

When a potential lead knocks your door you can’t just let them leave due to their obliviousness. There are a few people who do not follow up with technology and you can definitely bring them up to speed on those basic aspects that they need to know on how to use your product. Trust me, your customer will be delighted and really grateful. This is where you build a bond like no other.

Hey! If you’d like I could also add on this feature for you.

Often it is seen that customers fail to see the true potential of your software. They probably just focus on one vertical when they reach out to you. It is your job to make sure that they can see all the possible ways in which they can expand their business using your product. As a customer support personnel, you have to give them that extra edge and instill a sense of confidence in them. Offer your customer more than he asked for and no one can be happier, other than your CEO because you just gained him a recurring customer.

One such customer who expanded their business using our product is a religious group in South India. This group religiously follows the teachings of a Swamiji. They had to frequently meet for meditation and prayer sessions to hear his philosophical preaching on religion and life. His work was focused on creating peace and harmony in the minds of his devotees.

Like many others, the coordinators of the Swamiji’s organization were unaware about secure video hosting. Our support team approached and explained our product to the technical team of the organization. They had to be educated from scratch. However, since they had their own website which was often updated, they didn’t need to learn much from us. The job was a lot easier than we thought.

To someone who was using DVDs and CDs to globalize themselves, our private media channel was a big boon. However, they were a little skeptic when we first explained our product to them. We had to teach them the step-by-step process in our software and we emerged victorious.

Magic in the most unlikely of places—the heartbeat of customer support!

The entire conversion process from a skeptic lead to a paying customer took about 3-4 weeks. Phew! Exhausting right? But it is totally worth it, whoever said hard work pays no returns.We pride on our customer support and we would like to preach a bit about it, “We only succeed if our customers do.” Yes that line has been quoted, but this is our testimony!

In the life of a customer support personnel, there is no such thing as a typical day. Every day presents us with new challenges and opportunities. Our products are platforms with a variety of features and there is so much diversity in our customer base. We have a new experience every day.

It is vital for all types of companies, be it a small shoe shop or a large SAAS company. Everyone requires customer service. A good customer support team is one of the important keys to unlocking the door to customer happiness.

Want to know what we do? Learn more about the Private Media Channel at www.nichevid.com.