I host some online projects with Liquid Web. I called them one evening this week to ask some questions and get some issues resolved.

When I got off the call, I told my wife, “That was the best tech support phone call I’ve ever made.”

She responded, rather shocked, “You were on the phone with tech support? I never would have known.

“What do you mean?”

She explained: “Well, with tech support calls, you usually get an aggressive tone and gradually get louder and more frustrated as the call progresses.”

She’s right. Most tech support calls I make end in frustration. Where others have failed, Liquid Web succeeded. How?

The support person made the entire call a very comfortable experience. Liquid Web and my support representative excelled in several key elements:

Availability and Accessibility

I made my call after regular business hours. Often times you’ll have to wait for the next business day to get a hold of companies. In time-critical businesses, web hosting in this case, you need to be there for your customers.

After a few automated phone tree questions, I was routed directly to a support person. No wait. No endless hold music.

Communications

The girl I spoke with could have been the girl who lives down the street. There was no thick accent or language barriers. Imagine how comfortable customers will be when they can feel like they are talking to a neighbor. Localize your support.

No Rush

I was able to make it through my call with Liquid Web without being rushed off the line. Because I wasn’t feeling pressure to finish, I was able to better collect my thoughts and get all my issues resolved.

If your customer is in a hurry, feel the urgency and make things happen. However, you should never rush the customer just to get through the transaction. Customer throughput will affect your margins but you need to carefully balance customer care with operational efficiency.

Customized Support

At one point my support representative asked if I was comfortable doing something myself. I said “not really” and so she walked me through one task and completed another for me.

Your customers will have varying skills and abilities. Find out what they know or can do and tailor your response accordingly. If you know the customer doesn’t know, you can make things as easy as possible. Experienced customers getting simple instructions will take less offense than novice customers getting complicated mumbo-jumbo.

Read the previous issues of Call Center Chronicles:

• Episode 1: Nabisco
• Episode 2: Current

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