How to Improve Customer Support

There is nothing more frustrating than dialing a company's customer support number and spending the next half-hour pushing buttons on your telephone. And, when you finally do get through to a human, he's either in New Delhi or Oklahoma and knows nothing about what's happening to cause your problem in, say, Connecticut. This is where most customer loyalty is either gained or lost.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Set up the recording to tell customers in need they can dial "0" at any time to speak with a customer support representative. Some companies also let you say "customer service" into the receiver and will switch you to a human being.

2. Provide proper training and equipment. Outsourcing customer support to other states, or even other countries, can save big bucks, but it can result in loss of customers if the support person isn't fluent in English or doesn't have the proper tools to help the customer.

3. Follow through when the support session ends. Customer support personnel should follow the progress of the complaint or problem through to completion. If a refund, replacement part or service call are due, make sure the customer gets them.

4. Make sure all related customer support issues are handled by the same representative. There's nothing worse than having a disgruntled customer wait on the line, while another representative looks up his "file" and really knows nothing about his case.

5. Follow up. Call the customer back to see if everything has been resolved and if there's anything else you can do. You can also send follow-up emails.

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