The worldwide economy is down and expectations are not high for a quick recovery. Many support managers are facing constrained budgets, and having to defer hiring or reduce head-count in their organizations. I have been there myself and my heart goes out to those who have lost jobs and to the managers who have been faced with having to lay-off friends and co-workers.
During this time it may be more difficult to attract new customers as their budgets have also tightened. Customer retention is even more important than ever before. By retaining more customers, you will need to attract fewer new customers to just replace customers you have lost. Keeping your current customers happy, and reducing customer defections, will go a long way in helping your company through this tough period.
Your front-line support representatives have opportunities every day to leave a positive impression on your customers and greatly influence customer retention. They probably have the most contact with your customers than anyone else in your company. During this time, your support staff will undoubtedly be asked to do more than they were in the past. Low morale and burnout can quickly become a problem. Consider using technology as a way to boost productivity and reduce frustration levels amongst your support staff. Solutions like GoToAssist can help reduce frustration levels by empowering your reps to take control of your customer’s PC, fix problems faster, and delight your customers in the process.
Your key support personnel will become even more important during this time. They will be relied upon for their expertise to resolve customer issues even more than have been in the past. GoToAssist has built-in collaboration that lets you maximize the reach of the expertise you have in the organization. No matter where they are located, key personnel can jump into support sessions and help resolve issues by directly applying their expertise or by coaching your front-line reps through resolutions. This all leads to more satisfied customers.
Remember, your customers are facing many of the same constraints and frustrations as your company. Investing in a technology like GoToAssist can increase staff efficiencies while delivering the type of support experience your customers have grown to expect from you. This will help you retain your valuable customers during these tough times and relieve some of the stresses on your support personnel.
May 18, 2010 at 9:34 am |
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October 16, 2011 at 11:30 pm |
Interesting post. I hope there will be more.