IT Customer Service: Our Secrets (Part 4/5)

This is the fourth in a five part series uncovering some of the secrets of how we've achieved our outstanding record of client retention and reputation for client satisfaction.

Secret #4: Listen and Be Responsive

The #1 complaint we hear about our competitors is that they’re not responsive to the needs of their clients. Here are two of the ways we’ve ensured that we live up to our clients’ expectations in this area:

• Over the past year, 85% of support requests received action from our staff within two business hours, regardless of whether the clients’ contract called for a response time guarantee.
• Help with a Smile provides a dedicated account manager as a consistent point of contact- if a client is not having their needs met by front-line employees, the account manager is easily reachable and has the authority to do whatever is necessary to ensure our clients’ needs are satisfied.
• Each day, a team member is assigned the role of “Help Desk Coordinator”- it’s their job to monitor incoming client communications and keep everybody on-task when it comes to servicing requests in a timely manner
• Internally we use a “pain scale” (similar to the happy/sad faces you see at your doctor’s office) to communicate the urgency of client support issues- it’s a great psychological tool for fostering empathy for our clients at the same time you’re communicating a valuable piece of information.

Being consistently responsive beats superior expertise without even breaking a sweat. If you don't provide attentive, prompt, customized service to your clients each and every day, it won't matter how fantastic your product or service functions.