4 tips for those who during the rotation was in the support service
Learning the science of customer support is like learning any other skill: you learn it in the process. Reading books is certainly helpful, it is just as useful to look at a swimmer and try to imitate. But if not a single drop of water gets in your nose, reading books will not save you when you start to sink.
In many large companies there is a practice when every week a team member sits on the support line and answers the most difficult questions.
The opportunity to go into battle, get to know the product and understand the problems of customers inspires at first glance But the fear of failure can hold back. We are ready to pick fruits only from the lowest branches of the tree, we bypass the difficult issues that are usually easily handled by support veterans. But this does not help to get the skills and knowledge that are needed to perform the duties of support.
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Any lesson learns the same way that the muscles are built: no resistance - no growth.
Whether you are new to support or just want to improve on this, here are some lessons that will come in handy along the way.
Overcome discomfort
You click on the letter, read it - the client just left another service and he was interested to see how good your service is - and you immediately returned to the previous page and began to look for another question. Think for a minute. Why did I just ignore the letter? What about the fact that it caused me discomfort? Why I did not take up the question with enthusiasm?
In short, you lacked the confidence that comes with experience. And what prevents from gaining experience? Fear.
The more resistance you feel when confronted with a difficult question, the more you need to force yourself to answer it. A sense of discomfort is natural; what happens depends only on your reaction.
It’s scary to jump headlong into support, because there are already connections on the line and you don’t want to be the person who will destroy them. As for a child who jumps into a pool where adults swim, there must be someone watching you.
So you can ease the discomfort on the support line:
This “oversight” will help avoid potential mistakes. Your experienced colleagues will introduce you to a stranger, and gradually you will learn how to cope with the most difficult cases.
Play with the university team
I like the story about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and her 2% chance of getting a job at Google at the beginning of her career against the 12 other vacancies that she was offered. She recounts the “Tale of Laura Backman” - a story about the daughter of her piano teacher. “Laura auditioned for the volleyball team in the first year of high school,” says Meyer. “As a result of the test, she was faced with a difficult choice: a bench in the university team, or starting with juniors.” It would be more tempting to play with the junior players. Laura chose the opposite. She knew that if she practiced with the best players, she herself would play better.
The moral of this story is to surround yourself with people who will challenge you to learn and grow (this is why Meyer went to Google).
Deliberately immersed in discomfort, being in the tail, or just wet your feet - the choice is not easy. But you need to understand that a sharp leap you will accomplish only through training with the best. Do not try to "just try," in the end nothing will come of it. You must dive with your head and purposely seek discomfort.
Get in the habit of focusing attention
Remember the saying about hares: doing several things at the same time, you will not do anything.
If the responses to letters of support are only part of your duty, it is vital to have a schedule or procedure where your responsibilities are distributed.
My advice to those who have a crazy schedule: set aside blocks of time - perhaps in the morning - and then later in the afternoon, on a fresh mind, when you can fully immerse yourself in high-priority work.
Incoming can turn into a kind of black hole, where you suck so quickly that you will not notice. It is important to set the right rhythm and learn how to distribute energy during work, so as not to lose quality and be attentive to the needs of our customers.
This is a clear balance: on the one hand, we need to do our work and we need time to focus; on the other hand, we want to respond to our customers quickly. This skill is honed over a long time, especially if you are not a support person, you learn customer support. Experiment with your schedule. Do not try to answer all requests at once - break into smaller pieces.
You will find your balance only by losing your balance.
Clients as a source of insight
A person not from support has many advantages.
Marketers can empathize and gain insight into customers to improve their achievements; engineers can figure out which features or tools to fix. Managers can turn business improvement proposals into a real feedback plan; product managers can turn their theories into experiments based on what customers say, and experiments will become reality.
Before this recent change, most of your guesses and insights came from books and many other sources - but in fact there was a lack of knowledge from the vitality of the business: customers. First-line customer interaction will teach you an irreplaceable style of communication that goes beyond the usual business context; You will get useful ideas that will complement your work, and expand your creative potential. Ultimately, you will overcome your fear. All this only because of the experience in the support? You will not regret a minute.
In many large companies there is a practice when every week a team member sits on the support line and answers the most difficult questions.
The opportunity to go into battle, get to know the product and understand the problems of customers inspires at first glance But the fear of failure can hold back. We are ready to pick fruits only from the lowest branches of the tree, we bypass the difficult issues that are usually easily handled by support veterans. But this does not help to get the skills and knowledge that are needed to perform the duties of support.
')
Any lesson learns the same way that the muscles are built: no resistance - no growth.
Whether you are new to support or just want to improve on this, here are some lessons that will come in handy along the way.
Overcome discomfort
You click on the letter, read it - the client just left another service and he was interested to see how good your service is - and you immediately returned to the previous page and began to look for another question. Think for a minute. Why did I just ignore the letter? What about the fact that it caused me discomfort? Why I did not take up the question with enthusiasm?
In short, you lacked the confidence that comes with experience. And what prevents from gaining experience? Fear.
The more resistance you feel when confronted with a difficult question, the more you need to force yourself to answer it. A sense of discomfort is natural; what happens depends only on your reaction.
It’s scary to jump headlong into support, because there are already connections on the line and you don’t want to be the person who will destroy them. As for a child who jumps into a pool where adults swim, there must be someone watching you.
So you can ease the discomfort on the support line:
- Look for all appeals that are similar to what you came across. How did our best agents answer such questions?
- Browse the knowledge base to find information that will help cope with this treatment.
- Save your answer as a draft.
- Ask your best agent to see the draft.
- An experienced employee will look at the answer and add a few comments, give instructions on how to build specific phrases and add useful links for the client.
- Check everything again and boldly and send a reply.
This “oversight” will help avoid potential mistakes. Your experienced colleagues will introduce you to a stranger, and gradually you will learn how to cope with the most difficult cases.
Play with the university team
I like the story about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and her 2% chance of getting a job at Google at the beginning of her career against the 12 other vacancies that she was offered. She recounts the “Tale of Laura Backman” - a story about the daughter of her piano teacher. “Laura auditioned for the volleyball team in the first year of high school,” says Meyer. “As a result of the test, she was faced with a difficult choice: a bench in the university team, or starting with juniors.” It would be more tempting to play with the junior players. Laura chose the opposite. She knew that if she practiced with the best players, she herself would play better.
The moral of this story is to surround yourself with people who will challenge you to learn and grow (this is why Meyer went to Google).
Deliberately immersed in discomfort, being in the tail, or just wet your feet - the choice is not easy. But you need to understand that a sharp leap you will accomplish only through training with the best. Do not try to "just try," in the end nothing will come of it. You must dive with your head and purposely seek discomfort.
Get in the habit of focusing attention
Remember the saying about hares: doing several things at the same time, you will not do anything.
If the responses to letters of support are only part of your duty, it is vital to have a schedule or procedure where your responsibilities are distributed.
My advice to those who have a crazy schedule: set aside blocks of time - perhaps in the morning - and then later in the afternoon, on a fresh mind, when you can fully immerse yourself in high-priority work.
Incoming can turn into a kind of black hole, where you suck so quickly that you will not notice. It is important to set the right rhythm and learn how to distribute energy during work, so as not to lose quality and be attentive to the needs of our customers.
This is a clear balance: on the one hand, we need to do our work and we need time to focus; on the other hand, we want to respond to our customers quickly. This skill is honed over a long time, especially if you are not a support person, you learn customer support. Experiment with your schedule. Do not try to answer all requests at once - break into smaller pieces.
You will find your balance only by losing your balance.
Clients as a source of insight
A person not from support has many advantages.
Marketers can empathize and gain insight into customers to improve their achievements; engineers can figure out which features or tools to fix. Managers can turn business improvement proposals into a real feedback plan; product managers can turn their theories into experiments based on what customers say, and experiments will become reality.
Before this recent change, most of your guesses and insights came from books and many other sources - but in fact there was a lack of knowledge from the vitality of the business: customers. First-line customer interaction will teach you an irreplaceable style of communication that goes beyond the usual business context; You will get useful ideas that will complement your work, and expand your creative potential. Ultimately, you will overcome your fear. All this only because of the experience in the support? You will not regret a minute.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/289126/
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