Art of product support

Sales teams feel that their job is done once the sale is done. From now the real test starts for the product. On one side the product team looks for feedback and issues to be fixed and on the other side the support team is interacting with customers. The product stabilization period is nightmare to many teams.

Technical and Business Support

Customers may contact the support team on various aspects that the product building team is not aware of. It can be a technical issue or a business usage or a usability issue or a feature request. The way the support person handles the issue makes the difference here. If the product team is great and the support team is bad, we lose the battle.

The issues that a support team faces are mainly due to different levels of support and remotely talking to the customer. Unless we are in the manufacturing field where support is required physically, it is mostly remote support to start with. Any number of FAQs will not help. It is essential that the support team is first made to use the product and be a user to gain knowledge and then move to support team.

Troubleshooting

The analytical ability to troubleshoot the problem is critical. Remember that a paying customer is waiting on phone on the other end. Their time is precious. Hence we cannot take a long time to do this. Many companies put the support members in product QA team first and then move them to support team. This way they will come to know the inherent issues of the product.

Different customers use different version of the product. Hence support team must know the features in all those versions.

Product teams work in regular shift but the support teams work in multiple shifts. This work time rotation creates fatigue in team members. This needs to be properly addressed so that the support team works with the best energy both physically and mentally.

Courtesy plays a major role

The way in which the support staff deals with the customer is the true reflection of the culture of the company. That creates brand. That makes customers feel that they can trust the product and company when they are in trouble. If this is not happening, even if we have the great tech depth, we may not cut it.

Support team is also responsible to take survey to get feedback. This is the best input for the product marketing team to make enhancements to the product.