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You Just Called...to say...HELP! Support, Part II: The Web Host's Point of View

"Hello. Jeff speaking, how may I help you?"

"Yeah. I can't get my files to go up to my site? Can you do it for me?"

"I'd like to help you, ma'am, but I'm afraid I can't FTP files from your computer to here. I can tell you how to do it, though."

"Never mind. I'll do it myself," she says and hangs up the phone.

I later find it she has written a bad review of my hosting company and our customer service department. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can't make folks happy. As the old saying goes, "You can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time." How true! This is my life as a web host customer service representative!

Nevertheless, it is our job as web host customer service and tech-support staff to do our best, and to make people happy - to have them stay with us, and best of all, to have them refer others to us. With the widely varying range of customer skills and abilities, experience and education, it sometimes seems like you have to be half-psychologist to do this job, sort of like an online bartender.

Customer service online is not an easy job, and there are not enough of us to go around, so sometimes it may seem like we're rushing you or even a little rude, but the fact of the matter is that there is often a queue of 25 other people waiting for two of us to solve their problems. Definitely a high-stress job! About which I'd like to say a few things, since our side of the customer service equation is not often heard.

First, in the hosting and online world, knowing who our customers are and making sure you have the products and services you want is even more critical than it is in the so-called "brick and mortar" world. For example, your local corner store need only estimate or make educated guesses about what their customers really want. Why? Because the convenience factor brings in the business by itself - they are there, which in itself wins half the battle.

But when you eliminate this advantage - when potential customers can go anywhere in the world (literally!) in a few seconds to get what you want, to shop around - then we'd better know what you're looking for and how to talk to you. Otherwise, we know you can be gone with a click of the mouse, never to return! There are thousands of online convenience stores!

Before we answer the telephone, we tell ourselves the old business philosophy: "Every call is a sales call. Every contact is a sales opportunity." We know that a few regular customers can generate more revenue for us than hundreds of temporary or passing customers, so our regulars really do deserve special care and handling.

We know that for many companies, unfortunately for them and you, tech-support calls never do become sales opportunities; and calls from a host's most important customers can wait in line behind calls for free screen savers and mouse pads. No wonder customers get so upset. Believe me, we understand, and it is hard for even the best of us to please everyone all the time. It seems that people expect much more from their Internet companies than they ever do from the brick-and-mortar folks. I'm not sure whay that is - I'm only half-psychologist, remember!

Second, many new companies online are a bit of a mess, frankly. Marketing doesn't know how many sales resulted from a promotional campaign, and tech-support isn't aware that a good customer missed a firmware upgrade. The main question for us then becomes, "How can we integrate our marketing, sales, and support activities to differentiate and distinguish our company (from the admittedly high number of shoddy companies out there) through our customer relationships? Any answers?

Third, managing the entire customer experience is often referred to as "customer relationship management" (CRM), and is handled by specific CRM software. CRM software keeps track of all aspects of one's customers, including our interactions with them, what products they have bought, and any problems they reported. Once upon a time, this level of technology was limited to large companies with large client bases and complex customer needs. The amazing Internet, however, makes it easy for even the smallest companies to track all customer interactions. I'm not sure all the start-ups are aware of this.

Business (and life in general for that matter) is - or should be - a learning experience, not only for management and personnel, but for customers as well. With such a large growth in the world economy, customer satisfaction is a necessity for making a company grow. We know this and try our best under what are often very difficult circumstances.

Competition is intense and sometimes ruthless, creating the need for a business to stand out in the buyer's eye. Closely related to customer satisfaction is reliability, which is an essential issue that has seemed to vanish in the philosophies of many companies in their headlong rush for quick profits. Life is full of mysteries, but finding a reliable host that cares about its customers shouldn't be one of them. Where would we be without you, our customers, anyway? Don't forget we know what it's like also, since everyone, including us, is a customer sometimes!

A business fact that many employers are only coming to recognize is that if their customers are not happy, then their company will not be successful. In fact, success begins with the employees as well as the customers. When a company's customers are happy with the service and the product, and find enthusiastic and knowledgeable personnel who are eager to help them, chances are that that company will continue to enjoy the lucrative support of those customers for a long time. If the customer is not happy, your business will not grow. Quite simple, really. So, what's the problem?

Well, you see, as technology increases, so do the options. No longer is it door-to-door selling; instead, we work through impersonal machines - these all-pervasive computers. It is no longer a sale through a persuasive smile and a firm handshake, but rather by how well you can show and inform the customer of your product on a computer monitor.

Remember Dale Carnegie (or someone like him), who said, "You never have a second chance to make a first impression, and unfortunately, first impressions are the most lasting in a customer's mind."

Finally, as you've read above, the acceptance of the importance of customer satisfaction has been recognized for ages. The focus of businesses today needs to be customer satisfaction - we know this. The success of many companies is the continued concentration on what it is that makes a company grow.

Real customer service is about reaching out and satisfying customers in every retail environment - not only online and not only in the brick-and-mortar world. No matter if your sales are through personal contact, over the telephone, or through the Web - customer satisfaction is the key to success. So, again, what's the problem? Consider this.

There are the "three C's" in business, much like "the three L's" of real estate. In business, especially online business where "location" does not matter, the three C's stand for customers, customers, customers. A hosting business like ours needs to establish a good name to succeed and thrive. To create this good name, any business needs to be flexible on price, on returns, in fact on everything, This is difficult to do once a business expands, as is the case with so many hosting companies.

Then, to keep the good name, good managers are needed. Managers must treat the employees - like me! - with respect, and stress the importance of keeping the customers more than happy. Customers need to see the name of a business and know they can trust the product. If something goes wrong, the business must make it right - promptly, courteously, and efficiently. With the amount of machines, customers, and technology involved, this can be a daunting and difficult job sometimes. Do I have your sympathy yet?

If service is bad, the consumer has the right to complain, and should complain. We understand this all too well - it's our job! If we the business still cannot make you the consumer happy, you should really take your business elsewhere - we don't deserve you! BUT...

On the other hand, from our side we simply ask that you try to remember that we are actually humans, too. Patience is required on both sides to sort out, understand, and solve sometimes quite tricky technical problems.

Next time you call to say "HELP!," please bear the above in mind, and maybe say, "Hello, how are you today?" first. Remember, we're all in this together!

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