Have you ever noticed that customer support seems to be an afterthought for many companies? They treat customer support as a cost centre to be minimized.
PenForms is an application we built and are hosting for completing annual filings of federal pension returns. As the filing deadlines near, stress levels often go up with end-users. We provide e-mail and phone support for all subscriptions.
I just received a really positive e-mail from one of our PenForms clients (I am happy to say we have more of these):
"To whom it may concern;
Over the last two weeks I have been busy completing the Federal Annual Information Returns on a system that I have never used prior to this. I have contacted your help support quite a few times regarding help with different issues. I would just like to pass along that it has been a pleasure dealing with your company. (a special mention should go out to {Employee}, who has been amazing and always found a solution the same day).
I find that over the years customer service is lacking in many institutions today. However, as I said it was a pleasure dealing with a friendly and efficient team to help solve the problems.
Thanks"
Imagine what it would be like if every customer was this happy with your customer service. Who would they tell? Would they buy from you again?
It’s common wisdom that it’s less costly to sell to an existing customer than to acquire a new customer.
Maybe your organization should be thinking of customer support in the same category as sales and marketing and not as an after sales cost. Invest in your customers; the truth is you need them more than they need you.
Update: I noticed Seth Godin covered much the same theme in his post but from a negative experience.
