Customer Support Perspective — Constructive feedback

Manisha Vijayakumar Bachpai
4 min readJul 31, 2021

--

A couple of weeks back I was conversing with a friend of mine on the Customer Facing role. Looks like there is always this assumption that the customer-facing role is very simple.

It’s all about speaking to people and helping them in getting the hang of the application. A few aspects like good command over the language in terms of speaking/writing emails, product/domain knowledge, patience and empathy are needed to handle.

Well, to an extent, yes. But is that all and simple?

Certainly not.

Come let’s look at things from a customer handling person’s perspective.

We all know that every product will have its positives, negatives, technical issues etc. If a client is super happy with the application, the same would not be the case with another client as requirements vary from business to business.

Now as a person, no one would like being yelled upon, and the same goes with a person who is going to start their career as a Customer Support representative. The fact of the matter is any CS agent would definitely be aware that at times they’ll be speaking to frustrated customers as well, but do we know how dejected and disheartened a self-motivated CS representative would feel when they face criticism and frustration in the initial days of their career?

Let me quote a scenario and throw two ways to handle it,

With so much excitement, Rob joined the Customer Support team of a company. 2 weeks back he began to handle customers. However, today he happened to bump into an unhappy customer. As a result, Rob had to face all his frustrations.

Immediately after the call, Rob approached his mentor (Steve) and narrated the entire conversation. Let eavesdrop on their conversation,

Rob: Hi Steve. Good time to pick your brain for a moment?

Steve: Hey Rob. Yes, we can talk. What’s up?

Rob: I was heading well till last week but today after this customer call, I’m a bit disheartened, Steve.

I did all that I could do over the call, but as our product is not able to handle his complete use-case, he was unhappy and frustrated about it. I know this is a part of my job, but I just got disappointed after this call.

Now Steve has 2 ways to deal with Rob and motivate him.

#Motivation 1

Okay, Rob. I understand how it feels. If you ask me, I would suggest you develop a thick skin to be open to critiques and ignore them accordingly, cause not all customers will be happy with the application. Every now and then you will have to hear such criticisms and move on. You don’t have to take them personally. It’s totally fine.

So, just ensure that our customers are happy with the way you deal with them.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

With the above motivation, you might be wondering that Rob has received the right guidance.

Hold on! Let’s look at the second one.

#Motivation 2

The way you feel is completely understandable, Rob. Let me ask you something.

So you are feeling bad that the customer yelled at you, that too for a feature that cannot handle his use-case?

(or)

You felt bad that you could not provide an exact or even an interim solution to the customer?

If it’s the first case, then you are in the wrong direction. But if it’s the second case, fair enough. As a company, we cannot satisfy all our customers. Here, you can get such negativities out of your system and develop some thick skin to tolerate all the frustrations from our customer. Eventually, you will get used to it. However, don’t develop that thick skin just to tolerate and shrug such negativities off.

If you are developing something, ensure you use it correctly and turn such negativities into opportunities.

By opportunity I mean, analyse if that feature is something that our application needs in the near term.

  • To start with, figure out workarounds (if any) and suggest. Also, ensure the customer is happy having a conversation with you. Although they are unhappy with the application, you can make them comfortable based on how you converse and try to help.
  • Analyse the use-case by stepping into the customer’s shoes and think if the feature will add value to our application. Your instinct will answer you to an extent.
  • Start tracking all such requests, as and when you converse with your clients
  • Reach out to the product team and discuss the same. Throw out your suggestions as well, cause you will know the customer’s expectations and pain points very well.

By doing this, you are converting all the negative feedback into opportunities for you to understand the product/domain and directly speak with the product/development team. This way, your work is making the product grow and in return, the product is automatically making you grow in terms of recognition in the place where you work.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

Well, with the second reply do you think any person who has just started a career in customer support will remain disheartened or make a snide remark on the mentor? Well, I don’t think so.

To all those who are new to this role, make a wise decision on which motivation you will opt for and expect the same from your senior friend/mentor!!!

- Customer Support Perspective

Stay Tuned Until Next Time

--

--

Manisha Vijayakumar Bachpai
Manisha Vijayakumar Bachpai

Written by Manisha Vijayakumar Bachpai

Coimbatorian 😍 Straightforward | Health-conscious | Affable | Stoic | Lively | Budding Photographer Perception: Shukar kar bandhaya tenu zindagi hai mili 😇

No responses yet