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Support Issues
Regardless of your size or success, there will
always be a few customers who are a challenge.
Sadly, challenging customers are a fact of life
for even the most successful businesses, and its
no surprise that small businesses are often reluctant
to establish guidelines on how to deal with challenging
customers.
All businesses make mistakes. How we act when
those mistakes occur is what defines the business.
Handling an error or misjudgement in a skillful
way can often turn a negative customer experience
into a positive one. But there are occasionally
incidents when the customer's expectations are
simply not reasonable or realistic.
When is Enough Enough?
Some developers find that certain customers cost
them money. The paradigm "the customer is always
right" comes to mind, but at what expense? Sometimes
it is best to simply cut your losses and let a
customer go, so that you can focus your energy
and time on profitable customers.
Saying No
It should be done in such a way that the customer
feels you are helping them - rather than insulting
them. The following is an example of how to say
no to an unreasonable request:
"I want to thank you for your patience. Clearly
this has been a frustrating experience for you.
It is clear that we are going to be unable to
assist you, so I've issued you a full refund for
X Software. I would encourage you to look at Y
Software, as they have a product you might find
better suited to your needs."
Keep your message concise, professional, and
friendly. Remember: turning away customers should
be a last resort, and only when their requests
or expectations are not realistic. Regardless
of your frustration level, all customer exchanges
should be professional and courteous.
Do not simply disregard complaints out of hand
-- investigate each and every one. If customer
expectations frequently exceed the scope of the
software capabilities, perhaps a critical review
of your sales copy is needed. Watch for patterns
in the support queries. If you are seeing a recurring
theme in your support problems, create tutorials
for them, and look for ways to clarify common
and recurring problems.
Support As Salesman
While some businesses might be tempted to not
invest in a strong support infrastructure or customer
service system, keep in mind that support can
actually be an additional source of revenue. Lets
start by breaking down a common misconception:
Support does not just cost money. On the contrary,
support can help make money! Knowledgeable pre-sales
support staff can easily help close a sale. If
you offer an enterprise or high-end business application,
consider charging a fee for that level of support.
There are a number of options and ways that small
software companies can make support profitable.
How
to Charge for Support
Paid Support Examples:
NotePage
Priority Support
AskSam
Training
Crystal
Software Premium Support
More: Listen
to Your Customers
Occasionally you will stumble across customers
who have requests or expectations that are simply
unreasonable or not feasible. Deal with these
customers in a skillful professional way, and
preserve your business reputation.
Related Articles:
How to Conduct
an Effective Beta Test
How to
Offer Paid Support Options
How
to Reproduce Customer Problems
How to Support
Software
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Developer
101
How to Deal with Support Issues