5 surefire ways for tech support to make customers drop like flies

Computer monitor with headsetI have a confession to make… I am extremely harsh when it comes to customer support. I’ve spent quite a while being a tech support engineer, I know how much it matters in building a great relationship with customers. So when I make my decisions about certain products or services, the quality of tech support backing them up is extremely important.  Why? It is simple. Anything can crash. No one should look for guarantees they will have no problems, they should make sure they will have help solving them when they appear. And based on my fare share of customer support talks, chats, email exchanges, I thought I’d make a top of the best ways to drive customers away.

1. Don’t pick up when they call

Definitely, this is the fastest and never dethroned method to make sure your customers will switch you for any of your competitors quicker then lightning.

2. Ignore the problems!

Have your customers report the same problem a few times and then make sure you constantly ignore it when you reply. This is bound to drive them nuts! So you’ll have a lot less of them to worry about!

3. Be nice, but completely unhelpful!

Make sure you explain in the nicest manner out there that nothing of what the customer needs will ever be possible. Remember, smile and keep being inflexible and unwilling to adapt or change! That should scare them off!

4. Don’t get your message straight before sending it!

Confuse them and then rule them all! The moment they get  a bit upset, send them a quick email promising something, to then have it contradicted by another representative of your company.

5. Be completely inconsiderate when it comes to their needs or issues

When you make major changes that affect the way their business works, don’t ever ask them if they’re OK with it! Just go ahead and if it’s in the middle of the week, even better!

What would you add to the top? I’m curious to find out what your experiences have been.

Need to increase the satisfaction and loyalty of your customers and turn them into evangelists through effective communication? Our marketing and PR agency can help!

Popularity: 1% [?]

6 Tweets 4 Other Comments

This post has 10 comments

  • Ovidiu

    Alina, I completely agree! (maybe because I was a tech support engineer at the same company as you :D ).
    Ovidiu´s last blog ..Invitație la întâlnirea RLUG Decembrie ‘09 My ComLuv Profile

  • Anthony Licari

    Okay, so I worked in the front end for one of the major cell carriers over the past year and a half. Naturally we would try to handle all issues we could before getting on the phone with tech support. The problem with tech support is that you want your support to be as cheap as possible and provide the best possible service for that low cost. It’s a numbers game really of balancing load time, quality, and cost.

    Because they’re human sometimes when I would call in they might be having a bad day. Maybe they didn’t get their pay check on time, maybe they haven’t had a cigarette break recently… I don’t know.

    Sometimes they were incredibly helpful, staying on the line for hours to solve a problem. I think the best way to keep the load off of the tech support people is to have your front end sales/staff be as knowledgeable as possible and able to troubleshoot anything that might arise. As well as providing as much information as you can for your clients before they ever pick up the phone.
    Anthony Licari´s last blog ..Does Your Twitter Look Like Spam? Try Interesting Interaction. My ComLuv Profile

  • Alina Popescu

    Anthony, thank you so much for your input! You are right, when it comes to customer support, there are always a few tiers. And the problem is transferred to superior support tiers if the fist ones can’t handle it. That is not a problem, it’s normal and indeed, each tier needs to know their part of the troubleshooting process well enough, so that they can control the load that gets to the superior tiers. Usually, when an issue gets to the last tier of support, it is tricky enough that it takes an hour just to be analyzed properly, while the front end issues take a couple of minutes to figure out…

    However, each tier needs a certain set of soft skills and to follow a certain procedures to make sure they don’t drive customers nuts. The customer should not have to wonder if they were angry or got their paycheck. The customer has paid for his end of the deal.

    I know there is a high pressure to have round the clock support, different channels of communications (phone, email, chat, etc), but if you do offer one means of getting support, the high quality of service should be part of it. Especially when it’s email we’re talking about and you take 24 hours to reply :)

  • alina_popescu

    5 surefire ways for tech support to make customers drop like flies http://bit.ly/8oG2nZ What would you add to the list?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • Blogsessive

    RT @alina_popescu: 5 surefire ways for tech support to make customers drop like flies http://bit.ly/8oG2nZ What would you add to the list?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • alina_popescu

    Top mistakes in customer support or how to make customers drop like flies http://bit.ly/8oG2nZ

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • gacconsultants

    RT @alina_popescu: Top mistakes in customer support or how to make customers drop like flies http://bit.ly/8oG2nZ

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • bradshorr

    RT @tweetmeme 5 surefire ways for tech support to make customers drop like flies http://bit.ly/6OEFvd

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • danrippon

    @bradshorr Sadly, I see a lot of customer service that thinks this IS the way to go: http://bit.ly/652A0j

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

Add a comment




CommentLuv Enabled

Additional comments powered by BackType