3 reasons why every CEO should do their own customer support
By Girish Mathrubootham, thenextweb.com, 04-05-2014
Girish Mathrubootham is the CEO of Freshdesk, a SaaS based customer support software.
Girish Mathrubootham is the CEO of Freshdesk, a SaaS based customer support software.
Some may know me as the CEO of Freshdesk, but I like to introduce myself as a Support Guy who went on to become a CEO.
Thirteen years ago, I started my career
as a pre-sales engineer offering support to complex tech projects. A few
years later, I became a Product Manager and directly oversaw the
customer support and pre-sales teams for several years before deciding
to launch Freshdesk.
Today, our company has over 18,000
customers. Because we offer free support, our agents deal with more than
500 queries a day across email, Facebook, Twitter, chat and phone. I
often jump on our helpdesk to respond to questions, and I sometimes get
on calls with our users to help them with issues.
As the guy running the show at a customer
support company, this shouldn’t surprise you at all. Our business is
helping brands deliver great support, and we try to do a good job at it
ourselves. In fact, being consistently involved in our own support
process has helped us improve quality standards and identify
opportunities that add value to our core business.
1. No matter who you are, you’re in the business of customer support
It doesn’t matter whether you sell
software, cell phones or blenders: to win and keep customers, you can’t
get away with providing average support. And by actually sitting on the
helpdesk, you can gain insight on your business.
In my opinion, the most exciting time for
a CEO to be on support is when he or she still runs a startup. At that
point, a CEO has a handful of early adopters and they’re already dying
to give feedback. If you talk to them, you’ll get an idea of what
features wow them and what they really care about.
Along the way, they’ll open up to you
about their biggest pain points and share what they’re willing to pay
for. This information is pure gold when you are trying to find a
product-market fit.
Once you’ve crossed that chasm and
decided what works for your business, talking to your users will help
you figure out what’s stopping them from adopting your product.
It will also help you shape your roadmap
in the short-term. The bugs that need your attention right away, the
functionalities you need to be building, and the kinks you need to iron
out to improve the user experience will all become abundantly clear.
2. If you aren’t listening, you’ll never know what they need
Being the CEO usually means you have to
focus on the big picture – raising capital, hiring top talent and
building a great product. Hence, there is a real possibility that you
will lose sight of what your customers truly care about.
Let’s say you are building your grand
vision – perhaps an integration with Google Glass, or a leap forward
with the Internet of Things. It is an innovation and may take your
product to great places.
But stop to consider that this might not be what your customers want.
There may be telltale signs in your support desk that they’re facing
crucial problems with core functions (clumsy search, poor cell
reception, or features that are broken), and if you’re not paying
attention, you may end up building the wrong things.
Use the support desk to inform, challenge
and fine tune your vision so that you actually build products and
features that people want.
3. A support rep can only go so far
Your support team can be top notch, but
there will be a marked difference between how you approach a customer
query versus how your service rep does. As the CEO, you have the ability
to understand process problems and fix them, but a support rep can only go so far.
Between keeping up with response times
and scoring a happy satisfaction rating, agents often lack the
visibility in an organization to step back and fix bigger process
problems.
When employees see their CEO on support,
they recognize the importance of customer service and see why keeping
your customers satisfied isn’t enough anymore. Employees begin seeing
customer service as more than just a menial job. When you join them on
the front line, they see that it’s absolutely essential for them to go
above and beyond the call of duty to make each customer happy.
That’s why you should get on your support
desk right away. If you run a startup, don’t lose sight of why you
started your business, and don’t lose your connection with the customers
who have helped make your vision a reality. Instead, learn firsthand
from your customers how your entire organization—developers, marketers
and service reps alike—can better serve them. >>>
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