An under-rated competency, which should be considered more important to software and technology companies, is customer service. I guess that’s only natural; tech companies are very focused on gaining strategic advantage via technological advances and product differentiation. Once the product is in good shape, companies shift there focus, and become hell bent on marketing and sales activities to attract new customers.

But what about taking care of existing customers?  And how about the operational details of what happens when someone—be it a prospect, new customer or existing customer—contacts the company for assistance? I find these are areas that software and tech companies aren’t “naturally good at”. It’s not part of the DNA of most tech companies. Very seldom will you see a founder or CEO who came up on the support, or customer service side of the tech business.

Because of this, customer support is quite often an afterthought, a detail that senior management never seems to have time to get to—as they struggle with the issues that are viewed as strategic: product development, marketing and sales.

Now I won’t pretend to espouse that if you have good customer service and support, all is good, you’re going to be successful. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, building great products and marketing them effectively is still of critical importance to growing a tech company. But I have seen many companies with otherwise good products and market penetration techniques, who mess it up big-time in the customer service area. Below are some of the ways to waste all of the hard work you’ve put into acquiring hot prospects and new customers:

Unfriendly User Interfaces
This doesn’t seem to fit in the category of “customer service”, and technically it doesn’t. But bad user interfaces are a primary reason that your customer service organization becomes overwhelmed. So put extra work into getting your interface right—you will benefit greatly, through less “negative call” volume, and resulting strain on customer support.

Viewing Customer Support only as a cost center
Customer service and support is viewed almost universally as a cost center. I will admit that I viewed it that way when I was managing a P&L.; With this view, it is very easy to put Support first in line, when you need to cut money out of next year’s budget. Beware of doing this too often. Excellent customer support leaves a lasting impression with clients—and bad customer support leaves an even BIGGER impression. I have had money with Fidelity Investments for years, and this long term relationship is due in great part to their consistently excellent support. I also have an account with ETrade, whom I am intrigued with due to their innovation business practices. But if you actually need to speak with a real person at ETrade—oh boy, can it be painful. So the bulk of my money remains with Fidelity. Dell Computer is a company that I believe is jeopardizing their historically dominant position lately, via reduced support quality. They will no longer support the software that comes on their computers—just the hardware. And even a basic hardware warranty costs extra. I understand the concepts of unbundling and customer choice, but I find this extreme. And unfortunately personal computers are just pieces of metal; they are complex hardware/software systems. Supporting software really isn’t optional, if you want a good user experience. Dell has also taken their Call Centers overseas to save money. While it’s still possible to get an excellent support rep on the line from their faraway call center, it’s become quite spotty, and you more frequently get someone that can’t help at all. I’m sure some operations VP received big bonuses for reducing support costs through these, and other steps for Dell. The cost savings no doubt look huge. But is the true cost in reduced sales, and fleeing of long-time customers (like me!)? This reduction is sales is not as obvious as the direct cost savings, but no less real—and probably more important to the business in the long run.

Voice Mail Hell
This is my pet peeve and the pet peeve of many other people as well. I’m a tech guy, and love the application of leading edge technologies to reduce labor costs. But enough, already! A number of otherwise good companies have taken automated voice mail attendants way too far. They make you feel like a mouse in a 6 square mile maze. Companies need to remember that when you pick up the phone to call, it’s with the intention to TALK TO SOMEBODY. Using technology to quickly route people to the correct department, or answer simple inquires like directions to the company, is an efficient use of technology for both the company and customer. But making it extremely hard to get through to ANYONE, even after wading through seemingly endless nested menus—is just ridiculous. The only purpose it serves is too alienate your customers and prospects. This is truly the definition of “penny wise, pound foolish”.

Untrained or under-qualified customer and technical support reps
After waiting in voice mail hell, you think it can’t get any worse. But wait. After the one half hour wait, your call is now answered by someone so green, so incompetent or so rude that frustration turns to rage. You are asked to enter your account number on the phone pad. Then the rep answers, and again requests the exact same information. You haven’t reached the right department, of course, so you are transferred to another department, where the rep asks you, yet again, for the exact same information. After this rep finally fills in his or her form (not answering ANY questions until it’s complete), you ask them about your situation, that cries out for an exception to normal company policy. The rep robotically and coldly repeats the company policy—which you already knew. Think someone will want to do business with this company again? Customer and technical support is CRITICAL in the long run. It’s one of the true long term differentiators in the market. Spend a little more to hire and retain good people, train them well, and empower them to actually take care of real world customer issues. It will pay back many times in the future.

Unfriendly Hours of Operation
I’m on the West Coast of the US, so this happens all the time. Try to call customer support in the early afternoon, but the office closes at 5P Eastern Standard Time. This is a particularly important issue for those of you serving consumer markets—many people can’t easily call support lines from work, without putting their employment in jeopardy. In this day of inexpensive, fast communications technology and worldwide commerce, there is no excuse for inconvenient business hours for the markets that you serve.

Predatory Support Costs
This is something that has continually degraded for customers over time. It used to be that technology companies supported their products for free. The economics of competition has, in the long run, made this go the way of the dinosaurs. Many times, this is with good reason. A well-priced maintenance contract, from a B2B software company which provides an 800 number, unlimited supported, and all major and minor updates, can be a really good value. If it is priced at the industry standard 18-20% of product cost, and enables the vender to provide excellent support—that’s great. But what if the support is lousy and it’s priced at 30% of the cost of the product annually? Or how about a consumer software company that is charging $100/hour, without even the benefit of a free 30 day startup window, to troubleshoot their buggy and non-intuitive product? Give me a break! If you want to stand out in today’s market, try providing an intuitive, bug free product, coupled with free or reasonable support (there won’t be many
support calls needed if you do this!). People will beat a path toward your door—and tell every friend they have. This won’t show up in the Controller’s cost control report—but the benefits to your company’s top line will be enormous.

So these are some of the low tech ways to screw up a high tech business. Software and Tech CEOs, keep your eye on the customer service ball. Otherwise, a savvy and opportunistic competitor, with lesser product technology, may take advantage and steal a piece of your market share.

Feel free to add to this discussion—post your own views on how you provide great customer service in the comments below.

Phil Morettini
PJM Consulting
www.pjmconsult.com
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