Redundancy is inevitable in the customer support business. Depending on how capable your helpdesk app is, the burden might lighten a bit. This is more felt when you are in a voice process. There are just so many scripts to run through each and every call. The welcome script, hold script, escalation script, closing script – the list goes on.
There is a fair chance the calls are all going to be the same as time goes by. With time and experience there won’t be many unique cases for you to solve on a daily basis. Same issues, same scripts and same solutions; it’s an occupational hazard. Add repeating the same resolution steps to a customer multiple times in the same conversation, you’ll get a frustrated support agent in the mix!
I’ve had my share of helping people find the start menu or the backslash over and over again. In most cases, multiple times in the same call. It sure gets on the nerves and the temptation to crack a funny one about the ignorance of the customer is hard to resist. But, the reality is, nine times out of ten, this isn’t intentional.
Nobody does it on purpose. Hearing problems, age, education, faulty phone line – there could be so many reasons for a customer to ask the same thing over and over again. There are two ways to get through this situation without infuriating the customer.
Say it Again
Bite the bullet and keep repeating the same steps till the issue gets resolved. It’s monotonous and not the perfect way of doing things, but gets the job done all the time. If metrics like number of calls handled per day, the resolution time etc. matters a lot, this is the simple and dirty way of getting things done. The customer probably won’t learn much in the process, but if the issue is resolved both of you will be happy.
Educate the Customer
Take the time to explain the customer why you are asking him to do each and every step. Instead of telling click on something, explaining why he should actually click on this particular button or menu in the first place will make a lot of difference. A quick rundown of the steps involved to get the issue fixed would help a lot a too.
If the situation to rehash the whole thing again arises, engage the customer by asking him if could recollect any of the steps from before. Fill in the gaps in his account and walk him through the resolution steps again. This time around, ask him if he remembers what he should be doing next.
This is a time consuming exercise. But, if done properly, you’ll end up reducing the support query volume from customers. Do this as many times as possible with good amount of patience and empathy sprinkled in and there is no way your customers are gonna be unhappy ever again!
Now, tell me which one is a better technique from your standpoint?
