CRM’s are all alike and customer support is customer support. Right? Well, not exactly.
When shopping for a CRM, most people overlook the area of customer service or customer support. Afterall, every CRM company offers it in some form or another – so why even bring it up?
Well, this is absolutely critical, and I‘ll tell you why.
Have you ever signed up for a CRM because your friend has it and she loves it? It works great for her but you can’t even get to square one with it! That might be because there are just a few things you don’t understand and if you could just get by those small hurdles, you would love it too.
Customer support is the unsung hero in the CRM world and the key to getting your CRM to work for you.
What is normal?
When you look at CRM’s, all will say they have customer support and in fact, all will say they have EXCELLENT customer support. But in reality, customer support is an afterthought for many CRM companies – they really are hoping you can figure things out on your own.
CRM companies will do everything they possibly can to discourage you from interacting with a human. The’ll bury their phone number on their website and constantly tell you:
“Read the Manual!”
“Look at our Knowledge Base!”
“Did you know you can find most answers to your questions on-line?”
In many cases, customer support is just email and you are lucky if you hear back within 24 hours. Then after you have waited a day to get your answer, you find that they didn’t understand your question or they will give you a canned response. Or it is a real person and they do have the answer, but it is the answer to a completely different question!
Some have that irritating chat icon in the lower right corner of your screen with an automated chat bot that is never useful. I always type “human” to try to get to a real person and the chat-bot always tries to convince me that it can answer my questions. They never can.
What is the RIGHT way to provide support?
In the perfect world, here is how your CRM company would be supporting you:
1. An intuitive product to begin with.
2. Multiple support methods.
People learn and absorb information differently. Some like to watch videos, some like to read help articles, some like email best, some like to chat, and some like to pick up the phone and talk with someone…right now!
By providing several different options for the user, you are meeting them right where they are at, right at this moment.
3. Require your support team to become experts on your product.
Users are contacting support because they are stuck and often frustrated. The LAST person they want to talk to is someone who has the same level of knowledge and can’t resolve their issue.
It’s not just enough to have answers. The support team needs to give you the CORRECT answers! Smart CRM companies put senior level staff on the front lines to get the correct answers to the users the first time. When users have a positive experience calling into customer support they tend to give CRM’s more time and more of a chance to shine.
Here is your CRM customer support checklist:
- An intuitive product to begin with
- Written help articles
- Video tutorials
- Chat support
- Email support
- Live telephone support
- A senior support team who can provide the CORRECT answers for you
If you can find this in your CRM company, you are most likely in the right place.
And if you think this is a unicorn that does not exist, pick up your phone right now and call the AllClients Support Team at (888) 903-9933. Ask anything you can think of! I can assure you, you will get the right answer.