Key points for creating an effective work of support team

Any team needs to organize their activities. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a group of students, a startup team as a whole, or a support team in this startup itself.

We have gathered the experience of different teams, added our vision, and offer to think about how to organize a support service at a high level.

Live chat

The LiveChat provides 24/7/365 support. Depending on the expected number of calls, managers vary the number of people per shift.

The team sits in one of the largest rooms and works together, not remotely. Although in some cases, employees may work from home. For example, during the holidays. However, working in one room stimulates communication – it is much easier to explain to someone the question if he is sitting next to you.

Collaboration has a big impact on how support shifts are organized. To make sure that everyone has the opportunity to work with each member of the support team, as well as with other members of the company, operators are constantly changing. They do not have separate “day” and “night” employees: if the operator worked on the night shift, next week he will work during the day. Thus, everyone knows each other, a team spirit is formed, and at the same time, support remains 24/7/365.

Sharing agents based on the expected number of requests can also be an interesting idea to try. Implementing this is not so difficult if you focus on the analytics of the support work (in particular, downloading by days and hours).

Working in the same room strengthens team spirit and helps to cope with complex requests more quickly.

Regulations

The model “follow the sun”, which is widespread recently in the business world, is the organization of a global workflow in which issues can be processed and transmitted between offices in different time zones, thereby reducing response time.

This model was designed so that companies can serve customers around the clock, literally following the sun around the world. If the sun shines over the region, be it San Francisco, Paris, Hong Kong, or Sydney, there is business going on. This means that customer requests arrive quickly and often – and the company must meet this requirement.

It used to be that this approach was only applicable to large companies that have the resources to open and maintain several offices around the world. Follow-the-sun support is just a way to meet customer needs, regardless of time and location, and it’s real, including for small and medium-sized businesses. There are various ways to provide such support.

Firstly, several key questions must be answered before you transgress:

How big is your team?

Where are your customers located?

When do their requests come?

Do you use mobile apps?

You can answer most of these questions if you look at the statistics of the operators in the chat.

How well do you know your customers?

Are your customers happy? Understanding customers may take some time, but it will provide valuable information that can be used to improve your business, as well as increase customer loyalty.

To be a customer-oriented company, it is important to allow customers to express their thoughts and opinions. It’s even more important to listen to your customer’s needs and satisfy them. Online communities, surveys, and information gathering are three ways to get to know your customers.

How well do you meet the needs of your customers?

As soon as you recognize your customers, you can better serve them and, as a result, improve your business. Active interaction with customers strengthens relationships and is, in fact, the best way to support users. You can find out what is important to your customers and what you can do to help them cope with their difficulties. Greet customers, offer help before they ask, and anticipate their expectations.