When you’re running a service-oriented business, your “product” is often the customer experience. How often do you ask yourself how happy your customers are with your work? Does your team respond to issues quickly? Are you proactive about support?
All it takes is one bad experience for a customer to seek out your competition, which means keeping customers consistently happy with the experience of working with you is a vital part of your business.
Did you know it takes 12 positive customer interactions to make up for one bad one? Even so, it’s often that MSP businesses don’t even get that chance. Over 90% of customers unhappy with a business because of a single bad experience will end their relationship with them.
It’s not unusual to get “silo thinking” when running an IT business. Everyone is busy and working to keep tickets handled, devices monitored, and customers coming in the door. But having blinders on when it comes to the customer perspective can mean you miss some of their common pet peeves. Some of which you may not realize could be causing lost business.
Knowing what some of the biggest pet peeves are for MSP customers can help you avoid them and stay a step ahead of the competition. You can also address them in your marketing to make your company stand out. For example, “Hate having to explain your issue to a different person each time? We assign you one dedicated point of contact to handle all your needs.”
Outlined below are some of the most common customer pet peeves when it comes to IT services.
Having to Explain an Issue Several Times to Different People
One common annoyance many people have when calling for support is having to explain their issue several times to different people. They initially go through the problem description with whoever answered the phone, then they get transferred to someone else, and have to go through the whole explanation again. Furthermore, this can happen several times in a given day, week, etc.
It’s important to have a system in place that mitigates the need to “bounce people around” to different technicians. Having a dedicated representative can solve the issue for existing customers. For new ones, it’s important to have knowledgeable team members manning your customer support line.
The Need to Ask for Something That Should’ve Been Handled Proactively
There are a lot of moving parts to keep a customer’s technology up and running efficiently. This includes proactive maintenance, cybersecurity assessments, and anticipating customer needs. When MSPs don’t do this, and customers must call to ask why an important patch hasn’t been installed yet, it can lead to clients jumping ship.
Using one fluid system that connects the RMM part of your managed support to the customer part (PSA)allows you to better automate processes and notifications to clients that a particular activity either has occurred or is coming up on a certain date.
The more you can automate both management and customer communications, the easier it is to stay proactively on top of a client’s technology systems.
Slow Response Time to a Sales or Support Question
One of the biggest pet peeves customers have with IT businesses is a slow response time. When someone is either looking for someone to repair their computer or has a server down and is calling for help, time is of the essence. Just 20 minutes can seem like an hour when systems are down, and expert assistance is needed.
82% of consumers expect an “immediate” response (which a majority describe as 10 minutes or less) when they contact a business for sales or support. Not all customers are going to call you, some will use email, Facebook Messenger, or another means to reach out.
If you’re slow on a sales inquiry, it can mean that sale goes to another local MSP in your area. Slow response on a support ticket one too many times can lead to a lost account.
Speeding up your response times is worth the additional staffing you may need. A 5% increase in customer retention rate equates to a 25% increase in profits.
Automations, such as internal ticket alerts, can help your reps stay on top of new tickets and get back to customers promptly.
Unpleasant Customer Support Interactions
Nothing can put a customer in a bad mood faster than a seemingly indifferent IT support representative. Often, people are already frazzled or frustrated by a tech issue when they call you, so a rep’s job should be to ease the customer’s frustration and assure them that your team can help.
Well-trained representatives will understand the importance of always being friendly and positive, even in the face of a difficult customer call. Your hiring practices and customer representative training program will come into play here. It’s important to have both the right people connecting directly with customers and those that are knowledgeable and well trained.
Looking for Ways to Automate for Better Customer Service?
Syncro makes it easier for an MSP to be proactive about customer support and communicate fluidly with clients. Through smart automations that connect your remote management with customer support activities, you can offer stellar customer service.