The Culture of Outstanding Support
Audrey Dotson

What do these companies
have in common?

“It can take 30+ years to build a
brand and just a handful of poor
customer experiences to
destroy it.”

“You‘ve got to start with the
customer experience and work
backwards to the technology.”
Steve Jobs - Co-founder of Apple

“I would define Amazon by our big ideas,
customer centricity, putting the customer
at the center of everything we do.”
Jeff Bezos - CEO and Founder of
Amazon.com

"In the early days we never tried to be the
neighborhood store," says a former employee.
They didn't have to: Trader Joe's was the
neighborhood store.

“A businessman once said, ‘A business
succeeds not because it is long
established or because it is big, but
because there are men and women in it
who live it, sleep it, dream it, and build
great future plans for it.’”
– J.W. Marriott

How did these companies succeed?
Especially when we shifted from this… to this.

1. Find out what they want
first.
2. Make yourself physically
available, however your
customers need it.
Core elements for creating a super
successful support culture

Hug Your Customers
3. Treat customers like
royalty, even pets
and children.
4. Keep every part of
your business in the
same building the
customers visit.

Hug Your Customers
5. Provide your employees
with a data system that
helps them find what they
need and helps them serve
customers better.

Hug Your Customers

Hug Your Customers

Hug Your Customers
6. Design your hugging culture to be recession proof.

How does the customer experience
journey look today?

How does the customer experience
journey look today?

The Thank You Economy
1. Social media brings old-fashioned
values back into business.
2. A successful business aims for the
customers heart and builds trusting
relationships.

The Thank You Economy

The Thank You Economy
3. Don’t reject
social media as
unreliable or
unimportant, or
you will lose
customers,
perhaps even
miss out on
getting new
ones.

The Thank You Economy
4. You can’t manage social media like traditional media. It
follows different rules, but you should use both.

The Thank You Economy
5. A caring culture starts form the top of the company.

The ICARE Concept
I – Ideal service
C – Culture
A – Attentiveness
R – Responsiveness
E – Empowerment

The ICARE Concept
I – Ideal service:
Define what makes
ideal service and
work hard on
achieving that. Try to
exceed expectations.

The ICARE Concept
C – Culture: Make
sure ALL your
staff reflect your
culture, not just
one or two. This
includes your
values, goals,
tone and company
personality.

The ICARE Concept
A – Attentiveness: Know the person you are talking
to well, or try to find out who they are, what they
do and tailor your conversation.

The ICARE Concept
R – Responsiveness: Ask the right questions so
customers feel understood. Empathy is extremely
important to solve problems and help.

The ICARE Concept
E – Empowerment:
Support staff should be
able to innovate and
come up with solutions
for customers.
Empowering them in
this way also makes
them feel more valued.

Things to Say and Not Say
First… Just listen.
1) Listening is key to
initiating progress and
overcoming resistance.

Things to Say and Not Say
2) We feel positive emotions when our emotions are
mirrored back to us.

Things to Say and Not Say
3) Listening relies
on the rational,
not emotional or
instinctual, part of
the brain.

Things to Say and Not Say
4) Online support, or any support mainly through chat, hinders
the ability to show empathy, but this is where the right
questions come into play.

From the Vbout Support Bible

What to say and what not to say
First interaction:
1. Hello [name], I’m
happy to look into
that for you.
2. Ask for some time to
look into it, and
estimate the amount
if you can.

What to say and what not to say
3. If it’s taking too long,
check in and say
something like:
“Apologies this is
taking a bit longer, we
are actively looking
into it. I will keep
come back in 5
minutes with and
update.”

What to say and what not to say
4. Never blame the
client, be careful of
your wording when
you ask what
happened. Try this
question, “What
was the last action
you took on this?”

What to say and what not to say
5. If a client is lost or disorganized, try to guide them in a
patient way. Try saying: “Let’s tackle these one by one…”
and explain each clearly and calmly.

What to say and what not to say
After the issue has
been resolved:
1. Ask the client to
“CHECK” from their
side. Never use the
word “TEST” with a
client.

What to say and what not to say
2. Never Say: I’m not
sure, I think it’s fine,
I don’t know, and so
on. Say things like:
the issue has been
resolved by our
team, please let us
know if you need
anything else or have
more questions.

What to say and what not to say
3. Always remember to thank them for being a customer. This is
your last chance to leave a good impression.

Do’s and Don’ts
SELF-CONTROL:
Never take a client response
personal. Your job is to try
and assure them that you
are on their side and that
you will do your best and
beyond to help them out.

Do’s and Don’ts
CONFIDENCE:
Never make it seem
that you do not know
what you are doing. You
don’t want to put doubt
in the customer’s mind
affect their relationship
with the brand.

Do’s and Don’ts
MASTERING GRAMMAR:
When strictly
communicating with text,
you must master typing and
avoid grammar issues at all
times. Install grammarly
app on your browser to
highlight any grammar
errors.

Do’s and Don’ts
WORDS NOT TO USE:
Like marketing and sales, customer support needs to avoid
negative words that trigger negative emotions. Like: You’re wrong,
couldn’t you, already answered, busy, hate, not good, bad, sad,
stop, nope, can’t do, unhappy, depressed, stressed, done working.

Do’s and Don’ts
EFFORTLESS SUPPORT:
Make the whole experience for the customer simple, super
responsive, helpful, positive. Have their back at any time, no
matter how big or small the client. Your investment is the
impact on your brand, not their total spend.

1. Outstanding support starts from the top down.
2. Care for your employees, and they will take care of your customers.
3. Do not underestimate social media as a customer service tool – it is
an opportunity to offer individualized attention.
4. Hug your customers and treat them all like VIPs.
5. Above all else – LISTEN. Show empathy, understanding and connect
emotionally to find common ground.
6. Digital communication has de-humanized customer support, but
has also provided opportunities to use data to improve
personalization.
7. Your support is your brand, use the same high level attention to
your communication as you would sales or marketing.
Conclusion

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