Outsourcing Your Customer Support
theWHIR.com on December 19, 2004
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Reference | in Reseller Hosting Guides,thus | by theWHIR.com
Technical support must be a top priority for any serious Web host reseller.rnConsumers, especially individuals and small businesses expect timely andrninformative customer support. Noting that the majority of a reseller’srnclients come from this constituency, support must be a central tenant of arnvendor’s offerings. Unfortunately, because most hosting resale operationsrnare small, often resellers cannot effectively deal with incoming supportrnrequests. The result is usually an unsatisfied client base that does notrnobtain timely responses to their support inquiries.rnrnCustomer churn occurs when customers cannot obtain a desired level ofrntechnical support. It is thus incumbent upon the reseller to establishrneffective and efficient means of providing technical support to theirrnclients in order to satisfy customer expectations. Resellers can obtainrnhigher levels of technical support if they outsource their own supportrninfrastructure. By outsourcing technical support functions, a reseller canrnactually reduce customer costs while improving customer satisfaction.rnrnUtilizing customer support outsourcing services allows a reseller to providerntechnical support without the headaches or capital tenant screening expense of developing,rnstaffing and maintaining an internal help desk. At fast growing Web hostrnreseller businesses, over 50 per cent of all incoming inquiries can bernsupport requests. At the smallest of these Web host operations, theserninquiries can detract from other essential areas of business, such as salesrnand marketing. By outsourcing technical support, a reseller can increasernthe amount of time that they dedicate to the revenue-generating componentsrnof their business.rnrnSophisticated technical support providers now offer expert support solutionsrnthat can actually expand the complexity and breadth of support operations.rnAny basic provider should offer toll-free telephone support and 24-hourrne-mail support inquiries at a minimum. These methods of support inquiriesrnare the most commonplace in the Web hosting industry. An excellent hostingrnprovider however should have the capacity to offer help desk support via faxrnand by instant messaging. All this support should be “private labelled” asrnwell, so that assistance provided to your customers is transparent. Inrnother words, your technical support operator should pick up the phone asrnyou.rnrnAn enhanced technical support provider should also be able to provide highlyrnpersonalized service, keeping detailed call histories on the nature andrnfrequency of support inquiries. Bear in mind that consumers dislike supportrnlines that are overtly generic. Providers should specialize in callrnscreening, routing, logging and tracking, and must be able to escalate callsrnthat meet specific criteria to second tier support specialists or referrncertain calls back to the Web hosting resellers.rnrnProviders should also be able to provide customized activity reporting andrnbill the reseller on a per support request basis. Only on a “per-instance”rnbasis will outsourcing customer support be an affordable proposition to arnsmaller Web host vendor. For this reason, resellers must ensure that theyrnenter into an arrangement with a customer support outsourcer that isrnnegotiable, short-term and is pro-rated based upon call volume.rnrnMost importantly, outsourced technical support must be specifically tailoredrnto your service offerings. Your customers will not be impressed with yourrntechnical support simply because it is responsive. tenant screening Customers must obtainrnrelevant assistance when they call. This can only be achieved if therntechnical support outsourcer has an in-depth understanding of your businessrnoperations.rnrn
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