Some companies will have both account management and customer support, but either way the customer is usually handed off to another person or group of people once the sale is closed. The sales rep just disappears. While this structure makes complete business sense, I find that it often brings a great deal of frustration to the customer. Why does SAAS customer service suck? Because your sales rep disappeared. Let’s say you, as a “typical customer,” are looking to purchase a multi-thousand dollar ‘software as a service’ solution for your company. Let’s even say it’s a web conferencing software. You shop around and talk to several different companies and several different reps. All of whom are very helpful and accommodating. You tell each sales rep your goals and objectives for said software and they explain to you how their web conferencing product can help you meet your objectives. You decide on a solution you feel is perfect for your needs. You can tell this sales rep really understands your business and knows how his product can help your business grow. You’re excited to ramp up training and integrate the product. You receive a link and log in access to your new service along with a link to the tutorial section of their website. “Thanks! Here is all you need to get started. We really appreciate your business! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.” Once you get started, you find that you don’t understand how to get this software to do the things your rep said it would. You contact him and he kindly tells you to call a 1-800 number for assistance. You find yourself talking to a nice customer service rep, who has no idea who you are, why you bought the product or what your sales rep promised. Here, you start the whole process over, telling your new friend about your business, your goals, and what you need their product to do. Let’s give you one better and say this software company has account managers. You contact the sales rep because a few months down the road you need to re-tool your configuration. He tells you Cindy, your account manager, can help you with that. You call Cindy, who looks up your account information, and you discover she doesn’t know anything about you. All you are is a name and a number on her computer screen. You find yourself going through the same process you went through with the sales rep. Instead of a quick phone call to retool with a knowledgeable partner, you have to start over with Cindy. You have to explain your business, how you are currently using the product and what your goals are all over again. So how do you feel? A bit stranded? Frustrated? You certainly don’t feel happy. We certainly hope you can have both. But if I had to pick one, I would say happier customers equals success. After all, if your customers are happy, you’ll find yourself with more customers. If you want to have happier customers, you have to limit their frustrations. I have found two surefire whys to limit this particular frustration. The first option is to have a consistent point of contact for each customer from the beginning of the sales process throughout their relationship with the company. That point of contact is the sales rep with a support team who knows his or her clients. This is how we handle customer service at Teamings. If you have a problem with your conferencing software or just want to ask some questions, you simply call the person who sold it to you. He’ll help you or find someone to help you and you won’t have to explain who you are or what your goals are. They’ll already know. This works really well for us and for our customers. Another option is to facilitate better handoffs. A few big software companies do this well but most don’t. Often times sales-to-account manager transitions take place electronically. The sale closes and a manager is digitally assigned, without any verbal communication between the sales rep and the new account manager. At most, the account manager will find a few notations on the file to distinguish your account from any other. What should happen, in every case, is a formal phone call between the sales rep, the account manager and the customer. The sales rep should introduce and explain the account, go over business goals and explain how the customer intends to use the product. In this way, the customer is gently and expertly transitioned to account management, not thrown into the pot. Have you ever felt stranded by your conferencing software sales rep? The structure of many large corporations require sales staff to churn and burn through their prospects. Customers are tossed from person to person until they feel like their so-called “solution” is actually working against them. This type of corporate culture frustrates the customer and, in our minds, isn’t the best way to run a successful business. Customers shouldn’t have to start over every time they contact their vendor. Either a consistent point of contact or better sales to account management transitions will go a long way to limit this common frustration. If you sales rep has disappeared, you could always pressure them into being your advocate. An easier option is to find a company that understands that each client needs their own advocate within the company. Find a company that offers the products and services you need along with the account management you deserve. Teamings Productivity Officers won’t disappear on you. Find out how our services and products can help you meet your objectives, click or call 866.287.9040.
Typically, when software companies scale it’s in a company’s best interest for them to sell a ton of product. More sales, after all, equals growth. They usually accomplish this, in part, by having a sales team that focuses on getting new business and an account management team that focuses on current customers. Sometimes software companies won’t even have account management, but generic customer service/support teams that assist customers when they have issues.The customer’s point of view
What equals success? More Customers or happier customers?
Are you feeling stranded?
