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How do you implement such amazing perk for customer support team in a bootstrap startup where cash and people is a limited resource, but your customers need sup

by kull 7y ago

How do you implement such amazing perk for customer support team in a bootstrap startup where cash and people is a limited resource, but your customers need support at least during the office hours? I guess I should not dream about it now , as such experiments work only for companies with a lot of money or departments which do not need their work to be done in a specific time during a day?

ChuckNorris89 7y ago
Well, like you said, only top companies can afford such perks and so competition to work there will be fierce.
Youden 7y ago
You can stagger the weekend so that everybody gets the extra day but not always the same day.
geofft 7y ago
In any support organization I've worked in (including software teams with support responsibilities, software teams with escalation responsibilities, etc.), a given customer question doesn't necessarily get a good answer on the same day. The SME might be out sick, there might be an incident distracting everyone, the problem might be genuinely hard and require research/experimentation, etc. Even if you have a 24h SLA it's usually 24h to a response saying "We're looking into it but check out the FAQ", not to a resolution. And this gets more likely the smaller your team is. So invest in better FAQs and diagnosis tools and in procedures to reduce incidents, instead of trying to throw more bodies at the problem, because you don't have more bodies. Customers will be happier about getting actual answers sooner than they otherwise would. This isn't a perk, any more than weekends or healthcare or market compensation is a "perk." It's an investment in getting better results for your business and for your customers, through making sure you have healthy and productive employees.
aries1980 7y ago
> customers need support at least during the office No, they don't. You are bootstrapping. Your customer doesn't even rely their business on your solution. Even large companies doesn't do support. Who do you call if your Windows is crashing? What if there is a power outage, do you call your provider asap? Exactly. Customers are used to what you let them to use to. They need to be sure you are aware of the outage before they notice it. You know you are doing a good job if they don't have to contact you.

by kull 7y ago

ChuckNorris89 7y ago

Well, like you said, only top companies can afford such perks and so competition to work there will be fierce.

Youden 7y ago

You can stagger the weekend so that everybody gets the extra day but not always the same day.

geofft 7y ago

In any support organization I've worked in (including software teams with support responsibilities, software teams with escalation responsibilities, etc.), a given customer question doesn't necessarily get a good answer on the same day. The SME might be out sick, there might be an incident distracting everyone, the problem might be genuinely hard and require research/experimentation, etc. Even if you have a 24h SLA it's usually 24h to a response saying "We're looking into it but check out the FAQ", not to a resolution. And this gets more likely the smaller your team is. So invest in better FAQs and diagnosis tools and in procedures to reduce incidents, instead of trying to throw more bodies at the problem, because you don't have more bodies. Customers will be happier about getting actual answers sooner than they otherwise would. This isn't a perk, any more than weekends or healthcare or market compensation is a "perk." It's an investment in getting better results for your business and for your customers, through making sure you have healthy and productive employees.

aries1980 7y ago

> customers need support at least during the office No, they don't. You are bootstrapping. Your customer doesn't even rely their business on your solution. Even large companies doesn't do support. Who do you call if your Windows is crashing? What if there is a power outage, do you call your provider asap? Exactly. Customers are used to what you let them to use to. They need to be sure you are aware of the outage before they notice it. You know you are doing a good job if they don't have to contact you.