For any business that is looking to create and maintain a valid market share in the modern business landscape, reputation is everything. With all of the choices that the modern customer has, any infraction or sin against them will be immediately punished.
Technical support is more important in some industries than in others, but it is definitely important for all businesses to have. Here are some of the top reasons that you should have a technical support specialist on your payroll.
First, a technical support employee can be quantified.
Many people believe that tech support is beyond their resources. However, using stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can easily determine how large of a tech support system that you can afford.
According to the BLS, the average support specialist makes around $48,900 per year. Using this figure as an average, you can determine the amount of value that each added employee will give back to your company as opposed to the cost of each.
Second, technical support is essential if you want to create good public relations with your current customer base.
We talked with Critical Networking about this subject and they said, “No matter how good your business or your product, there will always be a certain percentage of your products that do not work for customers who need help. Having a technical support system for those people will go a long way in creating goodwill between your company and the public – the beginnings of a reputation.”
Bad news travels much faster than good news in all circles. If your customers are having trouble with the product and you do not have the wherewithal or the manpower to answer them, then they may put up a bad review of your business on a site like Yelp. Because of the reach of these new review websites, this can lose you business that you did not even know that you had.
Third, a technical support division or employee can go a long way in assessing which of your products is working with your audience.
Your technical support team does not have to be a passive part of your business. Every time that someone calls them, you can gather information from them through your technical support team while you help them.
The most successful businesses are always surveying their audience for satisfaction. Many of these surveys are done during technical support calls. After the technical support is done, the employee is usually trained to up sell another product or transfer the customer to another division that can further the relationship between the customer and the business. This can only be done if the customer feels taking care of with his or her current problems.
Fourth, having a technical support team establishes a consistency of workflow practices.
It is essential to create the most efficient workflow that you can in the office. Technical support will take the pressure off of your sales team and allow them to focus on outgoing calls rather than on calls that are incoming. You will be able to allow your other team members to specialize as well. If you do not have a dedicated technical support team, you’ll quickly find that all of your employees will soon be turned into technical support by unhappy customers.
Fifth, you will reduce your marketing costs.
Part of the value that a technical support team brings to your company is a reduction in company expenses. If you do not have to spend money covering bad PR or trying to reduce the number of bad reviews online, then you have more of a budget to spend on positive things.
