How Customer Support Teams Can Drive Revenue Without Being Slimy
Customer support teams operating as cost centers is a thing of the past. Find out how industry-leading companies like Shopify, Help Scout, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt think about support as a revenue generator.
At the 2018 Support Driven Leadership Summit in Boston, I moderated a panel focused on how industry-leading companies empower their customer support teams to drive revenue – in a non-slimy way. I sat down with Ashley Fielding, Senior Customer Support Team Lead at Shopify, Mo McKibbin, Customer Champion at Help Scout, and Jason Collette, Senior Director - Field Technical Services at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) to discuss how their organizations approach customer support.
Shopify, Help Scout, and HMH all know the importance of providing a positive customer experience (CX), and recognize that best-in-class experiences drive customer loyalty and revenue. Ashley, Mo, and Jason spoke about what makes their respective approaches to support stand out: they all emphasized the importance of coaching customer support reps to approach every customer interaction through the lens of helping that account reach the next step in the customer journey.
“We employ a support-driven growth model to shift the perception of customer support from cost center to critical revenue driver. We use a “yes and” tactic that we stole from improv. So, yes we’re answering your question, and here’s the next contextual step for your customer journey. That could be upsell or product adoption. It’s not just about where the customer is, but where they should be and where they should go next.” – Mo McKibbin, Customer Champion at Help Scout
Watch a recording of the panel below to find out how Shopify, Help Scout, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are rethinking customer support in an effort to drive revenue and fuel customer success.
For more insight into how Shopify empowers its customer support team to drive revenue, check out ourcase study video.
At the 2018 Support Driven Leadership Summit in Boston, I moderated a panel focused on how industry-leading companies empower their customer support teams to drive revenue – in a non-slimy way. I sat down with Ashley Fielding, Senior Customer Support Team Lead at Shopify, Mo McKibbin, Customer Champion at Help Scout, and Jason Collette, Senior Director - Field Technical Services at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) to discuss how their organizations approach customer support.
Shopify, Help Scout, and HMH all know the importance of providing a positive customer experience (CX), and recognize that best-in-class experiences drive customer loyalty and revenue. Ashley, Mo, and Jason spoke about what makes their respective approaches to support stand out: they all emphasized the importance of coaching customer support reps to approach every customer interaction through the lens of helping that account reach the next step in the customer journey.
“We employ a support-driven growth model to shift the perception of customer support from cost center to critical revenue driver. We use a “yes and” tactic that we stole from improv. So, yes we’re answering your question, and here’s the next contextual step for your customer journey. That could be upsell or product adoption. It’s not just about where the customer is, but where they should be and where they should go next.” – Mo McKibbin, Customer Champion at Help Scout
Watch a recording of the panel below to find out how Shopify, Help Scout, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are rethinking customer support in an effort to drive revenue and fuel customer success.
For more insight into how Shopify empowers its customer support team to drive revenue, check out ourcase study video.
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