SSPA Releases New Support Sense Booklet

The new Booklet now available is “Customer Perceptions & Their Effect on Customer Relationships”, by Diana Tuggle, Consultant, Technical Support Solutions. Abstract: How important is a customer's perception of the service they receive? In today's complex support environment, perception is key to retaining customers. Customers from their perceptions of the call center and company based on the professionalism and effectiveness of the company personnel. It is not just what we do that creates the perception, but also what we say and how we say it. When a customer calls a support center they perceive you, the support representative, as being "the company." It doesn't matter to the customer that someone else wrote the software or sold them the software. At this very moment you are the person who is going to solve their problems.

The Support Sense Booklets are part of the Supportgate.com Data Research Group which also includes the SSPA Survey- an industry-wide survey that provides a comprehensive review of over 100-service industry practices, performance indicators, and operations metrics and provides a benchmark for service and support organizations; and the Market Research Center where- through a Partnership with InsightExpress, Supportgate.com, Community Members will be able to create a survey in minutes, target their current and potential customers, and assess their opinions in just a few hours.

“Having enough time to get everything done is one of the most valuable commodities for the support professional and many cannot spend hours reading lengthy books, white papers or even articles,’ said Don Daniello, Research Analyst, Supportgate.com. “The Booklets are written in a concise manner and topics selected are of interest to all support center personnel.”

A new Booklet is released monthly with the first two available at www.supportgate.com.

“Knowledge- The Ultimate Frontier for Support Centers”. Abstract: Everyone’s talking about knowledge bases and how great they are, but no one’s talking about what it takes to build one. Are knowledge bases just for the big guys? Do you need to create (and fund!) a special group to tend to one? This booklet will help you sort out the must-haves from the extras and, I hope will inspire you to get started on the best-kept secret for support center productivity; and

"Making Support Managers Into Support Leaders". Abstract: The role a Manager or Director assumes in his or her customer support organization has a profound effect on the success of that organization. The Manager can choose simply to manage, focusing on the tactical act of directing business and handling daily affairs or they can choose to be a leader by actively working to create an environment that fosters individual and team achievements. Managers that make the effort to acquire a few core leadership characteristics will benefit personally as well as through the successes seen in their department.

Subsequent Booklets to be released include: