World-class customer service the Help/Systems way
Since 1982, our motto at Help/System has been, “We Don’t Hire Jerks.” By design, our hiring process is one of the toughest in the industry. Before they even interview with the hiring manager, each candidate must answer a rigorous set of technical questions and complete a personality assessment. Why? We’re looking for the whole package—smart people with skills and an upbeat, customer-first attitude. We need to assess an individual’s knowledge, if they enjoy their work, and if they will fit into our culture.

Yes, our hiring process is tough, but it ultimately benefits us and our customers. Because we don’t hire jerks, we get talented, positive employees who enjoy a good challenge. And, our customers get world-class customer service: friendly, competent, and enthusiastic help to overcome their obstacles to implementing Help/Systems products. After all, operations automation and business intelligence greatly enhance our customer’s professional and personal lives. The overall goal of our elaborate hiring process is simple: When you hang up after talking to someone from Help/Systems, we never want you to say “That person was a jerk.”

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Our world-class service starts with the basics. Unlike many companies, when you call Help/Systems, you are greeted by a friendly voice, a real person—you don’t have to listen to a string of options on a recorded menu. You get the help you need immediately, whether or not it’s an emergency. And, if you call after hours or on a weekend, a Technical Consultant returns your call within the hour.

Customers also can contact a Product Manager using the “Page a Manager” option on the support line. These calls go directly to the manager’s cell phone, so they might answer before it even rolls to voicemail. If not, you will hear from the manager immediately.

Reaching out with quality assistance
At Help/Systems, we all live by three points from our quality manual that summarize our service philosophy:

• Reach out to customers and prospective customers through relationship building.
• Listen to our customers’ business problems and propose meaningful solutions.
• Make each customer encounter helpful, friendly, positive, and timely.

These are the daily goals of our Technical Support staff. We survey customers who call for support to measure their experience. If there are unresolved issues, a Product Manager contacts dissatisfied customers to find out how or where we missed our goal of total satisfaction. Since Help/Systems is a ISO 9001-certified company, the suggested improvement could be significant enough to warrant a Corrective Action Request. Based on customer input, we could change a documented procedure or institute other changes.

In the event that a customer still is not satisfied, they are encouraged to contact our Chief Technical Officer, Tim Woodfield; our Vice President of Technical Services, Tom Huntington; or our CEO, Janet Dryer. Compliments are always welcome, too.

In addition to customer surveys, we also study incoming call volume to know which products require extra phone coverage and when. As a result, we have the right number of Technical Consultants taking calls during peak hours for each product.

No problem we can’t handle
In the computer industry, sixty-seven percent of technical service calls remain “open” (unresolved) 24 hours after they are placed. In other words, it takes more than a day to resolve more than two-thirds of all calls. Help/Systems closes nearly ninety percent of all calls within 24 hours—more than 22 percent higher than the industry average. This is a phenomenal achievement that both we and our customers are proud of. Through hard work, dedication, and a focus on getting our customers answers as quickly as possible, we have been able to achieve greatness in the customer service area.

Everyone on the Help/Systems Technical Support staff is passionate about solving product issues. When customers call, they talk to a product expert. Our staff uses tools designed and developed in-house specifically for problem tracking and call management. Because our call management software was designed around our support objectives, our support staff has each customer’s call history at their fingertips: past problems, who else they have talked to, and any proposed solutions. That combination of expertise, tools, and timeliness means world-class service.

Welcome to the Help/Systems family
The core of our world-class service is building successful relationships with customers. Those relationships begin with our Regional Sales Managers, who help ensure that all our customers are totally satisfied with their products. The Regional Sales Managers help their customers with any problem or question, so that after their purchase, they feel like a part of the Help/Systems family. And, if the Regional Sales Manager doesn’t know an answer, they find someone who does. Our sales staff is here to build customer relationships that last a lifetime.

Help/Systems is loyal to its customers, too. We depend on our customers to generate product enhancement ideas. In essence, our customers become our developers because we feel it’s very important to start with ideas generated by the people who use our products each day. Our Technical Consultants are always listening for new ideas from customers to improve our products.

Whatever it takes is what you get at Help/Systems
World-class service is a way of life at Help/Systems. Each customer’s satisfaction begins before they contact us, with who and how we hire. We find the best people in the industry and teach them the Help/Systems way. As a result, no customer is ever trapped in a phone maze or gets the runaround. We offer the personal touch and good answers, quickly. Everyone at Help/ Systems—and there’s not a jerk in the bunch—is totally focused on making you, our customer, happy.

Feel free to e-mail the product managers who wrote this article!

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