Grow Your Business
With Customer Service
5 startups share their secrets for success
What’s the secret? Why do some
startups hit the jackpot while
others quickly fizzle out?
These days it takes more than a great idea, some capital, and a ping-pong table to get
a new business off the ground. Awesome customer service needs to be a part of your
company DNA from day one. Although companies sometimes overlook it in the rush to get
a product out the door, customer service can be the difference between a hot IPO and just
keeping the lights on. So grab your headset and:
INCREASE SALES
52% of consumers will abandon online purchases if they can’t find a quick answer. Save the
sale by getting them the information they need, when they need it.
DRIVE LOYALTY
A stat that almost everyone has heard is that it costs five times more to attract a new
customer than to retain an existing one. So treat them well.
IMPROVE PRODUCTS
Smart companies know that it’s easier to sell products if you build what customers really
want, instead of trying to convince them to want what you’ve already built. Anyone heard of
New Coke? Or the Wifi smart fridge?
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
1
Hear from these
5 fast-growing
businesses
how offering
awesome
customer
service helped
them succeed
in a competitive
marketplace.
Kenny Van Zant
Head of Operations
Brian Boroff
Jennifer Wentzel
Community Support Specialist
James Haliburton
Head of User Operations
Director of Community & Customer Support
Asana
Industry: High Tech
Year founded: 2008
# of customer service agents:
6 full time
SoundCloud
Industry: High Tech
Year founded: 2007
# of customer service agents:
28 full time
www.asana.com
www.soundcloud.com
Patrick Cheeseman
Conrad Chu
Alexis Chapman
HotelTonight
Industry: Travel
Year founded: 2010
# of customer service agents:
35 full time
Munchery
Industry: Food & Beverage
Year founded: 2010
# of customer service agents:
4 full time, 12 flex
One Kings Lane
Industry: Retail
Year founded: 2009
# of customer service agents:
70 full time
www.hoteltonight.com
www.munchery.com
www.onekingslane.com
Head of Customer Experience
CTO, Co-Founder
Director, Customer Operations
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
2
Kenny Van Zant
Head of Operations
Brian Boroff
Head of User Operations
“
A great sign of
superior service
is when it is
integrated as a
mindset across
a company.
”
WHAT DOES CUSTOMER SERVICE
MEAN TO YOU?
WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE FOR
COMPANIES THAT ARE JUST
GETTING STARTED ON CUSTOMER
SERVICE AND HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT?
Treating all customers exceptionally. We view
ourselves as ambassadors for the brand and
want to leave each customer more excited
about Asana than before they contacted us.
Don’t silo the function as a company cost
center. A great sign of superior service is
when it is integrated as a mindset across
a company.
WHAT WAS YOUR WORST CUSTOMER
SERVICE MISHAP AND WHAT DID
YOU LEARN FROM IT?
WHAT’S YOUR SECRET FOR
BUILDING AN AMAZING CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
We gained customer approval to do a
data migration but didn’t fully vet their
expectations for the outcome. They ended
up being very upset after the irreversible
action was complete, and we learned to
always over-explain and double confirm
processes with such far-reaching impact.
Hire people who are passionate about
solving problems and educating
customers. You can train on the product
and on the tools but you can’t manufacture
the passion to help people.
WHAT FAMOUS PERSON
WOULD YOU MOST WANT
ON YOUR CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
Javier Bardem. He’s articulate,
empathetic, and has a great
sense of humor.
Learn more about Asana>>
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
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“
Jennifer Wentzel
Community Support Specialist
James Haliburton
Director of Community & Customer Support
Listen to your
customers and
never assume
you know
what’s best
for them.
”
WHAT DOES CUSTOMER SERVICE
MEAN TO YOU?
WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE FOR
COMPANIES THAT ARE JUST
GETTING STARTED ON CUSTOMER
SERVICE AND HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT?
Customer satisfaction is our north star and
memorable interactions with the community
are key to loyalty and retention. Each person
contacting our customer service team
should come away from their experience
with a better understanding of the issue they
experienced (and why) and a sense that the
company really cares and values them not as
a number but as an individual.
Listen to your customers and never assume
you know what’s best for them. Remember
that there is a person on the other end of
your emails; treat every interaction with
customers as you would if you were in a
traditional customer-facing role with an
individual person in front of you. You will
only know you are doing it right when your
customers tell you are.
WHAT WAS YOUR WORST CUSTOMER
SERVICE MISHAP AND WHAT DID
YOU LEARN FROM IT?
WHAT’S YOUR SECRET FOR
BUILDING AN AMAZING CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
Accidentally deleting the incorrect account
on behalf of a customer. This taught us
to be more detail-oriented and to always
double check with a user before acting on
their behalf; it’s better to be thorough and
take a longer time with the correct outcome
then to rush to help without total clarity.
It’s all about the people; never settle
for second best during the recruitment
process. Find people who are passionate
about helping other people. Tools and
products can be learned but empathy can’t.
WHAT FAMOUS PERSON
WOULD YOU MOST WANT
ON YOUR CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
Snoop Dog/Snoop Lion. He’s a
passionate user of SoundCloud;
just imagine the amazing
personalized help he could give
the community!
Learn more about SoundCloud>>
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
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“
Patrick Cheeseman
Head of Customer Experience
WHAT DOES CUSTOMER SERVICE
MEAN TO YOU?
Customer service is a philosophy that elevates
a user’s time with us from a transaction to an
experience. By questioning what service has
meant historically, we’re able to disrupt the
notion of good enough and deliver more than
we promise every time.
WHAT WAS YOUR WORST CUSTOMER
SERVICE MISHAP AND WHAT DID YOU
LEARN FROM IT?
A nationally renowned customer service expert
called in for a simple but unfortunate issue
and was met with a lack of empathy despite
the relatively simple and effective solution that
we provided her. She shared her experience
on Twitter with thousands of service-focused
followers. We learned the power of something
as simple as saying “I’m sorry.” Now we make
it a priority to identify with each caller and
respond with as much empathy as efficiency.
Customer service is a
philosophy that elevates
a user’s time with us
from a transaction to
an experience.
”
WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE FOR
COMPANIES THAT ARE JUST
GETTING STARTED ON CUSTOMER
SERVICE AND HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT?
Find what’s really important to your team—
the elements that define your brand will
help differentiate your customer service as
well. For us, booking in the moment means
providing top-notch service at the speed of
our travelers and with the candor they’ve
come to expect from us as a company. It is
one of many things that sets us apart from
our competitors.
WHAT’S YOUR SECRET FOR
BUILDING AN AMAZING
CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM?
We make every facet of the job known to
those who apply: both the good and the
challenging. By being so transparent, we’re
able to build respect among our team.
We also seek out passionate people. The
passions you’ll find on our team are not
always industry-specific, but we find that
people who embrace passion in their lives
are more empathetic and tend to have the
focus and drive required to deliver the true
HotelTonight customer experience.
WHAT FAMOUS PERSON
WOULD YOU MOST WANT
ON YOUR CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
A celebrity member of the team
here at HotelTonight would have
to embody the spirit of humor,
passion, respect, confidence,
spontaneity, and humanity that
sets HotelTonight apart from its
peers. As we strive to become the
world’s most-loved hotel app,
there’s no doubt that we would
need the world’s most-loved
comedian on our side. Ellen
Degeneres would be PERFECT for
our customer service team.
Learn more about HotelTonight>>
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
5
“
Conrad Chu
CTO, Co-Founder
WHAT DOES CUSTOMER SERVICE MEAN
TO YOU?
It might sound quaint, but it means that everyone
in your entire organization is focused on delivering
an exceptional experience. Customer service
begins with how the product is built, to how it
is delivered, and fully supporting the customer
should something unexpected occur.
WHAT WAS YOUR WORST CUSTOMER
SERVICE MISHAP AND WHAT DID YOU
LEARN FROM IT?
We made proactive calls to customers on
a particular route informing them their
delivery might be late due to a last minute
driver issue. After 20 minutes on the phone
with one very, very frustrated customer,
we could have given up, but we decided to have
a manager call her back one last time. He was
able to more clearly relay the reason for the call
and changed her attitude from irate customer to
fanatical supporter. We learned to not give up when
dealing with difficult issues. There’s always an
opportunity to flip a customer.
We learned to not give
up when dealing with
difficult issues. There’s
always an opportunity to
flip a customer.
”
WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE FOR
COMPANIES THAT ARE JUST
GETTING STARTED ON CUSTOMER
SERVICE AND HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT?
The time you spend talking to your
customers is an invaluable opportunity to
build loyalty, so distribute your customer
service responsibilities throughout the
company. Let as many people experience
it via chat or phone calls. Do not put your
customer service team in a place where
engineers cannot hear them. You know
you’re doing it right when customers are
tweeting about their customer service
experience in addition to the product
experience.
WHAT’S YOUR SECRET FOR
BUILDING AN AMAZING CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
WHAT FAMOUS PERSON
WOULD YOU MOST WANT
ON YOUR CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
Garrison Keillor. He’s an amazingly
patient communicator. If anyone
can tell a story, it’s him.
We look very keenly at writing skills to see
how an individual knows how to express
sympathy and be creative with solutions.
We also look to individuals who have
excellent communication skills, which
means they understand the “science” of
listening and can actually break down what
it takes to be a good listener.
Learn more about Munchery>>
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
6
“
Alexis Chapman
Director, Customer Operations
...you must
find the right
people to service
members, never
settle for second
best.
”
WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE FOR
COMPANIES THAT ARE JUST
GETTING STARTED ON CUSTOMER
SERVICE AND HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHEN YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT?
WHAT DOES CUSTOMER SERVICE MEAN
TO YOU?
For us, customer service is an extension of the
experience members receive when shopping on
One Kings Lane. If you go to the storefront, the site
is so beautiful, inspiring and easy to shop. I like to
think the customer service at One Kings Lane is
similar; easy to access — a friend to assist you in
resolving an issue — and that the communication
experience is a luxurious one.
Find a CRM or ticketing system immediately.
And, one that you can customize to your
business needs like Desk.com. I would also
start defining what SLAs will work for your
particular type of business and gather all the
data around the SLAs. I would make sure you
have a way to display your goals that is simple
for an exec team to access and self serve. And,
you MUST find the right people to service
members, never settle for second best.
WHAT FAMOUS PERSON
WOULD YOU MOST WANT
ON YOUR CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
Ellen DeGeneres. She could make
our customer laugh no matter
how sensitive their issue is!
WHAT’S YOUR SECRET FOR
BUILDING AN AMAZING CUSTOMER
SERVICE TEAM?
The people, no matter what tools you have
—if you don’t have a passionate, strong,
dedicated team— your customer service
department will suffer daily, not only in
customer satisfaction but with daily morale
as well.
Learn more about One Kings Lane>>
Grow Your Business With Customer Service
7
Let Desk.com be your secret
Deliver fast, awesome customer service with Desk.com and grow your
business faster than ever. Our customers report significant improvements
in customer satisfaction and productivity, while reducing costs.
Find out more at www.desk.com.
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+27%
DECREASE
IN SUPPORT
COST
+30%
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AGENT
ON-BOARDING
TIME
+34%
FASTER
CASE
RESOLUTION
TIME
+36%
INCREASE
IN CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
+38%
INCREASE
IN AGENT
PRODUCTIVITY
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customer service solutions for fast-growing companies.
+42%
FASTER
RESPONSES
TO CUSTOMER