Today I had the opportunity to interview Account Manager, Kelley Figg. Kelley engages with customers on a daily basis. Take a look below at out interview.

Kelley, tell me about your role here at ShareFile. I started with ShareFile in early October 2011, right before the Citrix acquisition. My main role is to provide our clients with exceptional customer service throughout the life of their account. We reach out to our clients and train them on how to use our service in their office. As an Account Manager, we dedicate ourselves to making a client’s experience with ShareFile as easy and seamless as possible. We build lasting relationships with our clients and provide them with support if they should ever run into any issues.

Customer Support is a department known by customers for being difficult to work with; most people dread having to contact a company’s support staff. But ShareFile’s clients have a different opinion– our Support team is known for being extremely helpful, available, and quick! Did you know that we boast an average phone answer time of 20 seconds? In addition to phone support, ShareFile is also available by live chat and email. In the video below, we’ll introduce you to the ‘Help’ tab of your account which is home to all of your customer support needs including training tutorials and the contact information for your Dedicated Account Manager.

Here at ShareFile, we believe that customer service should be our number one investment. One of our core values is to be customer centric in everything we do. Our customer support team gets the opportunity to build relationships with our customers on a daily basis, fielding all inbound phone calls, emails and live chats. With customer centricity at the core of our business, we love to hear stories of how our team impacts a customer’s business. We’d like to share a customer story that one of our support team members, Justin Nuzum, encountered this month.

In my recent post I wrote about customer service and the importance of a positive customer experience. Customers should be the number one investment for a company. Why? Take a look at the chart below. Some 68% of customers leave a company because they truly feel that the company couldn’t care less about them. Notice what’s not included- price or quality. That’s eye opening.

Customers want to have their voice heard. They want to know that a company cares about their issues or concerns. Customers want to be able to submit their feedback and actually get a response. So many things these days are automated that it’s easy for companies to automate email responses instead of taking the time to respond.

Think about your last experience with calling customer service. Was it a positive one? Chances are likely no. In today’s business world, companies aren’t investing enough resources in customer support/service. There is nothing more frustrating than calling a customer service number only to be prompted through several automated menu options, which prompts you to another automated message. If you’re lucky, you may actually speak to a human being (after you wait on hold).

I’ve noticed lately, that when I do actually get to speak to a human in customer service, they aren’t all too friendly. I just don’t get it. How do businesses not realize that happy customers are a huge asset? Countless times I’ve had a customer service experience where my issue doesn’t get resolved. After working at ShareFile, I am baffled by the level of customer service I’ve received from other businesses. My level of expectation is extremely high, given the standards that ShareFile has set in the area of customer service.

One of our core values is customer centricity. Instead of taking a reactive approach to customer service, our team takes a proactive approach. We actually call customers at the end of the month, notifying them of overages and try to find them the plan that best fits their business’ needs. Customers are normally surprised by these efforts. A recent response that we received from a customer with an overage on their account was, “Thanks so much for monitoring and for assisting. I love ShareFile- it’s the best! So incredibly efficient in every way!”

I read an article this morning that really sparked my interest. This article, published in AdAgeDigital, revealed that of the Fortune 50 companies, only THREE of the 50 had phone numbers listed on their homepage. Seems kind of ironic that these companies spend millions on marketing and advertising, yet they don’t focus efforts around customer service. Nothing is more frustrating to me than when I visit a company’s website in search of a phone number to contact a live human being, only to find no number. I don’t get it. They don’t want to hear from their customers? Or better yet, they don’t want a potential sale?

It seems in today’s business world, this is a regular occurrence. I thumbed through the Fortune 50 companies myself and to my surprise, AT&T and Verizon (which I am a customer of) are both phone companies, yet no phone numbers listed on their homepages! Seriously? I ventured to the “Contact Us” page of AT&T’s website and was prompted through a series of dropdown menus. Once complete, I was then prompted to a page to “Get help in three steps- 1, 2, 3” by clicking the type of support I was in search for. The problem is what if the question I have doesn’t fall into the bucket of topics listed? I just want a phone number! The funny thing is, 82% of Americans say they have stopped doing business with companies due to poor customer service. Customer service DOES make a difference.

Here at ShareFile we take pride in approaching customer service proactively. We reach out to customers at the end of the month, notifying them of overages and speaking with them to find a plan that best fits their business’ needs. We conduct daily webinars, free training sessions, and field any questions customers may have regarding their account. Upon the start of a free trial, customers receive a dedicated account manager, their one point of contact during the trial period, to help set up the account as well as provide tips and recommendations on how to best use the trial service.

Another example of our proactive approach to customer service is through our social media sites. We encourage our customers to follow us on Twitter and friend us on Facebook to receive the latest ShareFile news and stay up-to-date on current happenings in the office. Recently, we noticed a potential customer inquiring about the ShareFile service and wanting to learn more. One of our Sales representatives contacted the firm immediately to learn more about its needs and to see how ShareFile could help make the day-to-day workflow easier for the firm. After a phone conversation, they signed up for a free trial and are currently trying out the service for 30 days.

Sarah takes a few minutes to discuss ShareFile support.