Most of the sales reps are inside reps and wanted to humanize themselves. We thought that adding a face to our text and voices would be a huge benefit to the way we interact with clients.

The reps found that potential clients were more engaged and became more comfortable when they could put a face to a name. Soon, not only were all the sales reps using HD cameras, but members of account services and support teams were using webcams to connect with clients, too.

Check out the praises from the ShareFile team:

“It was a big advantage to be able to ‘talk with my hands.’ Something I generally do and helps illustrate concepts like how the Outlook plugin works in a much more awesome way.”

“At its best, the webcams help bring life to us and our product. I love when people fly by on scooters, and clients have loved seeing us in a real-life setting.”

To find out how using GoToMeeting’s HDFaces can benefit your organization, check out a few best practices.

Here is the full schedule for support (all the time listed are Eastern Time UTC-5):

Sunday – 11am to 12 midnight

Monday – 24 hours

Tuesday – 24 hours

Wednesday – 24 hours

Thursday – 24 hours

Friday – 12 midnight to 8pm

Saturday – 7am to 4pm

We’re always listening to our customers and striving to provide the best service to them. Visit the  ShareFile Knowledge Base for other resources including support ticket requests, our knowledge base, training demos, and more.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world’s top sales, contact center  and customer service awards.  The Stevie Awards organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards^SM  and International Business Awards^SM.

More than 1,100 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of 10% over 2012.  Finalists were determined by the average scores of 120 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 30 categories for customer service professionals including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service and Customer Service Department of the Year; 41 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers.

We are honored to have received recognition for Customer Service Department of the Year. We’re always listening to our customers and striving to provide the best service.

Have feedback on what we could do to better serve you? Leave us a comment below.

Carmen: What is your role at ShareFile and how long have you been here?

Nicole: I was so excited to join ShareFile in August of 2011. I was hired as the training coordinator, but shortly after my start date, we were acquired by Citrix and my role rapidly changed. I moved from coordinating employee training into my current role as project manager. The number of employees has more than doubled since I’ve been here!

Carmen: What is one of the most challenging aspects of your job?

Nicole: The most challenging, but also the most exciting/fun, part of my job is that I have the opportunity to work with every department on a wide array of projects. I do everything from conducting Organizational Skills training to deciding which color our lobby will be painted.

Carmen: How important is it for a business to have project managers and why?

Nicole: Project managers in facilities and operations are a necessity. My customers are ShareFile employees and I want to be sure that each one of them is taken care of. Ensuring that network systems are optimally functional, the break room is filled with healthy snacks and drinks, the office environment is fun and inviting with processes in place that increase efficiency and effectiveness allows ShareFile employees to focus on providing stellar service to our customers. I love nothing more than providing support to our employees, so that they can concentrate on the core of our business: our customers.

Thanks Nicole for serving ShareFile employees so we can serve our customers well!

Let’s say you purchased a good, and there is some issue with it. When you contact the company that sold you the product, how do they respond? Are you transferred multiple times to explain your dilemma over and over? What if you cannot get in touch with anyone from the Support department? Would you continue to pay for service that does not meet your expectations?

You certainly appreciate receiving better treatment than described above, so it’s amazing that service experiences like this still happen. Although more businesses are using automated support and self-service options, customer service is a big deal. In fact, 82% of consumers in the US say they have stopped doing business with a company due to a poor customer service experience.*

As this statistic indicates, providing good customer service is a priority for any company. One of the keys to offering great service is to understand that everyone in your company is part of the customer service team—not just employees with the title Customer Service Representative. In order for employees to get on board with this approach, customer service must be at the core of your business.

As discussed in the key lessons for exceptional service post written by Sarah a few months ago, all employees within your organization should view individual customers as irreplaceable. For example, you should always make sure you answer customer calls in a reasonable time frame, provide competent support and a friendly interaction overall. Always make sure retaining each customer is a top priority, no matter the “size” of a particular customer.

What are ways your organization strives to excel at customer service?

*Customer Experience Impact 2010 Report

What’s the quickest way to send a file to a client?

When you need to send a file quickly, log into your account and click Send a File in the navigation bar. This feature will allow you to prepare an email, select the file that you want to send from your computer and upload the file in one simple process. As soon as ShareFile successfully uploads the file, your email, with the file, will be sent to your recipient. It’s an easy way to share information, without any setup or extra steps.

To see a step-by-step guide to sending files, watch our Sending and Requesting Files training video.

Can I provide public access to a folder in my account?

ShareFile does allow you to share a folder without requiring login information. This can be helpful when you need to allow access to files and folders are not private in nature, but may be too large to attach to a regular email message.

Check out our knowledgebase for detailed instructions on allowing public access to a folder.

How will I know when the client has downloaded/uploaded the document?

Email activity notifications are available to let you know as soon as files are uploaded or downloaded from your ShareFile account.

When sending or requesting files, turn on upload or download notifications right in the send or request form. A check box for Email me when the item has been downloaded or Email me when the file has been uploaded will be available so that you can be alerted as soon as your send or request link is used.

You can also enable folder notifications to alert you whenever files are uploaded or downloaded to or from your folders. When you open a folder on ShareFile, scroll to the bottom of the list of contents and use the Email me whenever a file is: check boxes to enable notifications for uploads or downloads. If you do not see these options, contact an administrator on the ShareFile account for help with your notifications settings.

For more information on optional notification settings, please see the comprehensive Email Notification article in our knowledgebase.

Do you have a question about ShareFile that we didn’t answer here? Our support team is available seven day a week. Call us at 1-800-441-3453, send an email, or chat live with support.

How can you use live chat? Just click the “Live Chat” button on any page on our website or from the Help page when you’re logged in to an account.  We will then ask you for your name, whether or not you’re an existing customer, and your email address. After that, you’ll be connected to a rep to help you with all of your questions. So easy!

Live Chat is great because it can be used for pretty much any situation, whether you’re feeling lazy but you have a quick question or if you’re shy but you want to learn more about opening account.  Got a support issue? No problem, we can handle almost all of the same cases over live chat as we would on the phone. We can even launch screen sharing over live chat to diagnose any issues if necessary.

If you want to use live chat on ShareFile’s website, it’s available from 8am to 8pm EST with plans to expand those hours in the near future. Try it out today!

“Individual customers are irreplaceable”: A business driven by strong customer service does not take the loss of any customer lightly. Inghilleri and Solomon point out that the lifetime value of repeat customers is very high, and individual customers should be treated accordingly.

Make client retention a priority. If your team appreciates the importance of a single customer as a source or repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals, it’s easy to provide exceptional customer service. Your team can work to provide a disgruntled customer with a discount, refund or accommodation when everyone understands the value of the individual customer.

Some things should be free: Nothing delights or surprises customers quite as much as a business that treats them as people, rather than as revenue sources. Fulfilling client requests, without bringing up additional fees, creates a more human, personal connection with clients.

ShareFile provides dedicated account management, custom account branding and unlimited support to every customer as a standard part of the service. Compare this with software providers that limit access to support or require additional payment for product training. You can imagine how much less frustrating it is to have an expert account manager available by phone and email for every request and question.

Consider ways you can accommodate special requests without passing on the cost to the customer. For example, if you work in retail, could you offer complimentary gift wrapping for purchases?  When you offer complimentary service, customers know that you appreciate them more than an immediate sale.

To experience world class customer service, sign of for a free ShareFile trial,  or call us at 1-800-441-3453.

Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization

Everyone in your company is part of the service team: You may have a specific customer service team, but every employee can work to improve the customer experience. Inghilleri and Solomon call this approach ‘Function Versus Purpose.’ Employees can provide the best service to a customer when they know that is their primary responsibility, above and beyond any routine tasks. By emphasizing that the company’s foremost goal is to help the customer, leadership can foster a service environment where everyone is ready and able to drop what they are doing to assist a customer.

It’s never your policy to inconvenience a customer: Has a service rep ever told you that they cannot fulfill a request due to company policy? Within your own company, you may not be able to give every customer what they ask, but turning a client away with a reference to company policy shows a breakdown in the problem-solving capability of the rep.

There are steps that you can take to ensure that your customer support team is empowered to provide a more satisfying experience.

-Enable client-facing employees to resolve issues on the spot: If you work in an industry where refund requests are frequent, consider adopting a more liberal refund policy. Offering refunds for problematic goods and services restores trust with clients, encouraging them to try your services again in the future or even pass along a good word to potential new clients. This tactic applies to other concessions, such as allowing customer service to expedite orders. Giving customer support reps the power to resolve issues immediately can increase the cost of support, but it can also lead to more positive, helpful service interactions and loyal customers.

-Brainstorm appropriate responses to requests you cannot reasonably fulfill: There will be times when fulfilling a client’s request isn’t the best option for the company or for the client. Talk to your customer support employees about what they should and should not say in these cases. Instead of giving an excuse, a rep may be able to offer an alternative resolution that the client may not have considered. Working with clients to come up with a suitable response to any issues they report can take some trial and error, but it can also build stronger client relationships.

Look out for more lessons from Exceptional Service, Exception Profit next week. To experience world class customer service, sign up for a free ShareFile trial or call us at 1-800-441-3453.

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is a measure of the total data transfer activity on an account.  Every time a file is uploaded or downloaded using your ShareFile account, bandwidth is used. Bandwidth is recorded on your account for any downloads (including downloads canceled part of the way through) and for any uploads that fully complete.

Can I get my logo put on my ShareFile portal?

Yes. Your ShareFile account can be branded to match the look and feel of your company’s logo and colors. Our graphics team brands most accounts that enter a website address during sign up within one business day, but you also have the ability within your account to alter the branding.

What’s the biggest file I can upload?

10GB

How do I request that someone send files to me?

You can use the Request a File link in the navigation bar. This will look very similar to setting up an email. By default, files uploaded through a Request will be uploaded to your File Box. However, if you would prefer to have files uploaded using the links sent to a created folder on your account, you can simply change the upload location on the request form.

How do I change my email notifications?

You can change how frequently you receive email notifications by clicking My Settings on the navigation bar. You can choose to receive notifications in real-time, every 15 minutes, every hour, twice a day or once a day. This is available to all users with access to the My Settings link.

As always, please feel free to contact your dedicated Account Manager if you have further questions. You can easily find your Account Manager’s name and direct contact information from the Help tab within your ShareFile account.

For easy access to your ShareFile account, go to the ShareFile login now.

As some of you may already know, ShareFile’s mission is to ‘raise the bar for service in the field of technology’ and some of our favorite compliments are given by clients after working with our Customer Support team. Did you know our entire Support staff is located in Raleigh, North Carolina?

In an effort to be able to help more customers in a time efficient manner, we are working to extend our Support team’s hours. The most recent extension was targeted to better serve our growing European client-base as well as our U.S. early-birds.

Here is a schedule of our new Customer Support hours:

Monday-Friday:     4am-8pm UTC -5
Saturday:               7am-4pm UTC-5
Sunday:                 11am-8pm UTC -5

To get in touch with our Support team, you can call us toll-free at 1-800-441-3453, email us at support@sharefile.com, or visit our website to chat live with a representative.

Watch for more updates to our Support hours in the coming months as we work to make Support more convenient for all ShareFile users. 

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

Tell me about your day-to-day activities.  Our daily work varies depending on the time of the month. Typically, when an account is sold and created, we will reach out to the new customer and introduce ourselves as their point of contact. We answer any questions they may have at the time and schedule a meeting to go through the portal together. We conduct 2 to 3 trainings a day and this will consist of walking clients through basic functions and features on their account. During the trainings, we try and offer various best practice methods or ideas of ways to use the service that we have seen from others in their industry. When we are not giving trainings, our day consists of following up on client emails and phone calls. Because we are the clients first line of defense, we receive a wide array of support requests, plan/billing changes and account questions.

What does customer centricity mean to you?  Customer centricity means doing what’s right for the client and taking the time to go beyond just meeting a client’s expectation. Our clients expect a certain level of support and guidance but we want to provide that and more. As much as we value new accounts, we value accounts that have built a relationship with us even more. Our existing accounts have put trust in us as a company and we want to maintain that trust and loyalty.

What is the best part of your job?  There are many parts of my job that I love. As an Account Manager, I love making my clients happy. Within our department, we are constantly in competition to see who has the best story about how we made a client’s day. When your job is to make your clients happy, you can’t help but to love what you do. As a ShareFile employee, I love the people I work with and the culture that has been established.

Is there anything you would like to share with our customers?  ShareFile strives to be different from any typical technology company. We want to show you that you don’t need to have a degree in computers or to work in IT in order to use our service. We want to make this as easy as possible for you and we want to communicate with you like normal human beings and not robots. We truly intend on raising the bar for service in the field of technology.

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.

ShareFile customer support is available seven days a week! Support team members now provide real-time assistance by phone and chat on Saturdays and Sundays. Feel free to call, email or chat with us throughout the weekend for help with any questions or problems.

Watch for more updates to our Support hours in the coming months as we work to make support more convenient for all ShareFile users.

Did you enjoy your last experience with a ShareFile Customer Service Representative? Share your feedback with us on our Facebook page.

Meet Justin. Justin recently worked with a customer who called into our support line asking about pricing and debating whether he should keep his ShareFile account open. He had initially informed Justin that he really liked the ability to send files securely, but he was looking for a solution that would allow him to store files and share them with his clients easily. Justin informed him that ShareFile specializes in providing a portal system to allow clients to access data securely as well as provide data directly to our customers. Excited to learn this, the customer wondered why he had never tapped into this functionality before. Justin happily scheduled a full training session with his dedicated account manager, who informed Justin a week later that the customer had upgraded his account. The customer was blown away by our full set of features and abilities, which he was unaware of after simply signing up for a file transfer service.

Our support team receives inquiries that differ across the board. They handle such requests as updating a credit card on your account, walking you through our web application, or even troubleshooting compatibility issues with our Power Tools. The team answers over 95% of calls within the first few moments of calling in. In most of these situations the team is able to resolve problems within moments or get you moving on your ShareFile account in a way that will most benefit you or your business.

As always, you (and your clients) are free to email us at support@sharefile.com with any problems or requests, and our support team will send a detailed and personal email back explaining how to resolve the problem or offering some advice on getting the account to work the way you want. While having you walk away with a great experience is a priority, we also take pride in knowing that ShareFile is working the way it is intended to and making our customers’ lives easier.

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.

Here at ShareFile, we’ve had several instances when a customer or potential customer responded back to an email thinking they weren’t speaking to a human being. Only to their surprise, their personal account manager wrote them a personalized email in return- or even picked up the phone and actually called them. We’ve noticed these things go along way and our goal is to raise the bar for customer service in the technology sector.

It’s easy for competitors to mimic features or beat price, but a strong customer relationship is inimitable.

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!”

We also conduct daily webinars, free training sessions when needed, field any questions customers or clients of customers may have regarding their account, and provide support through telephone, email, and live chat. In addition, each account gets a dedicated account manager, who is their one point of contact if any questions arise. Account managers help to set up the account as well as provide any tips or recommendations on how to best use the service.

So if you have a support question, would like to set up a training session, or would like recommendations on how to best use your account for your business’s needs, give us a call! We’d love to speak with you and help you in any way possible. You may also contact your account manager directly (found inside your account).

Forget about waiting on hold for support, Our Average Customer Service Wait Time is Under 20 Seconds!

Customer Support: 1-800-441-3453 ext. 2

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.

The three companies that are “doing it right” when it comes to customer service are Dell, Home Depot and Lowe’s. These companies have a phone number present, and easy to find, on their homepage for customers to call. I applaud these companies for realizing the value in their customers. You see, happy customers can be a company’s #1 fan. Unhappy customers can be the #1 enemy- especially with easy access to share opinions through social sites like Twitter and Facebook.

This issue really sparked my interest because here at ShareFile we take customer service very seriously. In fact, one of our core values is to be customer centric in everything we do. Our phone number is actually listed twice on our home page, along with an easy-to-access live chat service. Customers receive a dedicated account manager, their one point of contact to help with set up and support for the life of their account. And unlike lots of technology companies these days, our telephone and email support is from US-based staff- virtually unheard of!

If you have a question, give us a call at 1-800-441-3453 or shoot us an email. We’d love to chat, it’s what we do!