Why I Think You're Doing Freelancer Customer Support Wrong

Customer support is a dynamic profession, one that constantly evolves and changes. If you manage to stick with it long enough, you’ll even have the chance to experience your own breakthroughs as you learn new things about troubleshooting and problem-solving.

But what if you’re just starting out? What if you’re doing something wrong without even knowing it? You can read all the books and articles about customer service, but sometimes the best way to learn is through examples of what not to do and that’s exactly what I’ve done here.

My experiences involve working for software companies in different capacities: from tech support specialist all the way up to running my own freelance business. Through years of trial and error (mostly error), I’ve learned how not to interact with customers. Read on for my lessons on why freelancers are still doing customer service wrong.

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Takeaways
1. Prioritize timely responses: Promptly addressing customer inquiries and issues is crucial for effective freelancer customer support.
2. Provide personalized assistance: Tailor your customer support approach to meet the unique needs of each client, ensuring a personalized experience.
3. Strive for clear and concise communication: Avoid jargon and communicate in a clear, concise manner to ensure clients understand your solutions and recommendations.
4. Foster proactive problem-solving: Anticipate potential issues and take proactive measures to resolve them, showcasing your dedication to exceptional customer support.
5. Continuously improve your skills: Stay updated on industry trends, technologies, and best practices to enhance your customer support capabilities and deliver top-notch service.

Table of Contents

1. You’re Not Even Trying To Say Something Interesting

It’s so important to say something interesting! Sure, you might be making money right now, but you could be making more money if you said something interesting. Creativity is a hot commodity these days (like seriously I would sell it on eBay) and customers will pay extra for creativity. Want proof?

Here’s an example:

Instead of saying “Hi there! It’s great to see you again! Thanks in advance for your business! I’m really looking forward to helping you out!,” say “hey whatsup dog howzitgoin yeah i’m reely good at dis thangz u gon like u gon luv me kbye”

Instead of saying “Hi there, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you as quickly as I should’ve—it was my fault that I was late; this won’t happen again,” say “hello i have been very busy because i’ve had to take care of my kitten who has the flu” or “sorry 2 b late ystrday was mother’s day & my mom is not dead bc she lives in alaska & only calls when she wants $$$ but thx 4 ur patience”

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2. The Customers Are Telling You What To Do, But You Don’t Listen

The customers are always right. I know, I know sometimes they are wrong. But especially in freelancer customer support work, the customer is your boss, and you’re their employee. You don’t get to tell them they’re wrong. They can be wrong and still be right, they’re still your boss!

And as your boss, not only do you have to do what they say, but you also need to make sure that whatever it is that you’re doing for them satisfies their needs, not yours. What this means is that if a customer asks for some totally off-the-wall thing that has nothing to do with what you have advertised yourself as being able to do (e.g., “Hi there! I love your product/service, but here’s what I really want instead. Can you help me? Thanks! :)”), then the answer should be no without a doubt yes no yes no yes no yes no yes (and maybe even an apology).

3. Your Customer Service Is At A Middle School Level

You’re not even trying to say something interesting. You don’t write it with any thought or strategy behind it. You’re not putting any effort into engaging your customers, you’re just writing bland copy that nobody wants to read.

“Simply tell me what I want to know!” They cry out from the screen, “I don’t need an explanation or rationale, just get on with it and solve my problem!”

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4. The Customer Knows That You Don’t Know What They’re Talking About

It’s fine to ask for clarification if you don’t understand or if a customer uses unfamiliar terminology. Just say that you’re not sure what the customer is talking about, and ask them to explain in a different way. Or if the problem isn’t clear, it’s OK to ask for more information about what steps they’ve already taken.

Above all, be honest and transparent with your customers when you don’t know something. Even though it may seem counterintuitive, customers would rather hear “I don’t know” than a string of gobbledygook that sounds like an excuse but doesn’t address their question or solve their problem at all. If they get the sense that they’re being treated like idiots while your team scrambles behind the scenes to find answers that should have been known right away, it will reflect very poorly on you as a representative of your business.

Most importantly: never resort to bluffing just because you want to avoid admitting that you don’t know something (or because your company has told you not to tell customers certain things). Customers can smell insincerity in digital conversations just as easily as in-person ones and as soon as they sense this, any trust or credibility that was slowly building will likely vanish forever.

5. You Can’t Handle The Fact That The Customer Isn’t Happy With Your Product

The single biggest reason why most freelancers are doing customer support wrong is that they can’t handle the fact that customers aren’t happy with their products or services. This leads to the inevitable blaming game where they start pointing fingers at everyone else except themselves. They blame their customers, the economy, society, and any other excuse they can think of to explain away why their business has fallen apart.

If your customers aren’t happy then you need to take responsibility for what you have done or haven’t done in order to make them unhappy. (I know it hurts.) You must listen to what your customers tell you when they give you feedback on your product or service and respond accordingly by giving them whatever they want. If you treat them with respect, they will do the same for you.

6. You’re Method Of Customer Support Is Too Cold Or Too Rude

You need to find a way to be professional, while at the same time being personal and human. While it’s true that you don’t know the customer’s situation, you need to give them the benefit of the doubt and trust that they truly care about your product or service. You also need to make sure that your customer support is showing that you do care as well.

People typically want a real relationship with someone, especially if they are paying for something. Every once in a while there will be a person who just likes to complain, or try and get something free out of their purchase with you. However, if you’re nice and helpful 99% of the time people won’t think twice about it if you offer an alternative course of action at this point in time. In order to do freelance customer support right, you have to show that you care.

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7. It’s Not A Manageable Problem Or At Least It Was When You Started

What I mean by this is that you’re allowed to have problems in your business, but you’re not allowed to have unmanageable problems. If you can’t fix a problem without taking on a massive amount of stress and anxiety then it’s not a manageable problem. If you don’t know how to solve a problem and it causes you more pain than joy then it’s not a manageable problem.

It basically comes down to knowing when something is too much for you or when it’s time to throw in the towel. It’s important that we learn how to become aware of these things because they will help us make the right decisions when facing challenges in our businesses. Allowing an unmanageable problem into your business will only cause more headaches than anything else and could even be enough for you to consider quitting as well.

8. You Think Customers Are Always Wrong, When In Fact They’re Always Right

You think customers are always wrong, when in fact they’re always right. It’s true that sometimes the customer is just a jerk. But if you’re going to be successful in providing customer support, you must believe that your clients are never wrong. Even when the problem is clearly on their end, never blame them for it. Your client will feel empowered to solve their own problems if you treat them with respect.

9. Customers Have Seen Way Better Customer Support Than What You Are Giving Them

Some of the things that I look for in a good customer support team are speed, understanding, and expertise. If you can combine all three of those things then you will be on the right track toward providing good customer support for your customers.

For example, if someone is having a problem with your website, they want to know what’s going on and why it happened. Your customer service representative should be able to explain it to them in simple terms so they don’t have to worry about anything else while they wait for their problem to be fixed! A lot of times these problems have nothing to do with any technical issues but rather just human error like forgetting something or not knowing how something works.

The best way around this? Make sure that everyone on your team has at least basic computer knowledge so when there is an issue, everyone can help fix it quickly without getting frustrated at themselves or anyone else involved.

10. Your Business Isn’t As Successful As It Could Be And You Don’t Want Anyone To Know

You need to be honest about your business. Your customers are the people who put food on your table, and they deserve respect. You don’t want anyone to know that you’re not actually a professional. I often see this in people who don’t have a college degree or traditional jobs when they try to go solo.

They feel embarrassed that they don’t have what everyone else thinks is important, so they try to hide it by exaggerating and lying about how great their business is. This can result in them coming off as very defensive and insecure, which doesn’t leave the best impression on customers and can lead them to believe that you aren’t trustworthy or competent enough for their needs. You’re trying not to blame other people for your problems.

The ability of entrepreneurs is often underrated because there’s so much pressure for them to do everything perfectly themselves without any help from others which isn’t realistic! But it’s easy for entrepreneurs to fall into this trap if they’re feeling insecure about themselves or if people seem like they expect miracles from them all day long (and then get disappointed when things don’t go exactly as planned). Instead of trying too hard not to make mistakes yourself, just admit upfront that some things will slip through the cracks sometimes and give yourself grace.

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11. Your Marketing Strategy Doesn’t Match With Your Business Strategy

Your business strategy is about how to reach customers, while your marketing strategy is about how you reach potential customers. That’s the difference. So when you’re creating your marketing strategy, think about what your message will be and how it will reach potential customers.

The message could be a website or social media pages or something else. If you have a website, it can serve as a way for potential customers to find out more information about your business and services. If you’re using social media, then make sure your posts are relevant and interesting to followers of your product or service. Also make sure that they contain links back to your website so that people who see them know where they came from.

12. Just Because It’s A Small Business Doesn’t Mean There Won’t Be Any Big Problems On The Horizon

This is one that I understand, but it always makes me think of this quote:

“Nobody knows anything. Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess, and if you’re lucky, an educated one.” William Goldman, screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All The President’s Men.

I’ve met many small business owners who don’t think they’ll ever need customer support because they’re just getting started and they don’t have many customers. However, because so many hinges on the success or failure of their product or service, any problem can have a big impact even though their business is small at the moment. That means that your customers might need you now more than ever before – when they’re just getting started.

13. You’ve Outgrown Your Practice And Need To Upgrade It By Going Through Some Growing Pains

You’ve outgrown your practice and need to upgrade it by going through some growing pains

Who doesn’t enjoy a lazy Sunday morning, watching Netflix, eating a bagel, and reading the newspaper? I know I do. But you know what’s even more enjoyable than that?

Scaling up your business, improving your process, and making more money. Sounds like it would be more stressful than relaxing, but sometimes you’ve got to take one for the team. If you’re not facing any problems, then you’re not growing. If there are no complaints coming in and no emails sent to customer support, that means one of two things: either your customer service is great or your product sucks.

And if you have a good product that sells well, but don’t have any issues with customer service as a result of that success then it’s time to grow. You need to go through some growing pains so that you can upgrade to better practice.

14. You Have A Hard Time Being Professional And Personal At The Same Time In A Work Setting

Finding a balance between being professional and personal in a work setting can be hard. You don’t want to be too professional that you look like an ice-cold, no-fun customer service robot. But you also don’t want to be too personal where your customer starts feeling uncomfortable or even violated. Everyone is different, so it’s really on you to find out what works best for your business and customers.

Are you considering a career as a freelance customer service rep? Discover the 11 good reasons why becoming a freelance customer service representative can be a rewarding and fulfilling path for your professional journey.

Final Thoughts

After reading this article, hopefully, you have a better understanding of how to do customer support for freelancers. It’s not enough anymore to just treat your customers poorly and then hide behind a rock for half an hour until they go away. You need the skills to make them want to be your customer over and over again, especially when there are so many other options out there.

Why I Think You’re Doing Freelancer Customer Support Wrong