Last month, our 1st Line Support Analyst, Steven Shipway achieved an incredible 100% customer satisfaction rate on over 300 tickets. We sat down with Steven to discuss what makes good customer support, what his job entails and why James Bond might have been better off driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse….
Tell us about yourself.
I’ve been at Dealerweb for almost four months, where I work in the support team, responding to a variety of queries and dealing with any technical issues for our clients. Before that, I worked for four years in a similar support role in the Fuel POS industry.
I’m a big football fan and try and get back to my home town in Essex to go see West Ham play as often as I can. That can be a bit of a slog from Devon though, so I often go and watch Exeter City FC– they’re just a little bit closer.
What does your job entail?
I’m on the first line of customer support, meaning that a lot of initial customer communications come through to me. The kind of support we offer is very varied, but the scope includes giving instructions on how to use elements of the Showroom and React systems, ensuring any technical issues are sorted promptly, and liaising with our data providers to ensure that all the information they are supplying is correct and up to date.
What do you like about your role?
Working as a Support Analyst can be very rewarding – you’re essentially helping to ensure people have a better day with each call or email that comes in. I also really enjoy the opportunities to see ‘under the hood’ of our systems and how they all connect and integrate. It fascinates me!
What do you think is they key to good customer support?
If there’s one word that summarises good customer support, it’s ‘empathy’. In our role its crucial to see things from the customer's perspective. We deal with a lot of busy retailers and understanding the need to clearly answer an important query or deal with an issue quickly and efficiently makes all the difference.
And, finally, a few of your favourite things….?
Book
It has to be The Godfather by Mario Puzo. It’s one of the most well written books I’ve read and can keep you captivated even during the slower chapters.
Interestingly, Puzo also wrote the screenplays for both The Godfather 1 & 2. He’d never written screenplays before then, so afterward decided to learn how to do it properly. In the screenwriting book he bought, the first chapter referenced The Godfather as an example of how to write a great screenplay!
Film
Hot Fuzz! It’s hilarious and the most rewatchable film out there - I actually wore out the DVD watching it so many times.
Place
I love Majorca and have been there a couple of times. It’s sunny for six months of the year, then rains for the other six - unsurprisingly, I try to go during the sunny months. It’s rare to get (almost) guaranteed sunshine so close to home.
Car
I’ve always loved the classic James Bond Aston Martin DB5 but apparently, it’s horrible to drive (not that 007 seemed to have any problems). After rewatching all the Fast and Furious movies again recently though, I’ve grown a shine to Paul Walker’s neon green Mitsubishi Eclipse from the first film (nitrous oxide fuel injection optional).