Customer support is an important function for any business. But it can be especially vital for tech startups. And that’s specifically the type of business that customer service outsourcing company SupportYourApp aims to help.
The company provides outsourcing services and other customer support for startups and software companies. Read more about the business in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.
What the Business Does
Provides customer support for tech startups.
CEO Daria Leshchenko told Small Business Trends, “SupportYourApp provides customer support outsourcing services exclusively for tech companies. Our company offers tier 1 & 2 support. The company’s main focus is inbound and outbound support, but we also handle social media customer care. Our clients are mostly startups, commerce companies, and SaaS companies.”
Business Niche
Focusing on customer support, even at the top.
This philosophy can be best demonstrated through the company’s CEO, Daria.
Leshchenko says, “Just like all of our employees, [I] started as a customer support agent, so I know all of the ins and out of customer support better than anyone.”
How the Business Got Started
Through a renewed focus on outsourcing.
Leshchenko says, “Our company started in 2010 as an in-house support team for a software development company in Kyiv, Ukraine.”
Due to changes in company management, Leshchenko had been appointed the role of interim Support Manager and told to do whatever she saw fit with the team for an entire month. So Leshchenko restaffed the entire support team and put a renewed focus on outsourcing.
Biggest Risk
Taking on too many projects at once.
Leshchenko explains, “In the beginning SupportYourApp focused on quantity over quality. At any single time one agent could be handling support for up to 10 different companies. We ultimately decided to reformat the way we operate, thereby losing a large number of clients who did not feel that our new approach was what they needed. Today, SupportYourApp offers dedicated and shared support: each agent supports a maximum of 2 client companies at once. This allows our agents to become true experts of the products they are supporting.”
Lesson Learned
Don’t limit yourself.
Leshchenko says, “In the very beginning, our company was targeted specifically at supporting Mac software developers. While we love Macs and Mac applications, this really limited us in terms of clients and we decided that we should start working with other types of software companies as well as hardware developers. Our only regret is that we hadn’t come to this conclusion sooner, having focused almost three years exclusively on applications for Mac computers.”
How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000
Supporting the team.
Leshchenko says, “We would focus on team building activities and invite speakers to our office for training seminars and lectures, maybe even take the whole team for a corporate vacation. At SupportYourApp, we believe that our employees make our company truly special.”
Favorite Team Activity
Running.
Leshchenko says, “[I’m] an avid runner and love to get the whole SupportYourApp team involved. Every year our employees take part in marathons and charity runs for all types of causes. Last year we took part in the Kyiv Chestnut Run.”
Favorite Quote
“We’re just enthusiastic about what we do.” – Steve Jobs
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Images: SupportYourApp; Top Image: Vitaliy Liakhovich – Dedicated Support Agent, Nikolai Riabchenko – Chief Integration Officer, Bohdan Shevchuk – QA Manager, Victoria Pryshchepa – Dedicated Support Agent, Vladimir Dreval – Supervision Manager, Daria Leshchenko – Chief Executive Officer, Anastasia Burlakova, Ann Kuss – Chief Operating Officer, Oleksii Bulavintsev – Sales Assistant, Mariia Sirychenko – HR Manager, Anna Kryvych – HR Assistant; Second Image: Nikolai Riabchenko – Chief Integration Officer and support agents; Third Image: CEO – Daria Leshchenko and the SupportYourApp team
This article, “Spotlight: SupportYourApp Helps Tech Startups With Customer Support” was first published on Small Business Trends