October 29, 2024 • 48 mins
As the holiday season approaches, we are sharing practical tips on how to ensure customers receive timely assistance while giving your support team the chance to rest and celebrate!
From flexible scheduling to balancing half-day shifts and planning early, we discuss Buzzsprout’s approach to managing customer support over the holidays and how you can apply similar strategies to your team.
We hope these insights help you navigate holiday coverage without sacrificing your team’s well-being or customer satisfaction!
We want to hear from you! Share your support stories and questions with us at happytohelp@buzzsprout.com!
To learn more about Buzzsprout visit Buzzsprout.com.
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Priscilla (00:00):
Welcome to Happy to Help, a podcast about customer
support from the people atBuzzsprout.
I'm your host, riscilla Brooke.
Today we're preparing for theholiday season.
We're talking all about how tonavigate holiday coverage in a
way that serves your customerswhile giving your team time to
relax and celebrate.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's get into it.
Jordan (00:21):
Okay, riscilla, this episode we are recording early.
Yeah, because next week we'regoing to be in Nashville.
Priscilla (00:30):
I'm so pumped, me too .
I'm also like feeling that youknow, week before going out of
town, like everything has to bedone and trying to get all your
ducks in a row and all thethings you're forgetting, that
you know you're forgetting andare you going to remember them
in time, and all of that stuff.
I'm feeling that pressure rightnow.
Yeah, but it's good, I'mexcited.
Jordan (00:48):
It is good.
I'm also really excited.
It's going to be just such ablast.
There's something about meetingin person and it's it's a
little bit difficult to going ona trip right before a major
holiday.
So I guess it kind of ties intowhat we're talking about today.
Priscilla (01:03):
That is true.
So, for anyone who doesn't know, jordan and I work for
Buzzsprout, and Buzzsprout eachyear does kind of like a yearly
meetup for the whole team.
Most of our team is based inJacksonville, florida, but we
have several people around theUS, and so it's kind of a time
for us to get together and be incommunity and meet together as
(01:26):
a team and focus on how we workand why we work the way we do
and all of that, yeah, and it'ssuch a great time.
And so next week we're going toNashville, and so Jordan and I
get to see each other in personfor the first time since we
started this podcast, I think.
Jordan (01:39):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, it's been forever.
Priscilla (01:47):
And it's going to be a blast.
I cannot wait.
So we are recording thisepisode early, like you
mentioned.
So it feels a little bit funnybecause we're going to be
talking about holiday schedulesand I do not feel like we are in
the holiday frame yet, and bythe time this comes out, this
episode gets released, it'sgoing to be almost November.
Yeah, I think it's the week ofHalloween that this comes out,
and so, before we jump intoholiday coverage and talking
about those tips, jordan, sinceit's just you and I today and we
(02:10):
don't have a guest, I waswondering who has made your day
recently.
Jordan (02:14):
All right.
So I have kind of an odd one,because I just went on a trip to
Mexico.
It was my anniversary trip andmy husband, being such a
sweetheart, scheduled all of ourexcursions for me.
Oh, so nice.
And he didn't realize that Ihave like a deathly fear of
heights.
Priscilla (02:43):
And so one of the excursions he scheduled was a
zip lining and ATVing across asuspension bridge in the jungles
excursion.
Maybe that's why he booked allthese for you is because he knew
about that fear and wanted todo it anyway.
Yeah, and to encourage you toface the fear.
Jordan (02:52):
Yeah, and so you know my parents didn't raise a quitter.
So I went on the excursion andit was horrific.
It was so scary because myhusband thought it was just a
really quick zip line thing likereally cute adventure park.
No, we were literally gettinglike sent across mountains.
It was like 1,500 feet longthese zip lines were I mean
(03:15):
insane.
Priscilla (03:16):
And once you start a zip line, you're in it.
It's not like you have a wayout.
Jordan (03:20):
No, and I thought it was one of the ones where they just
like clip you in and you justhold on to the rope and go.
But this was not one of those.
You have to hold on to theselike metal bars that don't have
grips, your zip line thingswhere you can't let go of the
bars or it'll mess up the zipline and you could get stuck
like halfway.
Priscilla (03:50):
There's no way you could get me to do this.
Jordan (03:52):
I know and so, and so I was holding it and I keep wiping
my hands on my shirt and I wasI've been panicking, like just
panicking, and I was trying tobe brave about it and it was
just horrible.
But the zip line guys there waslike a group of four guys and
they were going along with usand they very quickly clocked
that I was suppressing somepanic and I was shaking and I
(04:18):
didn't realize that.
And so throughout the entireexcursion because yeah, once
you're on the zip lines, you'relike several mountains across
and so there's nothing you cando but to go like another
thousand feet at a time, right,yeah, and you're like 500 feet
in the air.
I mean, it was just so scary andthey were so good at
encouraging me and at one pointthey started like pulling pranks
(04:42):
on me and like one of them at awater station.
I kept getting bit bymosquitoes in the jungle and so
I was just like I was kind oflike swatting at my legs and
stuff, and one of them had along stick and he was poking the
back of my legs with the stick.
So I would think I was gettingbit by bugs, but I wasn't.
Actually it was just him Likebreaking it up, like keeping
things fun.
Priscilla (05:03):
They were keeping things fun.
Jordan (05:04):
They were like this isn't serious, like you're OK,
you're not going to die, you'renot going to die, Come on girl,
trust us.
And they made it so much funand, honestly, about five or six
zip lines in I was starting tohave fun.
Oh good, yeah.
So I really appreciate.
Priscilla (05:36):
You know they recognize that I was out of my
comfort zone, they recognizethat I was on the verge of a
breakdown, and so, really, whatthey did was just made something
that was horrendously scary tome very enjoyable their emotions
, especially in situations wherethey literally can't leave.
They have to do it, so there'sno other option.
Like, you've got to hire peoplefor that role that are going to
be able to calm the situationdown, because if you don't hire
(06:05):
people that can keep things calmor, like, lighten the mood or,
you know, encourage people whoare scared, you're going to end
up with a lot of people stuck onone ledge because they won't go
on to the next.
You know zip line and yeah.
So that's a good example ofneeding to find the right people
for the job in order to make ita good experience, because they
took the time to like, careabout you and to help you have a
good time.
Now you are going to tellpeople it was a great experience
(06:26):
and that they should do it evenif they're scared.
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Last episode, at the very end ofthe episode, I plugged our
Apple podcast listing and askedpeople to go and rate and review
, if they like the podcast, andI realized I really have not
been doing that at all in theseepisodes, and I also realized
that doing it at the end of theepisode probably isn't the best
(06:46):
place to do it, so I'm going todo it up front, right here.
If you like this episode or ifyou like this podcast, go and
leave us a rating or review onApple Podcasts, because it
really lets other people who arelooking for a podcast like this
one know whether it's worthlistening to.
And our time is valuable, and Idon't want people to listen to
(07:08):
this if it's not going to bringthem value, and so, if it brings
you value at all, I want you togo and leave a review to let
people know that it's worthlistening to.
So thank you for doing that,and if you do it, send us a fan
mail let us know you did it, andthen we'll give you a shout out
.
That'd be fun.
Maybe we'll read some reviews.
If we get some cool ones in thenext couple weeks, love it.
Ok, so this episode is allabout holiday coverage and
(07:31):
navigating holiday coverage andhow to kind of build a strategy
for holidays that respects yourteam but also provides a service
to your customers, because youdon't want to just forget about
them on a holiday.
And so you know we're about toenter this holiday season in the
next couple of months, and sonow is just the perfect time to
start working on that strategy,and so we're going to take some
(07:51):
time today to talk through whatour strategy has looked like in
the last couple of years andthen what you should think about
when you're trying to put thatstrategy together for your own
team.
Yeah, so first I want to giveyou a little bit of context for
what holidays we take off andwhat holidays look like for
Buzzsprout as a company, becauseit's slightly different than
(08:12):
what the support team does Like.
It's kind of built on afoundation of what Buzzsprout is
doing, so I want to give you alittle bit of that context.
So, with Buzzsprout, we take the11 federal holidays off, and
that's our standard when itcomes to holidays.
Is the federal holidays.
It just keeps it easy.
Everyone knows when those are.
The reality, though, is thatnot everyone celebrates those
(08:34):
holidays.
Sometimes people celebrateother holidays or religious
holidays, or they just alwaystake the day after Thanksgiving
off, because that's a day thatthey're with their family, but
that's technically not a holiday, and so, with those 11 holidays
, the way that we do it atBuzzsprout is you can flex any
of those days to be any holidaysyou want.
So you basically get 11holidays and you get to choose
(08:57):
what those 11 holidays are, andso it works really well for us.
It's clear, and we communicatewith each other, and then you
get to take the days off thatare important for you to take
off, instead of like arbitrarilytaking off a day just because
you know that's the day thatpeople told you to take off
because that's the federalholiday, but really I'd rather
just work on Columbus DayColumbus.
(09:18):
Day but is it even Columbus Day?
Jordan (09:21):
It's really not anymore.
Priscilla (09:23):
But that's a great example.
Some people just want to workthat day and would rather take
the day after Thanksgiving off.
That's exactly what I did.
Yeah, that's what I did as well.
Yeah, exactly.
So.
The whole point of that, though, is that we really work on flex
days.
Anyone on the team has theability to work a holiday and to
(09:46):
take a flex day, and to putthat on a day that they want to
take off for whatever reason,and so the interesting thing is,
our support team works a littledifferently, because, with
support, you really don't havethe freedom, in most industries,
to take full holidays and toleave your customers on their
own for a full day or, in somecases, two days in a row,
depending on the holidays you'retaking.
Jordan (10:03):
Yeah.
Priscilla (10:03):
Like, if you take Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,
that's two days that yourcustomers may not be able to get
in touch with you.
For some industries that's OK,but for some that's not going to
work.
Yeah, and so when I starteddoing support here at Buzzsprout
and navigating what this lookedlike for me, I started to
realize that, oh, holidays inthe customer service world are
(10:24):
completely different thanholidays in the corporate world,
because in the corporate worldit's pretty known that, ok, this
is a holiday, we're off, but incustomer service you really
don't have that same kind ofclarity, and so you have to
figure out a strategy ahead oftime so that everyone has the
ability to be off and get thatrest and relaxation or
(10:44):
celebration time while stillmaking sure your customers are
being taken care of.
When I had first started, reallythe way we solved this was the
partners did support on theholidays.
I would take the holiday off.
I was the only person doingsupport.
I would take the federalholiday off, they would cover
the support inbox, and then mostof the time I'd come back the
next day to a really busy inboxbecause there was just stuff
(11:08):
that was left, or, you know,there were questions, a lot of
follow up questions thathappened and that was pretty
normal, and it was.
It was pretty good because I gotto take the holiday off and I
felt like one of the team and itwas great.
But I realized that sometimes Iwould rather not have that day
off because it made the rest ofthe week harder if I took that
day off.
And so as we started to bringpeople onto the support team, we
(11:32):
started to realize that theremight be a better way to do it
than to have the partners comein and do support on the
holidays or to have no supporton a holiday.
And so as we started to growthe team, we started playing
with some different strategies.
So I'm going to talk through acouple of those and what worked.
And so, just to set the scene alittle bit, we had like two to
three people for a while andwhat we first started doing was
(11:55):
kind of saying OK, one personwill work the holiday on their
own and the other two will takeit off.
Again, we have these 11 federalholidays, so we'll balance them
between the three of us and oneperson will work a third of
them and then the others wouldtake the full days off.
So this worked well for usbecause it gave us the ability
to have time off.
So this worked well for usbecause it gave us the ability
to have time off, and for twopeople.
(12:15):
Every holiday you got a full dayoff and you could enjoy it with
friends and family and youdidn't have to think about work
at all and it was great and youhad total freedom in that.
But the negative side of thatwas if you were the person
working the holiday especiallydepending on what the holiday
was you were swamped and youwere stressed and you were the
only one working, and then thenext day your team would come
(12:35):
back renewed and refreshed andready to go and you would feel
burnt out and tired and maybe alittle bit resentful of the fact
that they got time off, even ifjust before you did on the last
holiday, and if you weregetting to flex that day to
another day.
And so we found that thatreally was putting too much
pressure on the person who wasin the inbox, even though it was
(12:55):
providing the rest andcelebration time for the people
who got to take the day off.
Jordan (13:00):
Yeah, but that sucks for the person that like maybe they
don't really care forThanksgiving or Christmas or
something like that, and thenthey get stuck with those ones
off and they're like, oh, I'drather have 4th of July off.
Yeah.
Priscilla (13:13):
And if you're just arbitrarily picking who is
working what holidays, yes, yeah, right.
It's definitely not going to bethis balanced feeling where
everyone's like, oh man, becausefor myself personally, 4th of
July was never a holiday that Iloved.
I like it, it's a fine holiday,it's nothing against the
holiday, but it's the middle ofthe summer.
In Florida, it's so hot in Julyand I never wanted to be
(13:36):
outside growing up in July.
It's just too hot here, and sowhen I would get July 4th off,
I'd be like man.
I don't really want to go to abusy beach where everyone is,
I'd rather just work this day.
But I have this day off andsomeone else is working and I'd
rather have Thanksgiving off.
That's like my favorite holiday.
I'd rather do that, and so, yes, you're right.
If you're arbitrarily pickingthem like that and trying to
(13:59):
rotate through, then peoplearen't going to end up with the
days that mean the most to them.
Jordan (14:04):
Exactly.
Priscilla (14:04):
And the ones they do work, they're going to feel
burnt out and just exhausted bythe end of it, which doesn't
serve your team and doesn'tvalue the people on your team
Absolutely.
So as the team continued togrow, we were able to play with
some more things, and I will saythat you know, if you have a
small team, it can be reallyhard because you only have a
couple people.
It can be really difficult tofind a strategy that works
(14:29):
because you only have two peopleto work with.
But as you get more people onthe team, you kind of get
exposed to different options,and so one thing we tried that
worked well for us.
Again, we still just had liketwo to three, maybe four people.
At this point we started doinghalf days, and this, honestly,
is where we have found the mostcomfort and the most success is
working half days, and so whatthat looks like for us is that
(14:51):
someone on the team will work inthe morning and someone will
work in the afternoon, or maybewe'll have two people in the
morning and two people in theafternoon, and so you're getting
some of the holiday and thenyou're working part of the
holiday, and so it feels alittle more balanced.
You're still getting some ofthe day off to celebrate or to
relax, but you're not getting awhole day off, which is a
negative, and you're not workingthe whole day and getting like
(15:13):
that full flex day.
It's kind of like you'reworking a half day and then
you're getting this half flexday and so again, it works.
It feels a little more balanced, but there's still negatives to
it.
There's still pain that comeswith that if you're working in
customer support and trying tofigure out how to do that.
Ok, so right now, the way thatwe do it is we work half days
and everyone has the freedom totell me what days they want to
(15:35):
take off, specifically whatholidays are most important to
them.
They get to choose it.
So they come to me and they say,hey, Fourth of July is really
important to me, so I know thatI should be working half days on
most holidays.
So I'm happy to work theseholidays half days, but these
two or three holidays are theones that are really important
to me.
And then from there I build outa holiday schedule, kind of.
(15:59):
You know, at the beginning ofthe year I start to plan it out,
Wow, and as people make plansthey touch base with me and that
way we know before we get tothe holiday who's working a half
day, what their hours are onthat day.
So if you are a beach personand you want to go to the beach
in the morning on 4th of July,but the afternoon for 4th of
July you really like to be homein a quiet, dark, cold place to
nurse your sunburn, then you cando that because you can plan to
(16:21):
work in the afternoon.
And so we kind of are flexibleon the hours.
But the expectation is thateveryone on the support team is
going to work a half day on aholiday and in return they're
getting that full flex day back.
And so, instead of it being likea one to one ratio.
It's really you're getting likea one and a half time situation
or a two time situation.
Jordan (16:41):
That's so cool.
When you were explaining this,I was thinking that it was you
know, they work half the day on4th of July and then maybe they
flex like the next half of theday to July 5th, so they could
sleep in after fireworks allnight.
Yeah, but no, they get thewhole day.
Priscilla (16:55):
They get a whole day, that's crazy and it works for
us because there's an incentivethere to work the holiday.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
So for people who want to worka half day on Veterans Day and
then get that full flex day togo put on a different holiday
that's important to them,they'll have the ability to do
that, and I don't think I'veseen a situation on the team
since we've started this processthat has resulted in me saying,
(17:16):
hey, actually you can't takethat full day off because we
don't have enough coverage.
Yeah, almost everyone wants towork if they can work, and if
they don't want to work thatholiday, they usually have the
freedom not to, and it worksreally really well for our team.
So we are always open tolooking for better ways to do
things, and right now that's ourstrategy, but two years ago
(17:36):
that was not how we did it.
So I thought it'd be cool forus to talk through kind of some
tips for planning your ownstrategy, because the reality is
this works well for us and ourindustry, but it does not work
for every industry.
It is not going to work forevery size team.
Smaller teams are going to havea harder time figuring out what
this looks like, and largerteams aren't going to want to do
(17:59):
a bunch of half days.
They might be able to do fulldays because they have a larger
team that can split time, and soI wanted to talk through a
little bit of our thoughtprocess to hopefully help you as
you're planning your strategyfor coverage over the holidays.
Yeah, the first piece of advicethat I would say is know your
customers right.
That's the most important thing.
(18:19):
Yeah, you need to know who yourcustomers are, what they're
expecting of you around theholidays and whether or not they
can wait.
I think is a big thing.
You want to know.
Do your customers celebrate theholiday in question?
So, like, there are 11 federalholidays for the US, but there
are holidays in other countries,there are holidays within
(18:40):
certain religions.
There are so many holidays thatare celebrated that you may not
even know of, and so it'simportant to look at your
customers, where they're locatedand understand what their
holidays are and if there's anycrossover with the ones that we
have here in the US.
And if your team is locatedoutside of the US.
You want to be aware of whatholidays they're celebrating,
(19:00):
because it's just going tochange, which is why the flex
process we use for Buzzsprout itworks so well, because you can
choose the holidays that matterto you, even if they're not the
US federal holidays.
Yeah, and this could just be forBuzzsprout or for my team, but
there is a difference inChristmas and Thanksgiving and
then the other holidays.
Yes, christmas and Thanksgivingare big, huge holidays in the
(19:24):
US and for the most part ourcoverage on those holidays is
really minor.
Yeah, it's really light Ourcoverage on other holidays.
We try to keep prettyconsistent so that there's not a
big dip in those days when itcomes to customers and
understanding their customers'expectations around response
time and accessibility and allof that.
(19:45):
But with Christmas and withThanksgiving, we try to be
really respectful of making sureeveryone is able to take that
time off and be with family orcelebrate in whatever way they
want to celebrate.
So our customers in those twosituations typically wait longer
than they would on a normal day.
So I just want to clear that up.
Jordan (20:04):
And usually customers are very understanding when they
don't get a response right awayon Christmas Day from us.
Priscilla (20:10):
Exactly Right, which is why you're able to have a
little bit more light coverageon Thanksgiving and on Christmas
, because most people,especially in the US, understand
that those are the big you knowthe big holidays.
So, yeah, the first thing to dois to know your customers and I
would ask yourself where arethey located?
What holidays are theycelebrating?
(20:31):
Are they going to reach out onVeterans Day, when my entire
team is off, because we're allbased in the US, but they're
based in another country andthey don't celebrate Veterans
Day?
Yeah, what does your product dothat your customers are using
it?
Is it a product that they usewhen they're at work, and so
when they're off on theseholidays, they're not going to
need your product, and so theydon't reach out.
(20:51):
We have a time tracking toolthat really is used by people at
work and so on holidays, thattool does not see any support
because no one's tracking timewhen they're not working.
But Buzzsprout is for hobbyists, and so people often use those
holidays to get a jump start ontheir podcast.
(21:11):
And so we do hear from people onholidays in the US, because
that's when they're doing theirwork, and we have people outside
of the US who don't celebrateUS holidays and they need to
reach out on a holiday and wewant to be there for them.
And so, knowing your customers,their habits, how they're using
your tools, when they're usingyour product all of that's going
to be really helpful in settingthe strategy for your holiday
(21:33):
coverage.
The other thing I like to thinkthrough is is your product time
sensitive, like, does it haveto be answered today?
If you have a small team andyou're trying to make sure that
your team has the ability totake holidays and enjoy the day
off, then what can give if it'snot going to be that Right?
So what?
What can wait?
Can your customers wait?
(21:54):
Do you have a product that it'sOK if they wait for 24 hours?
Yeah, do you have a productthat is time sensitive and
there's no room for that and youcan't lighten up coverage at
all over the holidays because itreally has to be answered right
away.
So you might work in insurance,where things happen on holidays
and there's no way around that,or you might work in something
(22:14):
that's a little less timesensitive, and so waiting 24
hours isn't the end of the world, and so knowing that as well
like, what is the product you'resupporting and how serious is
it to get back to someone within10 minutes?
Or is it possible that lettingyour customers wait a little bit
longer to allow your team tohave time off to rest and come
(22:36):
back, that might be a worthwhiletradeoff?
Mm-hmm, all right.
The next thing you want to do isknow your team, and this comes
back to kind of what we weretalking about the flex holidays,
and people celebrate differentholidays.
Yeah, just like you know yourcustomers, you know your team
well, and you should know yourteam really well to know what
things are important to them andwhat holidays are important to
(22:56):
them, and to know what thingsincentivize them too, because
you might be able to advocatefor your team in a way that
would really make working onholidays a good thing, an
exciting thing.
So we do it with you know youget extra flex time, basically,
when you work on a holiday, andthat's the incentive, and for
the people on my team, that'sawesome because they're getting
(23:18):
a little bit more PTO, a littlebit more flex time, so they get
that balance Right.
They work a half day on aholiday, but they get a full
flex day that they can takewhenever they want to.
Yeah, but your team might beincentivized by money.
They might be like, hey, I don'tcare about extra PTO days or
extra flex days.
What I really want is some morecold, hard cash in my hand.
(23:38):
And if that's the case, thenyou can, as the leader, step up
and advocate for that, becausethe reality is, customer service
professionals don't work thattraditional holiday schedule
that everyone else in thecompany works, and so you need
to be aware of that andrespectful of that traditional
holiday schedule that everyoneelse in the company works.
Yeah, and so you need to beaware of that and respectful of
your team, and in some cases,that'll be advocating for your
(24:01):
team to be able to be valued inthat way, and so that might look
like, hey, there's additionalpay in it for you if you're
working on a holiday, and thathelps fight against the
resentment, that helps makethings feel more balanced on the
team, and it can be a reallycool way to get people to want
to work holidays.
Yeah.
Jordan (24:20):
I have friends that have jobs in like hospitals and
stuff where they get like timeand a half or double time and
they jump at those holidayshifts.
I know that it's actually hardfor them to get the holiday
shifts because they want thatpay incentive.
Priscilla (24:36):
That's a great example.
When a holiday happens, youcan't have light coverage in a
hospital.
No, yeah, because you just youhave to be available and ready
and you have to have people todo the work.
And so how do hospitals makethat enticing to work?
Yeah, they have pay incentives.
Have pay incentives and peoplewant that, and they make them
good enough to make themdesirable, and so you might find
(24:59):
that for your team, hey, a payincentive is actually what we're
going to do here, and I'm goingto advocate to the higher ups
and decision makers that this iswhat we need to be doing for my
team to make working holidayssomething that they want to do
and that they're excited aboutdoing.
Another thing is to just knowyour team and what their life
looks like.
Do they have kids that are outof school on holidays, and it's
(25:19):
going to make it hard for themto work a full day on a holiday
because their kids aren't inschool.
You want to be able to be therefor your team members in that
way and make it easier on themto do the job that they're hired
to do, right, I mean?
Because the reality is you'rehired in a customer service role
and you want to be able to dowhat's asked of you, but the
other side of that coin isyou're not replaceable at home
(25:43):
and you need to be at homesometimes.
And so, knowing that about thepeople on your team and working
into your strategy thatintentional thought of okay, is
this going to work for thisperson on my team?
Is this going to serve thisperson on my team while also
providing coverage to mycustomer who is outside of the
US and needs support on this day, even though we're all in the
(26:05):
US and schools are closed?
Yeah, so balancing all of thatis really important and starts
by knowing your team and knowingwhat their needs are, speaking
of which, it's really importantto be very clear about the
expectations for holidaycoverage when you hire someone
and bring them on your team,because you could hire someone
and not clarify that holidaycoverage is expected, and then
(26:28):
you get to the first holiday andthey go oh no, I can't work
holidays.
Yeah, and when it comes tocustomer service, it is almost a
guarantee that you're going tobe expected to work holidays,
but it should never go unspoken,yeah.
So in our process it is clear onthe application.
It is clear in the firstinterview.
It is clear in the secondinterview.
(26:49):
We make it very, very clearright up front.
You're going to be expected towork some holidays.
In our case they're half days.
You're never really expected towork a full holiday, but you're
going to be expected to worksome half days.
Here's the incentive that'sgoing to come along with that.
But that is the expectation,with an understanding that
there's holidays that are reallyimportant to you.
(27:09):
You can take those off fully.
Yeah, and being really clearabout that as much as possible
from the get go is going to bethe best decision Getting
someone on your team and nottalking about that, because
maybe you're a little worriedthat they're not going to want
the job if they have to workholidays.
Oh my gosh, it is going to be abad decision once you get them
on the team.
They're not going to justmagically change their mind and
(27:30):
want to work holidays.
So be clear about it up front.
If someone can't work a holiday, or if that's not something
that they're willing to do, thenyou really don't want them on
your team because that's notgoing to work well for coverage,
because you're going to have tocover the inbox.
There's no way around that.
Jordan (27:44):
And those like unexpressed expectations can
really create a lot of likeanimosity and you're setting
them up for failure because youdidn't tell them what was
expected of them.
So I think that's great a tip.
Priscilla (27:56):
Right, yeah, and if Sally comes in and she doesn't
think she needs to work holidaysand Joe's been working holidays
for three years and Sallydoesn't have to work holidays it
can be really hard on your teamdynamic if it's not something
that the whole team is sharingtogether.
And so all of that comes withclear communication and everyone
knowing, hey, you can take theholiday fully off if that's what
(28:18):
you want to do, if this is animportant holiday for you, but
the expectation is that mostholidays you're working half
days.
Yeah, the other thing to keepin mind is that not all coverage
is equal is equal.
This was something that when Iwas doing support by myself in
the beginning, I kind of had tofigure out a way to be available
(28:42):
in the inbox but also take aholiday, because it was just me
and so sometimes that was thesituation, and so I kind of, in
my mind, I made these twocategories you have inbox
monitoring and inbox coverage.
What's the difference betweenthose?
So coverage and this is justfrom my brain, okay.
So maybe you listen to this andyou're like this doesn't make
any sense, priscilla, buthopefully it does.
Inbox coverage is when you arecovering the inbox.
(29:02):
Your goal is to go throughevery email that's in the inbox
and clear it out for a certainamount of hours.
So let's say you're scheduledto be in the inbox from 9 am to
noon, so for those three hoursyou are in the inbox, you are
working through emails, you arecovering the inbox OK.
But if you're monitoring theinbox, the difference there is
(29:23):
that you're keeping an eye onthe inbox but you might not be
answering emails, or you mightnot be answering that many
emails.
You may just be monitoring itfor fires, for roadblocks, for
bugs that show up or situationsthat are urgent, but you're not
covering it.
So your responsibility is to beaware of what's happening in
(29:44):
the inbox, while knowing thatyou're not glued to your
computer.
You're not glued to the emailsor the inbox, but you're aware
and you know what's going on andif something were to happen,
you would be the one to thenjump in and maybe switch into
that coverage or to pull inpeople on the team, depending on
what you find.
(30:04):
And so an example of this iscoverage is kind of how we treat
those nine federal holidayswhere everyone is working half
days, but for Thanksgiving andfor Christmas we usually have
one person monitoring the inbox,and so they're just keeping an
eye on the inbox.
They are not glued to it, theyare not working for three hours
(30:25):
straight.
They are looking for veryspecific types of emails and
staying on top of that whichcould look like three hours of
time over the entirety of theday, but it's in short
increments and so they're justkeeping an eye on the inbox.
And so, yeah, monitoring versuscoverage, deciding when it
makes sense to have coverage andwhen it makes sense to just
(30:46):
have someone monitor.
When we had a team of one ortwo people, we did a lot more
monitoring and a lot lesscoverage.
And now, with seven to eightpeople, we did a lot more
monitoring and a lot lesscoverage, and now, with seven to
eight people, we do a lot morecoverage and much less of the
monitoring.
But some days you're still goingto say look, everyone wants to
take this as a holiday, so thetwo people who are behind you're
just monitoring.
That's all you're doing.
(31:07):
There's no pressure to have aclear inbox.
You're going to monitor it.
You're going to make surethere's nothing terrible that
happens.
You're going to monitor it.
You're going to make surethere's nothing terrible that
happens.
You're going to answer thepeople who are in roadblocks,
but you are not going to beglued to an inbox for 16 hours
today, because everyone else onthe team wanted to go take the
holiday.
You're just going to monitor itand then we'll all figure it out
tomorrow when we come back fromthe holiday.
(31:28):
Another strategy you could takeis all company support.
We haven't really talked aboutthis much on this podcast, but
we should have an episode,honestly in the next couple
weeks about what we call supportshifts at Buzzsprout.
But basically it's whereeveryone on the team takes time
to work in the inbox and you canstrategically place this on
(31:48):
holidays.
There's no reason that yoursupport team is the only people
who work on holidays.
Yeah, so if you have a team,especially if it's a small team,
encourage everyone on the teamto sign up for a holiday shift.
Or maybe you plan it so youhave one support person, one
designer and one developercovering a holiday and then that
support person is your pointperson.
(32:09):
They help out and they directthe other two as much as they
need to, but you've got thesethree people who are all working
it together.
That has a lot of benefit in alot of different ways.
It makes your support team feelvalued because they see that
the rest of the company istaking time to work on a holiday
and also sacrificing a holidayfor your customers.
(32:29):
That speaks volume.
It also gives your support teamthe ability to interact with
other people on your team on aface-to-face basis.
They might not usually interactwith that designer, but because
they're both scheduled on thisholiday together, they are
working together on theseproblems.
That can be a really coolstrategy, especially if you're
on a smaller team and you'retrying to figure out how to let
(32:51):
your customer support team havetime off without it feeling so
detrimental to your customers'access to your team.
Another thing, just real quickly, is auto responses.
We don't use these a lot inBuzzsprout support, but they can
be used in a thoughtful way.
I would recommend not justturning them on and letting them
(33:11):
be, but you can be reallystrategic with your auto
responses.
So, for anyone who doesn't know, an auto response is just a
situation where a customer mightemail in and get a response
from your support team that sayssomething along the lines of
hey, it's a holiday and we'renot working today, but we'll be
in touch tomorrow.
Jordan (33:28):
Yeah, we almost had one of these for Hurricane Milton.
Priscilla (33:31):
Exactly so.
We just experienced HurricaneMilton here in Florida and
thankfully we didn't have a bigimpact up here in Jacksonville.
But we were planning because wethought we might lose power for
several days and so we wantedto be prepared.
So we were very intentionalabout writing an auto response
that would help temperexpectations for what our
(33:51):
customers really can expectwriting in over those times, and
so we were trying in that autoresponse to be very transparent,
that hey, we're in Florida,many of our team members are
located in Florida and may beaffected by this.
This isn't going to have a hugeimpact on your getting a
response, but we want you toknow about it so that you can
give us a little bit more gracewhen it comes to hearing back
(34:14):
from us.
And also, here's some reallygreat resources that you can use
if you're in a tight spot andyou need to find an answer
really quickly.
And being really intentionalabout auto responses is good.
What's not good is just turningit on and leaving it on all the
time and never turning it off.
I hate those.
And then everyone who writes inautomatically gets a response
that says we're looking intothis and there's no faith in
(34:36):
that.
No, right, no, because no one'slooking into that.
They've received your email,but no one's looking into it yet
no, and so I think that it's adouble-edged sword, and you just
have to be really careful withauto responses.
Use them sparingly and bereally intentional about what
you're communicating in thoseresponses to your customers,
(34:57):
because they're going to seepast the facade of we got this
and someone's working on itright now, especially when every
single time they email andthat's what they get.
Jordan (35:04):
Yeah I always get a little leery whenever I send a
support email to like spotify orapple and then two later I get
an email back from them like oh,of course, and it just, for
whatever reason, that indicatesme that I am in the back of a
queue.
That is however long, and it'sgoing to be like half the day
before I hear a response.
(35:24):
At least yeah, if that yeah.
Priscilla (35:26):
And I agree.
I mean, I think auto responsesin general give people that
thought yeah, maybe there's alittle bit of oh OK, I'm glad
that they got the email.
It successfully went through,great.
So I know that it's there, butI don't think anyone is getting
that and going oh wonderful,someone's looking at my ticket
and I'm going to be responded toin a couple minutes.
(35:48):
So if you use those on holidaysto kind of temper expectations,
just be really intentional abouthow you're using them and what
you're telling your customersand make sure you're writing it
in your tone and all of that iscommunicated well, because those
stock ones can be actuallyreally damaging to what people
think about your team,absolutely.
And then just a couple otherthings Plan early.
(36:10):
We talked about it at the topof this episode.
It's important to have astrategy in place and it's
important to plan early and tocommunicate it with your team.
Talk to your team, get theirinput on what they want and what
they don't want and what worksfor them and what doesn't.
Try things out and try them outagain and if they fail, try
something else.
And there are lots of holidaysand you can try different
(36:30):
strategies on every holidayuntil you figure out what works
for your team and when you'recommunicating with your team,
make sure that they know likehey, I don't have a plan for
this.
We're small.
We're trying to figure it out.
We want to do two things wewant to serve our customers well
and we want to serve this teamwell, and those two things are
hard to do, and so let's figureout.
(36:50):
We're going to work together tofind a way to do that.
Especially if you're a smallteam, that should be well
received by the other people onyour team.
And if you're a larger team andyou're trying to figure it out,
bring them in as much as you canand get their feedback as much
as you can and be open to changeand be open to trying new
things, because ultimately,these are the people that you
want to work on holidays.
(37:11):
You're asking them to work onholidays, they're giving of
their holiday for this and youwant to make sure there's buy-in
, because that'll make coverageso much more simple if everyone
is on the same page with whatwe're doing.
Another thing, especially whenyou go into the holiday season
like we are, is encourage peopleto take PTO early.
One thing we will run into andI think this is kind of normal
(37:34):
is where people kind of hold onto their PTO until the holidays
and then they take a week off,lots of PTO around Christmas and
Thanksgiving, which is totallyunderstandable and New Year's
like that week between Christmasand New Year's where we're all
kind of like in a fog A lot ofpeople want to take that whole
week off and totally makes sense.
But when you are in a supportteam and you're covering an
(37:56):
inbox, you have to be aware ofthat coverage.
So it's not even necessarily aholiday, but it's surrounding
the holidays and if you havethree people come to you from
your team of five people and sayI want to take these two weeks
off at Christmas, it's going toput your other two people in a
really tough spot to cover them.
Christmas.
It's going to put your othertwo people in a really tough
spot to cover them, and so Ialways encourage our team to
(38:21):
take PTO early to be aware ofthe rest of the team when it
comes to putting in your PTO, wedon't really have a strict
submit PTO and get it approvedprocess.
It's much more on our system andso when we are dealing with PTO
, I am always encouraging peopleto take it early and to
understand that they might needto be flexible about their dates
when it comes to taking PTO,and we'll do a lot of half days
(38:42):
too around the holidays when itcomes to kind of using up that
PTO at the end of the year.
Jordan (38:47):
Well, that's the nice thing about the way that we do
it is, I know that there's someplaces where you submit a form
and then it like gets approvedbut like no one else in the
company can see when you'retaking time off, and the way
that we have it it's sort oflike a company calendar and then
people just put their PTO thatthey're wanting to take on the
calendar and other people cansee it, and so it's really easy
(39:09):
for even someone like me who'snot on the support team, to go
in and see so-and-so's out, orwe have something going on and
like maybe I need to be, youknow, on deck to help out in the
support box or you knowsomething like that.
So it's a lot easier wheneveryone can see it.
And I know that a lot of peoplehave reasons for not being that
transparent about their timeoff, but I actually kind of like
(39:30):
it.
Priscilla (39:31):
Yeah, I think it shows that you value your team
and that you trust them to makedecisions that are good for the
people they work with.
Yeah, like you said, there aredefinitely situations where
submitting and getting PTOapproved is necessary.
But in some ways, being able toown your own PTO and choose
when you're taking it and whenyou're not taking it and when
(39:52):
you're working, that can bereally empowering to your team.
And so what we always say ishey, you manage your own PTO,
you don't have to get permissionfor PTO, but we ask that you be
respectful of your team and youdon't leave them in a tough
spot.
Yeah, and so that means that ifyou want to take PTO next week
and you look and four people aretaking PTO that day, maybe you
(40:14):
don't get to take PTO or youchoose not to take it because it
would leave your team in atough spot, and that comes down
to you making that decisionyourself, and it really is a
good way to kind of foster asense of ownership around the
product and around the customersand the inbox and all of that,
and so I will always encouragepeople to get your PTO on early
when it comes to holidays sothat you can make sure that
you're getting in there early on, and we also encourage a lot of
(40:38):
half days.
So if you're like, hey, Ireally want to have a nice break
over Christmas, I want to beout of the inbox and have
relaxing days, then I would saygreat, why don't you work three
hours a day for the week andhave every afternoon off?
We can work around that, butit's a lot harder to work around
a full week vacation.
And so I always encourage peopleif it's something that can't be
(41:00):
moved, get in an early and ifit can be flexible, be flexible.
Let's find a way that it worksfor the whole team and balance
that.
So if you look at theBuzzsprout support team schedule
in December, there are a lot ofhalf days in there there are a
lot of you know, fridays takenoff a lot of kind of balanced
PTO when it comes to that.
And then the other side of this,too, is you might be a product
(41:22):
where you need to hire newpeople and more people over
holidays for seasonal coverage.
Oh yeah, we have a little bitof a dip in the Christmas time,
but if you work for ane-commerce company, you probably
need more people, and so youmay have to hire people that are
specifically for that season oftime, and so be aware of that.
If that's something that yourteam is going to need to prepare
(41:43):
for, because that's not how wedo things and that's not
something we have to worry about, but it is very real for a lot
of customer support teams,that's a good point.
But I really think the mostimportant thing is that you
respect your team and respecttheir ability to rest and
celebrate and be with family.
Many years ago, when I wasfirst starting to do support, I
(42:11):
read an article and I'm notgoing to say the company name
because I am not trying to pointany fingers but there was an
article I read about a companythat basically the gist of it
was that they just treated theirsupport team terribly over the
holidays and very last minute,they were requiring people come
in and work over Christmas, andit was a very bad environment,
and this article really laid outa lot of how their support team
was being treated.
(42:31):
And I think it's reallyimportant to remember that the
people on your team are realpeople and they can't support
your customers well if they'renot supported well and if they
don't have their rest and ifthey don't have the ability to
celebrate with their familiesand their loved ones, and so you
have to think through that.
(42:51):
You can't just say sorry, thisis the job you signed up for and
now you're working all ofChristmas Day, because that's
really not going to serve yourcustomers well in the end.
And so I think the mostimportant thing here is to know
your team, respect your team,advocate for the ability for
them to take time off, and ifthat means other people on the
team come in and help out, great.
(43:12):
If that means offeringincentive pay to work on
holidays, then maybe that's whatyou do.
If that means working half daysand getting flex days, then
maybe that's what you do, butsomething so that you're finding
that balance of serving yourcustomers and making sure they
have the ability to get theanswers they need in a timely
fashion, while also respectingyour team and making sure they
(43:33):
have the time to rest that theyneed in order to come back and
provide remarkable support toyour customers.
Well, it's time for our supportin real life segment, where we
discuss real life supportexperiences and questions.
Jordan, what question do youhave for us today?
Jordan (43:52):
So we got a question here that says would love to
hear how others are handlingunresponsive email cases.
How often do you allow the caseto stay open after a customer
stops responding, and how manyfollow-ups do your agents or
automated follow-ups entail?
Priscilla (44:06):
Yeah, I like this one because I think I might have a
unique take on it and somepeople might hear this and go
this is a bad take, priscilla.
Not unique, it's a bad one.
So my advice is don't follow up.
I don't know if that's right orwrong, but I think it stems
from being on a support team ofone, or being on a support team
with only two people and a lotof support that comes in and
(44:30):
knowing that I can't follow upwith every single person who I
write an email to and see ifthey got the email and if they
want to write back, so Icouldn't hold space for it in my
head, I couldn't hold space forit in my to-do list because
it'd just be too much.
And so on Buzzsprout support,when you send an email, it goes
to the close file and you forgetabout it in your head and you
(44:53):
forget about it in the inbox andit is in their court and if
they choose to respond, it comesback and we get it again.
And if they don't respond, thenwe kind of bank on that not
being that important to them andso they didn't need to respond.
Yeah, and I say all of this, andof course, there are exceptions
to this Right.
So if there's something reallyurgent that we know we need to
(45:13):
follow up on, or something legalthat we really want to follow
up on, those things we don'tjust close out and those might
take follow-ups.
But when it comes to yourrun-of-the-mill everyday email,
we are not sending automatedemails out to people saying, hey
, did you hear our email back?
Or we haven't heard from you infive days, so now we're
considering this case closed.
(45:33):
We don't do that.
I don't know about you, jordan,but when I get those emails, I
go oh wait, I already got myanswer.
If I wanted more information, Iwould have written back in, but
I didn't, so you should haveclosed this five days ago.
Jordan (45:47):
That's how I see it.
I get really annoyed whenpeople follow up Like.
I've heard that you want tofollow up on an email five days
after you send it, and whenyou're working in support it's
kind of hard to keep track offollowing up in five days.
So I totally see your pointabout like it's closed, it's
gone.
Priscilla (46:06):
And you could use an automated follow-up situation,
but again, like we were talkingabout with those auto emails, it
takes away some of thatpersonal touch.
Yeah, and most people don'tneed that.
If they have a question or afollow up question, they will
reach back out to you and if youfeel like the issue or the
question that you're dealingwith warrants a follow up, then
(46:28):
make it really personal andassign it to yourself and leave
it open and make sure youpersonally are following up and
saying, hey, were you able toget this sorted out?
Because that middle road whereit's like I'm going to follow up
but it's going to be anautomated email, that takes away
the personal touch.
If you're going to take thetime to follow up with someone,
make it really personal, reachout to them, understand their
(46:50):
problem, make sure that they'reset going forward, reach out to
them, understand their problem,make sure that they're set going
forward.
Another, you know, reason youmight want to follow up with
someone is if you've, like,launched a feature that that
person requested.
Yeah, then you might down theline, months down the line, want
to follow up with that personand say, hey, just wanted you to
know we just launched thisfeature that you requested and I
came back and I found you andwanted you to know.
(47:10):
That's another kind of reasonyou might want to follow up.
But it's not really thesituation of, hey, it's been
three days, we haven't heardfrom you.
We're following up.
If you don't respond in twodays, we're closing this ticket.
Sometimes that to me feels likea lot of clutter, yeah, and it
takes away from my ability tofocus on other customers who are
writing in with questions rightnow If the customer that I
(47:33):
responded to five days ago issitting and waiting in my head
as this clutter.
And the reality is they alreadyanswered the question with my
first email, they figured it outand they don't need anything
else, but they're taking upspace in my brain.
I don't want to take that awayfrom another customer.
So, to answer this question, Iwould say don't follow up unless
it really is a critical issue.
Or if you're following up totell them about a future request
(47:57):
that they requested that wentthrough and got published, all
right.
Well, if you have a question ora support situation that you
would like us to discuss, youcan email us at happy to help at
buzzsproutcom, or text the showby using the link in our
episode description, you mayhear your question or your story
discussed in a future episodeof the podcast.
And again, I'm going to plugApple Podcasts.
(48:17):
If you like this episode orthis podcast, go and leave us a
rating or a review in ApplePodcasts.
It would make our days.
Thank you, Jordan, for doingthis episode with me.
I hope that you have awonderful holiday season and I'm
so excited to see you inNashville next week.
It's going to be a blast.
Oh my gosh, too much fun, toomuch fun.
(48:38):
Yeah, we have too much fun whenwe're together.
So thank you to everyone forlistening.
Now go and make someone's day.
Welcome to Happy to Help, a podcast about customer
support from the people atBuzzsprout.
I'm your host, riscilla Brooke.
Today we're preparing for theholiday season.
We're talking all about how tonavigate holiday coverage in a
way that serves your customerswhile giving your team time to
relax and celebrate.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's get into it.
Jordan (00:21):
Okay, riscilla, this episode we are recording early.
Yeah, because next week we'regoing to be in Nashville.
Priscilla (00:30):
I'm so pumped, me too .
I'm also like feeling that youknow, week before going out of
town, like everything has to bedone and trying to get all your
ducks in a row and all thethings you're forgetting, that
you know you're forgetting andare you going to remember them
in time, and all of that stuff.
I'm feeling that pressure rightnow.
Yeah, but it's good, I'mexcited.
Jordan (00:48):
It is good.
I'm also really excited.
It's going to be just such ablast.
There's something about meetingin person and it's it's a
little bit difficult to going ona trip right before a major
holiday.
So I guess it kind of ties intowhat we're talking about today.
Priscilla (01:03):
That is true.
So, for anyone who doesn't know, jordan and I work for
Buzzsprout, and Buzzsprout eachyear does kind of like a yearly
meetup for the whole team.
Most of our team is based inJacksonville, florida, but we
have several people around theUS, and so it's kind of a time
for us to get together and be incommunity and meet together as
(01:26):
a team and focus on how we workand why we work the way we do
and all of that, yeah, and it'ssuch a great time.
And so next week we're going toNashville, and so Jordan and I
get to see each other in personfor the first time since we
started this podcast, I think.
Jordan (01:39):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, it's been forever.
Priscilla (01:47):
And it's going to be a blast.
I cannot wait.
So we are recording thisepisode early, like you
mentioned.
So it feels a little bit funnybecause we're going to be
talking about holiday schedulesand I do not feel like we are in
the holiday frame yet, and bythe time this comes out, this
episode gets released, it'sgoing to be almost November.
Yeah, I think it's the week ofHalloween that this comes out,
and so, before we jump intoholiday coverage and talking
about those tips, jordan, sinceit's just you and I today and we
(02:10):
don't have a guest, I waswondering who has made your day
recently.
Jordan (02:14):
All right.
So I have kind of an odd one,because I just went on a trip to
Mexico.
It was my anniversary trip andmy husband, being such a
sweetheart, scheduled all of ourexcursions for me.
Oh, so nice.
And he didn't realize that Ihave like a deathly fear of
heights.
Priscilla (02:43):
And so one of the excursions he scheduled was a
zip lining and ATVing across asuspension bridge in the jungles
excursion.
Maybe that's why he booked allthese for you is because he knew
about that fear and wanted todo it anyway.
Yeah, and to encourage you toface the fear.
Jordan (02:52):
Yeah, and so you know my parents didn't raise a quitter.
So I went on the excursion andit was horrific.
It was so scary because myhusband thought it was just a
really quick zip line thing likereally cute adventure park.
No, we were literally gettinglike sent across mountains.
It was like 1,500 feet longthese zip lines were I mean
(03:15):
insane.
Priscilla (03:16):
And once you start a zip line, you're in it.
It's not like you have a wayout.
Jordan (03:20):
No, and I thought it was one of the ones where they just
like clip you in and you justhold on to the rope and go.
But this was not one of those.
You have to hold on to theselike metal bars that don't have
grips, your zip line thingswhere you can't let go of the
bars or it'll mess up the zipline and you could get stuck
like halfway.
Priscilla (03:50):
There's no way you could get me to do this.
Jordan (03:52):
I know and so, and so I was holding it and I keep wiping
my hands on my shirt and I wasI've been panicking, like just
panicking, and I was trying tobe brave about it and it was
just horrible.
But the zip line guys there waslike a group of four guys and
they were going along with usand they very quickly clocked
that I was suppressing somepanic and I was shaking and I
(04:18):
didn't realize that.
And so throughout the entireexcursion because yeah, once
you're on the zip lines, you'relike several mountains across
and so there's nothing you cando but to go like another
thousand feet at a time, right,yeah, and you're like 500 feet
in the air.
I mean, it was just so scary andthey were so good at
encouraging me and at one pointthey started like pulling pranks
(04:42):
on me and like one of them at awater station.
I kept getting bit bymosquitoes in the jungle and so
I was just like I was kind oflike swatting at my legs and
stuff, and one of them had along stick and he was poking the
back of my legs with the stick.
So I would think I was gettingbit by bugs, but I wasn't.
Actually it was just him Likebreaking it up, like keeping
things fun.
Priscilla (05:03):
They were keeping things fun.
Jordan (05:04):
They were like this isn't serious, like you're OK,
you're not going to die, you'renot going to die, Come on girl,
trust us.
And they made it so much funand, honestly, about five or six
zip lines in I was starting tohave fun.
Oh good, yeah.
So I really appreciate.
Priscilla (05:36):
You know they recognize that I was out of my
comfort zone, they recognizethat I was on the verge of a
breakdown, and so, really, whatthey did was just made something
that was horrendously scary tome very enjoyable their emotions
, especially in situations wherethey literally can't leave.
They have to do it, so there'sno other option.
Like, you've got to hire peoplefor that role that are going to
be able to calm the situationdown, because if you don't hire
(06:05):
people that can keep things calmor, like, lighten the mood or,
you know, encourage people whoare scared, you're going to end
up with a lot of people stuck onone ledge because they won't go
on to the next.
You know zip line and yeah.
So that's a good example ofneeding to find the right people
for the job in order to make ita good experience, because they
took the time to like, careabout you and to help you have a
good time.
Now you are going to tellpeople it was a great experience
(06:26):
and that they should do it evenif they're scared.
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Last episode, at the very end ofthe episode, I plugged our
Apple podcast listing and askedpeople to go and rate and review
, if they like the podcast, andI realized I really have not
been doing that at all in theseepisodes, and I also realized
that doing it at the end of theepisode probably isn't the best
(06:46):
place to do it, so I'm going todo it up front, right here.
If you like this episode or ifyou like this podcast, go and
leave us a rating or review onApple Podcasts, because it
really lets other people who arelooking for a podcast like this
one know whether it's worthlistening to.
And our time is valuable, and Idon't want people to listen to
(07:08):
this if it's not going to bringthem value, and so, if it brings
you value at all, I want you togo and leave a review to let
people know that it's worthlistening to.
So thank you for doing that,and if you do it, send us a fan
mail let us know you did it, andthen we'll give you a shout out
.
That'd be fun.
Maybe we'll read some reviews.
If we get some cool ones in thenext couple weeks, love it.
Ok, so this episode is allabout holiday coverage and
(07:31):
navigating holiday coverage andhow to kind of build a strategy
for holidays that respects yourteam but also provides a service
to your customers, because youdon't want to just forget about
them on a holiday.
And so you know we're about toenter this holiday season in the
next couple of months, and sonow is just the perfect time to
start working on that strategy,and so we're going to take some
(07:51):
time today to talk through whatour strategy has looked like in
the last couple of years andthen what you should think about
when you're trying to put thatstrategy together for your own
team.
Yeah, so first I want to giveyou a little bit of context for
what holidays we take off andwhat holidays look like for
Buzzsprout as a company, becauseit's slightly different than
(08:12):
what the support team does Like.
It's kind of built on afoundation of what Buzzsprout is
doing, so I want to give you alittle bit of that context.
So, with Buzzsprout, we take the11 federal holidays off, and
that's our standard when itcomes to holidays.
Is the federal holidays.
It just keeps it easy.
Everyone knows when those are.
The reality, though, is thatnot everyone celebrates those
(08:34):
holidays.
Sometimes people celebrateother holidays or religious
holidays, or they just alwaystake the day after Thanksgiving
off, because that's a day thatthey're with their family, but
that's technically not a holiday, and so, with those 11 holidays
, the way that we do it atBuzzsprout is you can flex any
of those days to be any holidaysyou want.
So you basically get 11holidays and you get to choose
(08:57):
what those 11 holidays are, andso it works really well for us.
It's clear, and we communicatewith each other, and then you
get to take the days off thatare important for you to take
off, instead of like arbitrarilytaking off a day just because
you know that's the day thatpeople told you to take off
because that's the federalholiday, but really I'd rather
just work on Columbus DayColumbus.
(09:18):
Day but is it even Columbus Day?
Jordan (09:21):
It's really not anymore.
Priscilla (09:23):
But that's a great example.
Some people just want to workthat day and would rather take
the day after Thanksgiving off.
That's exactly what I did.
Yeah, that's what I did as well.
Yeah, exactly.
So.
The whole point of that, though, is that we really work on flex
days.
Anyone on the team has theability to work a holiday and to
(09:46):
take a flex day, and to putthat on a day that they want to
take off for whatever reason,and so the interesting thing is,
our support team works a littledifferently, because, with
support, you really don't havethe freedom, in most industries,
to take full holidays and toleave your customers on their
own for a full day or, in somecases, two days in a row,
depending on the holidays you'retaking.
Jordan (10:03):
Yeah.
Priscilla (10:03):
Like, if you take Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,
that's two days that yourcustomers may not be able to get
in touch with you.
For some industries that's OK,but for some that's not going to
work.
Yeah, and so when I starteddoing support here at Buzzsprout
and navigating what this lookedlike for me, I started to
realize that, oh, holidays inthe customer service world are
(10:24):
completely different thanholidays in the corporate world,
because in the corporate worldit's pretty known that, ok, this
is a holiday, we're off, but incustomer service you really
don't have that same kind ofclarity, and so you have to
figure out a strategy ahead oftime so that everyone has the
ability to be off and get thatrest and relaxation or
(10:44):
celebration time while stillmaking sure your customers are
being taken care of.
When I had first started, reallythe way we solved this was the
partners did support on theholidays.
I would take the holiday off.
I was the only person doingsupport.
I would take the federalholiday off, they would cover
the support inbox, and then mostof the time I'd come back the
next day to a really busy inboxbecause there was just stuff
(11:08):
that was left, or, you know,there were questions, a lot of
follow up questions thathappened and that was pretty
normal, and it was.
It was pretty good because I gotto take the holiday off and I
felt like one of the team and itwas great.
But I realized that sometimes Iwould rather not have that day
off because it made the rest ofthe week harder if I took that
day off.
And so as we started to bringpeople onto the support team, we
(11:32):
started to realize that theremight be a better way to do it
than to have the partners comein and do support on the
holidays or to have no supporton a holiday.
And so as we started to growthe team, we started playing
with some different strategies.
So I'm going to talk through acouple of those and what worked.
And so, just to set the scene alittle bit, we had like two to
three people for a while andwhat we first started doing was
(11:55):
kind of saying OK, one personwill work the holiday on their
own and the other two will takeit off.
Again, we have these 11 federalholidays, so we'll balance them
between the three of us and oneperson will work a third of
them and then the others wouldtake the full days off.
So this worked well for usbecause it gave us the ability
to have time off.
So this worked well for usbecause it gave us the ability
to have time off, and for twopeople.
(12:15):
Every holiday you got a full dayoff and you could enjoy it with
friends and family and youdidn't have to think about work
at all and it was great and youhad total freedom in that.
But the negative side of thatwas if you were the person
working the holiday especiallydepending on what the holiday
was you were swamped and youwere stressed and you were the
only one working, and then thenext day your team would come
(12:35):
back renewed and refreshed andready to go and you would feel
burnt out and tired and maybe alittle bit resentful of the fact
that they got time off, even ifjust before you did on the last
holiday, and if you weregetting to flex that day to
another day.
And so we found that thatreally was putting too much
pressure on the person who wasin the inbox, even though it was
(12:55):
providing the rest andcelebration time for the people
who got to take the day off.
Jordan (13:00):
Yeah, but that sucks for the person that like maybe they
don't really care forThanksgiving or Christmas or
something like that, and thenthey get stuck with those ones
off and they're like, oh, I'drather have 4th of July off.
Yeah.
Priscilla (13:13):
And if you're just arbitrarily picking who is
working what holidays, yes, yeah, right.
It's definitely not going to bethis balanced feeling where
everyone's like, oh man, becausefor myself personally, 4th of
July was never a holiday that Iloved.
I like it, it's a fine holiday,it's nothing against the
holiday, but it's the middle ofthe summer.
In Florida, it's so hot in Julyand I never wanted to be
(13:36):
outside growing up in July.
It's just too hot here, and sowhen I would get July 4th off,
I'd be like man.
I don't really want to go to abusy beach where everyone is,
I'd rather just work this day.
But I have this day off andsomeone else is working and I'd
rather have Thanksgiving off.
That's like my favorite holiday.
I'd rather do that, and so, yes, you're right.
If you're arbitrarily pickingthem like that and trying to
(13:59):
rotate through, then peoplearen't going to end up with the
days that mean the most to them.
Jordan (14:04):
Exactly.
Priscilla (14:04):
And the ones they do work, they're going to feel
burnt out and just exhausted bythe end of it, which doesn't
serve your team and doesn'tvalue the people on your team
Absolutely.
So as the team continued togrow, we were able to play with
some more things, and I will saythat you know, if you have a
small team, it can be reallyhard because you only have a
couple people.
It can be really difficult tofind a strategy that works
(14:29):
because you only have two peopleto work with.
But as you get more people onthe team, you kind of get
exposed to different options,and so one thing we tried that
worked well for us.
Again, we still just had liketwo to three, maybe four people.
At this point we started doinghalf days, and this, honestly,
is where we have found the mostcomfort and the most success is
working half days, and so whatthat looks like for us is that
(14:51):
someone on the team will work inthe morning and someone will
work in the afternoon, or maybewe'll have two people in the
morning and two people in theafternoon, and so you're getting
some of the holiday and thenyou're working part of the
holiday, and so it feels alittle more balanced.
You're still getting some ofthe day off to celebrate or to
relax, but you're not getting awhole day off, which is a
negative, and you're not workingthe whole day and getting like
(15:13):
that full flex day.
It's kind of like you'reworking a half day and then
you're getting this half flexday and so again, it works.
It feels a little more balanced, but there's still negatives to
it.
There's still pain that comeswith that if you're working in
customer support and trying tofigure out how to do that.
Ok, so right now, the way thatwe do it is we work half days
and everyone has the freedom totell me what days they want to
(15:35):
take off, specifically whatholidays are most important to
them.
They get to choose it.
So they come to me and they say,hey, Fourth of July is really
important to me, so I know thatI should be working half days on
most holidays.
So I'm happy to work theseholidays half days, but these
two or three holidays are theones that are really important
to me.
And then from there I build outa holiday schedule, kind of.
(15:59):
You know, at the beginning ofthe year I start to plan it out,
Wow, and as people make plansthey touch base with me and that
way we know before we get tothe holiday who's working a half
day, what their hours are onthat day.
So if you are a beach personand you want to go to the beach
in the morning on 4th of July,but the afternoon for 4th of
July you really like to be homein a quiet, dark, cold place to
nurse your sunburn, then you cando that because you can plan to
(16:21):
work in the afternoon.
And so we kind of are flexibleon the hours.
But the expectation is thateveryone on the support team is
going to work a half day on aholiday and in return they're
getting that full flex day back.
And so, instead of it being likea one to one ratio.
It's really you're getting likea one and a half time situation
or a two time situation.
Jordan (16:41):
That's so cool.
When you were explaining this,I was thinking that it was you
know, they work half the day on4th of July and then maybe they
flex like the next half of theday to July 5th, so they could
sleep in after fireworks allnight.
Yeah, but no, they get thewhole day.
Priscilla (16:55):
They get a whole day, that's crazy and it works for
us because there's an incentivethere to work the holiday.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
So for people who want to worka half day on Veterans Day and
then get that full flex day togo put on a different holiday
that's important to them,they'll have the ability to do
that, and I don't think I'veseen a situation on the team
since we've started this processthat has resulted in me saying,
(17:16):
hey, actually you can't takethat full day off because we
don't have enough coverage.
Yeah, almost everyone wants towork if they can work, and if
they don't want to work thatholiday, they usually have the
freedom not to, and it worksreally really well for our team.
So we are always open tolooking for better ways to do
things, and right now that's ourstrategy, but two years ago
(17:36):
that was not how we did it.
So I thought it'd be cool forus to talk through kind of some
tips for planning your ownstrategy, because the reality is
this works well for us and ourindustry, but it does not work
for every industry.
It is not going to work forevery size team.
Smaller teams are going to havea harder time figuring out what
this looks like, and largerteams aren't going to want to do
(17:59):
a bunch of half days.
They might be able to do fulldays because they have a larger
team that can split time, and soI wanted to talk through a
little bit of our thoughtprocess to hopefully help you as
you're planning your strategyfor coverage over the holidays.
Yeah, the first piece of advicethat I would say is know your
customers right.
That's the most important thing.
(18:19):
Yeah, you need to know who yourcustomers are, what they're
expecting of you around theholidays and whether or not they
can wait.
I think is a big thing.
You want to know.
Do your customers celebrate theholiday in question?
So, like, there are 11 federalholidays for the US, but there
are holidays in other countries,there are holidays within
(18:40):
certain religions.
There are so many holidays thatare celebrated that you may not
even know of, and so it'simportant to look at your
customers, where they're locatedand understand what their
holidays are and if there's anycrossover with the ones that we
have here in the US.
And if your team is locatedoutside of the US.
You want to be aware of whatholidays they're celebrating,
(19:00):
because it's just going tochange, which is why the flex
process we use for Buzzsprout itworks so well, because you can
choose the holidays that matterto you, even if they're not the
US federal holidays.
Yeah, and this could just be forBuzzsprout or for my team, but
there is a difference inChristmas and Thanksgiving and
then the other holidays.
Yes, christmas and Thanksgivingare big, huge holidays in the
(19:24):
US and for the most part ourcoverage on those holidays is
really minor.
Yeah, it's really light Ourcoverage on other holidays.
We try to keep prettyconsistent so that there's not a
big dip in those days when itcomes to customers and
understanding their customers'expectations around response
time and accessibility and allof that.
(19:45):
But with Christmas and withThanksgiving, we try to be
really respectful of making sureeveryone is able to take that
time off and be with family orcelebrate in whatever way they
want to celebrate.
So our customers in those twosituations typically wait longer
than they would on a normal day.
So I just want to clear that up.
Jordan (20:04):
And usually customers are very understanding when they
don't get a response right awayon Christmas Day from us.
Priscilla (20:10):
Exactly Right, which is why you're able to have a
little bit more light coverageon Thanksgiving and on Christmas
, because most people,especially in the US, understand
that those are the big you knowthe big holidays.
So, yeah, the first thing to dois to know your customers and I
would ask yourself where arethey located?
What holidays are theycelebrating?
(20:31):
Are they going to reach out onVeterans Day, when my entire
team is off, because we're allbased in the US, but they're
based in another country andthey don't celebrate Veterans
Day?
Yeah, what does your product dothat your customers are using
it?
Is it a product that they usewhen they're at work, and so
when they're off on theseholidays, they're not going to
need your product, and so theydon't reach out.
(20:51):
We have a time tracking toolthat really is used by people at
work and so on holidays, thattool does not see any support
because no one's tracking timewhen they're not working.
But Buzzsprout is for hobbyists, and so people often use those
holidays to get a jump start ontheir podcast.
(21:11):
And so we do hear from people onholidays in the US, because
that's when they're doing theirwork, and we have people outside
of the US who don't celebrateUS holidays and they need to
reach out on a holiday and wewant to be there for them.
And so, knowing your customers,their habits, how they're using
your tools, when they're usingyour product all of that's going
to be really helpful in settingthe strategy for your holiday
(21:33):
coverage.
The other thing I like to thinkthrough is is your product time
sensitive, like, does it haveto be answered today?
If you have a small team andyou're trying to make sure that
your team has the ability totake holidays and enjoy the day
off, then what can give if it'snot going to be that Right?
So what?
What can wait?
Can your customers wait?
(21:54):
Do you have a product that it'sOK if they wait for 24 hours?
Yeah, do you have a productthat is time sensitive and
there's no room for that and youcan't lighten up coverage at
all over the holidays because itreally has to be answered right
away.
So you might work in insurance,where things happen on holidays
and there's no way around that,or you might work in something
(22:14):
that's a little less timesensitive, and so waiting 24
hours isn't the end of the world, and so knowing that as well
like, what is the product you'resupporting and how serious is
it to get back to someone within10 minutes?
Or is it possible that lettingyour customers wait a little bit
longer to allow your team tohave time off to rest and come
(22:36):
back, that might be a worthwhiletradeoff?
Mm-hmm, all right.
The next thing you want to do isknow your team, and this comes
back to kind of what we weretalking about the flex holidays,
and people celebrate differentholidays.
Yeah, just like you know yourcustomers, you know your team
well, and you should know yourteam really well to know what
things are important to them andwhat holidays are important to
(22:56):
them, and to know what thingsincentivize them too, because
you might be able to advocatefor your team in a way that
would really make working onholidays a good thing, an
exciting thing.
So we do it with you know youget extra flex time, basically,
when you work on a holiday, andthat's the incentive, and for
the people on my team, that'sawesome because they're getting
(23:18):
a little bit more PTO, a littlebit more flex time, so they get
that balance Right.
They work a half day on aholiday, but they get a full
flex day that they can takewhenever they want to.
Yeah, but your team might beincentivized by money.
They might be like, hey, I don'tcare about extra PTO days or
extra flex days.
What I really want is some morecold, hard cash in my hand.
(23:38):
And if that's the case, thenyou can, as the leader, step up
and advocate for that, becausethe reality is, customer service
professionals don't work thattraditional holiday schedule
that everyone else in thecompany works, and so you need
to be aware of that andrespectful of that traditional
holiday schedule that everyoneelse in the company works.
Yeah, and so you need to beaware of that and respectful of
your team, and in some cases,that'll be advocating for your
(24:01):
team to be able to be valued inthat way, and so that might look
like, hey, there's additionalpay in it for you if you're
working on a holiday, and thathelps fight against the
resentment, that helps makethings feel more balanced on the
team, and it can be a reallycool way to get people to want
to work holidays.
Yeah.
Jordan (24:20):
I have friends that have jobs in like hospitals and
stuff where they get like timeand a half or double time and
they jump at those holidayshifts.
I know that it's actually hardfor them to get the holiday
shifts because they want thatpay incentive.
Priscilla (24:36):
That's a great example.
When a holiday happens, youcan't have light coverage in a
hospital.
No, yeah, because you just youhave to be available and ready
and you have to have people todo the work.
And so how do hospitals makethat enticing to work?
Yeah, they have pay incentives.
Have pay incentives and peoplewant that, and they make them
good enough to make themdesirable, and so you might find
(24:59):
that for your team, hey, a payincentive is actually what we're
going to do here, and I'm goingto advocate to the higher ups
and decision makers that this iswhat we need to be doing for my
team to make working holidayssomething that they want to do
and that they're excited aboutdoing.
Another thing is to just knowyour team and what their life
looks like.
Do they have kids that are outof school on holidays, and it's
(25:19):
going to make it hard for themto work a full day on a holiday
because their kids aren't inschool.
You want to be able to be therefor your team members in that
way and make it easier on themto do the job that they're hired
to do, right, I mean?
Because the reality is you'rehired in a customer service role
and you want to be able to dowhat's asked of you, but the
other side of that coin isyou're not replaceable at home
(25:43):
and you need to be at homesometimes.
And so, knowing that about thepeople on your team and working
into your strategy thatintentional thought of okay, is
this going to work for thisperson on my team?
Is this going to serve thisperson on my team while also
providing coverage to mycustomer who is outside of the
US and needs support on this day, even though we're all in the
(26:05):
US and schools are closed?
Yeah, so balancing all of thatis really important and starts
by knowing your team and knowingwhat their needs are, speaking
of which, it's really importantto be very clear about the
expectations for holidaycoverage when you hire someone
and bring them on your team,because you could hire someone
and not clarify that holidaycoverage is expected, and then
(26:28):
you get to the first holiday andthey go oh no, I can't work
holidays.
Yeah, and when it comes tocustomer service, it is almost a
guarantee that you're going tobe expected to work holidays,
but it should never go unspoken,yeah.
So in our process it is clear onthe application.
It is clear in the firstinterview.
It is clear in the secondinterview.
(26:49):
We make it very, very clearright up front.
You're going to be expected towork some holidays.
In our case they're half days.
You're never really expected towork a full holiday, but you're
going to be expected to worksome half days.
Here's the incentive that'sgoing to come along with that.
But that is the expectation,with an understanding that
there's holidays that are reallyimportant to you.
(27:09):
You can take those off fully.
Yeah, and being really clearabout that as much as possible
from the get go is going to bethe best decision Getting
someone on your team and nottalking about that, because
maybe you're a little worriedthat they're not going to want
the job if they have to workholidays.
Oh my gosh, it is going to be abad decision once you get them
on the team.
They're not going to justmagically change their mind and
(27:30):
want to work holidays.
So be clear about it up front.
If someone can't work a holiday, or if that's not something
that they're willing to do, thenyou really don't want them on
your team because that's notgoing to work well for coverage,
because you're going to have tocover the inbox.
There's no way around that.
Jordan (27:44):
And those like unexpressed expectations can
really create a lot of likeanimosity and you're setting
them up for failure because youdidn't tell them what was
expected of them.
So I think that's great a tip.
Priscilla (27:56):
Right, yeah, and if Sally comes in and she doesn't
think she needs to work holidaysand Joe's been working holidays
for three years and Sallydoesn't have to work holidays it
can be really hard on your teamdynamic if it's not something
that the whole team is sharingtogether.
And so all of that comes withclear communication and everyone
knowing, hey, you can take theholiday fully off if that's what
(28:18):
you want to do, if this is animportant holiday for you, but
the expectation is that mostholidays you're working half
days.
Yeah, the other thing to keepin mind is that not all coverage
is equal is equal.
This was something that when Iwas doing support by myself in
the beginning, I kind of had tofigure out a way to be available
(28:42):
in the inbox but also take aholiday, because it was just me
and so sometimes that was thesituation, and so I kind of, in
my mind, I made these twocategories you have inbox
monitoring and inbox coverage.
What's the difference betweenthose?
So coverage and this is justfrom my brain, okay.
So maybe you listen to this andyou're like this doesn't make
any sense, priscilla, buthopefully it does.
Inbox coverage is when you arecovering the inbox.
(29:02):
Your goal is to go throughevery email that's in the inbox
and clear it out for a certainamount of hours.
So let's say you're scheduledto be in the inbox from 9 am to
noon, so for those three hoursyou are in the inbox, you are
working through emails, you arecovering the inbox OK.
But if you're monitoring theinbox, the difference there is
(29:23):
that you're keeping an eye onthe inbox but you might not be
answering emails, or you mightnot be answering that many
emails.
You may just be monitoring itfor fires, for roadblocks, for
bugs that show up or situationsthat are urgent, but you're not
covering it.
So your responsibility is to beaware of what's happening in
(29:44):
the inbox, while knowing thatyou're not glued to your
computer.
You're not glued to the emailsor the inbox, but you're aware
and you know what's going on andif something were to happen,
you would be the one to thenjump in and maybe switch into
that coverage or to pull inpeople on the team, depending on
what you find.
(30:04):
And so an example of this iscoverage is kind of how we treat
those nine federal holidayswhere everyone is working half
days, but for Thanksgiving andfor Christmas we usually have
one person monitoring the inbox,and so they're just keeping an
eye on the inbox.
They are not glued to it, theyare not working for three hours
(30:25):
straight.
They are looking for veryspecific types of emails and
staying on top of that whichcould look like three hours of
time over the entirety of theday, but it's in short
increments and so they're justkeeping an eye on the inbox.
And so, yeah, monitoring versuscoverage, deciding when it
makes sense to have coverage andwhen it makes sense to just
(30:46):
have someone monitor.
When we had a team of one ortwo people, we did a lot more
monitoring and a lot lesscoverage.
And now, with seven to eightpeople, we did a lot more
monitoring and a lot lesscoverage, and now, with seven to
eight people, we do a lot morecoverage and much less of the
monitoring.
But some days you're still goingto say look, everyone wants to
take this as a holiday, so thetwo people who are behind you're
just monitoring.
That's all you're doing.
(31:07):
There's no pressure to have aclear inbox.
You're going to monitor it.
You're going to make surethere's nothing terrible that
happens.
You're going to monitor it.
You're going to make surethere's nothing terrible that
happens.
You're going to answer thepeople who are in roadblocks,
but you are not going to beglued to an inbox for 16 hours
today, because everyone else onthe team wanted to go take the
holiday.
You're just going to monitor itand then we'll all figure it out
tomorrow when we come back fromthe holiday.
(31:28):
Another strategy you could takeis all company support.
We haven't really talked aboutthis much on this podcast, but
we should have an episode,honestly in the next couple
weeks about what we call supportshifts at Buzzsprout.
But basically it's whereeveryone on the team takes time
to work in the inbox and you canstrategically place this on
(31:48):
holidays.
There's no reason that yoursupport team is the only people
who work on holidays.
Yeah, so if you have a team,especially if it's a small team,
encourage everyone on the teamto sign up for a holiday shift.
Or maybe you plan it so youhave one support person, one
designer and one developercovering a holiday and then that
support person is your pointperson.
(32:09):
They help out and they directthe other two as much as they
need to, but you've got thesethree people who are all working
it together.
That has a lot of benefit in alot of different ways.
It makes your support team feelvalued because they see that
the rest of the company istaking time to work on a holiday
and also sacrificing a holidayfor your customers.
(32:29):
That speaks volume.
It also gives your support teamthe ability to interact with
other people on your team on aface-to-face basis.
They might not usually interactwith that designer, but because
they're both scheduled on thisholiday together, they are
working together on theseproblems.
That can be a really coolstrategy, especially if you're
on a smaller team and you'retrying to figure out how to let
(32:51):
your customer support team havetime off without it feeling so
detrimental to your customers'access to your team.
Another thing, just real quickly, is auto responses.
We don't use these a lot inBuzzsprout support, but they can
be used in a thoughtful way.
I would recommend not justturning them on and letting them
(33:11):
be, but you can be reallystrategic with your auto
responses.
So, for anyone who doesn't know, an auto response is just a
situation where a customer mightemail in and get a response
from your support team that sayssomething along the lines of
hey, it's a holiday and we'renot working today, but we'll be
in touch tomorrow.
Jordan (33:28):
Yeah, we almost had one of these for Hurricane Milton.
Priscilla (33:31):
Exactly so.
We just experienced HurricaneMilton here in Florida and
thankfully we didn't have a bigimpact up here in Jacksonville.
But we were planning because wethought we might lose power for
several days and so we wantedto be prepared.
So we were very intentionalabout writing an auto response
that would help temperexpectations for what our
(33:51):
customers really can expectwriting in over those times, and
so we were trying in that autoresponse to be very transparent,
that hey, we're in Florida,many of our team members are
located in Florida and may beaffected by this.
This isn't going to have a hugeimpact on your getting a
response, but we want you toknow about it so that you can
give us a little bit more gracewhen it comes to hearing back
(34:14):
from us.
And also, here's some reallygreat resources that you can use
if you're in a tight spot andyou need to find an answer
really quickly.
And being really intentionalabout auto responses is good.
What's not good is just turningit on and leaving it on all the
time and never turning it off.
I hate those.
And then everyone who writes inautomatically gets a response
that says we're looking intothis and there's no faith in
(34:36):
that.
No, right, no, because no one'slooking into that.
They've received your email,but no one's looking into it yet
no, and so I think that it's adouble-edged sword, and you just
have to be really careful withauto responses.
Use them sparingly and bereally intentional about what
you're communicating in thoseresponses to your customers,
(34:57):
because they're going to seepast the facade of we got this
and someone's working on itright now, especially when every
single time they email andthat's what they get.
Jordan (35:04):
Yeah I always get a little leery whenever I send a
support email to like spotify orapple and then two later I get
an email back from them like oh,of course, and it just, for
whatever reason, that indicatesme that I am in the back of a
queue.
That is however long, and it'sgoing to be like half the day
before I hear a response.
(35:24):
At least yeah, if that yeah.
Priscilla (35:26):
And I agree.
I mean, I think auto responsesin general give people that
thought yeah, maybe there's alittle bit of oh OK, I'm glad
that they got the email.
It successfully went through,great.
So I know that it's there, butI don't think anyone is getting
that and going oh wonderful,someone's looking at my ticket
and I'm going to be responded toin a couple minutes.
(35:48):
So if you use those on holidaysto kind of temper expectations,
just be really intentional abouthow you're using them and what
you're telling your customersand make sure you're writing it
in your tone and all of that iscommunicated well, because those
stock ones can be actuallyreally damaging to what people
think about your team,absolutely.
And then just a couple otherthings Plan early.
(36:10):
We talked about it at the topof this episode.
It's important to have astrategy in place and it's
important to plan early and tocommunicate it with your team.
Talk to your team, get theirinput on what they want and what
they don't want and what worksfor them and what doesn't.
Try things out and try them outagain and if they fail, try
something else.
And there are lots of holidaysand you can try different
(36:30):
strategies on every holidayuntil you figure out what works
for your team and when you'recommunicating with your team,
make sure that they know likehey, I don't have a plan for
this.
We're small.
We're trying to figure it out.
We want to do two things wewant to serve our customers well
and we want to serve this teamwell, and those two things are
hard to do, and so let's figureout.
(36:50):
We're going to work together tofind a way to do that.
Especially if you're a smallteam, that should be well
received by the other people onyour team.
And if you're a larger team andyou're trying to figure it out,
bring them in as much as you canand get their feedback as much
as you can and be open to changeand be open to trying new
things, because ultimately,these are the people that you
want to work on holidays.
(37:11):
You're asking them to work onholidays, they're giving of
their holiday for this and youwant to make sure there's buy-in
, because that'll make coverageso much more simple if everyone
is on the same page with whatwe're doing.
Another thing, especially whenyou go into the holiday season
like we are, is encourage peopleto take PTO early.
One thing we will run into andI think this is kind of normal
(37:34):
is where people kind of hold onto their PTO until the holidays
and then they take a week off,lots of PTO around Christmas and
Thanksgiving, which is totallyunderstandable and New Year's
like that week between Christmasand New Year's where we're all
kind of like in a fog A lot ofpeople want to take that whole
week off and totally makes sense.
But when you are in a supportteam and you're covering an
(37:56):
inbox, you have to be aware ofthat coverage.
So it's not even necessarily aholiday, but it's surrounding
the holidays and if you havethree people come to you from
your team of five people and sayI want to take these two weeks
off at Christmas, it's going toput your other two people in a
really tough spot to cover them.
Christmas.
It's going to put your othertwo people in a really tough
spot to cover them, and so Ialways encourage our team to
(38:21):
take PTO early to be aware ofthe rest of the team when it
comes to putting in your PTO, wedon't really have a strict
submit PTO and get it approvedprocess.
It's much more on our system andso when we are dealing with PTO
, I am always encouraging peopleto take it early and to
understand that they might needto be flexible about their dates
when it comes to taking PTO,and we'll do a lot of half days
(38:42):
too around the holidays when itcomes to kind of using up that
PTO at the end of the year.
Jordan (38:47):
Well, that's the nice thing about the way that we do
it is, I know that there's someplaces where you submit a form
and then it like gets approvedbut like no one else in the
company can see when you'retaking time off, and the way
that we have it it's sort oflike a company calendar and then
people just put their PTO thatthey're wanting to take on the
calendar and other people cansee it, and so it's really easy
(39:09):
for even someone like me who'snot on the support team, to go
in and see so-and-so's out, orwe have something going on and
like maybe I need to be, youknow, on deck to help out in the
support box or you knowsomething like that.
So it's a lot easier wheneveryone can see it.
And I know that a lot of peoplehave reasons for not being that
transparent about their timeoff, but I actually kind of like
(39:30):
it.
Priscilla (39:31):
Yeah, I think it shows that you value your team
and that you trust them to makedecisions that are good for the
people they work with.
Yeah, like you said, there aredefinitely situations where
submitting and getting PTOapproved is necessary.
But in some ways, being able toown your own PTO and choose
when you're taking it and whenyou're not taking it and when
(39:52):
you're working, that can bereally empowering to your team.
And so what we always say ishey, you manage your own PTO,
you don't have to get permissionfor PTO, but we ask that you be
respectful of your team and youdon't leave them in a tough
spot.
Yeah, and so that means that ifyou want to take PTO next week
and you look and four people aretaking PTO that day, maybe you
(40:14):
don't get to take PTO or youchoose not to take it because it
would leave your team in atough spot, and that comes down
to you making that decisionyourself, and it really is a
good way to kind of foster asense of ownership around the
product and around the customersand the inbox and all of that,
and so I will always encouragepeople to get your PTO on early
when it comes to holidays sothat you can make sure that
you're getting in there early on, and we also encourage a lot of
(40:38):
half days.
So if you're like, hey, Ireally want to have a nice break
over Christmas, I want to beout of the inbox and have
relaxing days, then I would saygreat, why don't you work three
hours a day for the week andhave every afternoon off?
We can work around that, butit's a lot harder to work around
a full week vacation.
And so I always encourage peopleif it's something that can't be
(41:00):
moved, get in an early and ifit can be flexible, be flexible.
Let's find a way that it worksfor the whole team and balance
that.
So if you look at theBuzzsprout support team schedule
in December, there are a lot ofhalf days in there there are a
lot of you know, fridays takenoff a lot of kind of balanced
PTO when it comes to that.
And then the other side of this,too, is you might be a product
(41:22):
where you need to hire newpeople and more people over
holidays for seasonal coverage.
Oh yeah, we have a little bitof a dip in the Christmas time,
but if you work for ane-commerce company, you probably
need more people, and so youmay have to hire people that are
specifically for that season oftime, and so be aware of that.
If that's something that yourteam is going to need to prepare
(41:43):
for, because that's not how wedo things and that's not
something we have to worry about, but it is very real for a lot
of customer support teams,that's a good point.
But I really think the mostimportant thing is that you
respect your team and respecttheir ability to rest and
celebrate and be with family.
Many years ago, when I wasfirst starting to do support, I
(42:11):
read an article and I'm notgoing to say the company name
because I am not trying to pointany fingers but there was an
article I read about a companythat basically the gist of it
was that they just treated theirsupport team terribly over the
holidays and very last minute,they were requiring people come
in and work over Christmas, andit was a very bad environment,
and this article really laid outa lot of how their support team
was being treated.
(42:31):
And I think it's reallyimportant to remember that the
people on your team are realpeople and they can't support
your customers well if they'renot supported well and if they
don't have their rest and ifthey don't have the ability to
celebrate with their familiesand their loved ones, and so you
have to think through that.
(42:51):
You can't just say sorry, thisis the job you signed up for and
now you're working all ofChristmas Day, because that's
really not going to serve yourcustomers well in the end.
And so I think the mostimportant thing here is to know
your team, respect your team,advocate for the ability for
them to take time off, and ifthat means other people on the
team come in and help out, great.
(43:12):
If that means offeringincentive pay to work on
holidays, then maybe that's whatyou do.
If that means working half daysand getting flex days, then
maybe that's what you do, butsomething so that you're finding
that balance of serving yourcustomers and making sure they
have the ability to get theanswers they need in a timely
fashion, while also respectingyour team and making sure they
(43:33):
have the time to rest that theyneed in order to come back and
provide remarkable support toyour customers.
Well, it's time for our supportin real life segment, where we
discuss real life supportexperiences and questions.
Jordan, what question do youhave for us today?
Jordan (43:52):
So we got a question here that says would love to
hear how others are handlingunresponsive email cases.
How often do you allow the caseto stay open after a customer
stops responding, and how manyfollow-ups do your agents or
automated follow-ups entail?
Priscilla (44:06):
Yeah, I like this one because I think I might have a
unique take on it and somepeople might hear this and go
this is a bad take, priscilla.
Not unique, it's a bad one.
So my advice is don't follow up.
I don't know if that's right orwrong, but I think it stems
from being on a support team ofone, or being on a support team
with only two people and a lotof support that comes in and
(44:30):
knowing that I can't follow upwith every single person who I
write an email to and see ifthey got the email and if they
want to write back, so Icouldn't hold space for it in my
head, I couldn't hold space forit in my to-do list because
it'd just be too much.
And so on Buzzsprout support,when you send an email, it goes
to the close file and you forgetabout it in your head and you
(44:53):
forget about it in the inbox andit is in their court and if
they choose to respond, it comesback and we get it again.
And if they don't respond, thenwe kind of bank on that not
being that important to them andso they didn't need to respond.
Yeah, and I say all of this, andof course, there are exceptions
to this Right.
So if there's something reallyurgent that we know we need to
(45:13):
follow up on, or something legalthat we really want to follow
up on, those things we don'tjust close out and those might
take follow-ups.
But when it comes to yourrun-of-the-mill everyday email,
we are not sending automatedemails out to people saying, hey
, did you hear our email back?
Or we haven't heard from you infive days, so now we're
considering this case closed.
(45:33):
We don't do that.
I don't know about you, jordan,but when I get those emails, I
go oh wait, I already got myanswer.
If I wanted more information, Iwould have written back in, but
I didn't, so you should haveclosed this five days ago.
Jordan (45:47):
That's how I see it.
I get really annoyed whenpeople follow up Like.
I've heard that you want tofollow up on an email five days
after you send it, and whenyou're working in support it's
kind of hard to keep track offollowing up in five days.
So I totally see your pointabout like it's closed, it's
gone.
Priscilla (46:06):
And you could use an automated follow-up situation,
but again, like we were talkingabout with those auto emails, it
takes away some of thatpersonal touch.
Yeah, and most people don'tneed that.
If they have a question or afollow up question, they will
reach back out to you and if youfeel like the issue or the
question that you're dealingwith warrants a follow up, then
(46:28):
make it really personal andassign it to yourself and leave
it open and make sure youpersonally are following up and
saying, hey, were you able toget this sorted out?
Because that middle road whereit's like I'm going to follow up
but it's going to be anautomated email, that takes away
the personal touch.
If you're going to take thetime to follow up with someone,
make it really personal, reachout to them, understand their
(46:50):
problem, make sure that they'reset going forward, reach out to
them, understand their problem,make sure that they're set going
forward.
Another, you know, reason youmight want to follow up with
someone is if you've, like,launched a feature that that
person requested.
Yeah, then you might down theline, months down the line, want
to follow up with that personand say, hey, just wanted you to
know we just launched thisfeature that you requested and I
came back and I found you andwanted you to know.
(47:10):
That's another kind of reasonyou might want to follow up.
But it's not really thesituation of, hey, it's been
three days, we haven't heardfrom you.
We're following up.
If you don't respond in twodays, we're closing this ticket.
Sometimes that to me feels likea lot of clutter, yeah, and it
takes away from my ability tofocus on other customers who are
writing in with questions rightnow If the customer that I
(47:33):
responded to five days ago issitting and waiting in my head
as this clutter.
And the reality is they alreadyanswered the question with my
first email, they figured it outand they don't need anything
else, but they're taking upspace in my brain.
I don't want to take that awayfrom another customer.
So, to answer this question, Iwould say don't follow up unless
it really is a critical issue.
Or if you're following up totell them about a future request
(47:57):
that they requested that wentthrough and got published, all
right.
Well, if you have a question ora support situation that you
would like us to discuss, youcan email us at happy to help at
buzzsproutcom, or text the showby using the link in our
episode description, you mayhear your question or your story
discussed in a future episodeof the podcast.
And again, I'm going to plugApple Podcasts.
(48:17):
If you like this episode orthis podcast, go and leave us a
rating or a review in ApplePodcasts.
It would make our days.
Thank you, Jordan, for doingthis episode with me.
I hope that you have awonderful holiday season and I'm
so excited to see you inNashville next week.
It's going to be a blast.
Oh my gosh, too much fun, toomuch fun.
(48:38):
Yeah, we have too much fun whenwe're together.
So thank you to everyone forlistening.
Now go and make someone's day.
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