IMHO to perform better customer support is a very vague task as nothing but a personal experience can prove that.

Isabel, I wish web hosting was like snowboarding In other words, it is quite easy to try walking in snowboarding shoes but web hosting shoes? Where is freedom, speed, passion etc? Web host’s support operator can hardly imagine how important the customer’s email/phone call is.

Burton, a snowboard company, hires only avid snowboarders. When a customer runs into problems with his gear, the repair people feel his pain. They know how much he wants to get back on the slopes. Exceptional customer service comes from empathy, and empathy comes from understanding what’s going on.

How many of your support techs rely on their web server’s ongoing performance to make their mortgage payments? Not many, I would guess. This prevents them from being truly, personally engaged in finding solutions to customers’ problems.

Replacing hardware and reinstalling software are “jobs”, no matter how proficient a tech becomes. If you want to see passion, a sense of long term career, etc, you’ve got to show people what’s at stake, and how much of customers’ lives are in their hands.