{"id":7180,"date":"2017-12-19T17:02:58","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T17:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/?p=7180"},"modified":"2019-11-28T11:10:26","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T11:10:26","slug":"all-hands-live-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/all-hands-live-chat","title":{"rendered":"Why we do all-hands live chat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"All<\/p>\n

Working in a small team is always a whirlwind, no job is too big for anyone and equally no job is too small. Everyone will have their specific strengths, but splitting up the odd jobs is the only way to get things done.<\/p>\n

This can sometimes feel like a burden – but sharing the load can have some hugely positive effects on your team, your business and, most importantly, your customers.<\/p>\n

At GoSquared, one of the most important jobs we share is our live chat<\/a> channel. GoSquared Assistant<\/a> encourages visitors to our website and our existing customers to start a conversation with us when they need help or have questions – and each one of us has a slot, twice a week, where we\u2019ll be there to answer those questions.<\/p>\n

When we originally decided to experiment with this, most of us were reluctant – it felt like it would be a burden and a distraction from our day to day. It felt like it should be someone else\u2019s job. But in reality it has had provided some incredible insights and strengthened the vision and direction of our business.<\/p>\n

So what has all-hands live chat changed?<\/h2>\n

\"Ch<\/p>\n

Sales<\/h3>\n

When everyone is speaking to customers, new ideas form and you can build on these to refine your positioning and have everyone in your business telling the same story – so they can advocate for your product every chance they get!<\/p>\n

Customer Success<\/h3>\n

Having each person on the team on the frontline of dealing with customer questions and frustrations has made us all more thoughtful about how we can help them be successful. It\u2019s enabled us to think more strategically about the advice we offer and become experts in our space.<\/p>\n

Product<\/h3>\n

When everyone in the business understands what your customers want, it makes conversations about your roadmap much more transparent to prioritise. Feature requests and customers pains aren\u2019t being fed second hand back through sales and customer success, product and engineering are dealing with them first hand which makes for a more holistic solution to your customers problems. <\/p>\n

Vision<\/h3>\n

Sharing live chat across the team has helped us align across sales, customer success and product. That alignment has enabled us to clearly define the vision for our business and the problems we want to help our customers solve. Our vision guides us in our decision making, gives us our \u201cTrue North\u201d and helps up move at a lightning pace so we can keep growing.<\/p>\n

How do we make all-hands live chat work?<\/h2>\n

Designate time<\/h3>\n

Set out designated time, like a weekly rota, so everybody knows when their live chat hours are.<\/p>\n

Be flexible<\/h3>\n

Accommodate for people\u2019s primary roles, if sales have a client meeting or product are pushing to meet a release deadline – have another team member jump in on chat.<\/p>\n

Know your limits<\/h3>\n

Know when a question goes beyond the scope of your expertise and make it ok for another member of the team to jump in and help the customer.<\/p>\n

Set expectations<\/h3>\n

Use features like \u201cOut of office\u201d and \u201cTypically replies within \u2026\u201d to let your customer know how soon they should expect a reply.<\/p>\n

All-hands live chat is not just for small teams<\/h2>\n

\"Live<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a small team but there are lots of ways bigger businesses can implement a similar philosophy to improve the customer experience.<\/p>\n