If you’re an Ailo customer, our Customer Support star Mandy Saies probably needs no introduction (but we wrote one just in case)! If you’ve ever had a perplexing problem or needed a technical troubleshoot, there’s a strong chance Mandy was there to help you out.

Since she’s super popular with our customers, we asked Mandy to let us in on her customer service secret sauce – her values, strategies, and instincts for making sure our customers get the absolute best assistance.

Behold…Mandy’s customer service golden rules!

It’s one thing to take feedback, but for Mandy, it’s vital to take it to the next level and not just note the feedback, but to follow it to a resolution.

“That is one of my strongest values in my role,” Mandy said.

“When I take feedback from a customer, I'll follow it up. When I know the relevant Ailo feature update has been released, I take note and I’ll communicate with the customer and say, ‘guess what, it’s coming out today!’ It’s great to be able to close that loop.”

There is a fine line between being professional and coming across as too formal. We may be a tech company, but we don’t employ any robots. Mandy’s advice? Be yourself, be appropriate, but don’t be too stiff. Which brings us to….

Ask customers about their day, share a joke, and if you’re a pro like Mandy, give them a quick call on their birthday to show you value them!

“Building a rapport with customers is very important. Everyone deserves respect, and to be listened to,” Mandy said.

“I want to help our customers as much as I can, and if I make a promise to them, I will keep that promise. Even if I don’t have an immediate update, I’ll still call people back to let them know that we’re still working on it.”

One hotline for customer service is so 20 years ago! Best practice now is to give your customers a variety of ways to get in touch, so they can choose whatever channel suits them

“For customer service, it’s really important that we’re readily available – not just by phone, but through email, social media, and chat. These options make it easier for property managers particularly because they’re on the road a lot,” Mandy said.

“Having multiple lines of communications is important to support different customers’ needs.”

This one is straightforward but important. No-one likes waiting around for a response to their support request.

“Our ultimate goal in our Customer Support team is to make our customers get a fast response. That’s our biggest priority,” Mandy said.

This is Mandy’s 1# tip for customer support calls – it’s simple but significant.

“Smile when you’re talking! The person on the other end of the phone can’t see it, but it actually does change how you communicate with people,” Mandy said.

Not only does smiling put you in a good mood while you’re speaking, it will make your voice sound warmer, putting your customer at ease while you help them out.