The little corner or the world called Support Ops has grown immensely over the past few months. I started out with just a random blog post on support every now and then. An idea emerged from those early posts and this site was born.

Last week, a friend asked me what Support Ops was here to do. I talked for a bit about how it’s here to teach support done right, to grow other support reps, and to provide resources that aren’t really found elsewhere on the web quite yet. We chatted about that for a minute when he asked, “Well, why do you write those articles?”

I paused for a moment and had a crystallizing moment. And the next few words that came out are the cornerstone of the mission of Support Ops.

Support Ops is here

to bring humanity back to the world of customer support.

Most interactions with a support team are on par with a root canal or jury duty. But we can change that. (More on that later).

For now, I wanted to put out the Support Ops mission. It’s definitely a work in progress overall but I think this helps to clarify exactly what we’re aiming to do here.

We’re in this together and knowing exactly what our mission is means we can all be headed in the same direction.

What do you think?

I absolutely loved writing A Brief Guide to a Better Email. It took a long time to finally pull the trigger and publish it but after reading emails from people who read it, I’m so glad I did. Here’s a few lines from some of the emails I’ve gotten so far.

• “My customers got better replies, which they loved. I got through emails faster, which I loved. It was a win-win for everyone.” – James
• “Putting into practice some of the things you mentioned was the first step towards a better Monday morning.” – Alexa
• “An email queue that should have taken all day was cut in half. I spent the afternoon sending out chocolate and cards to some customers. They loved the surprise and my boss loved to see our team doing more with our customers.” – Sonia

If you haven’t yet, get your copy of A Brief Guide to a Better Email.  It’s entirely free and I promise it’ll help out with your support emails.

I’m going to be at UserConf next week along with lots of other amazingly talented customer service and support people. There are lots of great talks lined up. I’ll be talking about how we provide support for our customers at 37signals along with some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.

If you haven’t yet, go buy a ticket! It’s going to be worth it.

If you’re going to be there, make sure to find me. I’d love to meet you!

Photo from Flickr – Quinn. Some people write better with a cat supervising.

You’ve got a story and we want to hear it!

Working with a team, I’m always learning new techniques to try and different ways of looking at things.  Just the other day, I was stumped on how to answer a pretty hostile question we got on Twitter. I asked a co-worker what they thought about it and long story short, we managed to flip that customer from angry to happy. The only way we get better is to learn from each other.

That’s why I’d love for you to consider sharing what you’ve learned with the readers here at Support Ops.

A few things of note:

• I’m looking for both fantastic and horrendous support experiences as well as tips, tricks, and practical advice. Anything we can learn from you.
• It’s gotta be unique so don’t send us something that we’ve already read somewhere else.
• Aim for around 300 words, which since you write emails all day, should be a breeze. Photos, videos, and other stuff are fun to include too if you want.

And that’s it! Email me with a draft or even an idea.  I’ll help you along the way before we publish it here.

So let’s see what you’ve got!

Just a quick note. I’m sending out the first newsletter tomorrow so make sure to sign up if you want in. It’s going to have some awesome exclusive content that’ll make it worth it.

Sign up for the Support Ops newsletter here.

I’m breaking into the regularly scheduled programming to bring you a Support Ops news update. Next week, I’m launching the brand new Support Ops newsletter!

Here’s everything you need to know:

What’s in the newsletter?

You’ll get exclusive content that doesn’t make it onto the site, recaps on the big articles, and the inside scoop on new things coming to Support Ops.

How often will it come out?

I’m shooting for once a month right now. That way you get just the right amount of info with each one. I know you get lots of emails so I don’t want to pile on.

No spam, right?

Never. I hate it when I get spam emails. I promise I’ll never share, sell, or lease your emails to anyone. You will never receive any type of spam from me. I aim to give you quality content with each one and if you ever find you’re not getting that, there’s an unsubscribe link in each email you’ll get. You trust me with your email address and it’s an honor that I’ll protect.

How much do I have to shell out for this?

Absolutely nothing. It’s entirely free.

Anything else I should know?

Tthe best part is that as a bonus for signing up, you’ll get my Brief Guide to a Better Email entirely free.

Sign up now so you won’t miss the first one!