If you support complex products, and especially if you work with corporate customers, you’re bound to have to handle escalations: situations where the normal case resolution process is not enough to bring issues to a complete resolution. Escalations can easily turn into big ugly dramas with irate customers, finger pointing between the support group and other groups, and gnarly technical issues. How do you tame the monster into a still-challenging, but well-behaved process? Here are six steps to help you control and learn from the situation.

Do the basics right

Yes, you can and you should have an escalation management process in place, but it cannot replace a robust case resolution process. Actually, implementing an escalation process on top of a poor case resolution process will make the situation worse, not better. If the case resolution process is broken, fix it first.

Round them up

Frustrated customers turn angry if left to stew for any time, so devise systems to bring escalations to the support group quickly, even if they are reported to sales reps or executives. A quick initial response really helps keep tempers down.

Also educate the support staff to anticipate situations that will turn into escalations. Work on removing any stigma associated with escalations that were not caused by service issues.

Use the Magic Square

Often the #1 issue in escalations is communications, since escalations involve many people. To put some order into the chaos, you want to establish a so-called magic square for the four key players: the support rep, the customer’s technical contact, the escalation manager, and the customer’s management. The four people in the magic square get together regularly on conference calls while the two technical people focus on technical issues and the managers focus on business issues.

The trick is to get everyone else, including executives, sales reps, and other helpers, to stay outside the magic square and to let communications be driven by the players in the magic square. It can take some patience and tactful reminders to get there!

Plan and replan

Although each support case should have an action plan associated with it, escalations call for a more formal approach: there should be an action plan, and it should be written down and shared with the customer. Assign owners to action items, assign due dates, and make sure that the plan creates a clear map towards resolution. For complex situations, you will probably need to plan for a backup strategy in case the main strategy fails to produce results.

The plan is not static. It needs to be reviewed and refreshed on a daily basis. The escalation manager spends much time checking progress on existing action plans and updating them as required.

Communicate

It may take a while to resolve the underlying technical issues so make sure to communicate regularly with the customers and with all the internal players as well (the ones that are not in the magic square). Everyone involved should know exactly where things stand at all times, including who owns action items and when they are expected to complete them. The customer should never have to inquire about status during an escalation.

Learn from each escalation

All escalations are painful, and some may not end on a positive note. No matter how the escalation goes, conduct a post-mortem analysis afterwards. This is the time to explore what went well, what didn’t go so well, and how you could do things differently next time. During the course of the escalation, focus all your resources on getting the customer up and running again, but take time to identify opportunities for improvements afterwards. And put the lessons into practice.


About the author
Francoise Tourniaire is the founder and principal of FT Works, a consulting firm that helps technology companies create and grow their support operations. She is the author of “Managing Support Escalations”, a practical guide to minimizing, managing, and reporting on support escalations for complex support centers (you can find a full description at www.ftworks.com/ManagingEscalations.htm). You can contact her at 650-559-9826 or FT@ftworks.com.