Response Time: Vol. 20

You satisfy your customers, but can you satisfy our curiosity?

With Javier Muñiz, Customer Success Lead at Bookinglayer.

Please tell us a little bit about your company and what you do there.

Bookinglayer is a booking software for businesses with complex booking needs, offering packages that usually combine accommodation, activities, and/or services. Yoga and wellness retreats and surf resorts are two good examples of businesses we work with. My title is Customer Success Lead.

What’s the most valuable thing that working in customer service has taught you?

Patience and empathy. When your clients run small businesses that rely on your software, their communication when there is an issue can sometimes be … you know. Understanding their fears is key to continuing to provide high quality support and letting go of resentment.

What’s your greatest productivity hack?

Understanding that we are humans, not machines, and our performance can never be linear. And to not punish ourselves when we can’t always deliver what we were expected to.

What’s the best customer service you’ve ever experienced?

Intercom’s customer service has always been satisfactory and that is something you don’t usually expect from a big tech company. Well done!

What’s the worst customer service you’ve ever experienced?

When one of our clients had an issue with a major booking channel, we reached out to the platform’s support on their behalf. It took opening several support tickets for the platform to acknowledge there was a bug on their end. They didn’t provide any solution or timeline, and they couldn’t commit to notifying us when the issue had been resolved.

“Make a customer feel heard and understood”

What’s the strangest thing a customer has asked you?

We used to have an office in Zarautz, a village in the Basque Country well known for its waves. At the time, most of the team were surfers and the office had surf racks and boards hanging from the wall. Every once in a while, we had people walk in and ask if they could buy a surfboard or get theirs repaired. We had funny moments explaining we were a tech company 😁

What can you do that a bot will never be able to replicate?

Make a customer feel heard and understood. Often, customers can lower their expectations and be loyal to your software if they feel they are being heard and understood.

What book are you reading at the moment?

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

What’s the best thing a customer has ever said to you?

“You’re welcome to stay with us!” We always try to go the extra mile and some of our customers really appreciate that. Working with clients that manage businesses like surf camps or yoga retreats, I’ve been invited and hosted by clients on certain occasions. It’s always a great experience.

“We always try to give clients our best shot while still considering the big picture”

What words make your skin crawl?

“Booking Layer.” Customers that have been with us for years still misspell our company name and write “Booking Layer” instead of “Bookinglayer.”

How would you explain your job to an alien?

I make sure things run smoothly with our customer support and we always try to give clients our best shot while still considering the big picture (our long-term goals).

What do you wish people knew about working in customer service?

It can sometimes be tough to manage expectations as we don’t always have the answers or solutions. These can be heavily dependent on the company’s roadmap, which is intended to improve the experience of all users. However, it can sometimes be frustrating when a customer’s satisfaction level seems dependent on just one request based on individual needs that we cannot deliver.

Conversation closed… for now 😏