We got a new toy. A 12-foot Montgomery. It’s small and light — so light you can maneuver it with canoe paddles. We are looking forward to learning how to really sail it! That is a challenge we’re going to need some help with.
Our little boat has a personalized rudder and a 20 foot mast. With the mast come massive sails, and lines and lines of rope. This rope has to be strung exactly right, and pulled at exactly the right time to get the sails up and full of wind. It’s interesting that even though the boat is so small and light, it takes several people and a lot of equipment to get it going. Our outing took 4 people on the dock, 2 in the boat, and a trip back to the dock from the middle of the lake to untangle the mast lines before any sailing was accomplished.
Customer support is a lot like sailing a boat. It’s not so hard to give our clients solutions. However, the support to keep those solutions going is proportionally like the really long mast and large sails on our small sailboat. Do you give your clients sailboat support making sure there are extra people and equipment to handle questions, crises, and problems? Or, do you just push them away from the dock with a few canoe paddles? 
http://www.msogphotosite.com/M12Haris.html
That is a good analogy! In customer service, just like helping someone sail a boat, you must anticipate the possible problems and be trained to effectively handle or solve them. This expertise, although seen in a moment upfront, probably comes from much work and learning behind the scenes. However, handled correctly at the time of need, you will benefit from the continued service of a happy customer — or sailor.
Emily — anticipation, training and hard work — you hit good customer service right on the head! Happy customers make it all worth it. Thanks for all your comments!
This really hit home; I think we all have experienced those kinds of customer support, and maybe even been guilty of it in our own personal lives (worse yet, Christian lives perhaps).
One of the key virtues one can have in customer support is patience; not everybody has the same grasp on the topic or product being discussed, and you have to work through the situation as slowly as necessary to make sure the customer can thoroughly grasp it, or as many times as needed. We always have to make sure the customer feels welcome to call or e-mail back, not like they are “pestering.” If time allows, an even better option is to call them and show your interest in their situation/success.
Thanks for the challenge to support others, as opposed to just telling them “be ye warmed and filled” (James 2:16a).
And sometimes your crisis isn’t really as bad as you thought. When your capsized and think your gonna drown, sometimes you’ve just got to put your feet down and realize that the water only come up to your waste. =) Can customer support help you “weather the storm” and tell you to “stand up”?
I also agree that this is a really great analogy. Often winning over a customer can be the easy part, buying the boat so to speak. It is maintaining a longstanding relationship with that customer, the stringing of all the mast lines that is a longer and sometimes more difficult job.
Level of customer support is very important to businesses. I like businesses that are willing to go the extra step to help me. At the same time, I am willing to get less customer service if the price discount is worthwhile. That is one point of Wal-Mart. They do not provide the greatest service but they do provide low prices. However, anytime I am paying any kind of premium, I expect good service. If I do not get good service, then I do not feel justified in paying the premium. So in a company, if you want customers paying a premium, you need to supply a good level of customer support.