A Tale of Two Posts: One Inspiring, The Other a Yawner

Here’s a tale of two blog posts — both covering the same topic: Why your business needs a customer support playbook and how to implement one.  

In one corner we have a treatise. Here’s how it starts:  

Building and managing a help desk in your organization can either become a triumphant, effective tool or end up an untouched resource collecting dust on the IT project wall of shame. Where does the difference lie? It’s all about creating a help desk plan with the right people, tools, and strategies. 

In the other corner, we have a story that begins with this:  

A friend told me the other day about a customer service nightmare. He emailed the company that provides his sales management software because the system was throwing errors. Here’s what happened: No reply after 48 hours. On hold for 15+ minutes with the telephone support. A “support” rep who 1) didn’t have a clue and 2) promised someone else would call back later that day. And finally…a broken promise (no one called). On and on it went. 

“I’m sick of this BS,” my friend told me. “I’m shopping for new sales management software.” 

Sound familiar? We’ve all experienced a nightmare like this one. And many of us have switched vendors because of rotten customer service… 

Which post will capture prospects’ attention, keep them tuned in and inspire them to act?  

Answer: The one that uses story to demonstrate WHY a company needs a customer support playbook.  

You need a playbook so things don’t fall through the cracks. So your customers will not grow frustrated. So you keep customers, rather than drive them away. So churn goes down and revenue goes up.  

The first post lectures us to create a plan so our help desk can become a “triumphant, effective tool,” rather than “an untouched resource collecting dust on the IT project wall of fame.”  

Vague. Boring. Not inspiring the prospect to read on.

The second post puts us in the prospects’ world. It draws us in with a STORY. The story demonstrates how poor customer support frustrates customers and drives them away.  

It asks, “Sound familiar?”  

Most prospects will answer, “Yes!” 

A good story, draws readers in, gives them something they can relate to, puts them on the edge of their seats, and inspires them to read on…  

…and then act.  

Here’s the rest of that story about the support desk nightmare. It’s a post by my friend Todd Rochleau from STR Technologies in Union, Missouri. It’s a great example of story-powered content that attracts leads, keeps them tuned in and inspires them to act.