How we increased the support team 3 times without losing quality
The number of teams that use Wrike for project management and collaboration has exceeded 10,000 in December. The company is growing, and a year ago we were faced with the need to increase our support team many times (from 20 to 60 in the future).
We needed to reorganize the process of selecting and training new employees in order, on the one hand, to quickly expand the team, and on the other, to maintain strict requirements for the quality of the team. We want to tell what we have done for this.
Support as the basis of business
The first thing we did almost immediately was to abandon the idea of support as a kind of peripheral unit in the company. A support service often becomes the first point of contact with a customer and affects how the user will perceive the product and brand in the future. Companies are increasingly realizing that it is important not only to answer questions, but also to explain to customers how and why you need to use the product, and even just communicate on abstract topics. In fact, a support agent often acts both as a sales manager and as a consultant on optimizing work processes in a client’s company.
Most clearly, a new approach to support is described in the book by Delivering Happiness, Zappos Executive Director Tony Shay. Tony perceives working with customers not as a task of one department, but as a center around which his entire online store was originally built.
The customer’s experience with the company, according to Tony, will be ideal if there are three factors that we took as the basis for our approach to support.
Profile of an ideal candidate
At first glance, it might seem that people working in the Wrike support team have a completely different background. We gave up work experience in the support service as a necessary condition, since people with such experience were often used to template answers, and it was more difficult to retrain than to learn from scratch.
People with completely different backgrounds and backgrounds came for interviews. These were yesterday’s graduates and people of 30–40 years old who decided to change their careers. A prerequisite was fluency in a foreign language (Wrike supports customers in 6 languages) and interest in the IT industry as a whole.
At the same time, the personal qualities that we are looking for in the candidates were difficult to evaluate from the resume or the results of a regular test task. First of all, we looked for people who are good at communicating and resolving conflicts, who are patient, able to deliver the same information in an accessible language. The second important aspect was learning and the ability to learn a lot of new knowledge. An ideal candidate should be quite inventive in finding the right information, learn quickly, be able to independently apply general descriptions of functionality in specific situations and explain Wrike's work in a simple and accessible language. Therefore, we have developed a multi-stage selection system.
Today, after completing the test task, the following steps are expected:
This approach has led to a serious dropout of candidates. Of the 50 people who sent us test assignments every month, we hired 3-4 employees, that is, 6% of the total number of candidates. This, of course, added to the work of the HR department, but this just allowed us to guarantee the preservation of quality with rapid growth.
Probationary period = training
One of the problems Wrike faced when accelerating the growth of the team was the need to establish a training system for new employees. Previously, a novice was simply provided with access to an external reference service (help section on the site) and a special internal knowledge base, which is stored in the system itself, and then he himself understood the functionality of the service. However, when 3-4 new support agents began to work every month, and the product became noticeably more complicated, it became clear that the previous approach was no longer very effective.
As a result, we realized that we needed a unified training program for support, sales, and specialists in working with paid customers. It was developed by two employees based on their experience and that of colleagues. Since we have rather high requirements for the training of specialists, the main goal of the program was not only to centralize the learning process, but also to quickly select those who suit us. Within 2 weeks, 25-30% of candidates leave the program. The three-month program, mandatory for all Wrike support specialists, was launched in June 2015.
Wrike- a service for managing tasks and projects, and all training tasks for beginners are stored and performed in the system itself, which simplifies the learning process. They are broken down by week - from simple features of the free version to complex corporate functionality. Each task is an action that needs to be performed in the system (for example, creating an account, creating dependency of tasks on the Gantt chart, etc.) with links to the information section, videos, blog posts and other supporting materials. At the end of the day, a new member of the team calls up with his curator to show their progress and discuss difficulties. This approach helps to quickly understand how a person is ready for independent work, and how quickly he can understand the technical subtleties. Each major topic closes the final test.
There are separate trainings on the most complex functions of the system, such as integration with Salesforce and the API, as well as how to use the Zendesk and Support app (Wrike internal system where account information is stored).
Starting from the sixth week, beginners begin to respond to the first requests for support. Wrike support is available in three channels: email, chat, and phone. It is in this order that they are mastered by new agents. At the first stages, all draft drafts are checked by shift managers, then the answers are checked after sending. With the knowledge of the language at this stage, difficulties no longer arise, but it is estimated how simple and logical a person can explain the work of the service to people with different levels of technical literacy.
The final stage is an interview with the director of the support team, from which it becomes clear how much the person as a whole fits Wrike, and whether it can work together with the rest of the team.
Further career
The work of the support service is perceived by many as a routine from copying the same type of answers to purely technical queries. In the case of Wrike, the focus is on unique answers and a more personal approach to help the client adapt Wrike to specific work processes, and in some cases to optimize these processes. Therefore, unlike other companies, we do not have a mandatory rate of requests per day. The time spent on one ticket can take from 10 minutes to an hour or more, in especially difficult cases, and we only welcome the detailed elaboration of each request. Agent productivity is measured in relation to other team members, and not in absolute numbers.
In addition, for those who do an excellent job, there are several options for further promotion:
The Wrike support team works from St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Kharkov, Kiev and Rio de Janeiro. It has recent students, former scientists and translators, engineers and people who worked in construction. Many have experience living in the USA, Australia and other countries. Due to the large number of offices, as well as the possibility of remote work, the team is rarely assembled as a whole. Therefore, the need for team building in this case is not just a tribute to fashion. We began to devote a lot of time to preparing and organizing rallies of the team, which are of a festive nature. This is the January Kick Off in Mexico, and team meetings in St. Petersburg and Minsk.
Optimization of our HR processes continues. We are still looking for ways to improve the quality of work and motivation of support staff. We hope you find our experience useful and welcome feedback and suggestions. By the way, we are still in search of talented people who will help our customers get the most out of Wrike. If you or your friends are interested, we are always happy to see a new resume at wrike.com/ru/company .
We needed to reorganize the process of selecting and training new employees in order, on the one hand, to quickly expand the team, and on the other, to maintain strict requirements for the quality of the team. We want to tell what we have done for this.
Support as the basis of business
The first thing we did almost immediately was to abandon the idea of support as a kind of peripheral unit in the company. A support service often becomes the first point of contact with a customer and affects how the user will perceive the product and brand in the future. Companies are increasingly realizing that it is important not only to answer questions, but also to explain to customers how and why you need to use the product, and even just communicate on abstract topics. In fact, a support agent often acts both as a sales manager and as a consultant on optimizing work processes in a client’s company.
Most clearly, a new approach to support is described in the book by Delivering Happiness, Zappos Executive Director Tony Shay. Tony perceives working with customers not as a task of one department, but as a center around which his entire online store was originally built.
The customer’s experience with the company, according to Tony, will be ideal if there are three factors that we took as the basis for our approach to support.
- A unique, non-template answer that takes into account the characteristics of the client
- Emotional contact
- The proactivity of the support agent, who will be able to tell the client things that he might not even mention, but which are likely to be of interest to him.
Profile of an ideal candidate
At first glance, it might seem that people working in the Wrike support team have a completely different background. We gave up work experience in the support service as a necessary condition, since people with such experience were often used to template answers, and it was more difficult to retrain than to learn from scratch.
People with completely different backgrounds and backgrounds came for interviews. These were yesterday’s graduates and people of 30–40 years old who decided to change their careers. A prerequisite was fluency in a foreign language (Wrike supports customers in 6 languages) and interest in the IT industry as a whole.
At the same time, the personal qualities that we are looking for in the candidates were difficult to evaluate from the resume or the results of a regular test task. First of all, we looked for people who are good at communicating and resolving conflicts, who are patient, able to deliver the same information in an accessible language. The second important aspect was learning and the ability to learn a lot of new knowledge. An ideal candidate should be quite inventive in finding the right information, learn quickly, be able to independently apply general descriptions of functionality in specific situations and explain Wrike's work in a simple and accessible language. Therefore, we have developed a multi-stage selection system.
Today, after completing the test task, the following steps are expected:
- Telephone / Skype Interview with HR Officer
- Written Logic Tests
- Live chat with the “client” (the candidate is invited to understand the work of one function and answer the questions of the client, who is represented by one of the support specialists)
- Interview with HR and Support Officer
- Interview with Nick Bryson, US Support Team Leader.
This approach has led to a serious dropout of candidates. Of the 50 people who sent us test assignments every month, we hired 3-4 employees, that is, 6% of the total number of candidates. This, of course, added to the work of the HR department, but this just allowed us to guarantee the preservation of quality with rapid growth.
Probationary period = training
One of the problems Wrike faced when accelerating the growth of the team was the need to establish a training system for new employees. Previously, a novice was simply provided with access to an external reference service (help section on the site) and a special internal knowledge base, which is stored in the system itself, and then he himself understood the functionality of the service. However, when 3-4 new support agents began to work every month, and the product became noticeably more complicated, it became clear that the previous approach was no longer very effective.
As a result, we realized that we needed a unified training program for support, sales, and specialists in working with paid customers. It was developed by two employees based on their experience and that of colleagues. Since we have rather high requirements for the training of specialists, the main goal of the program was not only to centralize the learning process, but also to quickly select those who suit us. Within 2 weeks, 25-30% of candidates leave the program. The three-month program, mandatory for all Wrike support specialists, was launched in June 2015.
Wrike- a service for managing tasks and projects, and all training tasks for beginners are stored and performed in the system itself, which simplifies the learning process. They are broken down by week - from simple features of the free version to complex corporate functionality. Each task is an action that needs to be performed in the system (for example, creating an account, creating dependency of tasks on the Gantt chart, etc.) with links to the information section, videos, blog posts and other supporting materials. At the end of the day, a new member of the team calls up with his curator to show their progress and discuss difficulties. This approach helps to quickly understand how a person is ready for independent work, and how quickly he can understand the technical subtleties. Each major topic closes the final test.
There are separate trainings on the most complex functions of the system, such as integration with Salesforce and the API, as well as how to use the Zendesk and Support app (Wrike internal system where account information is stored).
Starting from the sixth week, beginners begin to respond to the first requests for support. Wrike support is available in three channels: email, chat, and phone. It is in this order that they are mastered by new agents. At the first stages, all draft drafts are checked by shift managers, then the answers are checked after sending. With the knowledge of the language at this stage, difficulties no longer arise, but it is estimated how simple and logical a person can explain the work of the service to people with different levels of technical literacy.
The final stage is an interview with the director of the support team, from which it becomes clear how much the person as a whole fits Wrike, and whether it can work together with the rest of the team.
Further career
The work of the support service is perceived by many as a routine from copying the same type of answers to purely technical queries. In the case of Wrike, the focus is on unique answers and a more personal approach to help the client adapt Wrike to specific work processes, and in some cases to optimize these processes. Therefore, unlike other companies, we do not have a mandatory rate of requests per day. The time spent on one ticket can take from 10 minutes to an hour or more, in especially difficult cases, and we only welcome the detailed elaboration of each request. Agent productivity is measured in relation to other team members, and not in absolute numbers.
In addition, for those who do an excellent job, there are several options for further promotion:
- The second line of support (tier2): agents work with more complex technical requests involving developers, help with Wrike integration with other products, and deal with complex business logic.
- Training manager for a beginner tutorial.
- Shift manager: since Wrike is used in 120 countries, support works around the clock in three shifts, each of which has its own supervisor.
- Customer Success Manager: these specialists help new users to tailor the product to business needs in more detail, conduct webinars and trainings.
The Wrike support team works from St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Kharkov, Kiev and Rio de Janeiro. It has recent students, former scientists and translators, engineers and people who worked in construction. Many have experience living in the USA, Australia and other countries. Due to the large number of offices, as well as the possibility of remote work, the team is rarely assembled as a whole. Therefore, the need for team building in this case is not just a tribute to fashion. We began to devote a lot of time to preparing and organizing rallies of the team, which are of a festive nature. This is the January Kick Off in Mexico, and team meetings in St. Petersburg and Minsk.
Optimization of our HR processes continues. We are still looking for ways to improve the quality of work and motivation of support staff. We hope you find our experience useful and welcome feedback and suggestions. By the way, we are still in search of talented people who will help our customers get the most out of Wrike. If you or your friends are interested, we are always happy to see a new resume at wrike.com/ru/company .