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Rooted in Humanity: The Real Future of Support Teams
I just got off stage in Los Angeles, having delivered a talk to a room full of Customer Support leaders: “The Mindset Shift that Transforms…
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The Ice Storm That Forced Me to Practice What I Preach (and Almost Cost a Chromebook Its Life)
Thanks to the ice storm that blanketed much of the nation, today and yesterday were e-learning days for my 3rd grader. Ever helped an…
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Ditch the 0-10 Scale: Why a 3-Point System Saves Support Teams
I recently heard from a former direct report that since I left the company, every single CRR they’ve received from their new manager has…
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What is a Customer Response Review?
Sometimes called “Internal Reviews” or “Support Quality Assurance,” Customer Response Reviews (CRRs) are an internal tool for support leaders to use in one-on-one and…
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2025 Year In Review
2025 was a whirlwind first year for Sustainable Support. On November 22, 2024 I purchased this domain name, after only briefly considering paying the…
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Why I Had to Stop Using Zendesk QA (and what I use instead)
Zendesk QA (formerly Klaus) is a fantastic tool with 3 fatal flaws if your goal is Sustainable Support. It’s a multitool that tries to…
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What to Do When the Customer is Angry (And Your Agent is Wrong)
I was staring at a blinking cursor, trying to figure out how to respond to the profanity-laden rant of a frustrated customer. I had…
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The Hidden Cost of the “Status Update” Escalation
“I have a customer asking for a status update on this bug: (link)” That’s not a question. It’s a weather report. “There are frustrated…
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Empower Your Support Team to Deliver Like You Do
I’m naturally gifted at insight, curiosity, and self-drive. It’s what made me a standout in Technical Support for over a decade—and it nearly cost…
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Get It Right at the Source: Hiring for Customer Service Success
A friend who teaches home music recording has a mantra: “Get It Right at the Source” (GIRATS). In music production, nailing the details early—microphone…
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Cloudflare’s Masterclass in Customer Support
Yesterday (November 18th, 2025) Cloudflare had the biggest system outage in over five years. Their entire service went down for multiple hours, leaving websites,…
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The Curse Of Knowledge, and How It’s Kneecapping Your Documentation.
Imagine I hand you a slip of paper with the words “Jingle Bells” on it. Your assignment: sit across a table from your best…
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Your AI Support Dream Is Just a Fancy Name for Customer Churn
Scroll LinkedIn for two seconds or peek into any Technical Support leader water-cooler: everyone’s racing to slap AI onto their support operations with AI…
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I’m Measuring All The Things, But My Customer Service Agents Aren’t Improving!
I love CSAT as a measuring tool. I hate CSAT as a motivator for agents. When I worked in retail sales, the company rolled…
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I Can’t Get My Team To Think Bigger!
Here’s the harsh reality of Customer Service: if you are not proactively leading your team toward the culture you want (even after you’ve achieved…
Expert Tips for Customer Support that doesn’t Suck
The Sustainable Support Blog
We’re in the business of Customer Service. Here you’ll find insights into Customer Experience, Technical Support, and Customer Service that are more than just buzzwords and fluff. This stuff actually works.