Users tell us that it's important for us to be responsive.
How do you get your users to say you're responsive to their
needs?
This is about your willingness to respond to customer needs
by answering their phone or email requests quickly, and
your willingness to do what it takes to respond effectively
to a service request.`` Responsiveness is adopting a can-do
attitude, and a willingness to go the extra mile for the
customer. Recent research studies support the theory that
soft skills (such as listening, empathy, courtesy and
creating rapport) are more important than technical skills
in the career advancement of any employee. This is
especially true in the support industry, where most
managers have realized that they must hire people who have
a good attitude or approach to serving customers plus an
aptitude for technical knowledge, and that the rest can be
taught.
A positive attitude is the first step in building good soft
skills. You have control over your attitude. Just like you
can choose what clothes to wear in the morning, you can
also choose what attitude to assume every day. You can
choose to see the glass as half-full, or half-empty. Your
approach, or attitude, toward life is a self-fulfilling
prophecy. If your attitude is "Everyone has something to
offer me!", then you will interpret everything that happens
to you as an interesting journey. On the other hand, if you
approach your job and your life in a less than positive
way, every bump in the road will seem like a huge obstacle.
How do you answer your phone? Do you answer it promptly?
Can the caller understand you or do you rush through your
greeting? Are you pleasant and does your tone of voice
convey a positive start to the call? How do you answer
emails? Do you reply promptly? Do you convey in your
email responses that you really want to help your user? Do
you understand the meaning of all the words you use? For
those of you who provide support in a second language, make
sure you're using the user's language correctly. Ask
someone who speaks it natively to review your email
responses and give you feedback.
Look in the mirror. Often, the solution to our problems
lies within ourselves. Several weeks ago, I faced some of
the usual challenges of life on the road. Things usually go
very well for me and on those rare occasions when things
"hiccup", they're usually minor. This week, however, I
dealt with a major problem that had the potential to cause
a major disruption in my business. Now, as I look back on
what happened, I'm beginning to see the entire situation
with new clarity. I made several mistakes. The first
mistake was in making assumptions about what a vendor would
do. I could have spent more time at their website and
learned more about their policies and procedures. Instead,
I spent a brief time skimming over their services and made
assumptions about how to order a particular service and
whether it was the right service for me. The second mistake
I made was in not contacting this vendor earlier to discuss
how best to use their services (and whether they were even
the right vendor for this job). The third mistake I made
was in trying to deal with this vendor while I was hurrying
to catch a train. In other words, I was in a state of
stress which undoubtedly came through in my voice (even
though I don't think I was rude, demanding, or abusive). As
I dealt with this vendor in trying to resolve several
problems, I received brusk (almost rude) customer service.
I don't believe there is ever a reason to treat any
customer in a manner that is anything other than cheerful,
pleasant, respectful, and empathetic, but I wonder if there
were subtle messages that I was sending that caused me to
receive less than exemplary customer service.
As I look back at my experiences with other people, I also
need to look in the mirror. Am I doing everything I can to
have a positive effect on everyone I meet? Have I gone out
of my way to touch people in a positive way? When the world
doesn't go my way, do I take a moment to stop and regroup
or do I complain to everyone around me so they can feel
bad, too? I know I can't control other people, but I
certainly can control how I appear when they look in my
direction.
So, what are the lessons I learned and how do they relate
to you as a tech support pro?
Lesson one: Start early. When you have plenty of time,
you're more relaxed and things just seem to go better.
Arrive at your desk early. Give yourself 15 or 20 minutes
before your shift starts to gather your thoughts and
organize your workspace. Then later, when the day starts
to get frantic, you'll find you're more in control of
things.
Lesson two: Do enough research. As a tech support person,
do you subscribe to news feeds and blogs about the products
you support? Do you spend time each day reading articles
and books related to the products you support? Have you
set up a virtual lab using VMWare, VirtualPC, or Xen so you
can experiment and test your solutions before you offer
them to your users? Knowledge is power and the more
knowledge you have, the more you'll be empowered to delight
your users with relevant, accurate solutions.
Lesson three: Focus on the task at hand instead of
multi-tasking (Millennials really can multi-task, but
GenXers, Boomers, and Veterans really can't (We talk about
this in our help desk training seminars.)). This means,
when your user calls needing help, you focus exclusively on
them and nothing else. (And, for you Gen Y'ers, I know you
really can multi-task, but don't let your users know you're
doing it while you're talking to them!)
Lesson four: When the world is crashing around you, before
you do anything else, look in the mirror. Maybe you can't
control the rest of the world, but you are in complete
control over how you view the world and what's happening in
it. As a desktop support professional, take a moment to ask
yourself the following questions
1. Do I put myself in the user's shoes?
2. Do I take ownership of a problem and see it through to
completion?
3. Am I willing to help both users and co-workers?
4. Do I consciously assume a positive outlook with my users
and co-workers?
5. Am I respectful and courteous to the user?
6. Do I treat everyone with respect and courtesy?
7. Do I speak and conduct myself confidently with users?
If you answered yes to at least five, you are on the right
track to creating a positive position from which to serve
your users for the best results. If you answered yes to
fewer than five, your attitude might be keeping you from
doing your best to create the proper environment for
success in your job.
Your users' perception of your responsiveness starts with
their perception of you. Your attitude, your demeanor,
your tone-of-voice, the words you choose all play a part in
how you are perceived. You have it within your power to
create users who perceive you to be responsive to their
needs; to care about them as people first and co-workers
second.
Next week, we'll talk about competence; how to have it and
how to project it to your users, co-workers, and bosses.
----------------------------------------------------
Don R. Crawley is president/chief technologist at
soundtraining.net (http://www.soundtraining.net), the
Seattle firm specializing in business skills and technical
training for IT professionals. He works with IT pros to
enhance their work, lives, and careers. For Don's article,
"Ten Ways to Delight Your End-User", visit
http://www.soundtraining.net/onlinestore/items/item241.html
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