How to Handle IT Customer Service Calls

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When we’re on the phone with a customer, there are four important points which, when implemented correctly, help ensure a successful IT customer service interaction.

Watch the video to see examples both of how to and how not to handle an IT customer service call.

The four points are:

Fix the Problem to the User’s Satisfaction

This probably seems obvious, yet most of us (maybe all of us) have had dealings with companies where we called to report a problem and the problem was left unsolved. This can also involved making a follow up call several days later to ensure the problem was resolved.

Show Professionalism

Showing professionalism means acting with confidence, being polite and respectful, and doing what you say you’ll do. This also means not making promises you may not be able to keep. People make decisions based on what we tell them. We must never promise, for example, that there won’t be any problems. Anyone who’s worked in IT for any length of time knows our world is filled with surprises, many of them unpleasant, to put it mildly.

Connect with the Caller

I recently read an article which spoke disparagingly of small talk, yet small talk is a tool we can use to get to big talk. Some of us in IT feel that we’re not that good at small talk, yet it’s often just a matter of responding to side comments by our callers. Perhaps the caller might say something about not being good with computers. Some people might ignore such a comment, but one way to respond would be to say something like, “Don’t worry about it. My job is to take care of your computer needs so you don’t have to spend your time doing it.” In the first example in the video, the support rep ignores small side comments made by the caller and misses opportunities to create a human connection.

Remember, It’s All About the Caller, not Us

We all have our likes and dislikes. When we’re providing IT customer service, whether to an end user or someone in our department, our job is to focus on the customer and how we can help her or him work more productively, creatively, and efficiently. We are not there to make value judgments or worry about our own personal likes and dislikes. The late Zig Ziglar said it well: “You can get what you want by helping others get what they want.”

For More Ideas on How to Improve Communication and Customer Service Skills

Bring my IT customer service training seminar onsite to your location for your group, small or large. Click here for the course description and outline.

Customer service book for IT staffPick up a copy of my IT customer service book The Compassionate Geek: How Engineers, IT Pros, and Other Tech Specialists Can Master Human Relations Skills to Deliver Outstanding Customer Service, available through Amazon and other resellers.

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