Bringing Humanity Into the World of Technology
Award-Winning IT Customer Service Speaker and Author
Don addresses 600 IT professionals about IT Customer Service at the 2019 Church IT Network conference in Kansas City.
Author of 8 books for IT pros, including...
The Compassionate Geek: How Engineers, IT Pros, and Other Tech Specialists Can Master Human Relations Skills to Deliver Outstanding Customer Service
The 5 Principles of IT Customer Service Success
Cisco ASA for Accidental Administrators: An Illustrated Step-by-Step Cisco ASA Learning and Configuration Guide
The Accidental Administrator: Cisco Router Step-by-Step Configuration Guide (Understanding the Basics of Cisco Routers)
The Accidental Administrator: Linux Server Step-by-Step Configuration Guide (for IT Professionals and Accidental Administrators)
Recent Blog Posts
How to Deliver Great Customer Service: What’s Your Customer Empathy Quotient?
How’s your empathy quotient? Your ability to empathize may be your most important ability as a member of the I.T. support staff. Empathy means providing caring and personal service. Dictionary.com defines empathy as “the intellectual identification with … the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another.” Empathy is your ability to truly put yourself in your user’s position so you can understand his/her frustration. Once we truly understand our user’s frustration, fears, and aggravations, we can start the process of delivering a meaningful solution for them. Sometimes it only takes a moment to really understand where our user is coming from. Sometimes it takes several minutes of listening combined with empathetic statements such as “I understand why you feel that way.” or “I’d feel that way, too, if I were in your situation.” Regardless, until you can empathize with your user, you’re not ready to start the technical aspects of the support session. Remember, it may be your technical expertise that solves the problem, but it’s your skill in dealing with people that produces satisfied end-users.
Knowledge Retention: How to Keep the Training Evergreen
One of the biggest challenges in training is moving the new ideas and concepts from sensory memory into short-term memory and, ultimately, into long-term memory. This process is also known as keeping it “evergreen”.
It’s not easy, but it can be done with effective followup techniques. Here are some ideas you can implement to get the most value from your training dollars and reinforce the ideas I’ve shared with your staff. Even if I haven’t been fortunate enough to work directly with your staff, you can still make use of these tools to help develop yourself and your IT staff.
Authentic Communication: Being Real with Your Words
In my customer service workshops and speeches, I often talk about the importance of being authentic, of being real. Here’s a real-life story about Nick Sarillo, a Chicago-area pizza restauranteur who saved his business with a very humble and equally authentic email to his customers. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120315/BLOGS06/120319853/suburban-chicago-restaurateurs-unusual-plea-to-customers-pays-dividends Even if you’re not particularly interested in business, it’s a short read with a simple message about being authentic in our dealings with our fellow humans. It’s refreshing, especially considering that his bank and his PR team discouraged him from doing what, in his gut, he knew was the right thing to do.
For more than 40 years, Don Crawley has worked with technology, from broadcasting to automation systems to data networks. A former IT trainer and consultant, he is an award-winning IT customer service speaker and the author of eight books for IT professionals including The Compassionate Geek. He’s especially good at helping IT teams work together so they can get things done.