Caveat: This article, and most articles in this blog regarding management and how to deal with them, use management jargon. I'll try to call out jargon by putting it "in quotes".
One of the manager's primary tasks is to communicate with... his management. He needs to be able to summarize the current state of his team and explain how well or poorly the team is doing in a concise manner.
This usually means numbers. Managers like numbers, and the higher up the management food chain you go, the more those numbers are used to explain how things are going. In the end, numbers are used to explain the state of the entire company to shareholders.
Consequently, managers of Tech Support teams like to find ways to apply numbers to what the team does - assist customers - and generate as many different types of numbers as possible. This is what I call the MOME, or Metrics-Obsessed Management Environment.
Numbers and data are the best protection in a MOME. The more numbers and data you have, the easier it will be to respond to any questions and concerns your manager (who is, after all, answering questions from his manager) may bring up.
The most common metric imposed upon a Tech Support reps is the simplest one to count: the number of calls, emails or other customer contacts made in a day. In some systems, this is automatically compiled by the program used to track the calls or emails. In some cases, though, it isn't. This is where writing everything down comes in handy.
If you know the number of calls, emails or contacts that is set as the base, or minimum average, writing down your cases - even just jotting a quick summary on a pad somewhere - can help you keep an eye on how you're doing with what I've heard called the "Salary Continuation Program". If you find yourself falling behind, notes on the nature of the case will help you spot problem areas either in your handling of the case or perhaps an issue with the product or service which should be brought to the attention of your engineers, management, or other higher powers.
The second most common metric is call times, or calls / emails per hour. This one is a little trickier to manage from the Tech Support rep side, but if you know how many calls or emails you do in a day, you can take that number, divide it by the number of hours you are "in production" (that is, working on customer issues) and get a rough estimate. Again, if you find your "per hour" metric isn't matching up to what management sets as their expectation, you can look over your notes and use the types of cases you worked and the nature of the issues to provide some context for the numbers themselves. Managers like it when a rep "proactively" spots, analyzes, and defines "areas for improvement" before a manager has to bring it to his attention.
Most Tech Support reps see all these metrics as the enemy. But, if you're willing to put in a little effort, you can get them on your side.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Search and Ye Shall Find
We tend to become blinkered when we're supporting a particular product or service - the powers that be show us "the sources of wisdom" (usually a Knowledge Base or a series of FAQs or pre-written hotkeys) and leave us to support the thing we're being paid to support. If the problem we're encountering isn't covered under those few bits of info we're pointed at, we tend to default to further escalation or making something up to appease the customer.
However, there's a vast wealth of info on the internet - exercise your search engine chops when faced with a problem tangential to your product - maybe it's a piece of 3rd party software that isn't playing nice, or an error code in a program that accesses your service. A simple search for the error message and the product will turn up more info quickly.
Even if it isn't the exact answer you need, it should be more info than you had earlier. And of course, write it down or bookmark it for the next time you run into that situation.
However, there's a vast wealth of info on the internet - exercise your search engine chops when faced with a problem tangential to your product - maybe it's a piece of 3rd party software that isn't playing nice, or an error code in a program that accesses your service. A simple search for the error message and the product will turn up more info quickly.
Even if it isn't the exact answer you need, it should be more info than you had earlier. And of course, write it down or bookmark it for the next time you run into that situation.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ignorance Vs. Stupidity
Ignorance (n) - lack of knowledge, education, or awareness
Stupidity (n) - the quality or state of being stupid
Stupid (adj) - slow of mind : obtuse
Tech Support humor has a lot of references to "stupid users" - but usually your customers aren't stupid. They're ignorant in the classic sense - they don't know and in many cases they don't even know that they don't know (remember Competency Level 1?) We bandy the word "stupid" around, applying it to anyone who isn't as knowledgeable as we are, forgetting that we spend hours up to our elbows in the products we support.
"Ignorance" is a weighted word, but it's more accurate in most cases than "stupid" - most people don't like to be called either. Fortunately, most people take "it's all right, you didn't know"... which is, of course, the definition of "ignorance". And then they're no longer ignorant.
Stupidity (n) - the quality or state of being stupid
Stupid (adj) - slow of mind : obtuse
Tech Support humor has a lot of references to "stupid users" - but usually your customers aren't stupid. They're ignorant in the classic sense - they don't know and in many cases they don't even know that they don't know (remember Competency Level 1?) We bandy the word "stupid" around, applying it to anyone who isn't as knowledgeable as we are, forgetting that we spend hours up to our elbows in the products we support.
"Ignorance" is a weighted word, but it's more accurate in most cases than "stupid" - most people don't like to be called either. Fortunately, most people take "it's all right, you didn't know"... which is, of course, the definition of "ignorance". And then they're no longer ignorant.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Experts and Expertise
"An expert is a man who tells you a simple thing in a confused way in such a fashion as to make you think the confusion is your fault." - William CastleJust something for you to think about this time. What's the difference between being an Expert and having Expertise? Usually it's the approach when you try to communicate what you know to someone else.
Monday, January 17, 2011
The customer is listening
The majority of Tech Support these days happens over the telephone. Most telephone tech support happens over a telephone headset. It used to be that these headsets were pretty rudimentary and not all that sensitive.
However, that's not the case anymore. Headsets pick up all kinds of sounds - typing, writing (I get customers speculating on my typing speed), the sounds of your coworkers who are also on calls... and anything that you're doing with your mouth is picked up clearly on the phone.
This is something you should always be aware of - customers can hear heavy breathing, snuffling, coughing, wheezing, and most definitely eating and drinking. There are some things you can do to mitigatge the sounds you can't eliminate - mostly by moving the boom "mic" away from your mouth a bit and calibrating with a friend or coworker - have them call you or you call them and then work to determine a "good" distance for your mic to be from your face. The voluntary sounds are just that - voluntary. If you absolutely have to take a drink or eat something while you're on the phone with a customer, excuse yourself and use the mute or hold button.
Remember, they can hear us just as well as we can hear them!
However, that's not the case anymore. Headsets pick up all kinds of sounds - typing, writing (I get customers speculating on my typing speed), the sounds of your coworkers who are also on calls... and anything that you're doing with your mouth is picked up clearly on the phone.
This is something you should always be aware of - customers can hear heavy breathing, snuffling, coughing, wheezing, and most definitely eating and drinking. There are some things you can do to mitigatge the sounds you can't eliminate - mostly by moving the boom "mic" away from your mouth a bit and calibrating with a friend or coworker - have them call you or you call them and then work to determine a "good" distance for your mic to be from your face. The voluntary sounds are just that - voluntary. If you absolutely have to take a drink or eat something while you're on the phone with a customer, excuse yourself and use the mute or hold button.
Remember, they can hear us just as well as we can hear them!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Shameless Plug - The Tech Support Mumbler
We all need to blow off a little steam now and then, and while I'm not a fan of most Tech Support Humor, there are some strips I like because they're based more on people than on technology.
JD Thyme's Tech Support Mumbler is one of them. Check him out!
JD Thyme's Tech Support Mumbler is one of them. Check him out!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Frustration!
In Tech Support, your job is to talk to people about things they usually don't know too much about. If you're hovering around Level 4 competency (as most of us are somewhere about the third quarter of a shift) you may find yourself getting really tired of explaining basic concepts to someone who, bless their heart, just is not Getting It.
This is called Frustration, and it can be your friend or your enemy. When Frustration is your enemy, you find yourself talking faster, talking louder, and repeating the same things over and over again in an increasingly futile attempt to Get The Point Across. Your customer will pick up on it, and (usually) interpret it as hostility, and respond in kind. Eventually one of you will likely give up (and possibly lose a customer, or wind up with a demand to speak to a Supervisor).
You can, believe it or not, make Frustration your friend. You have to be able to recognize when you're getting frustrated (which can take some effort on its own), but when you find yourself getting to that point, take it as a sign that you need to take your conversation in a different direction. Can you phrase what you're trying to say to the customer in another way? Try asking what the customer sees on the screen, slow down, and your customer will be able to come "back from the brink" and work with you to solve the issue you're working on.
Search Amazon.com Books for frustration
This is called Frustration, and it can be your friend or your enemy. When Frustration is your enemy, you find yourself talking faster, talking louder, and repeating the same things over and over again in an increasingly futile attempt to Get The Point Across. Your customer will pick up on it, and (usually) interpret it as hostility, and respond in kind. Eventually one of you will likely give up (and possibly lose a customer, or wind up with a demand to speak to a Supervisor).
You can, believe it or not, make Frustration your friend. You have to be able to recognize when you're getting frustrated (which can take some effort on its own), but when you find yourself getting to that point, take it as a sign that you need to take your conversation in a different direction. Can you phrase what you're trying to say to the customer in another way? Try asking what the customer sees on the screen, slow down, and your customer will be able to come "back from the brink" and work with you to solve the issue you're working on.
Search Amazon.com Books for frustration
Monday, January 10, 2011
Honesty and Tact
The most common type of question asked to a Tech Support rep begins with "How do I..."
Sometimes, the answer is, unfortunately, "You can't, not with this product." It's a challenging situation - Sales reps will sometimes promise the customer that a product will do something which, to be frank, it can't do. Usually this is because the Sales rep isn't aware of the product's limitations. However, once the sale has been made, and the customer gets the product, it's a Tech Support rep who will have to break the bad news to the customer.
In Tech Support, we need to give the customer accurate, truthful information about the product we support. This includes having the integrity to tell the customer truthfully that no, this product will not be able to do something. The good news is that the "something" the customer is looking to do may not actually be the only way it can be achieved. Talk to your customer about the end result - What does the customer want to have happen? Once you know the desired result, it's likely you will be able to direct your customer to alternate methods or, at the very least, an alternate product.
Honesty is important. On the other hand, so is tact. There are ways to phrase things so you can be honest with a customer without saying negative things about your product, company, or the customer's own technical skills. The more ways you can find to say things tactfully but honestly, the better a rapport you will have with your customers - and everyone else.
Sometimes, the answer is, unfortunately, "You can't, not with this product." It's a challenging situation - Sales reps will sometimes promise the customer that a product will do something which, to be frank, it can't do. Usually this is because the Sales rep isn't aware of the product's limitations. However, once the sale has been made, and the customer gets the product, it's a Tech Support rep who will have to break the bad news to the customer.
In Tech Support, we need to give the customer accurate, truthful information about the product we support. This includes having the integrity to tell the customer truthfully that no, this product will not be able to do something. The good news is that the "something" the customer is looking to do may not actually be the only way it can be achieved. Talk to your customer about the end result - What does the customer want to have happen? Once you know the desired result, it's likely you will be able to direct your customer to alternate methods or, at the very least, an alternate product.
Honesty is important. On the other hand, so is tact. There are ways to phrase things so you can be honest with a customer without saying negative things about your product, company, or the customer's own technical skills. The more ways you can find to say things tactfully but honestly, the better a rapport you will have with your customers - and everyone else.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Build Connections
You've probably heard the saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." In Tech Support, it's a combination of what you know and who you know.
It's the nature of the industry that products are so complex at this point that no one really knows how all of any one product actually works. This is more true of software-based products than hardware, but that's another blog post entirely.
One of the things you can do to make your job easier is to make connections between yourself and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) - people who know a particular product, or part of a product, backwards and forwards. Getting on friendly terms with a SME will give you a valuable resource when you hit the boundaries of your experience or knowledge with that product.
Build connections with the support staff - receptionists, facilities, security - of you become a person to them, you're someone they'll be more inclined to want to help you, even in circumstances where the issue is "I was dumb and ..."
Build connections with other departments in the company - that way if an issue goes beyond the product or service you're supporting, you have someone you can talk to who might be able to help, and that means you don't have to foist the customer off blind to another department. Customers like it when you can provide a clear path to solving their problems. You'll know who to ask, or at least who you can ask about who you should ask.
Build Connections. It helps.
It's the nature of the industry that products are so complex at this point that no one really knows how all of any one product actually works. This is more true of software-based products than hardware, but that's another blog post entirely.
One of the things you can do to make your job easier is to make connections between yourself and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) - people who know a particular product, or part of a product, backwards and forwards. Getting on friendly terms with a SME will give you a valuable resource when you hit the boundaries of your experience or knowledge with that product.
Build connections with the support staff - receptionists, facilities, security - of you become a person to them, you're someone they'll be more inclined to want to help you, even in circumstances where the issue is "I was dumb and ..."
Build connections with other departments in the company - that way if an issue goes beyond the product or service you're supporting, you have someone you can talk to who might be able to help, and that means you don't have to foist the customer off blind to another department. Customers like it when you can provide a clear path to solving their problems. You'll know who to ask, or at least who you can ask about who you should ask.
Build Connections. It helps.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Your Job Is To Talk To People
Regarless of what Metrics-Obsessed Management Environments (MOME - yes I'm working on making this a meme) have to say about Tech Support, your job, at heart, is to talk to people and help solve their problems.
We tend to focus on the "solve their problems" part, which means we focus on the problem rather than the person we're talking to. This results in Script Monkey Syndrome - we have a fixed set of steps we need to go through, and some of us just read the steps off the script in front of us, expecting the person on the other end of the call to understand exactly what we mean when we say it and above all else, follow these steps (written by a tech) to the letter.
Of course, if these people could easily understand technical instructions written by technical people the odds are good they would not in fact be calling us.
Take a moment to get an idea of where this customer is, knowledge-wise. Use your script (if you have one) as a guide to the steps and not as something you just have to recite at the customer as fast as possible to Get This Person Off The Phone.
Communicate.
Besides, if you do that, then this customer might learn something, and not have to call you again for this particular issue.
We tend to focus on the "solve their problems" part, which means we focus on the problem rather than the person we're talking to. This results in Script Monkey Syndrome - we have a fixed set of steps we need to go through, and some of us just read the steps off the script in front of us, expecting the person on the other end of the call to understand exactly what we mean when we say it and above all else, follow these steps (written by a tech) to the letter.
Of course, if these people could easily understand technical instructions written by technical people the odds are good they would not in fact be calling us.
Take a moment to get an idea of where this customer is, knowledge-wise. Use your script (if you have one) as a guide to the steps and not as something you just have to recite at the customer as fast as possible to Get This Person Off The Phone.
Communicate.
Besides, if you do that, then this customer might learn something, and not have to call you again for this particular issue.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year from 20 Years...
Here's hoping 2011 brings you more of what you want and less of what you don't want - and here's hoping that what I can give you as a result of shaking out my brain for tips, tricks and things that actually work helps keep you sane and employed.
Onward!
Oh, and here's a Titanium Spork.
Onward!
Oh, and here's a Titanium Spork.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)