What technical support mistakes do you avoid?

?Poor Communication with Users? IT support is not just a technical role; it’s also a customer service role. Poor communication with users can lead to misunderstanding, frustration, and decreased satisfaction. Common mistakes include using technical jargon, not keeping users informed about issue resolution progress, and being unresponsive to user queries. To improve communication, use simple, non-technical language when interacting with users. Keep them informed about what you’re doing to solve their issues and respond promptly to their queries. Remember, good communication builds trust and improves user satisfaction.

A key component to remember is that regardless of how mundane or silly the problem is we are helping with, to whom is struggling? It's neither. These are professionals in their given field. You may be the janitor, you may be the CEO, regardless of who you are, you've reached your breaking point of frustration. You've had to tuck your ego away, call a stranger and point out that you are unable to solve this problem. It's humbling. We need to ensure that we're giving everyone grace. We are no smarter - we have DIFFERENT knowledge, so must show our humility to provide guidance and help when someone is suffering. Be gentle. Be human. Be caring.

Some technical support professionals may also not listen to the customer properly due to burn out. Customer support staff, specially the ones at front, are under a lot of pressure. It is necessary to hire and train ample staff. Rotations should also be properly planned in advanced and then followed.

Never trade speed for quality. The importance of preventing customers from reaching out multiple times is paramount. There's a balance to achieve that is best achieved through continuous training, documentation, and sharing perspectives. Resolving someone's issue the first time they reach out is what helps drive customer satisfaction most, in addition to having a good product.

Effective documentation involves recording the customer's problem, the troubleshooting steps taken, and the resolution outcome. Why is this crucial? 1. Progress Tracking: Documenting ensures you can track the issue's progress and status accurately. 2. Avoiding Repetition: It prevents redundant efforts by avoiding the repetition of troubleshooting steps. 3 Sharing Knowledge: Documentation can be shared with colleagues, promoting knowledge sharing and teamwork. 4. Skill Improvement: Reviewing past cases aids in skill enhancement and identifying patterns. Always utilize a ticketing system, CRM tool, or note-taking app to document issues. It's a fundamental practice in delivering efficient and effective technical support.

Documentation is always something I try to have my team excel at. Proper documentation of client issue is so important on so many levels. From properly collecting the issue a user is having, to ensuring that you include all the steps you have taken up to resolution so that you can come back to this on similar issues. If you need to escalate or hand off the issue documentation helps the next person effectively perform their job. This keeps everyone who is working the issue up to date on progress, but also does not have to redo work that the previous technician may have done. Having proper documentation also ensures a lower MTTR per ticket and will help keep you within your SLA timers.

Documenting an issue is an essential part of any tech company. The use of ticket-systems is extremely relevant and very practical because the ticket itself is a form of documentation. Tools like note-taking and CRM systems are also great examples and can be very helpful to manage such situations, but may be more time-consuming depending on each case. Documenting an issue have also inumerous benefits where some of them are, but not limited to: * Sharing knowledge; * Effective and fast communication; * CRM benefits and prevent future CHURN;

Not documenting is bad not only for you but for your team, instead of having to figure out on the spot having a knowledge base or know issues will speed up the process for everyone else plus it helps you identify possible trends.

Documenting issues on a support ticket as you work through an issue with a customer is crucial to maintain a timeline of troubleshooting steps taken and the resolution. Additionally, it provides valuable context to issues that can be searchable by other support engineers to help resolve other customer issues in the future. You can also add to the knowledge base with steps you’ve taken that have worked for a customer. This can reduce the time to resolve customer support tickets and make your team more efficient.

Failing to follow up with the customer is a significant mistake. Customers represent one of the most crucial points of contact for support. They are not just users of the company's products and services; they are the backbone of the company's financial success. Their feedback and testimonials can significantly impact the perception of our products and services. Whenever a customer encounters an issue, it's essential to maintain active communication. Even if the problem is being handled by Level 2 or 3 support, it's crucial to keep the customer informed of the latest updates and progress. In essence, you should empathize with the customer's perspective when it comes to communication.

I learned long ago that perception is reality. There will always be cases that are not opened and closed within minutes, it's the nature of technical support. The cases that take longer, we must ensure frequent updates are shared with a customer. It doesn't matter if there hasn't been progress. A customer will appreciate the contact, the sense of caring and more importantly not being forgotten. We need to listen, to understand, to document, and to act/follow-up (internally and externally). These actions help build consistency, predictability in support process. It builds confidence, loyalty, retention. So many times, when surveyed, customers hate the company be frustrated with the product but love their support reps and others.

Empathy, in the support area, also means to imagine if you would like to be called for a follow up about an issue you reported. The world runs around, it is easy to find ourselves busy with daily tasks and fail to follow-up, but from the moment you have a proper process established on this matter on and you make it part of your routine, you boost your CSaT to the sky and beyond. Many customers tend to keep with a product or a service because of their customers' service quality, which also involves making sure to follow-up.

Following up with the customer helps develop a trust relationship and the customer always feels that you are a professional and you know what you are doing. Also helps you making sure your process is done the right way without possible regression problems.

Sometimes follow ups can go wrong when the support staff is vigorously trying to reach the customer. Sometimes, the support staff also keeps asking for reviews that seem a bit forced. Staff should avoid selling new services during follow ups.

When facing a challenging tech issue, remember this: If you're unable to resolve it, consider transferring to the next level of technical support rather than letting it escalate. By doing so, you ensure that your concern is addressed by experts with the right knowledge and skills. It saves time, reduces frustration, and increases the likelihood of a swift and satisfactory resolution. Efficiency and expertise go hand in hand in the world of technical support. Don't hesitate to leverage the resources available to get the best assistance possible!

There are proactive and reactive escalations. A good support team should have S.O.P.'s for both. These need to be very well defined otherwise, you will only be exacerbating the customers frustration and anger. Proactive Escalations are reported by technical support representative assigned to the case. A reactive escalation is one that is coming in directly from the customer or sales rep/other depart. to management. The key to successfully navigating the Escalation waters is to ensure everyone on your team understands the fire drill, i.e. Is the case properly documented? What actions have been taken? Do we understand the issue and the implications? and more importantly what is the current action plan? ESCALATION = OVER COMMUNICATION.

To add to this, when escalating issues(especially if you use a ticketing system that just requires you to pass it on to a 3rd line team), FOLLOW the ticket. As the initial point of contact you understand the urgency/pain point of the user so it’s important to follow through on your escalation till it’s been handled by a “person”, the user is depending on you to get that issue to resolution. Also build relationships with the other colleagues you escalate to so it’s easier for you to send a “sorry can I trouble you to jump on this quickly” when it’s a high priority issue. And most importantly find out what resolved the issue to expand your knowledge.

When you are spending a lot of time to help the customer to resolve the issue, you should not hesitate to take the following actions: 1. Handover to the next on-call Engineer towards the end of the shift. 2. Handover to another Engineer / Escalate to the next Level 3. Escalate to Engineering to seek assistance 4. Escalate to your manager if you are not getting enough information from the customer to be able to resolve the issue While it is important that you learn while resolving the issue, it shouldn’t be at the cost of customer’s time and resources and you should hand off to appropriate teams to better assist the customer.

Without proper escalation procedures, complex issues may go unresolved for extended periods. Ensure that support teams have a clear process for escalating issues to higher-level support or specialists.

Most technical support doesn't understand that change is a continuous process. So if you knew a particular standard for attending to a problem, the procedure and pattern may have changed over time. Technical support should update their skills and understand that as there are new technologies, there are new problems and so there are new methods of attending to those problems.

In the ever-evolving tech landscape, staying current with new technologies, tools, and best practices is essential for providing high-quality support. Failing to update skills can lead to inefficiencies, outdated solutions, and difficulty in meeting the evolving needs of customers, ultimately hindering your ability to deliver effective technical support. Regularly investing in learning and skill development is crucial for staying relevant and providing excellent service in the dynamic field of technology support.

Technical support is not just about technical knowledge but also about interpersonal skills. Support staff should be courteous, patient, and empathetic in their interactions with customers.

Il est important de garder du temps pour s’ouvrir et élargir ses compétences nous partageons beaucoup entre collègues sur un chat, nous lisons et partageons beaucoup d’articles techniques, nous testons le matériel, et les solutions. Nous alternons support téléphonique et support formation sur le terrain. Nous nous retrouvons entre collègues une fois par trimestre pour échanger. Nous participons à des formations en interne ou dispensées par nos fournisseurs Tous cela participe à l’élévation de nos compétences.

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One of my personal favourites to keeping on top of your mental health is find time to wind down & to exercise. Balance is key .

In my experience being honest is the key. It is mandatory first to build a very good, trusted relationship with the customer. Key points: - never tell something you are not entirely sure it’s reachable to the customer just to save the day, always be honest, be focus on what you can do to improve/resolve, even if the situation is against you, best to find a workable solution together - it’s a win-win - it’s not enough fixing the problem, more important it’s the customer satisfaction, go further if you can. To summarise, customer satisfaction is the main goal.

I can't emphasize this one enough. In order to excel in tech support, one must find the time and method(s) to unwind and de-stress. These can of course vary from one individual to the next. It is counter-productive to keep taking on work without breaks. For me, lunch time running fits this perfectly, as it allows me to get fresh air, think about something completely different for a little while as well as being able recharge the batteries from a busy morning, not to mention the much needed energy it creates for the rest of the day. Exercise is crucial for mental well being.

I am often guilty of this one. Sometimes I stay after work hours to fix an issue although I have exhausted all my options. It simply follows me after work if I do not fix it, and often I'd rather not take a ticket 30 minutes or less towards the end of my shift to avoid not being able to resolve the issue during my working hours and have that haunt me for the rest of the evening...

Taking care of self is very essential especially when working with people. The biggest mistake one can make is prioritising customers more than oneself. This will build up burnout and fatigue and will hinder performance and communication levels. It is essential to deal with tasks according to priority to avoid fatigue and to avoid mistakes. Sometimes delegating a task can help to your advantage as an engineer. Another method to help with taking care of yourself is to break down the task and do it as a collective. I always suggest collaboration with my colleagues when completing projects, this method saves time and energy. Moreover, you get to gain different skills and approaches.

As a technical support professional, there are several mistakes you should avoid to ensure that you provide the best possible service to your customers. Avoid manually managing customer complaints, avoid taking excess time to respond, avoid blaming customers, and avoid being unempathetic. To avoid these mistakes, it is important to provide prompt, empathetic, and accurate technical support to your customers. You should also ensure that you have the right tools and resources to provide the best possible service.

The root cause could be the customer taking a wrong step while doing something. After listening to the story, ask them to show what they want to achieve and how they are doing it is crucial. Watching them in live action will show what mistakes they are making. This will help you to show them the easiest and proper way to achieve what they want. We are not only lifetime learners but also lifetime teachers. Mostly, customers will feel delighted when they learn from your experiences—especially time-saving ones!

- Using technical jargon. This can make the customer feel confused or intimidated, and prevent them from understanding the problem and the solution. It is preferable to use simple, non-technical language when interacting with customers, and explain any technical terms or acronyms that are unavoidable1. - Not keeping users informed about issue resolution progress. This can make the customer feel anxious or impatient, and wonder if their issue is being taken seriously. It is important to communicate regularly with the customer about what you are doing to solve their issue, and how long it will take1.

Additional items not covered; - Always implement customer feedback with CSAT on the quality of support provided both during the case and post-resolution. Consider NPS and CES feedback as well. - Ensure a culture of 'root cause' throughout the operation and logging the cause or fix against the case is essential. This allows for your ticketing platform to turn into an internal onboarding and knowledge base tool. - Always ensure you have a ticketing platform well managed and make heavy use of its automation abilities such as several reminders over time if customers are not responding before auto-solving the case to avoid stale cases mounting over time.