December 2017 Articles
The Four Traits of the Customer Service Masters (Video)
By Don Crawley | December 7, 2011 7:49 pm
Just posted a new video on the four traits of the customer service masters. Hope you like it!
It’s based on my book The Compassionate Geek: Mastering Customer Service for IT Professionals.
The Six Steps for Handling a Tech Support Call
By Don Crawley | December 10, 2012 9:06 pm
When you take a user support call, there’s a specific order for how things should happen. I’ve created a video about the six steps for handling a tech support call, including a demonstration support call.

A Customer Service Reminder: We’re All Clueless Sometimes
By Don Crawley | December 6, 2013 3:16 pm
Customer service basics: It’s common in a group of IT folks to tell stories about some of the crazy things our end users do. I’ve certainly told my share of such stories, but I think we often forget that no one is an expert on everything. When our end users sometimes ask questions that seem stupid, …

Supporting the Reluctant User: IT Customer Service with Challenging Users
By Don Crawley | December 23, 2013 7:46 am
Customer care skills often hinge on being aware of the psychological and social needs of our customer or end user. In a recent training session, several of the students (client service agents) talked about a user who might sound familiar to you. This user has been in her current position for many years and, frankly, …

Compassion Test: What Would I Do?
By Don Crawley | December 3, 2014 7:30 am
Earlier this fall, an assisted living home in California was shut down by its owners leaving many of its elderly residents with nowhere to go. The staff members left when they learned they weren’t being paid, except for the cook, Maurice Rowland, and the janitor, Miguel Alvarez. Rowland and Alvarez decided on their own to …

From the NFL to IT: Coach Carroll’s Three Rules (Teambuilding)
By Don Crawley | December 10, 2014 7:30 am
Are there similarities between a career in IT and playing for the National Football League? American football coach Pete Carroll has won both professional and collegiate championships. In his book Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion, Coach Carroll writes about his directives known as the Three Rules. They are: Always Protect the …

Unaware or Don’t Care: Bad Either Way
By Don Crawley | December 17, 2014 7:30 am
I recently heard a story about someone in an organization who had gotten in an argument with one of his co-workers. He tried to walk away so he could calm down and avoid a heated argument, but the co-worker followed him and tried to keep the argument going. The first person then explained that he …
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