Good Customer Service: 5 Simple Tips to Improve it Now

If you want to improve customer service in your IT department; tailor-made training is the best way to accomplish this. You don’t have to wait for your comprehensive training plan to be implemented to significantly improve your customers’ experience with IT. Coaching your team to prioritize seemingly small aspects of their interpersonal interactions makes a big impact. Here are five things to start doing today to improve the IT customer service.

Smile

Smiling is Rule #1 for anyone in customer service, and IT customer service is no different. It sends a message to the customer that you are genuine and reliable and even incites a positive neurological response that improves mood and performance. The simple act of smiling starts the interaction on a positive note. It’s not necessary to be in-person to use the power of the smile. Even on the telephone, a smile can be detected in your voice and is a technique your team should implement immediately, whether they interact with customers face-to-face or over the phone.

Stand Up

While standing up full-time might not be feasible, give your staff permission to move around during troubleshooting calls to increase their focus and change their energy. Simply standing up at the beginning of call while the customer is describing the details of their problem helps IT staff to be more alert, more in tune with what their customers are saying, and helps convey more positive energy to the customer on the other end of the line.

Wait for the Customer to Give a Complete Description of Their Complaint Before Asking Questions

Nobody likes to be interrupted. Interruptions make us feel devalued, minimized, and unheard. While your team has your customers’ best interests at heart and wants to get a complete picture of their issue so they can resolve it quickly, it’s a mistake to begin asking clarifying questions too soon during the conversation. Allow your customer the uninterrupted opportunity to describe the problem to their satisfaction, and then go back and ask the technical follow-up questions you need. Never jump in with a solution before your customer finishes explaining the problem. You’ll likely give the wrong solution, thus wasting time for you and your customer.

Acknowledge the Frustrating Circumstance

A little empathy goes a long way. A simple acknowledgment of the frustration in the circumstance helps ease tensions. This is most easily done through re-phrasing and reflecting – re-phrase what the customer has said, and reflect it to them verbally. This helps the customer feel heard and validated. It reassures them that you understand the urgency of the situation.

Give Timelines for Follow-Up – And Stick to Them

Always keep customers in the information loop – especially if you can’t solve their problem immediately. While you likely already gave reassurances that you will help resolve the problem, make sure to attach a clear timeline for the benefit of the customer. The same strategy is important for smaller IT teams who may not be able to answer a live call at the beginning of each interaction. Even automated email responses or a recorded voicemail message explaining you will respond to their inquiry within a fixed amount of time is helpful to assure them their ticket is not disappearing into the abyss.

Next Level Customer Service Training

Enroll your team now in Compassionate Geek IT customer service training so they can work together, get things done, and take care of customers.

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