Master These Two Key Tech Support Skills for Your Career and Business Success

The two most important tech support skills are so simple, yet so many people don’t get it.

Tech support skill number one is to solve the problem! According to a Harvard Business Review article, many managers hire support staff for compassion or empathy skills, both of which are important, but technical customer service has to start with solving the customer’s or end-user’s problem. You simply must have good troubleshooting skills, combined with a deep understanding of the technologies you support. More than anything else, your customers want results.

In that same Harvard Business Review article, titled Kick-Ass Customer Service, the authors confirm that customers’ priority is results. That’s why, according to the article, airline customers prefer to use airport kiosks, web-based, or mobile app-based check-in instead of waiting in line to check in with a live person. It’s not just airline customers that prefer self-service. Across nearly all categories of businesses and customers, there’s a strong preference for self-service Could the same thing be true with managed service providers or in-house IT departments? How much of your tech support do you currently offload to self-service systems? How much more could you offload?

That leads us to skill number two. If tech support skill number one is having deep technical knowledge so you can solve problems and get results for your customers, tech support skill number two is to be easy to work with. It’s even better if your customers say they enjoy working with you. That means as much self-service as possible. It’s also a matter of recognizing when it’s necessary to speak with a live person, it’s often due to a complex issue that’s beyond the ability of self-service systems or due to a poorly designed self-service system. Those are the times when people skills really matter. That’s when customers are most frustrated and most in need of results, combined with someone who’s easy to work with.

That’s where honest compassion and empathy come into play. It’s not a matter of reading some phony script like they do at Xfinity or Verizon. It’s about a state of mind, of caring for the customer, of putting yourself in the customer’s position, of listening carefully without interrupting, and always acting with dignity and respect, holding yourself to a higher standard.

Work with your teams to instill the importance of these two tech support skills. Solve the customer’s problem and be easy to work with. Consider supporting your teams by paying for technical training and certification on the products your customers use. And, continually drive home the importance of being easy-to-work-with, of striving to be the company or department customers say they enjoy working with.

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