This is about your willingness to respond to customer needs by answering their phone or email requests quickly, and your willingness to do what it takes to respond effectively to a service request.`` Responsiveness is adopting a can-do attitude, and a willingness to go the extra mile for the customer. Recent research studies support the theory that soft skills (such as listening, empathy, courtesy and creating rapport) are more important than technical skills in the career advancement of any employee. This is especially true in the support industry, where most managers have realized that they must hire people who have a good attitude or approach to serving customers plus an aptitude for technical knowledge, and that the rest can be taught.



A positive attitude is the first step in building good soft skills. You have control over your attitude. Just like you can choose what clothes to wear in the morning, you can also choose what attitude to assume every day. You can choose to see the glass as half-full, or half-empty. Your approach, or attitude, toward life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If your attitude is "Everyone has something to offer me!", then you will interpret everything that happens to you as an interesting journey. On the other hand, if you approach your job and your life in a less than positive way, every bump in the road will seem like a huge obstacle.

How do you answer your phone? Do you answer it promptly? Can the caller understand you or do you rush through your greeting? Are you pleasant and does your tone of voice convey a positive start to the call? How do you answer emails? Do you reply promptly? Do you convey in your email responses that you really want to help your user? Do you understand the meaning of all the words you use? For those of you who provide support in a second language, make sure you're using the user's language correctly. Ask someone who speaks it natively to review your email responses and give you feedback.

Look in the mirror. Often, the solution to our problems lies within ourselves. Several weeks ago, I faced some of the usual challenges of life on the road. Things usually go very well for me and on those rare occasions when things "hiccup", they're usually minor. This week, however, I dealt with a major problem that had the potential to cause a major disruption in my business. Now, as I look back on what happened, I'm beginning to see the entire situation with new clarity. I made several mistakes. The first mistake was in making assumptions about what a vendor would do. I could have spent more time at their website and learned more about their policies and procedures. Instead, I spent a brief time skimming over their services and made assumptions about how to order a particular service and whether it was the right service for me. The second mistake I made was in not contacting this vendor earlier to discuss how best to use their services (and whether they were even the right vendor for this job). The third mistake I made was in trying to deal with this vendor while I was hurrying to catch a train. In other words, I was in a state of stress which undoubtedly came through in my voice (even though I don't think I was rude, demanding, or abusive). As I dealt with this vendor in trying to resolve several problems, I received brusk (almost rude) customer service. I don't believe there is ever a reason to treat any customer in a manner that is anything other than cheerful, pleasant, respectful, and empathetic, but I wonder if there were subtle messages that I was sending that caused me to receive less than exemplary customer service.

As I look back at my experiences with other people, I also need to look in the mirror. Am I doing everything I can to have a positive effect on everyone I meet? Have I gone out of my way to touch people in a positive way? When the world doesn't go my way, do I take a moment to stop and regroup or do I complain to everyone around me so they can feel bad, too? I know I can't control other people, but I certainly can control how I appear when they look in my direction.

So, what are the lessons I learned and how do they relate to you as a tech support pro?

Lesson one: Start early. When you have plenty of time, you're more relaxed and things just seem to go better. Arrive at your desk early. Give yourself 15 or 20 minutes before your shift starts to gather your thoughts and organize your workspace. Then later, when the day starts to get frantic, you'll find you're more in control of things.

Lesson two: Do enough research. As a tech support person, do you subscribe to news feeds and blogs about the products you support? Do you spend time each day reading articles and books related to the products you support? Have you set up a virtual lab using VMWare, VirtualPC, or Xen so you can experiment and test your solutions before you offer them to your users? Knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have, the more you'll be empowered to delight your users with relevant, accurate solutions.

Lesson three: Focus on the task at hand instead of multi-tasking (Millennials really can multi-task, but GenXers, Boomers, and Veterans really can't (We talk about this in our help desk training seminars.)). This means, when your user calls needing help, you focus exclusively on them and nothing else. (And, for you Gen Y'ers, I know you really can multi-task, but don't let your users know you're doing it while you're talking to them!)

Lesson four: When the world is crashing around you, before you do anything else, look in the mirror. Maybe you can't control the rest of the world, but you are in complete control over how you view the world and what's happening in it. As a desktop support professional, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions

1. Do I put myself in the user's shoes?

2. Do I take ownership of a problem and see it through to completion?

3. Am I willing to help both users and co-workers?

4. Do I consciously assume a positive outlook with my users and co-workers?

5. Am I respectful and courteous to the user?

6. Do I treat everyone with respect and courtesy?

7. Do I speak and conduct myself confidently with users?

If you answered yes to at least five, you are on the right track to creating a positive position from which to serve your users for the best results. If you answered yes to fewer than five, your attitude might be keeping you from doing your best to create the proper environment for success in your job.

Your users' perception of your responsiveness starts with their perception of you. Your attitude, your demeanor, your tone-of-voice, the words you choose all play a part in how you are perceived. You have it within your power to create users who perceive you to be responsive to their needs; to care about them as people first and co-workers second.

Next week, we'll talk about competence; how to have it and how to project it to your users, co-workers, and bosses.

Copyright (c) 2007 Don R. Crawley