Mihai’s Top 8 Tips For Great Customer Technical Support

Providing excellent customer support is essential for any business. It not only helps to retain existing customers, but it can also lead to new business through word-of-mouth recommendations. In this post, we’ll touch on the importance of the softer skills that leads towards gaining trust and high client satisfaction

Before reaching into operations management, I started my career as a technical support engineer. In my early days in the job I received quite a peculiar request; to help clean the floor in our conference room for an important upcoming meeting!  My manager at the time, who just now happens to be the CTO at TMT Analysis, Lucian Gheorghe, asked me if I could help him with this and my answer at the time was “of course…yes!” without even a second thought.

I wanted to support my manager in whatever he needed at that time. He had to prepare for this important meeting, and I wanted to help him in whatever way I could. I swept the floor, cleaned the tables, the windows, and even arranged the chairs. Basically, I took care that everything related to the task was carefully addressed.

I have thought about this initial job often in the years since. In fact, my colleagues have made lots of jokes around the fact that the first task of a technical engineer was cleaning the meeting room, and I think I did a pretty good job on the whole. This first task together with the experienced gathered during 15+ subsequent years in operations, I have come up with what I call ‘The 8 Top Tips for Great  Technical Support.’

Some of them may not be related to my story and there are arguably many other important principles,  but here are my top 8.

1. Be Swift: It is important to respond to requests as soon as possible to avoid frustrating your customers. This way you maintain a high level of satisfaction and show that their concerns are a priority to you and that you value their business.
2. Use simple language: Make sure you use terminology that is easily understood by the customer. Even if you have a technically correct response, it won’t be effective if the customer doesn’t understand it. Don’t fall into the trap and blame the customer for failing to understand your support messages.
3. Show empathy and care: Genuinely care about the customer’s business and the problem they are experiencing. Listen carefully to what they are saying, as accurately understanding the problem is key to finding a better and faster solution.
4. Communicate clearly: Make sure any support email has a clear idea and structure. The format that I find works best is – an introduction, main message, and conclusion. Keep your message brief and to the point. Any word more than the required minimum lowers the quality of the message. Ask for feedback when in doubt.
5. Solve the problem: A professional customer team will always strive to find a solution to a customer’s problem. This may involve offering temporary or alternative solutions, but the most important thing is to get the problem off their mind. Remember, your goal is to make your customers’ lives easier, not to add to their stress.
6. Keep your promises: It is important to always keep your word and not avoid the customer if something goes wrong. Any answer is better than no answer. It is important to always do what you promise and respect the deadlines you give. If there are unforeseen delays, it’s on you to inform the customer and work towards a solution.
7. Be a single point of contact: As much as possible, strive to be the sole support person that the customer needs to contact. If the expertise required to address the client’s needs exceeds your own, you can provide the best experience by arranging a call with more suitable staff members.
8. Use the power of your manager: Consider requesting better or more efficient tools and suggest ways to optimize your work environment. Document any difficulties you encounter and present them to your manager, who is responsible for addressing them!

In conclusion, at TMT ID we are committed to delivering the best customer experience and continuously seek ways to improve. Our customer satisfaction surveys reflect this dedication, and If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to contact us via email, call or the chat function we offer on our website.