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I love my support guy

I could have kissed him, or at least taken him out for lunch.

I had one of those moments with a technical support guy from the software we use that was no less than an epiphany.

For a number of years we've been using a piece of software and I knew many features but this guy actually showed me how to use it. Up until this point I had been getting by and feeling rather proud of myself from what I knew, but now I really wanted to hop on a plane and take this guy out to celebrate somewhere.

Then it hit me. Was it really that the tech guy was a super hero or did I take my role as a client/customer a little more seriously and ask the right questions. After all, you only get what you ask for.

My call to their support line was nothing extra-ordinary, I had a problem and it needed to be fixed. My one question evolved into a few more that were unrelated and soon we were off on the start of what could have been a lengthy call of me complaining and someone trying to answer my questions - hopefully without one of us needing a sedative at the end. Sometime during the encounter I wondered if there was something new I could learn from him. I thought I'd ask how I should be using a part of the software I hadn't tried yet.

10 seconds of silence passed before he spoke.

"You might want to give us a call when you have a specific question I can answer". Hmmm… not the answer I had in mind. I didn't ask the right question.

"OK…. If you were me and if you had this situation, what are the first steps YOU would take?" Houston, we have lift-off. He launched into the response with about 7 minutes of the best information I've received from them since our relationship with their support team started many years ago. I was so excited after my phone call I couldn't wait to show someone what I'd learned.

My relationship with their product has just turned into love. It is love for sure, because I feel pretty good about myself, good about their product, I'm more efficient in using it now and so are the staff. I think my tech guy felt it too. He even gave me his phone number and told me to call again with any questions and I think he was serious.

What resulted in the happy ending was our shared responsibility in resolving the issue(s). It wasn't their product or his answers to specific questions that was contributing to the success, it was just as much my participation. I asked him the right questions and he was able to move from simple issue resolution to genuinely supporting me using their product. The call was one of the best ever I've had to a technical support department anywhere.

This is really exciting to me because it relates to my work everyday. Anyone who has clients or customers it relates to this as well. The concept is quite simple.

If your customers are contacting you, it's because you know something that they don't. Most of us don't feel good about having to ask for help. After being their information booth, become the teacher/coach and try to leave each client with a little something they can take with them to use later. It doesn't have to be much because the smallest things can make a significant impact. "Did you know that you can…" plus some small piece of information of value will do it. Now you've done two things - resolved their issue AND made them feel good at the same time. I've often compared any kind of customer service to being a bartender. Then come in for a drink and you serve them (problem resolved), but you also offer a comforting or helpful suggestion (something to take away). They are happy and they will return again.

Customer satisfaction is not only resolving the problem or symptom, it's also determining how we got to this point in the first place and how to avoid this situation in future.

Today I'm the customer. "What can I learn from my call today?" That takes extra time but in my case it took about seven minutes after asking the right question. My technical support call went from ordinary to extra-ordinary as a result of a bit more thought on my part. I asked the right question because I wondered what I might be contributing to the situation.

My support guy answered my specific questions so the specific problems were resolved - we achieved my expectations. I was happy to have answers so there was an emotional element too, but my satisfaction really took off when I asked the question: "How would YOU use this?" and gave him a starting point and opportunity to teach me. My first question, "How do I use this?" resulted in silence and the request for some specific questions before he could answer such a broad question. That makes sense. I'm sure he could keep me on the phone for days covering everything he knows, but he knows little about me and how much I know.

Once I asked the right question, I could feel my satisfaction level increase exponentially. I just listened and watched as he walked me through what would be a typical chain of events for completing a task. Suddenly both of us were totally engaged and on the same page. He gave me the teaching/coaching element that made me feel great about taking the time to call, not about having to spend valuable time out of my day getting a problem resolved when I had a million other things to do. The first half hour of my call was on the problem solving, but those last seven minutes of 'feel good' learning were what made the total time spent worthwhile. I'm going to change my way of doing things now that I've learned something from him. What I had been doing was working, but it wasn't the best.

This applies to every type of customer service no matter what side of the seat you are on. Taking your car in for a repair? If you can't describe the problem properly they will have a harder time finding and addressing the issue. Once the problem is determined, ask what would you do in future to mitigate this? Think the cashier is taking too long ringing those clothes through at the cash? Ask the cashier - maybe removing the hangars and having all the tags from the clothes visible and turned up for scanning would help; what she would do to speed thing up? Clients calling to ask what their RSP contribution limit is? Perhaps guide them through the self serve options at CRA online so they'll feel self sufficient next time. In any situation provide the answer but give them something a little extra they'll feel good about, something they can use. Don't forget the client's participation is part of the solution, too, and you might have to lead them to providing you what you need.

Client satisfaction is highest when both sides actively participate. Answer a question or get one answered, but try to get a little "feel good" in there too.

Lori McGurran, CGA

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