Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

9 Tricks to Receiving World Class Customer Service

By, David Grenda, founder,
Grenda Computer Consulting

There are few things more infuriating than having to call a technical support number. I should know. In the last 20 years of my IT consulting practice, I’ve spent probably 10 of them on hold. I have phone pad carpel tunnel, and can now decipher 16 foreign dialects hiding behind poor use of the English language. It’s like having to go to the DMV or jury duty. You know your turn is coming, just not when.

I’m going to give you some tips and tricks to help you get better service from your next call to technical support. You might even get your problem solved. These are the trade secrets of how we pros get right to the point when we are trying to resolve an issue on the clock for a client.

First you must understand how technical support works. It’s all about call turnover times and flip charts. Most support reps get rewarded by the number of calls they handle. Notice I didn’t say “problems they solve”. The goal is to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. They use flip charts in front of them to diagnose your problem and suggest a solution. If the solution is too far above simple, you become a problem for them and they move you in a direction to end the call. This usually involves assigning you a complex task you need to complete and then call back with the results. Sound ridiculous? It’s not. These call centers are now all over the world, staffed by hundreds of people and they know you will not get the same tech again. That’s why when the fellow at the call center in India answers the phone he says, “Hello, my name is Arnold”.  You get the idea. Now here are some tricks you can try. Not all of these work in all situations, but after a while you’ll learn how to apply them and when.

When you are wending your way through the automated menus, press the “0” key often. The robot will either ignore you or tell you that’s an invalid option. Often however, you will hit the key at the right time and get routed to a person.

If you are given the chance to answer a robot with words, never give an intelligible answer. Simply keep answering “blah blah blah”. The robot will eventually apologize for not being able to understand you and route you to a person.

If the support number is 24 hours, plan your call during off hours. Calling Monday morning at 8AM isn’t a good idea. Call at 4AM or 11PM, the lost sleep is better than the high blood pressure.

Finally getting a person on the phone requires special handling. Start off by saying something like this: “Hi, I want you to know that none of my frustration is intended for you…I’m sure you are a nice person, but I’ve been disconnected 3 times and I desperately need your help. Thank you so much in advance”. Yes, lie. You need their sympathy. Don’t waste your time getting angry, don’t act like you are an important customer, and don’t use profanity. They don’t care about any of that and will find a way to dump your call.

If you sense they are foreign, ask where they are in the world and mention your cousin Frank was there on business and said it was a beautiful country.  They have the power to move mountains for you and they’d rather do it for someone they think is a kindred spirit. You need to flatter them and generate sympathy for your cause. Make them your hero for helping you. Through the call throw in several statements like, “Thank you again, I am so happy you are the one helping me with this”.

Always give the support rep a call back number in case you get disconnected. They won’t always call you back but sometimes they will. Say you are on a cellular phone and ask them not to leave you on hold for very long. If you were nice up front, they may consider that.

Ask for a “ticket number” if they don’t offer you one. This is a reference number in their system about your problem. It may save you from having to re-explain your issue to 7 more people when you call back. The rep also records in the ticket notes if you are a pain, so remember to be polite.

If you are asked to do something you already know the answer to, say you tried it before calling. Always remain polite, but don’t be afraid to be assertive when you sense they are rolling you off a call without your problem being solved.

And finally, ask for a direct phone number to any special support units that might be able to help you. A support rep will often trade this for getting you off their call list.

Apply these tips and eventually you’ll be a pro at getting technical support. Don’t worry you’ll have plenty of chances to practice. You could always call me if you need computer help, but don’t try any tricky stuff…..

* David Grenda is the founder of Grenda Computer Consulting LLC. His firm provides a full range of IT support services and telecom support services to business of all sizes, including the Fortune 500. Among his 24 years of professional accomplishments, he has been featured in BusinessWeek magazine and received numerous professional recognitions. GCC’s guiding principle is that technology is a tool in a solution, not the solution itself. “We measure our success in years of client relationships”.

Posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Customer Service, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.