Investment in your technical support staff is the one thing that most manufacturers not only overlook, but skimp on when it comes time to hire. You can’t. The quality of your staff—and their attitude—is the single most important thing that you have in your arsenal. If you have 2 or 20 on staff, it doesn’t matter—how they interact with the customer is what counts.
A word of advice for manufacturers.
I don’t care who you have running your company, you’ve got to be VERY careful in your choice of technical support manager. Computer manufacturer support is vastly different from any other kind of technical support group because of the sheer technicality of the product and the knowledge level of your customer.
* You have to have someone in the position that truly understands the product—which means you should have someone who has done technical support in the field in addition to management experience.
* Hiring a person with no technical experience produces a department with no brakes—the manager won’t know what to approve and what to shoot down, and won’t be able to pacify the difficult customers because he/she won’t be able to make a convincing argument about why a tech did something.
*Customers can smell incompetence and horses**t from miles away, and the last thing you need is a reputation for either.
Being a good manager means being a good tech, a teacher, a psychiatrist, and a sociologist all rolled into one. You’ve got to know your business, but also be able to accurately identify the strengths and weaknesses of your team and figure out how to capitalize on them. Before you can win the trust of your customers, you have to win the trust of your employees.
Avoid firing people as a first solution.
If you have huge turnover, your level of technical support will suffer and will never be on par—you’ll be constantly training replacements, and your phone support and quality of hardware repair will show it. Test potential employees, not just on phone manner, but on technical knowledge and methodology. There are fundamental skills a technician should have for the industry, and in this particular segment of the field, they must not only be able to troubleshoot and solve issues, but be able to convey instructions to customers of any skill level in a manner the customer can understand. If the tech comes off as condecending, or lacks the ability to drop instructions down to the customer's level, you'll have a real problem.
The easiest way to ensure that you retain employees is to invest in them.
I’m not just talking about money, though that’s part of it. I’m talking about knowing your people and what makes them happiest. You should know the names of their spouses and children, know what concerns them, celebrate their birthdays yearly, and reward great performance by hosting events and giving bonuses.
Why, you ask, would I care about John’s kids or Mary’s root canal? Simple answer. Morale.
If there’s one thing that you, as a manager, have absolute control over, it’s your technical support team’s morale. As someone who supervises people, you’ll need to understand this one pivotal truth that exists in every field that deals directly with the public: If your employees hate where they work and hate who they work for, that will carry straight over to the customer experience. The second part of that truth is that dealing with angry people sucks, and you’ll need heavy artillery to counter the strain of dealing with unhappy customers’ problems day in and day out.
You should never be their best friend, but you should definitely be in the role as mentor. Make an effort to know your staff and what concerns them. Have an open door policy and never be too busy to discuss departmental concerns. Listen to your team’s ideas and not only implement the good ones, but let them have ownership when it comes time to put the idea into effect. If you have someone who shows leadership repeatedly, promote them. Most of all, give them something, as team, that will help them blow off steam—whether it’s free pizza at lunch, a Friday night out on the department’s dime, or a cookout. One of the best ideas to improve support I ever received from an employee was revealed over sushi and beer.
Remember, you and your employees are on the same side, and there may be times that you'll have to advocate within the company for them. Having a boss who cares for them—even if the rest of the company doesn’t—will make your technical support team fiercely loyal and dedicated to making the department succeed. In turn, your customers will have the sense that the person on the other end of the line loves the company and is happy with their job—and they’ll be right!
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2 comments:
I have to say, this is some good stuff.
The same management principle I believe in (Human Relations Movement).
While that may seem to be a 'normal' policy for companies, the actual levels of management that actually practice it rather then use a more classical (or primitive) theory under the guise of contemporary management.
For me however, this is the way I incorporate anything I do in my life. In the workplace I see that some people who are over eager to climb higher up the ladder but care nothing about co-workers. They only focus on the single intent of propelling themselves instead of 'mentoring' others. Their definition of team work is equal division of work and thats it. Nothing on helping others develop themselves. Nothing on any sort of mentoring at all.
I choose to stop trying to climb to help others not fall behind. I choose to leave work after a long day then stop by a co-worker's cubicle that looks de-motivated and spend half an hour cheering that person up or talk to them to see if everything is ok (even if its on a daily basis).
I would stop my really non-urgent tasks to help teach someone new how things are done. Others just simply toil on doing their work at mach 10 while the new person stares glazed.
I mainly do this partially because of my management background and experience, but also because I know exactly how it felt being the new guy and how I did not like to be treated. I know how it is feeling down with no one apparently caring about you.
This was a great early morning read. :)
And you got me all fired up on this.
Computer hardware is my forte, business/management is my life's work (or going to be haha!).
-PsYkHoTiK of www.TechARP.com
hey Heather, nice to see you again!
Had any good Pizza lately?
I was wondering where you had been..
Great blog, and have a happy holiday season!
Michael W
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