Top Tips to Boost Your Tech Support Team

Good tech support with proper diagnosis and response is critical to customer satisfaction and a driving factor in achieving first call resolution. Make sure that you can provide the best tech support possible by implementing these six tips that will boost your tech support team and enhance their capability.

1. Do not Jump to Conclusions. Listen Carefully and Evaluate the Problem

   Depending upon various factors, there could be a number of issues and causes associated with a technical problem. Therefore, it is important that the technician takes the time to ask all necessary questions. To aid in keeping customers calm, it can be helpful for technicians to explain why they must ask certain questions as they continue the troubleshooting process. This keeps the customer engaged by including them in the progression and assures them that the technician is working to address their issue.

2. Gauge the Customer’s Technical Abilities

   I can’t tell you how many times I have been on the line with technical support and have repeated the same steps over and over not only myself, but with different tiers. This can become very frustrating to the user.   When a tech support team member engages a customer on a reported problem, a technician may gauge a customer’s level of technical capability based on responses to specific questions. If a technician becomes aware that a customer may not be very familiar with the functionality of the equipment and/or software, it may help them in pinpointing a potential underlying issue with usage and allow the tech to respond accordingly by addressing the correct subject and not walking a user to unneeded troubleshooting procedures. On the other hand, those clients that seem quite proficient technically will need to be handled differently. Before support walks them through a seemingly endless list of procedures, it may prove beneficial to simply ask what steps they have already taken and go from there.

3. Utilize Support Ticketing System

   Tickets are an important aspect of monitoring technical support and can be very useful in quickly addressing issues, especially if the customer has experienced similar instances in the past. Tickets will also provide a knowledgebase of information for future problems. In such cases, a clear support ticketing system can help a technician walk the customer through the same steps or suggest a new path, if the previous solution did not work. A proper support ticket should briefly describe:

   • System and/or Software being used
   • The Actual Issue Being Experienced
   • History (If any)
   • Date/Time Reported
   • Contact Information
   • Technician Assigned
   • Known Changes (if any) Immediately Prior to Issue

   Once Closed (Include)

   • Date/Time Closed
   • Resolution Narrative

4. Suggest Self-Service Solutions

   Many customers prefer the ability to find and implement solutions on their own or at their own pace. Therefore, the right self-service solutions can prove very beneficial to your technical support setup. An efficient self-service mechanism should provide solutions to common problems that customers have frequently faced in the past. Video tutorials and Knowledgebase are two of the most common self-service tools. Either way, it is a good idea to provide an a la cart format that allows individuals to narrow their search down to particular subjects, then comb through common issues and solutions associated with that topic. There should also be an option for customers to escalate to a technician should they not be able to solve the issue themselves. Going back to item (2), the technician can take the steps the customer has already taken into consideration when troubleshooting the problem.

5. Simplify the Process

   Everyone loves short and sweet! Make sure the technical support process is well defined and understood by the technicians responsible for using it. It is usually best to avoid being too technical when providing solutions to customers. Whether it is self-service or technician lead, try to keep solution steps simple and to the point, and only provide step-by-step information when necessary or requested. Gathering feedback on the solutions offered is also critical to ensure their effectiveness. Feedback should come from the customers as well as the technicians themselves.

6. Know When to Escalate

   It is important that technicians who serve as the first point of contact (Tier One) know when to escalate an issue to another team member or a higher tier. This is important to keep handle times down, ensure a higher percentage of First Call Resolved transactions, and drive up Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT). It also ensures traffic continues to flow smoothly and there is no backlog buildup. As you look to advance your tech support team, consider these tips. Not only will they help to keep your customers satisfied, but they may also help to ensure that your team runs smoothly and efficiently.