Help Desk
Customer Service Skills for User
Support
Customer Service Skills for User
Support Agents
Communication and interpersonal skills are very
important for help desk and user support staff.
Whether they supply help to end users personally or via
phone, fax or email, all successful support staff must be
able to:
 Listen
 Understand
 Communicate
 Work effectively with users to solve end user problems
2
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Communication is a two way process that involves
listening, speaking and understanding.
A support organisation that can solve user's problems
effectively and efficiently, and does so using good
interpersonal skills, creates customer satisfaction and
demonstrates that the support organisation provides
excellent customer service.
3
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Satisfied customers are repeat customers.
Dissatisfied customer is more likely to generate user
support results that could include:
 lengthy calls
 repeated call-backs
 complaints and ill will among clients (which can
translate into poor public relations and lost sales)
 calls to rerouted to a higher level support specialist or a
user support manager
 product returns for a refund
4
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
A customer service ethic means that, in the pursuit of
customer service excellence, support staff employees:

provide users with the information, service, or solution
they need if there is any reasonable way to do so.

explain to customers what they can do for them, if they
cannot solve their problems.

5
treat customers and potential customers with respect.
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service

communicate to callers how long they are likely to be
on hold and provide time estimates of how long it may
take to provide information or solve a problem.

return calls when promised, even if it just to report that
no progress has yet been
6
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
To create customer satisfaction and help reach an
organisation customer service goals, support specialists
must master the essential communications skills.

listening carefully

build understanding

respond effectively
7
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Listening
In any support conversation, learn to listen before you
speak. Listen to the caller's description of the question
or the problem; develop a thorough understanding of
it.
Interrupting the caller is one indication that you are not
listening carefully.
8
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Listening
First:- listen also to the language that the caller uses to
phrase the question or describe the problem. This will
give you clues as to whether the user is a novice or an
experienced user.
Second:- listen to how the caller describes the problem,
which can provide further insight into the problem and
the caller. What tone of voice does the caller use, are
they angry or sound frustrated. Do they hesitate or
struggle with technical terms. Cues such as these
provide you with valuable information on how to
handle the call and the caller.
9
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Build Understanding
Once you have listened and understood the users
problem, try to develop an understanding of the users
situation.
You should ideally develop a level of empathy (an
understanding of and identification with another
person's situation, thoughts and feelings).
Try to understand, for example, why the problem is
important to the caller.
10
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Respond Effectively
There are three important aspects that you should be
aware of when speaking effectively. They are:

call greeting

call scripts

tone and style
11
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Use a Sincere Greeting
The greeting is the ice breaker which can affect the
course of the entire call. First impressions of the
organisation and support staff are formed on the
basis of the greeting.
A sincere positive greeting can work towards calming
an angry or frustrated customer. Most organisations
have a standard method which often includes the
employee's first name and name of the organisation.
12
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Use Scripts Appropriately
Many support organisations supply and use scripts to
help handle routine calls.
A script is a prepared list of questions and statements
that cover the important parts of the call. They
direct support staff according to responses.
Scripts are useful training aids for new support staff.
13
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Use Tone and Style Effectively
How you communicate with a caller is often more
important than the content of the communication.
Your tone and style have a direct impact on the caller's
satisfaction level.
Consider the following caller statements:
14
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
"The support specialist did provide me with the minimum of information I
requested, but I felt throughout the whole conversation that I was
intruding on their time. They spoke rapidly and curtly, and weren't very
pleasant.”
or
"The support specialist couldn't tell me what I needed to know, but
explained why the information wasn't available yet, when it would be,
and invited me to call back. I felt like a valued customer and that my call
was important to them. "
15
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
Use Tone and Style Effectively
Often an organisation will indicate which type of
communication style they would like their employees to
use: formal, informal, casual or professional. They
realise that the style is important because it
communicates the organisation's image.
Use clear succinct speech and match your speed to the
callers or users proficiency level.
Communication with callers / users should be positively
phrased rather than negatively. The following example
highlights this:
16
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Communication Skills & Customer
Service
"The problem with your file occurred because YOU
didn't follow the procedure described in Chapter 2 of the
manual“
use
“I think the procedure on file handling in Chapter 2 of the
manual describes a way to avoid the problem with the file
you experienced. Let me find the page for
you….....................”
17
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Develop an Incident Management
Strategy
An incident management strategy is a collection of tools,
techniques and approaches that successful support
specialists use to move through a call effectively and
efficiently, from the initial greeting to the end of the
call.
The four goals of incident management are:
 Provide the user with the information he or she needs.
 Manage stress levels for both the user and the support
specialist.
 Ensure that the incident progresses from start to finish
in an effective and efficient way.
 Make the user more self reliant.
18
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Develop an Incident Management
Strategy
All support specialists develop and refine their own
strategies
in
relation
to
incident
management.
Resources that you can build on and incorporate into
your own personal strategies could include:

Organisational policies on incident management
philosophy and expectations.

Incident management strategies covered in support
specialist training programs.
Certificate III Software Applications
19
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Develop an Incident Management
Strategy

Observation and imitation of respected senior support
staff agents.

Your personal communications experience and style.

Feedback from users, peers, and supervisors on your
call management strengths and areas for improvement.
20
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Develop an Incident Management
Strategy
An incident management strategy begins with knowledge
of the support organisation's philosophy and policies,
an understanding of :
 an automated helpdesk
 helpdesk software package
 user support tools
 guidelines that user support specialists have found
useful
21
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Develop an Incident Management
Strategy
Listed are some examples of incident management
guidelines:
 ask goal directed diagnostic questions
 be honest
 say “I don’t know” when “You don’t know”
 apologise
 say thank you
 use incident management NOT user management
 teach self reliance
22
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Strategies for Difficult Clients and
Incidents
A difficult client is one that requires special handling
strategies because the user is angry, uncommunicative,
rude or in a variety of other states. The challenge for
the support worker is to transform the difficult call into
a successful one.
23
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Strategies for Difficult Clients and
Incidents







24
users who complain
contacts from power users
incidents that get off the track
users who are upset or angry
users who are abusive
users who won’t to talk
users who won’t stop responding
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Comprehensive Customer Service
Communications and interpersonal skills are essential to
excellent customer service. Yet a comprehensive
approach to excellent customer service is also based on
specific values, attitudes and actions.
Firstly:- client service starts when each employee in the
organisation recognises that clients are the primary
reason for the organisation's existence. Each employee's
job depends directly on client satisfaction.
25
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support
Comprehensive Customer Service
Secondly:- client service excellence is based on whether
the support staff is willing to take extra steps to make
sure clients are satisfied. This can be by keeping clients
apprised of the progress or lack of progress towards a
problem solution. This promotes a win - win outcome
for each call.
Thirdly:- excellent client support depends on adequate
support resources. Client service excellence is the result
of planning, adequate staffing, and a sufficient budget
for help desk tools and information resources.
26
Certificate III Software Applications
Customer Service Skills for User Support