Any good material to read for tips on customer service/working phones?

nhpr

I just got a wonderful new job (thanks partially to advice received from this forum). Part of my job is client-facing, which is something I'm not used to. While I'm sure that will be part of my initial training, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on good books to read to get me into the right customer service frame of mind? I'm almost done re-reading Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" -- which I cannot recommend enough -- and I'd like to add something else to my reading queue.

effekted

HP has a learning center with free courses and they used to have a phone etiquette course. Search HP Learning Center and you'll need to create an account and you should be able to search their courses.

Some tips from back in my Helpdesk days:
-Be confident, talk clear, repeat back contact info (phonetically spelling back anything that's questionable), smile
-Always repeat their issue back to them to ensure you understood them
-Give them a "I can" statement afterward repeating their issue back such as "I can assist you with this" or what I would always say "I'll be happy to look into this" just because I didn't want someone to come back with "Why are you escalating this? You told me you could assist me?"
-Always thank them for holding but do not apologize for the wait (this is to be expected), also don't let them hold for longer than several minutes without checking on them and letting them know you're still working on the issue. If your place allows it this is also where you can offer to call them back or they can continue holding
-Don't argue or get confrontational with the caller

If this is your first Helpdesk/phone gig it's fine to be nervous but after several days/week it will usually get easier and easier until you're knocking out calls all by your lonesome

NetworkingStudent

nhpr wrote: »

I just got a wonderful new job (thanks partially to advice received from this forum). Part of my job is client-facing, which is something I'm not used to. While I'm sure that will be part of my initial training, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on good books to read to get me into the right customer service frame of mind? I'm almost done re-reading Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" -- which I cannot recommend enough -- and I'd like to add something else to my reading queue.

I have wanted to order “The Compassionate Geek: Mastering Customer Service for I.T. Professionals [Paperback]” book for some time now, but just never got around to it.

The link below has an interview with the Author on the PC World website.

Turn IT Pros Into 'Compassionate Geeks' | PCWorld Business Center

demonfurbie

this may help as well

Amazon.com: Dealing with the Idiots in Your Life (9780671791582): Jim Benton: Books

nhpr

demonfurbie wrote: »

this may help as well

Amazon.com: Dealing with the Idiots in Your Life (9780671791582): Jim Benton: Books

Ok. That one made me laugh. Luckily I'm dealing with IT departments in other companies, working directly on their cloud servers, so it's not going to involve trying to inform completely clueless people remotely.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Keep 'em coming if there's anything else.

ccnxjr

In an effort to help others, make sure they can clearly identify a favor from your job function.
It's a bit of a challenge to do so tactfully and not seem like your just trying to palm them off on someone else.
I usually go with something like "I'm not very good at this particular software package, Joe Snuffy would be the best person to contact, but if you'd like i can give it a shot" , whereupon you do make *some* effort without letting it cut into your regular job functions, if you can spare 5-10 mins maybe just to look over what they're doing, they may be appreciative.
Also, sometimes all they need is a second set of eyes or another person to bounce ideas off (like thinking out loud, without looking like they're crazy).
Maybe not technically part of your job function, but over-the-phone customer support sometimes is just about helping others be calm when they're stressed out.