This Been on My Mind

As a person working in an IT department I need to know how to correct a client mistake without making them look or feel inadequate? I feel like I would do that when I get a role as an Help Desk or Desktop Support Technician. Also, what are tips on explaining highly technical issues to non-technical people with ease? Thanks.

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jamesleecoleman

Explaining technical issues to non-technical people is a good skill to have. I suggest practicing and finding new ways to develop this skills. Take what you know and try to find things similar to the technical. For example, I can think of a cdrom player very similar to a record player with a record in it. A processor very similar to the brain of a human. Speakers to a persons mouth... Sometimes you can't make the relationship that easy. Sometimes you'll have to take the closest thing that everyone knows and make modifications. I hope this helps you out.

Akaricloud

It's definitely a learned skill. I try to never blame anything on them or tell them they're doing something wrong.

An example: Someone came to me saying that our timesheet system wasn't working for them. I quickly identified that they had installed and set Google Chrome as the default browser which is against policy and doesn't work with that system. Instead of blaming them, telling them they messed up and are now wasting my time I approached it differently. I just told them it looks like Chrome must have got installed and set as default on accident and explained our policy for using IE is because of the incompatibility. Now they know not to install it again and realize they made a mistake but in no way did I make them feel bad about it by directly pointing that out.

There's no magic key, you just need to think everything you say through beforehand.

phantasm

I just had to do this yesterday. I had to explain to an individual how DNS and VLANs work. Easy enough, DNS is like a phone book and VLANs are like private roads. Good skill to have, but sometimes a little thought is involved.

Akaricloud

The best thing I could suggest to help would be to pick up and read "How to Win Friends and Influence People". It taught me a lot about how my communication and actions affect/influence others and has really helped me thus far in my career.

NetworkingStudent

Alhaji265 wrote: »

As a person working in an IT department I need to know how to correct a client mistake without making them look or feel inadequate? I feel like I would do that when I get a role as an Help Desk or Desktop Support Technician. Also, what are tips on explaining highly technical issues to non-technical people with ease? Thanks.

Here is a webnair from Train Signal that covers customer service it looks pretty good...

Free Webinar: Customer Service for IT Pros

During this webinar you’ll learn:

•The four star traits of the customer service masters

•How to tell the difference between respecting someone and treating someone with respect

•Three characteristics of emotional intelligence

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•Five listening techniques to make sure you really understand the situation and what’s being said

MentholMoose

phantasm wrote: »

I just had to do this yesterday. I had to explain to an individual how DNS and VLANs work. Easy enough, DNS is like a phone book and VLANs are like private roads.

Right, analogies can definitely help with explaining things.

As for not making people feel bad when they mess up, there are a variety of things you can do. For example, you can say it's a common mistake, or blame the software as being confusing and poorly designed. Just make sure to be professional and courteous at all costs.

wellnowwhat

Firstly, patience is key when dealing with end-users (or even other tech people who are trying to understand your particular expertise). I work with a lot of older people (70+), and spelling things out slowly and simply for them is the key to having a successful interaction.

I also try to approach my customers with this mentality:

My job is to solve the customer's problem. That problem may be something that the customer is causing, or it may be the result of a system error, or whatever. However, it is not my job to criticize, blame, or otherwise argue with the customer. It is my job to solve their problem. And every customer has a problem, whether they are causing it or not. Sometimes that means swallowing my pride and simply accepting that some people will always do things the "wrong" way, no matter how hard you try to teach them.