Dear techie zungumziaga customer, boss. Tell us what you are doing as you are doing it. When we don’t know what you are doing, our anxiety heightens and we assume the worst. You might as well be a doctor who puts on a mask, goggles, gloves, picks a stethoscope and starts undressing you.
“Yikes!” you say. Good. Welcome to our world!
This is our experience with tech customer service.
The silent techie problem
Simon is a techie. A brilliant techie, in my view. And he continues to invest in himself and grow ever since I met him. I discovered the other day that he even does data recovery. Keep in mind his office is a cubicle somewhere in CBD Nairobi. When I met him (as a referral) it was to address my intermittently responding lower laptop keys. I thought I needed a keyboard replacement. Turns out “Ilikuwa ni chafu, tu.” The laptop had not been serviced in a while and he’d just cleaned it.
So, what’s the problem, you ask? Happy you did.
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Between start to end took an hour. We’d never met. And yet the moment I told him my problem and handed him my laptop he instantly took to it with a screwdriver opening it up as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He hadn’t even really looked at me.
I knew dyed-in-the-wool techies tend to be shy and introverted so I didn’t mind much. I understood him. But I didn’t condone it.
So, full of anxiety, I enquired, ”Ala! Unaifungua tena? Utakumbuka kurudisha hizo screws zote?”
Introversion
Still looking down, and feeling slightly offended at my questioning his competence, he awkwardly pointed out that he opens laptops of every kind every day. He said this as he waved his hand showing me several others lying on top of each other behind him.
Managing the situation I asked him, “Niende shughuli zingine nirudi after one-hour ni sawa?”
You should have seen the relief on his face at the prospect of being left to work alone with no interruption from an anxiety-filled and clueless customer. And indeed, when the clueless customer returned not only was the problem resolved, the laptop was spanking clean —in and out. He had not only resolved the problem he had polished the keyboard and housing and pointed out other tips for maintenance.
Why customers panic (and why you would too)
Dear techie, the clueless customer is you — the patient in the opening example. You know dot about medicine. So why are you panicking when the knowledgeable doctor comes at (it doesn’t feel like to) you — defensively (it doesn’t feel protectively) dressed and wielding a weapon (the innocent stethoscope doesn’t feel innocent any more)?
Simple.
Your imagination is in overdrive -you have drawn the worst conclusion possible. “The headache is a tumour that needs surgery”. “The running nose is not just a cold, I have TB.” “This man is a quack.”
The problem isn’t necessarily what the doctor is doing. The problem is what you think he might be doing.
And that is where good tech customer service matters.
If it’s any consolation, dear techie, there are doctors—and accountants, plumbers, radiologists and… well, you get the point—who operate in this manner too. “I know what the problem is. I am solving it. I will tell you when its resolved.”
It doesn’t make it right; it just lets you know you are in good company.
Read: Effective salespeople aren’t always likable personalities. Here’s why
What good tech customer service looks like
So what to do?
You don’t have to become a motivational speaker. You don’t have to make small talk for 45 minutes. Just narrate the work.
That, in itself, is tech customer service.
Talk to the customer. I know it’s not in your nature but you are now customer facing.
To mitigate this, take notes as the customer speaks (that way you don’t have to talk to him much, and he feels listened to).
Or, try, if possible — and many times it is, “Wacha niikague nione haswa shida iko wapi. Wakati mwingine fan kutozunguka ni uchafu sio fan kuharibika, lakini nitakwambia. Fanya hivi, vile itachukua kama one hour, kama una shughuli ingine nenda halafu urudi. In fact, nitakutext kama utakuwa hujarudi.”
Or, invest in WiFi and if the customer has nothing else to do but hand around provide the password to keep him focused on his phone and not you. A TV set serves the same purpose.
I am serious.
Sometimes tech customer service is simply giving the customer something else to stare at while you stare at a motherboard.
Read: How to sell professional services like a plumber
Practical tips for better tech customer service
Done.
You have just communicated three very important things: One, you heard him. Two, you have a process. Three, you have given him a timeline. That third one is particularly important.
Because when you say nothing, the customer’s mind fills in the blanks.
And the clueless and anxiety-filled human mind is not particularly kind when filling in blanks.
Ultimately though, grow not just in techie knowledge but people knowledge.
Tell the customer what you are doing before, or as you are doing it, and how you know what to do (“From experience I…” or, “Kuna customer mwingine alikuwa na Asus kama hii tu…” Or simply: “I’ve seen this issue before.)
The distinction
That is the distinction.
The customer doesn’t necessarily want a crash course in computer hardware. He doesn’t want to know what every screw does, why you removed it, or the difference between RAM and ROM.
He wants to know that his laptop is in safe hands. He wants to know that you have seen this before. He wants to know that there is a plan.
And, most importantly, he wants to know that you know what you are doing.
You’ll be surprised that three minutes in, he will zone out. In truth. he wasn’t really looking to know. but to know that you know. Having inspired him with confidence don’t be surprised when he says, “Its OK. You continue. How long will it take I come back later?”
And just like that, you have bought yourself the most valuable thing a techie can have: space to do the work.
Read: Educate buyers and see how easy selling gets
Tech customer service —the real job: managing customer imagination
So, dear techie, next time you pick up that screwdriver, remember: good tech customer service isn’t about talking more. It’s about making the customer feel that someone is in control.
You are not just fixing a laptop. You are managing a worried customer’s imagination. Because while you see a laptop that needs opening… the customer sees years of data about to go poof!.
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