XIII - For Clients, it's Often Their First Time
It’s commonplace for tech support professionals (TSPs) to be asked the same question over and over by their customers:
Why am I getting a message that I have to enroll in MFA? What is MFA? How come no one told me about this!
Where did the send button go in my email screen? Is something broken?
I can’t sign into the company portal online. It says my password needs to be changed after three months. Is there a glitch with my browser?
See the attached screenshot about installing updates. Is this a virus?
I shared my document with my co-workers. Why do they get an error when they open the link to the file?
TSPs respond hundreds of times to their customers, often copy and pasting the same reply in their emails or work tickets. By the 42nd time responding to the same complaint, it’s natural for the TSP to sigh and roll their eyes with yet another employee with the same problem.
The Relational Technologist understands this may be the 42nd response to a common issue, but it’s their client’s first time encountering this problem.
A TSP is immersed in their work over 40 hours each week. They’re intimately aware of all software menu categories. They know what all the buttons do. And they’re savvy enough to spot changes to the software’s user interface (UI) almost immediately. It’s their job to be on top of changes and possible disruptions for their clients.
Conversely, the client may only use the software a few minutes a week. Sometimes they begrudgingly deal with logging in, and click here, there, and everywhere to get to the one screen they must fill out for their important work task. The client sometimes is suspicious of the company software based on a lack of familiarity with features and paths to getting their work done.
Most clients are not experts in technology. They are immersed in another area of expertise for their 40-hour workweek.
It’s important that the TSP treats each response as if it’s the first time the customer is hearing about the change, the error, the update, or the procedure…but never craft an email in a “tech-splaining,” condescending matter that could be construed as demeaning or insulting the client’s intelligens. It’s a complex job to combine awareness of their customers’ lack of expertise with patience for repeated responses, but that’s why TSPs get paid the big bucks.