This detailed look at the "soft" skills needed to succeed as help desk professional will provide students with proven customer support techniques for the workplace.
‘Mastering Professional Help Desk Skills: A Comprehensive Guide for Customer Service Excellence.’ is a comprehensive book designed to empower help desk professionals, customer service representatives, and CS Engineers with the essential skills needed for success in personal, telephone, and internet interactions. From the significance of first impressions to the intricacies of complaint handling, the book explores the art of customer service. It emphasizes the human element, going beyond technicalities to cultivate a customer-centric mindset. Readers will discover practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable strategies to enhance their communication, problem-solving, and stress management abilities. Through a structured approach, the book provides tools, action plans, and a commitment to continuous improvement, fostering a culture of excellence. This guide is a roadmap for individuals seeking to not only meet but exceed customer expectations, ultimately contributing to the success of their teams and organizations. The Book covers: Preface Crafting Lasting Impressions in Customer Service The Importance of Customer Service Key Benefits of Providing Excellent Customer Service The Roles, Responsibilities & Functions of a HELP DESK Professional KEY Attributes, Traits and Qualities of Help Desk Professionals Telephone Techniques and Skills Pre-Call Planning and Preparation During the Call: Steps to a Professional Service Call Effective Questioning and Listening Skills Open-ended Questions to get to the Root of Issues in Various Categories of Industries Steps to be a Good Listener Handling Complaints and Angry Customers Resolving Complaints Effectively Empowering Frontline Staff to Resolve Issues Personal (Face to Face) Interaction Ensuring Proper Grooming and Presenting a Professional Image Customer Care Skills Internet Interaction (Email) Professional DO’s & DON’T’s of Emailing Continuous Improvement and Teamwork Coping with Stress in the Service Industry Teamwork in Customer Service Understanding Customer Behavior A Personality Assessment for Customer Service Staff Identifying Different Customer Types Managing Difficult People and Sensitive Situations Understanding Users and Categorizing Them Typical Incident Management Process Implementing a Successful Help Desk Skills Initiative: Action Plan Empowering Help Desk Professionals for Excellence in Customer Service Conclusion: Elevating Your Helpdesk Journey About the Author
A GUIDE TO CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS FOR THE SERVICE DESK PROFESSIONAL, the definitive service desk text now available in a fully revised fourth edition, teaches technical professionals the skills and work habits needed to successfully interact with customers and achieve job satisfaction. Each chapter describes a specific business skill, soft skill, or self-management skill required to deliver effective technical customer support while providing proven, how-to techniques for mastering that skill. Research and references have been updated in each chapter, and the latest ITIL vocabulary and concepts are reflected throughout the text. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
Today's support operations face greater responsibilities than the help desks of the 1990s. That's because customers expect 24x7 assistance on whatever channel they choose - no matter what type of products and/or services they buy. The Complete Guide t
Everyone knows that the best way to create customer loyalty is with service so good, so over the top, that it surprises and delights. But what if everyone is wrong? In their acclaimed bestseller The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB busted many longstanding myths about sales. Now they’ve turned their research and analysis to a new vital business subject—customer loyalty—with a new book that turns the conventional wisdom on its head. The idea that companies must delight customers by exceeding service expectations is so entrenched that managers rarely even question it. They devote untold time, energy, and resources to trying to dazzle people and inspire their undying loyalty. Yet CEB’s careful research over five years and tens of thousands of respondents proves that the “dazzle factor” is wildly overrated—it simply doesn’t predict repeat sales, share of wallet, or positive wordof-mouth. The reality: Loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be. Most customers don’t want to be “wowed”; they want an effortless experience. And they are far more likely to punish you for bad service than to reward you for good service. If you put on your customer hat rather than your manager or marketer hat, this makes a lot of sense. What do you really want from your cable company, a free month of HBO when it screws up or a fast, painless restoration of your connection? What about your bank—do you want free cookies and a cheerful smile, even a personal relationship with your teller? Or just a quick in-and-out transaction and an easy way to get a refund when it accidentally overcharges on fees? The Effortless Experience takes readers on a fascinating journey deep inside the customer experience to reveal what really makes customers loyal—and disloyal. The authors lay out the four key pillars of a low-effort customer experience, along the way delivering robust data, shocking insights and profiles of companies that are already using the principles revealed by CEB’s research, with great results. And they include many tools and templates you can start applying right away to improve service, reduce costs, decrease customer churn, and ultimately generate the elusive loyalty that the “dazzle factor” fails to deliver. The rewards are there for the taking, and the pathway to achieving them is now clearly marked.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The true story of an ordinary mail carrier whose approach to work and life has the power to transform the everyday into the extraordinary—now in an updated twentieth-anniversary edition “This beloved business classic has inspired millions of people over the years, and today Mark Sanborn’s transformative insights are more timely and necessary than ever.”—Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus and co-author of The Coffee Bean Meet Fred. In this timeless and powerful book, Mark Sanborn, member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, recounts the true story of Fred, an ordinary USPS carrier who introduced himself one day shortly after Sanborn had moved to a new home in Denver. Fred, however, was no average mailman. As Sanborn came to discover, Fred was the kind of worker who exemplifies everything “right” with customer service. Did people want packages left on the porch or prefer a notice to pick them up at the post office? Fred made sure he knew the answer. When another delivery service left a package at the wrong house, Fred shepherded it safely to the intended recipient. Others might have seen delivering mail as routine work, but Fred seized the chance to find meaning in the mundane, competing with himself every day to find opportunities to make his customers smile. We’ve all encountered people like Fred. In this deeply inspiring book, Sanborn illuminates the four basic principles anyone can use to bring fresh energy and creativity to our work and life: how to make a tangible difference every day, build stronger relationships, create real value for others without spending a penny, and constantly reinvent yourself. In this updated edition, Sanborn speaks to the seismic changes that have transformed the world of work in recent years—with employees increasingly hungry for purpose in their jobs—and outlines the book’s fresh applications. By following his principles, you, too, can find more excitement, fulfillment, and success in your career—and in your life.
This accessible text looks at the range of soft skills sought after by employers and provides a practical guide to developing and effectively demonstrating these skills. Soft skills -- including communication, customer service, teamwork, problem solving, and personal management -- represent a major component of any worker's professional identity. This book analyzes major soft skills, including both inward-facing soft skills (how workers manage themselves to effectively perform their work) and outward-facing skills (how workers effectively interact with others and in groups). It explores how these skills are rooted in fundamental areas of liberal arts including interpersonal communication, psychology, and ethics. It provides an active learning pedagogy, including creative exercises and case studies through which students can assess their understanding of underlying concepts and their application in real-world situations. The book can be used as a supplement for communication, business, and career-oriented courses, and it will be of interest to individual students and junior professionals as well as career counselors, postsecondary instructors across the curriculum, and professionals in human resources and learning and development.
All of today’s help desk support skills, in one easy-to-understand book The perfect beginner’s guide: No help desk or support experience necessary Covers both “soft” personal skills and “hard” technical skills Explains the changing role of help desk professionals in the modern support center Today, everyone depends on technology–and practically everyone needs help to use it well. Organizations deliver that assistance through help desks. This guide brings together all the knowledge you need to succeed in any help desk or technical support role, prepare for promotion, and succeed with the support-related parts of other IT jobs. Leading technology instructor Darril Gibson tours the modern help desk, explains what modern support professionals really do, and fully covers both of the skill sets you’ll need: technical and personal. In clear and simple language, he discusses everything from troubleshooting specific problems to working with difficult users. You’ll even learn how to manage a help desk, so it works better and delivers more value. Coverage includes: • How the modern help desk has evolved • Understanding your users’ needs, goals, and attitudes • Walking through the typical help desk call • Communicating well: listening actively and asking better questions • Improving interactions and handling difficult situations • Developing positive attitudes, and “owning” the problem • Managing your time and stress • Supporting computers, networks, smartphones, and tablets • Finding the technical product knowledge you need • Protecting the security of your users, information, and devices • Defining, diagnosing, and solving problems, step by step • Writing it up: from incident reports to documentation • Working in teams to meet the goals of the business • Using ITIL to improve the services you provide • Calculating help desk costs, benefits, value, and performance • Taking control of your support career Powerful features make it easier to learn about help desk careers! • Clear introductions describe the big ideas and show how they fit with what you’ve already learned • Specific chapter objectives tell you exactly what you need to learn • Key Terms lists help you identify important terms and a complete Glossary helps you understand them • Author’s Notes and On The Side features help you go deeper into the topic if you want to • Chapter Review tools and activities help you make sure you’ve learned the material Exclusive Mind Mapping activities! • Organize important ideas visually–in your mind, in your words • Learn more, remember more • Understand how different ideas fit together
This book is designed to provide individuals interested in the field of technical customer support a guide to the "soft skills" and the "self-management skills" needed to deliver excellent customer support at the help desk. It provides the reader with a better understanding of what a career in customer support would entail with strong real-world computer support examples, case studies, and exercises throughout the book. The author is a leading help desk consultant, trainer, and former help desk support engineer and service manager.
This book presents an overview of the development of writing skills for both students and practitioners in health care, offering information on all the main areas of writing practice in one volume. Clearly laid out with summary points, practical activities and checklists, it makes relevant information accessible for the busy health professional.