for help desk and technical support queues

1. Help Desk Soft Skills
By Ali Elganainy

2. Customer Service
Communication
Skills
Troubleshooting
Skills
Phone Etiquette
Agenda

3. 1. Communication Skills

4. “
“We have two ears and one
mouth, so we should listen
more than we say.”
Zeno of Citium

5. Active listening
> What is Listening??
> How is it different from Hearing??

6. Levels of listening
Level 8
Level 7
Level 6
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Facilitative listening
empathic listening
active listening
attentive listening
misunderstood listening
biased listening
pretend listening
passive listening

7. Keys to Good Listening
Limit your talking
Can’t talk and listen at
the same time
Concentrate
Focus on the
conversation. Practice
shutting out outside
distractions and
personal concerns
Don’t Interrupt
A pause doesn’t
always mean the
individual is finished
speaking
Listen for ideas….not
just words
Get the whole picture,
not isolated bits and
pieces
Take Notes
Helps you remember
important points
Interjections
An occasional, “Yes,”
“I see,” etc. shows that
your listening.
However, don’t
overuse them

8. Listening
Do’s and
Don'ts
Don’ts
• Listen to respond
• Allow dead air while listening
•Be distracted by external noise
• Rely on memory
• Be emotional or defensive
Do’s
• Listen to understand
• Use verbal nods and acknowledgements
• Concentrate on the message
• Take notes
• Be open to feedback

9. Communicating
> What communicating is??
> How could we effectively communicate??

10. Types of
Communication :
Vocal
Communication =
• Verbal: Spoken word, interviews, meetings
• Non-verbal:
o Visual: Body Language, symbols, gestures,
posture, facial expressions
o Written: e-mails, memos, letters
• Pitch
• Inflection
• Clarity
• Tone
• Use of Words
• Rate
•Enunciation

11. Conversation Cycle
inform
invite
listen
acknowledge
conversation

12. The
Communication
Process
channel
message
feedback
Hello, how
are you?
Sender I’m fine and
you?
Receiver

13. Face to Face communication equation:
Facial
expression and
body language
50%
Tone of voice
40%
words or
content
10%

14. Phone communication equation :
Tone of voice
82%
words or
content
18%

15. communication
THE8ELEMENTSOFEFFECTIVECOMMUNICATION
BARRIERSTOCOMMUNICATION
• Idea
• Person
• Intention
• Attention
• Duplication
• Understanding
• Acknowledgement
• Space
• Attitude
• Poor listening
• Lack of interest
• Assumption
• Jargon
• Cross-cultural
differences
• Emotional responses
• Physical distractions
• Pace

16. Acknowledge
-The customer’s presence
-The customer’s responses
Appreciate
-The customer’s time
-The customer’s patience
-The customer’s business
Assure
-Take responsibility
-Project a ‘can do’ attitude
Building Rapport
Appropriate responses:
I understand your concern…
I can appreciate…
I know it can be…
I’m sorry you had to …
That sounds wonderful…
Congratulations…
That’s great…
Empathy
communication

17. NOW LET’S PLAY
A GAME

18. 2. Customer Service

19. “
“Literally everything we do, every
concept perceived, every technology
developed and associate employed, is
directed with this one objective clearly
in mind – pleasing the customer.”
Sam Walton, Owner & CEO, Wal-Mart

20. Customer Service
> What is the Customer Service ??
> How could we deliver an World Class
Customer service to our clients ??

21. Who are Customers?
Customers could be Internal (your colleagues or your
heads)
- OR -
external ( people we support)
However,
Customers are people who need your assistance. They are
not an interruption to your job, they are the reason you
have a job..

22. What is Customer Service?
Identifying and Understanding Customer Needs
> Meeting and exceeding these needs, consistently.
> Not just gaining but retaining customers.
> Working actively to improve products and services.

23. Customer Service
- Good customer service = Lasting relationships.
- Average customer service = Steady relationships.
- Poor customer service = Lost business.

24. Why do customers
leave companies?
1% 3% 6% 9%
13%
68%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Death Leaving the
country
Friends Advice Go to
Competitor
Disatisfaction
From Service
Disatisfaction
From Staff

25. What does the Customer Desire?
>Friendliness
>Empathy
>Fairness
>Participation
>Alternatives
>Information

26.  Know your customers.
 Know your product or service
 Commit to quality service
 Don’t get personal, even if Customers do.
 Be prepared for rejection – just apologize for bothering
them and graciously get off the phone.
 If you need help – get a supervisor.
 Your Greeting and ending message ,,, make it professional
and great.
Rules for Great Customer Service

27. Rules for Great Customer Service
 Treat people with courtesy and respect.
 Never argue with a customer.
 Don't leave customers hanging:
 Always provide what you promise.
 Assume that customers are telling the truth.
 Focus on making customers, not making sales
 Make it easy to buy.

28. Rules for Great Customer Service
 Doing ordinary things in extraordinary way.
 Going beyond what’s expected.
 Adding value and integrity to every interaction.
 Being at your best with every customer.
 Discovering new ways to delight those you serve.
 Surprising yourself with how much you can do.

29. Delighting a Customer
Instead of:Say:
‫أل‬/‫مسموحلي‬ ‫مش‬
‫اختصاصي‬ ‫مش‬ ‫ده‬ ‫او‬ ‫شغلي‬ ‫مش‬ ‫ده‬
‫معرفش‬
‫اهدي‬
‫غلطتي‬ ‫مش‬ ‫دي‬
‫كده‬ ‫تعمل‬ ‫الزم‬ ‫انت‬
‫شكوتك‬/‫مشكلتك‬
‫اني‬ ‫لحضرتك‬ ‫اعمله‬ ‫هقدر‬ ‫اللي‬.....
‫لحضرتك‬ ‫هتأكد‬
‫الشخص‬/‫حضرتك‬ ‫يساعد‬ ‫هيقدر‬ ‫اللي‬ ‫القسم‬
‫هو‬….‫طريق‬ ‫عن‬ ‫حضرتك‬ ‫وهحول‬.....
‫لمساعدتك‬ ‫هنا‬ ‫وانا‬ ‫لحضرتك‬ ‫جدا‬ ‫بعتذر‬
‫نعمله‬ ‫نقدر‬ ‫اللي‬ ‫ايه‬ ‫نشوف‬ ‫اذنك‬ ‫بعد‬ ‫خلينا‬
‫كده‬ ‫نعمل‬ ‫ممكن‬
‫الموضوع‬/‫بحضرتك‬ ‫الخاص‬ ‫االستفسار‬

30. NOW LET’S PLAY
A GAME

31. 3. Phone Etiquette

32. “
“To be of good quality, you have to
excuse yourself from the presence of
shallow and callow minded
individuals.”
Michael Bassey Johnson

33. Phone Etiquette
> Is business phone etiquette important??
> How could we deliver an impressive
Image via phone ??

34. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
P
I
C
T
U
R
E
itch
nflection
larity
one
nderstanding
ate
nunciation

35. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
Pitch :
High or low?,
Low carries better and is also more pleasant

36. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
Inflection:
 Use voice to express ideas or moods
 Don’t talk in a monotone
 The voice naturally rises on a questions or inquiry
 Voices fall at a “period,” decision or completion

37. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
Clarity :
Common,
everyday applies the same as face-to-face conversation

38. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
Tone :
 Many times it is not what you say, but how you say it.
 Voice should reflect sincerity, pleasantness, confidence, and
interest

39. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
Understanding :
Avoid talking with anything in your mouth (gum, pencil)

40. Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.
Rate :
 Rate of speech should be adapted to personality of contact.
 “Fast talkers” can arouse suspicion.
 “Slow talkers” can be irritating.

41. Enunciation :
 Clear enunciation will help avoid misunderstanding and
need to repeat yourself
Mental P.I.C.T.U.R.E.

42. Greeting
 Try to answer the phone on the SECOND ring
 Answer with a friendly greeting
 Keep your voice clear.
 Our greeting “ ‫مساء‬/‫الخير‬ ‫صباح‬(‫اسمك‬)‫حضرتك‬ ‫مع‬ ” .
 Smile  - it shows, even through the phone.
 Ask the caller their name, even if their name is not necessary
for the call, and use it!
 Keep the phone two-finger widths from your mouth.

43. Hold Protocol
Explain why
Ask for permission
Say how long it will take
Put the caller on hold
Apologize for the delay
Thank the caller

44. Ending
 Try to answer the phone on the SECOND ring
 Keep your voice clear.
 Our ending “ ‫ب‬ ‫التصالك‬ ‫شكرا‬ ” .
 Smile  - it shows, even through the phone.
 Repeat CST name at least twice before ending
 Keep the phone two-finger widths from your mouth.

45. NOW LET’S MAKE
A ROLEPLAY

46. 4. Troubleshooting Skills

47. “ “Effective troubleshooting is
a multifaceted exercise in
diagnosis and deliberation,
analysis and action.”
Stephanie Krieger, SR. Program Manager, Microsoft

48. Troubleshooting
> What is the Troubleshooting means?
> How we should effectively Troubleshooting ?

49. What is T.S. ?
Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair
failed products or processes. It is a logical, systematic search for the
source of a problem in order to solve it, and make the product or
process operational again
 If you don’t know why a fix works, it probably doesn’t. It may appear
to work by coincidence, but a workaround is not a fix.
 If the fix doesn’t work consistently, it most likely doesn’t work at all.
 Whether you’re working with software or hardware, computer
technology is rooted in logic. If a fix seems unruly or
overcomplicated, like the challenges in reality TV shows, there’s
probably a better way. In this case, there’s a simple, consistent
solution. You just have to change one setting in a dialog box (you’ll
find the details of this particular fix at the end of this article).

50. Troubleshooting
The troubleshooter was not an expert in that particular
application, so she started from what she knows—
networking. Based on the fact that the user could log in to
other applications and was working remotely, the
troubleshooter hypothesized there had to be something
about his connection that was a problem for this particular
application. She researched the system requirements for
the application and then connected remotely to his computer
Ask
Through a series of basic questions, the
troubleshooter determined the user works
remotely. However, the user is able to
access both internal and external sites, as
well as other internal applications.
Everything appeared to be working
normally, and the user had never had
connectivity issues before
Narrow
Verify
When connected remotely, the troubleshooter saw a
network setting she believed might be causing the
issue. She changed the setting and the user was able
to log in, but she didn’t leave it there. The
troubleshooter had the user verify other connectivity
and found that the change prevented him from
accessing certain Web sites. She tried a different
change to the same setting that let the user log in
without disrupting other connections

51. Troubleshooting
Your success or failure lies in what you choose to eliminate, and more
importantly, why. It’s a game of Pick Up Sticks where you evaluate,
reason, then remove any obstacles that get you closer to resolving the
problem without breaking anything else. How you make those choices
depends entirely on the questions you ask and how you interpret the
answers.
Troubleshooting is a process of elimination

52. thanks!
Any questions?
?