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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009
Get the communication skills you need for career success with this unique book. Preparing you for exams and beyond, the valuable content delves into the issues that you'll face in corporate, retail, and remote support environments. The book offers more than fifty scenarios depicting typical workplace situations, possible responses-and appropriate solutions to guide you. With this approach, you'll gain valuable insight into becoming a team player and learn strategies to communicate more effectively with coworkers and customers.
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Contents
Cover
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Series Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
Chapter 1: Interacting with Customers
The Angry Customer
Rude and Ruder
Impatience: Not Quite a Virtue
Assertive Intelligence
The Challenged Customer
A Quiet Case
Easing Tension
Summary
Chapter 2: Working with Professionals
The Inquisitive Coworker
Dealing with Sexual Harassment
The Lazy Worker
An Issue of Trust
Working with Your Manager
The Technical Professional
The Business Professional
Summary
Chapter 3: Using Proper Phone Techniques
Focusing Distraction
Comforting a Crier
Handling Offense
Soothing Frustration
Creating Satisfaction
Callers with Accents
Interoffice Phone Conversations
Summary
Chapter 4: Security in Communication
Ethics in Security
What Can I Throw Away?
Confiding in Your Superiors
Caution with Coworkers
What If It Isn’t My Customer’s Computer?
Phone and E-mail Security
Social Engineering
Summary
Chapter 5: Workplace Communication and Practices
Slang and Vernacular
Gender Barriers
Conflicts
Tone and Mood
Teamwork
Staying Appropriate
Apologizing
Summary
Chapter 6: Leadership in IT
Authority
Discipline
Delegation
Mentoring
Fraternization
Micromanagement
Feedback
Bonus Questions
Summary
Chapter 7: Communication in the Real World
Plugged In
Being “CAT”ty
Dialing Out
Persuasion
Administration by Majority
Packet What?
Spies Among Us
Summary
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Interacting with Customers
Table 1.1: Communication Methods for Disabled Customers
Chapter 6: Leadership in IT
Table 6.1: Employee Qualifications
Table 6.2: Phased Implementation
List of Illustrations
Chapter 4: Security in Communication
Figure 4.1 The CIA triad
Chapter 5: Workplace Communication and Practices
Figure 5.1: The seven-stage conflict process. Source: Brahm, Eric. “Conflict Stages.” Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: September 2003 http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/conflict_stages/
Guide
Cover
Contents
Start Reading
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The IT Professional’s Business and Communications Guide
A Real-World Approach to Comp TIA A+® Soft Skills
Steven Johnson
Acquisitions Editor: Jeff Kellum
Development Editor: Toni Zuccarini Ackley
Production Editor: Christine O’Connor
Copy Editor: Elizabeth Welch
Production Manager: Tim Tate
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley
Vice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. Wikert
Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde
Book Designers: Judy Fung and Bill Gibson
Compositor: Craig Woods, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Proofreader: James Brook, Word One
Indexer: Ted Laux
Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico
Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed
Cover Image: © Image Source, getty images
Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-12635-6
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnson, Steven, 1981-
The IT professional’s business and communications guide : a real-world approach to Comp TIA A+ soft skills / Steven Johnson.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-12635-6 (pbk.)
1. Electronic data processing personnel—Certification. 2. Computer technicians—Certification—Study guides. I. Title.
QA76.3.J6535 2007
004—dc22
2007011149
TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. CompTIA A+ is a registered trademark of The Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Our Valued Readers:
Thank you for looking to Sybex for your CompTIA A+ exam prep needs. The Sybex team at Wiley is proud of its reputation for providing certification candidates with the practical knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the highly competitive IT workplace. Just as the CompTIA is committed to establishing measurable standards for certifying IT professionals, Sybex is committed to providing those individuals with the skills needed to meet those standards.
The author and editors have worked hard to ensure that the book you hold in your hands is comprehensive, in-depth, and pedagogically sound. We’re confident that this book will exceed the demanding standards of the certification marketplace and help you, the CompTIA A+ certification candidate, succeed in your endeavors.
As always, your feedback is important to us. If you believe you’ve identified an error in the book, please visit Wiley’s Technical Support web site at wiley.custhelp.com. If you have general comments or suggestions, feel free to drop me a line directly at [email protected]. At Sybex we’re continually striving to meet the needs of individuals preparing for certification exams.
Good luck in pursuit of your CompTIA A+ certification!
Neil EddeVice President & PublisherSybex, an Imprint of Wiley
For Tracy,who told me I could, and for John, who made me believe it
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the careful guidance of dozens of people, all of them having affected my life in some positive way. Most especially, I’d like to thank Jay Gandee and Jeff D’Adamo, who provided me with the opportunity to be in a position to write such a book.
Moreover, I’d like to thank the incredible editorial team at Sybex, including Jeff Kellum, Toni Ackley, Neil Edde, and Christine O’Connor. Their courtesy, encouragement, belief, and support have been more than I ever could have asked for during the periods of reevaluation and questioning, and even doubt. Any author should be honored to work with such a group of talented individuals.
Another big help along the way has been some of my colleagues: Brian Harkins, Todd Lammle, Justin Korelc, Christopher Parker, Lou Rossi, and James Stanger. They’ve not only been an inspiration but also friends and counselors along the way.
Last, I’d like to thank the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) as a whole. Were it not for their amazing certification programs, hundreds of thousands of dedicated information technology professionals would be without a way to verify their capabilities and show their worth.
About the Author
Steven Johnson is the managing editor for PrepLogic, a leading IT training and preparation company, and he has been involved with IT for more years than he’d care to admit. In addition to being “Triple A+” Certified (Remote Support, Depot Technician, and IT Technician), Steve holds many other certifications and is a graduate of Texas Tech University. Steve got his start in IT as a sales associate for RadioShack Corporation, which he credits as the single greatest business inspiration in his life and the greatest teacher of true customer service that he’s ever known. When he isn’t doing IT support for his work, friends, family, or associates, he spends most of his time in the air as an ambitious private pilot dreaming of one day soaring the skies as an airline captain.
Introduction
Welcome to The IT Professional’s Guide to Business and Communications. Whether you are new to the field, an IT professional looking to bone up on your communication skills, or a seasoned pro looking to arm yourself for your upcoming exam, you’ve come to the right place. This book is a tool that you can use to understand business communication as a whole and particularly the important role that communication plays in IT. By reading this book, you will not only improve your personal and business-related communication skills but also your general IT skills.
The Purpose of This Book
The IT world has changed a great deal since its inception. At the dawn of the computing era, you could possess absolutely no social skills whatsoever but could still be highly technical and expect to receive a job with a major corporation commanding a high salary. Today, however, this is no longer the case. Now, companies have begun to require that IT personnel, in addition to possessing specific technical requirements, maintain a high level of social and communication skills.
In 2006 CompTIA reacted to this industry demand by making the biggest change that had ever been made to the A+ exam. Rather than testing technical knowledge and ability only, it became a test of IT business aptitude as well. CompTIA achieved this by implementing two things: soft skills and customer interaction questions. The reason this book is so valuable to you as an IT professional is because you need to have the knowledge and ability to deal with customers, coworkers, consultants, and other businesses as an IT technician. Without a lot of training and experience, you simply cannot understand it unless you’ve seen it in action!
Who Should Read This Book
You should read this book if you are new to the computing industry, have never worked in a business environment, have never worked in a situation that involved much communication, or are generally interested in improving your communication and customer interaction skills. You probably don’t need to read this book if you are an experienced businessperson, skilled orator, or communication expert. The approach is high level, general, and designed for those transitioning into the professional world.
How This Book Is Organized
Unlike a textbook, this book is broken into case scenarios. There are a total of 49 scenarios, each involving some of the most important points in customer interaction and business communication. You will be able to jump into each topic headfirst and observe both mock and actual situations that are either likely to occur or have occurred in the real world. The major topics covered in this book are:
Customer Interaction How to treat, respect, understand, and assist your customer in a retail, corporate, or other business environment
Professional Behavior Understanding the proper way to conduct yourself in a business environment as an IT professional
Proper Phone Techniques Basic phone communication procedures, including transferring calls, treating callers with respect, and conducting yourself professionally in a phone center environment
Communication Security In-depth analysis of common communication security issues, such as privileged information, social engineering, and user privacy
Workplace Communication Communicating with other professionals in the workplace in a clear, direct, and easy-to-understand manner
Leadership How to present yourself as a leader in an IT environment
Communication in the Real World Actual historical scenarios pulling from the preceding six subjects to give you a real-world perspective of the IT business environment
Study Tips and Best Wishes
Jumping into IT is not an easy thing to do. It’s common to get bogged down or intimidated by the sheer amount of paths, information, and technical capabilities that some of the people in the world possess. As you start down this road, you’re going to feel a bit torn as you feel your technical interests pull toward one specific area or another, but don’t fret—this is normal. When you’re reviewing this book, just keep in mind that while the technology may change, the business world may adapt, and the industry as a whole may have a different face in the future, good communication practices aren’t going anywhere.
After reading this book, if you aren’t already a business-savvy professional you should be well on your way. Or if you struggle with communication, you will understand the actions and intentions of your coworkers much more than you would have without reading this book. As you’re reading, mark for future reference those scenarios that occur frequently in your own life. If you still have difficulty, turn back to the situations you struggle with in real life and read the /Key Concepts/ and /Resolution/ sections once again—after all, practice makes perfect.
Chapter 1Interacting with Customers
Before I can begin discussing any type of interoffice, general, or business communication, I have to point out one very important fact. This fact is that, whether you realize it or not, the foundation of all IT and general communication in the professional world is based on customer interaction. This is because a customer is much more than just a person you deal with in a retail environment. A customer is any person you interact with who could stand to grant you and your company potential benefits. This includes consumers, other businesses, service providers, consultants, and a myriad of other individuals.
Remember: A large potion of your exam is going to be on customer interaction, and it will probably involve situations that are similar to those listed here. It’s a good idea to read about the interaction, collect your own thoughts on how the situation could best be resolved, and then take the suggestions and analysis into consideration.
This chapter breaks down into the following seven different scenarios, each dealing with some of the most commonly occurring issues in professional communication:
Scenario 1: The Angry Customer
Scenario 2: Rude and Ruder
Scenario 3: Impatience: Not Quite a Virtue
Scenario 4: Assertive Intelligence
Scenario 5: The Challenged Customer[
Scenario 6: A Quiet Case
Scenario 7: Easing Tension
The Angry Customer
Here’s the hard-and-fast truth: no matter what you’re doing, whether you’re in information technology, business, support, engineering, or working at a fast-food restaurant, chances are that you’re going to run into an angry customer. As much as we don’t like to deal with angry people, they are just one of those tough facts of life that we as IT technicians have to learn to deal with. Fortunately, the trick to dealing with angry people is that most of the time they are upset, frustrated, angry, or just generally agitated, but not with us. They are agitated with the situation. In this scenario, you’re going to see what it’s like to deal with an angry customer, how best to resolve the situation, and how you can turn an angry customer into a friend of your organization for life.
Scenario
It’s 9 a.m. and you’ve just opened the gates to a local computer store where you have recently been placed into a position of authority. As the sole A+ Certified Technician, not only are you in charge of ensuring that all of your technical tickets and requests are fulfilled, but you are also responsible for customer support issues involving technical matters that the normal customer service representatives cannot field.
After setting up your work area and greeting two of your newly arriving coworkers, you are disturbed from the assembly room by a frantic and frightened coworker who bursts into your back room, breathlessly saying, “There’s someone at the front counter screaming at the top of his lungs and demanding to speak with a person who ‘knows what he’s doing!’” Surprised, you walk out to the sales floor to investigate.
Upon arriving at the sales floor, you immediately notice an incredibly large and furious-looking man, hunching over a sales terminal and glaring at your second coworker. This coworker, equally as frightened as the first, turns to you for support with a pleading look on his face. The customer catches on to this instantly and turns to address you, yelling, “You better know what the heck you’re talking about!”
Stunned, you stammer for just a second, but you are able to get out, “Yes, sir. How is it that I can help you?”
Barely allowing you to get your statement out, the customer yells, “I’ve had a really bad night and your piece of junk computer is broken. What are you going to do about it?” He then stares at you directly, further urging on a confrontation and intimidating other coworkers in your store.
Background
Although we’d like them to be the exception, angry customers in the modern workplace have become sort of the norm. When unfortunate events happen to people, they tend to react negatively toward the people is closest to them. In this particular case, it’s happening in a retail or personal contact–oriented business. However, this happens even more often on the phone or via distance (as in an e-mail), because although only a few people might have the courage to approach you with an “I’m angry!” attitude, many more people feel that not seeing someone face to face allows them to vent their anger at will. Therefore, it’s important to remember that while customers like this might require the most attention and the gentlest of kid gloves when you’re interacting with them, these ideas should be put into practice when you’re dealing with all of your customers. It will help your customer performance evaluations and might just make someone who’s boiling on the inside feel a bit better.
Overview
Before I talk about being in the position of dealing with an angry person, put yourself in the shoes of Fred, the angry customer. Fred has just bought a brand-new laptop from Super Company X. The laptop is fast and stylish, and it’s got every new feature Fred could ever ask for. To top it off, this laptop even comes with a nice briefcase he can use to carry it back and forth to work.
Unfortunately, last night Fred spent his entire night preparing a business presentation for his company. After he had spent three hours writing the presentation, the computer screen went blank and the computer refused to turn back on. Panicked, Fred has come to your computer store. At this point, his hardware, work, and job are on the line. He’s tired, scared, and more than a little frustrated.
As stated before, Fred is not necessarily angry with you or your company. In fact, it’s the opposite of that. Fred is actually hopeful that your company will be able to help him with this problem that he has encountered. In reality, Fred is angry with the company that manufactured the product and is upset with said product’s usability. He has the sincerest hope that your company, and more importantly you, will be able to help him. That’s the first thing you have to reassure him about.
Key Concepts
When most people without certification training are presented with this situation, they naturally respond with one of four options. These options generally depend on the type of person, but they can be broken down into:
Lecturing
Fighting
Resolving
Helping
None of these thoughts is necessarily illogical, but one of them is certainly the best approach for dealing with an angry person. Let’s consider all these options and discuss why each of them is or is not a good idea.
Lecturing Fred About His Tone
Of all the options presented here, this is by far the worst one. When people are angry, they don’t want to hear that they are sounding angry. They want to hear that their anger has gotten the attention that they desire and that you are going to help them with their problem. Furthermore, this doesn’t let the customer know that you’re going to try to help him, which is what he really wants.
Fighting Fire with Fire
If you respond to rudeness with rudeness, you’re not going to help anyone, especially yourself. Most people who respond with this attitude to a situation believe that whoever is addressing them in this fashion is insulting them. This isn’t necessarily true. One could actually argue that when someone is angry with an employee in a retail or remote situation it is because the person believes that the employee is capable of helping them but unwilling. This indicates a great deal of unspoken respect.
Getting Straight to the Issue
Of the options discussed so far, this would seem like the most appropriate one; however, it has some flaws. First, it doesn’t necessarily tell the customer that you are going to help him out. In fact, it indicates to the customer that you are already classifying him along with hundreds of other cases you have already seen. Second, the customer hasn’t explained the problem yet. He’s barely begun to discuss it. Already asking questions indicates that you believe you have already solved the problem and, in his view, are insulting his intelligence.
Telling Him You’ll Help
Although it may seem fairly obvious, the best thing you can tell an angry person is that his problem is going to be fixed. Truth be told, he does not want to be there and you do not want him to be upset. After you’ve established this, the customer can feel comforted in you as a person and begin to tell you what you need to know to help him.
Resolution
Most frustrated and angry customers just want to have their issue resolved. Furthermore, they want you to address them in a way that they find comforting and to investigate their issue with concern. This simple tactic and mind-set can save you hundreds of hours of argument, frustration, headaches, and annoyance, as well as making someone a friendly customer of yours for life. However, there are a lot of additional tactics you can use, including using passive voice and speaking in a pleasant tone.
Passive Voice
The simplest way to remove blame from any situation is to discuss the problem as if it just happened by chance. This is accomplished by using passive voice. Simply defined, passive voice is voice that is not active but acted upon.
Although that may not seem immediately clear, it’s actually fairly simple to understand. It means that whenever you speak about action involving a subject, you speak as if the subject has had an action impressed upon it, versus making the action itself. To clarify, consider these few examples:
Active (Normal) Voice
“So, you disconnected the motherboard from the power supply?”
Passive Voice
“So, the power supply was disconnected from the motherboard?”
Active (Normal) Voice
“Did you buy the right type of DIMM for your motherboard?”
Passive Voice
“Is the DIMM that was bought the correct type?”
This tactic succeeds in removing any type of personal blame and instead places the blame on an unknown entity. Although in reality it’s normally still the user’s fault or issue, the language used removes any personal liability.
Pleasant Tone
Remember the old saying, “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar”? It’s true. Customers who are angry always respond better to people who are polite and courteous. It takes away any ammo they have to become angrier. If you think back to the times when you were extremely irate and were calmed down, chances are that the person you were dealing with was very understanding and spoke in a way that you found soothing in some form or another. It’s important to understand the effect this can have on customers in a retail or remote environment and to effect a semblance of it on a day-to-day basis. You’ll find that it goes a long way toward making not only your customers a bit easier to deal with, but also your friends and family.
Skills for the A+ Exam
Here’s an example of the type of questions you will see about angry customers on the A+ exam:
A furious customer slams his hands down on the desk in front of you and demands that you pay for the computer that he believes you broke. Which of the following is the best statement to calm the customer?
OK, sir. Let me see if it’s broken and we’ll go from there.
I’ll be certain to let my management know to help you.
OK, sir. How much does that product cost? Maybe we could help.
Sir, I’m more than willing to help. Let me see what I can do to fix the situation.
Answer A: Incorrect. This answer leads the customer to become angry. He will think, “What do you mean you’ll CHECK to see if it’s broken?”
Answer B: Incorrect. This answer makes the customer believe that you can’t help him with anything and that he should be speaking with your manager.
Answer C: Incorrect. This answer makes the customer think that your company is cheap and will only help him if it’s in the budget.
Answer D: Correct. This informs the customer that you are willing to help and try your best. That’s all the customer can really ever hope for.
Rude and Ruder
I don’t know about you, but I really just don’t like rude people. I don’t think anybody actually does. They’re not the sort of people you want to have over for dinner, or the sort of folks you’d like to call friend. Unfortunately, whether or not we want to associate with them, rude people have a weird habit of just showing up where we don’t want them. Take this real-life scenario as an example. The names, places, and people have been changed to protect the innocent (or perhaps I should say the guilty), but the truth is still intact.
Scenario
You’ve been working at your retail computer business for six months and you think you’ve finally started to get a grip on how things work. You’re familiar with the inventory, you’ve gotten to know your coworkers on a more personal level, and you think that your manager approves of your performance up to today.
Today, in order to get ahead on the business inventory that is going to be conducted at the end of this month, you’ve decided to start counting some of the currently existing parts and computers that are normally not used and then place them into a safer area where they will not be exposed to the potential of theft or misplacement. This way, you can cut down on the time you’re going to have to spend on your inventory management later.
Suddenly, just as you’ve begun your project and started to unpack a great many boxes onto the main floor, the door to the front office opens and an older-looking man in his late 60s walks into the store. He then makes his way directly up to the front counter, looks you in the eye, and says, “This place looks like a complete mess. Don’t you know how to run a business?”
You immediately apologize for the situation and ask how you can help. He then responds by saying, “I’ll tell you how you can help—you can clean up this mess. Until then, I’m not sure if I really want to be caught shopping here. This place isn’t up to my standards, and I don’t think it’s up to yours, either.”
Slightly frustrated, you nod but maintain a professional appearance. You then say, “OK, sir. Well, I’m sorry for the appearance of the store, but do you think that you could still give me an idea of what you’re looking for? After all, you’re already here and I’m willing to help.”
Chuckling, the man says, “Trying to sales pitch me now, huh? Fat chance of that happening, punk.”
Background
One of the more “interesting” things about working in support, customer service, or anything involving the service industry is that we as professionals are exposed to a wide variety of people from an uncountable number of backgrounds. This is important to note because while you might find the behavior of others to be rude, it may not be intended that way. Granted, in this case it’s pretty obvious—the customer has a fairly large chip on his shoulder. However, that isn’t always the case.
In some places in the United States, a common way to joke is by complaining about situations. It doesn’t matter if something is perfect or if they don’t have any real complaints at all, they will still complain. Because of this, it’s important that you weave an aura of complete and total understanding about you before you begin to deal with any sort of customer. If they do something that is rude or upsetting, don’t fret. After all, you’re only going to be dealing with them for a limited amount of time. Furthermore, you can also consider that this might just be their way of expressing their beliefs and, by their standards, may not be rude.
Overview
The first thing I have to point out in this situation is that your customer is obviously upset. The right thing was done here, in that before the actual situation of the customer was dealt with, an apology was made. But even after that apology was made, the customer continued to complain and make acid remarks.
Personally, I find situations like this fairly tough to deal with. You almost want to go up to them and say, “What is it that you WANT!?” In fact, I’ve even seen someone do that at the workplace. And while I wouldn’t recommend it, it actually had pretty good results.
In the section that follows, you’re going to see some of the basic temptations to avoid in this situation (such as raising your voice and asking them what they want) and then look at some of the reasons that they have this demeanor. By reviewing these facts, you should be fairly well armed to deal with a customer who makes you as upset as this one. But be warned, there is no easy fix-all for dealing with different types of people; there are only general guidelines. Each situation is unique, and you have to use your best judgment of what will and will not work.
Key Concepts
Although it would normally be a good idea to understand your customer’s perspective, in this case the customer is openly hostile. With an openly hostile customer, it’s going to become extremely difficult to obtain information from them. Therefore, you have to consider the possible avenues of approach you have to communicate with them.
Temptations to Avoid
People like this customer can bring out the worst in us. Because of that, it’s important to remember that there are certain temptations that should just be avoided. In particular, you should make sure that you do not ask someone to calm down, and that you do not refuse service or become equally argumentative. The following will explain how these concepts can turn a bad situation into an even worse one very quickly:
Asking Them to Calm Down This is a bad idea. Have you ever had someone ask you to calm down when you’re angry? Did it work? When people are angry and you ask them to calm down they just instantly think, “Hey! Aren’t you listening to me? I’m angry! I want attention.”
In the real world (that is, the nonbusiness world) you don’t really have to placate everyone you meet. If someone wants attention when they’re angry, you can always choose to ignore them or just wait until they’ve calmed down after an indeterminate period of time. In business, you don’t have that choice, especially in retail.
Refusal Boy, it would be great if you could just say, “I don’t feel like dealing with you today, Mr. Customer. Thank you and have a very nice day.” I think it would save everyone a lot of headaches. Truth be told, I’ve actually seen people do this. They get to the point where they don’t want to deal with a customer and then they simply tell the customer to go away.
There’s a simple reason you can’t do this: collateral damage. If you allow one individual to walk away angry, that customer creates 10 more who will not want to deal with you in the future. People like to talk, and you deciding that you don’t want to deal with a person could be just about the worst event in that person’s day—and you’d better be darn sure that they’re going to want to tell someone about it.
Being Rude Back You know, I don’t think I need to get into this one. But, just in case, it almost goes without saying that you can’t be rude to customers—no matter what they do. If you’re like me, you’ve actually been the rude customer once or twice in your life and dealt with someone who was rude back. You’ve also probably dealt with someone who remained professional and calm throughout the entire incident.
To this day, I can still remember walking into an unnamed cell phone store and chewing out the manager. He stood there and took every bad name, insult, and angry complaint I could throw out and just responded with kindness and understanding. It really took the wind out of my sails. On the other hand, just the other day I went to go buy a pretzel at another unnamed business and I wasn’t served. After two minutes of that, I asked for service. The attendant responded with “Yeah,” and then continued to baste and ready a fresh garlic pretzel (which happened to be the exact one I wanted at that moment). Things like that stick with you. The bottom line is don’t be rude, no matter what somebody else does.
Remember, these are things to be avoided at all cost. No matter how upset you get, don’t give in to these temptations! Not only are they damaging to your customer, but they also can be damaging to you and your business. Instead, consider the discussion in the following section.
Resolution
There are a lot of reasons why people tend to be rude, but they usually boil down to one of these two things:
Frustrated
Culturally different
Frustrated
Of the two problems, frustrated is by far the easiest one to handle. Frustrated people just want their problem to be fixed! Remain calm, do your best to help the customer, and know that you’re going to make them have a good day if you fix their issue.
Focus on the customer. Let the customer know that you’re concerned about their problem. They will think better of you and appreciate that you’re doing everything you can to help them.
Culturally Different
You don’t need someone like me to tell you that there are a lot of different types of people out there. In the United States alone, people in the South tend to think and act differently than people in the North. People from California don’t usually vote the same way as people from Texas. The trick is that you can do a few things to make sure that everybody stays happy:
Use acceptable language. There are certain things you can and cannot say to people. Some of the language that you need to avoid using are slang words or phrases, derogatory terms, acronyms, and just about anything that would make someone who doesn’t come from the same background as you feel uncomfortable.
Avoid excessive body language. It’s always a safe bet to not make many hand movements when dealing with a customer. Unless you’re a master of empathy (which most of us aren’t), you can’t say for certain how someone is going to react to a particular gesture. They could feel threatened, insulted, or even sexually harassed by an action you make. Consider that while such expressions as a good old-fashioned “thumbs up” might be considered friendly and encouraging in the United States, it is considered to be one of the rudest gestures on the planet in many other cultures.
Skills for the A+ Exam
Here’s an example of the type of questions you will see about rude customers on the A+ exam:
A user informs you that he has been waiting on hold for a very long time and wants to be spoken to immediately. You currently have three other customers who have been holding longer and are also reading an e-mail saying that you have to log out of your workstation in five minutes, forcing you to place your current customers back into the hold queue. What is your best response?
I’ll be glad to help you immediately, sir.
I apologize, sir. We will be with you as soon as we can. It shouldn’t be much longer. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.
OK, no problem. I have to leave in just a few minutes, but is there a chance that it’s a tiny problem? I’d like to help.
Sir, I’m more than willing to help. Let me see what I can do to fix the situation. Or if I can’t fix it, I’ll get you to someone who can.
Answer A: Incorrect. You can’t do this. If you start, you probably won’t be able to finish this in five minutes and won’t be able to log out of your terminal.
Answer B: Correct. Sometimes you have to tell a customer the hard truth, even if they’re rude or upset.
Answer C: Incorrect. I have a bit of a soft heart, so I’ve tried to do this more than once. Unfortunately, it never works. The problem is always a big problem. But even if it isn’t, it’s not a good practice to get into. The A+ exam is going to ask you questions like this. Be prepared.
Answer D: Incorrect. This is a great distracter. You’re being polite, kind, and very helpful. Unfortunately, this response doesn’t account for the fact that you have people currently holding and that all your other associates are busy. Be sure to watch out for this type of thing on the real exam.
Impatience: Not Quite a Virtue
I bet if I were to sit down and have a one-on-one talk with you about being impatient, you’d probably confess to me that there’s been at least one time in your social or working life that you’ve been anxious about something. For most people, it’s been a lot more than just once. In fact, it’s probably happened a couple of hundred times.
Patience is a hard thing to master. Even for the most calm, confident, and level-headed people you will ever meet, patience is just one of those things in life that takes a lifetime to be able to control and two lifetimes to master. One of the “joys” of IT is that you have to learn how to do it as soon as you start your position. Unfortunately, your customers don’t exactly have to share your state of mind.
Scenario
It’s Christmas, the busiest time of the year at your small office. Everyone has built up a good share of vacation, personal leave, and even a little sick time that they’ve been talking about using now for the past month. Truth be told, you’ve even arranged to take some time off yourself. After all, what good is having paid vacation if you don’t use it?
As a result of the upcoming vacation, everyone is in a hurry to pack things up and get ready to leave the office. Employees have been submitting jobs to the servers, locking down workstations, and doing their best to get documents signed off by the boss before their leave begins.
On the morning of your last day in the office before your vacation starts, you receive an early phone call from your supervisor, notifying you that the office Exchange server has just gone down and you need to rush to the office immediately. Upon your arrival, you quickly realize that the server has been infected with an extremely malicious virus and that it’s going to take you hours to fix. To top it off, most of the crew is planning on taking a half day today and needs the equipment.
As soon as you finish the diagnosis, you receive another phone call from your supervisor: “Hey, it’s Alan. Can you have that server back up in 30 minutes?”
Background
Someone once told me that if you want to get into IT to give yourself more free time, you’re getting into the wrong business. I thought he was kidding at the time, but he turned out to be almost completely correct. IT is one of those businesses that, just like being a doctor or a lawyer, may require you to work at some very odd hours. Problems happen and they don’t normally tend to just resolve themselves. Because of this, it’s important to remember that there are going to be times when things go wrong. Unfortunately, they always seem to come at the wrong times, like holidays, weekends, or other times that we’d like to think about anything other than work.
As you read over this analysis, I encourage you to put yourself in a particular mind-set before you begin to think it over. That mind-set is that you are going to have to work very hard in IT and there are just times when work is going to take a long time. As simple as it sounds, that frame of thought will save you a lot of time and frustration if you can get yourself mentally prepared for it before it happens.
Overview
From the description of the condition of the office, you can easily tell that most people are anxious to have all their problems solved and be under way with the rest of the day. Just like it says in the beginning, who can really blame them? It’s the holidays and they’re all ready to take a break. The problem is, problems don’t take breaks.
When you’re involved with a situation like this in your business, you’re going to need to consider a lot of factors: elements like time, complexity, workload, and just how generally difficult a problem is going to be to fix. You should take all of these factors into account and present your supervisor with what you consider to be a fairly reasonable timeframe. However, when you do that, you should also consider some of the key concepts listed next in this scenario when you’re speaking to someone about a problem that won’t just quickly disappear.
Key Concepts
There are many sides to the practice of being patient. Some of them come from the perspective of the customer/coworker and some from the perspective of the employee. The important thing to remember is that, as far as you are concerned, there is only one side that you have to worry about—yours.
Granted, you’re going to have to be concerned with the customer’s state of mind. You can’t just ignore their feelings and continue on with the workday. (Since you’ve made it to this point of the chapter, you probably already understand that.) But the main idea is that customers are always going to have problems. Being impatient and in a hurry is just one of those problems that you have to learn to deal with for their benefit. Let’s now take a look at a few things to keep in mind as you deal with an impatient customer.
The Problem Isn’t Going Away
Just because a customer may want a problem to be instantly fixed, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. Because of this, it’s a good idea to let people know the severity of their problems. In the previous scenario, you were dealing with a complex server that had an extremely urgent and complex problem. Although the manager may want it done in 30 minutes, it probably isn’t feasible. Furthermore, if you try to do what you can in 30 minutes and just turn the server back on, the problem will still be there.
Whenever possible, be up-front with your customer. If they ask for the unreasonable, professionally tell them that it’s unreasonable. If someone came to you and said, “I need you to overhaul this V-8 engine in 10 minutes,” you could easily tell them that you don’t believe that you can overhaul the engine in 10 minutes. Instead, you’d need somewhere around a week (assuming, of course, you could work on cars in the first place).
Doing a Half-Job Will Be Worse Than Not Doing It at All
It’s easy to tempt yourself into committing one of the cardinal sins of IT and, more importantly, one of the cardinal sins of business. The best advice you will probably ever receive in business is the following: never do a half-job. Don’t just patch something together. Don’t get something to the point that it works, but not very well. Get your task done to the point that what you were supposed to do was done great.
Your goal in everything you do in business is to get people to say, “Wow.” If you don’t accomplish that every single time you set out, it’s not the end of the world. However, not trying to shoot for that goal every time you go out is just letting yourself down. If you fully grasp your potential and do everything you were gifted with, you will be able to churn out some amazing results. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
Resolution
When dealing with impatient people, just remember that the key is to be polite and to do the best you can to solve their problem as quickly as possible, whether that involves abstract ideas or the traditional method of just working your way through their issue. At the end of the day, they are people just like you and they just want to have their situation taken care of. Remember that every time you deal with someone who is anxious or impatient about something, you have the opportunity to be the hero and solve problem quickly. Along the way, here are some good practices to keep in mind as you’re solving these problems.
Be Extremely Polite
Being polite can go a long way to diffusing an impatient customer. As you’ve seen in previous scenarios, it’s a disarming tactic to someone who is openly hostile or confrontational. In the case of someone who is extremely impatient, it is an almost miraculous tactic, and in the case of your superiors, it can actually score you a lot of brownie points.
If someone is anxious and ready to have something done immediately, they’re most likely not going to act adversely if you say one of the following easy-to-memorize quotes:
I’ll do my very best to get to you [or your problem] as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience.”
Thank you, sir/ma’am. I’ll be with you in just a moment.”
Offer Alternatives
One of the most interesting things about the social issue of patience is that it only occurs if someone has a problem that they want attended to immediately. Whether that problem is personal or work related, it can be quickly diffused by thinking of a solution that the individual may not have considered.
When you have a customer or coworker who appears to be concerned about a particular issue, the best advice is to quickly ask them about their situation and see if you can think of any alternative solutions they may not have considered.
“Mr. Boss, I think the server is going to be down for quite a while. Do you think it might be a better idea for us to queue up the e-mails on the backup Exchange server while I repair this one?”
Or, in the retail world, “I’m currently with another customer, Mr. Customer. I’ll be with you as soon as I can, but if you need immediate assistance I can call a coworker from the back to come and help you.”
Skills for the A+ Exam
Here’s an example of the type of questions you will see about impatient customers on the A+ exam:
You are working on one of three priority help desk tickets when your supervisor calls and says that he has another priority ticket that has to be taken care of immediately. The tickets you currently have will probably already take you several hours. What is your best action?
Stop what you’re doing and take care of the ticket your supervisor has.
Stop what you’re doing and inform the supervisor of your situation.
Continue working on the ticket and suggest that it might be a better idea to hand the ticket to the second team; your office is at its max.
Continue working on the ticket and tell your supervisor that you think you can handle the situation, but make him aware that there is an issue.
Answer A: Incorrect. It’s a good idea to do what your boss tells you, but not at the sacrifice of your performance. You should also never stop working on an issue when you can continue diagnosing it.
Answer B: Incorrect. You should always keep your supervisor informed, but you shouldn’t stop working just to do that.
Answer C: Correct. This answer not only informs your supervisor of the situation, but also suggests an alternative for him. Your superiors will appreciate your understanding of their situation, and this will help them remember that you can handle difficult situations well.
Answer D: Incorrect. You should never tell a supervisor that you can do something but there may be problems attached to it. Supervisors want to hear that something either can or cannot be done.
Assertive Intelligence
Have you ever noticed how most of the people you meet in this world tend to be a little less smart than you? Most IT people know the feeling. It’s not exactly an industry that attracts people who dislike an intellectual challenge. In fact, some of the smartest people you will ever meet are in this field . . . which is actually the problem.
