Demonstrating Professionalism

As a professional technician you need to possess a certain level of technical competence or you’ll quickly find yourself looking for work. Technical ability alone isn’t enough though; there are many people out there with skills similar to yours. One thing that can set you apart is acting like a true professional and building a solid reputation. As the noted investor Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

You could probably break down professionalism a hundred different ways. For the A+ 220-801 exam and the purposes of this chapter, we’re going to break it down into three parts: communication, behavior, and dealing with prohibited content.

Good communication includes listening to what the user or manager or developer is telling you and making certain that you understand completely: Approximately half of all communication should be listening. Even though a user or customer may not fully understand the terminology or concepts, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a real problem that needs addressing. You must, therefore, be skilled at not only listening but also translating.

Professional behavior encompasses politeness, guidance, punctuality, and accountability. Always treat the customer with the same respect and empathy you would expect if the situation were reversed. Likewise, guide the customer through the problem and the explanation. Tell them what has caused the problem they are currently experiencing and the best solution for preventing it from reoccurring in the future.

On the surface, dealing with prohibited content or activity might seem like a strange fit here, but it is definitely a part of being a professional. It’s a part of dealing with problems in general. You’ll come across problems like this more often than you will probably want to, and everyone involved will be noticing your conduct as well as how you deal with the problem. Dealing with it fairly and appropriately in a timely fashion will strengthen your standing in the eyes of others.

Communicating with Customers

The act of diagnosis starts with the art of customer relations. Go to the customer with an attitude of trust: Believe what the customer is saying. At the same time, retain an attitude of hidden skepticism; don’t believe that the customer has told you everything. This attitude of hidden skepticism is not the same as distrust, but just remember that what you hear isn’t always the whole story, and customers may inadvertently forget to give some crucial detail.

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One of the best ways to become proficient in communicating with customers is to put yourself in the shoes of the novice user. None of us are experts in every field, so think of an area where you are weak—auto repair or home repair, for example—and imagine how you would want a professional in that area to discourse with you.

For example, a customer may complain that their CD-ROM drive doesn’t work. What they fail to mention is that it has never worked and that they installed it. On examining the machine, you realize that they mounted it with screws that are too long and that these prevent the tray from ejecting properly.

Here are a few suggestions for making your communication with the customer easier:

Have the customer reproduce the error. The most important part of this step is to have the customer show you what the problem is. The best method we’ve seen of doing this is to ask, “Show me what ‘not working’ looks like.” That way, you see the conditions and methods under which the problem occurs. The problem may be a simple matter of doing an operation incorrectly or performing the operation in the wrong order. During this step, you have the opportunity to observe how the problem occurs, so pay attention.
Identify recent changes. The user can give you vital information. The most important question is, “What changed?” Problems don’t usually come out of nowhere. Was a new piece of hardware or software added? Did the user drop some equipment? Was there a power outage or a storm? These are the types of questions you can ask a user in trying to find out what is different.
If nothing changed, at least outwardly, then what was going on at the time of failure? Can the problem be reproduced? Is there a workaround? The point here is to ask as many questions as you need to in order to pinpoint the source of the trouble.
Use the collected information. Once the problem or problems have been clearly identified, your next step is to isolate possible causes. If the problem cannot be clearly identified, then further tests will be necessary. A common technique for hardware and software problems alike is to strip the system down to bare-bones basics. In a hardware situation, this could mean removing all interface cards except those absolutely required for the system to operate. In a software situation, this may mean disabling elements within Device Manager.
Generally, then, you can gradually rebuild the system toward the point where the trouble started. When you reintroduce a component and the problem reappears, you know that component is the one causing the problem.

Customer satisfaction goes a long way toward generating repeat business. If you can meet the customer’s expectations, you will most likely hear from them again when another problem arises. However, if you can exceed the customer’s expectations, you can almost guarantee that they will call you the next time a problem arises.

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Communication Is Key
Marriages disintegrate when couples do not communicate effectively, or so many experts proclaim. Communication is ranked as one of the most important skills needed to make a marriage work. The same can be said for business partnerships—it is important to make certain you are listening to your customers, whether they are truly customers in the traditional sense of the word or internal users that you support. You also need to listen carefully to managers and vendors and make sure you understand them before beginning a project.
Similarly, you need to make certain that the parties in question understand what you are saying to them. It isn’t acceptable to resort to the “But I told you …” excuse when customers or partners aren’t pleased with the results. Making certain they understand what you are telling them is as equally important as making certain you understand what they are telling you.

Customer satisfaction is important in all communication media—whether you are on site, providing phone support, or communicating through e-mail or other correspondence. If you are on site, follow these rules:

  • When you arrive, immediately look for the person (user, manager, administrator, and so on) who is affected by the problem. Announce that you are there and assure that person that you will do all you can to remedy the problem.
  • Listen intently to what your customer is saying. Make it obvious that you are listening and respecting what they are telling you. If there is a problem with understanding the client, go to whatever lengths you need to in order to remedy the situation. Look for verbal and nonverbal cues that can help you isolate the problem.
  • Share the customer’s sense of urgency. What may seem like a small problem to you can appear to your customer as if the whole world were collapsing around them.
  • Be honest and fair with the customer and try to establish a personal rapport. Explain what the problem is, what you believe is the cause, and what can be done in the future to prevent it from recurring.
  • Handle complaints as professionally as possible. Accept responsibility for errors that may have occurred on your part, and never try to pass the blame elsewhere. Avoid arguing with a customer; it serves no purpose. Resolve the customer’s anger with as little conflict as possible. Remember, the goal is to keep the customer and not to win an argument.
  • When you finish a job, notify the user that you have finished. Make every attempt to find the user and inform them of the resolution. If it is impossible to find them, leave a note explaining the resolution. You should also leave a means by which the customer can contact you should they have a question about the resolution or a related problem. In most cases, you should leave your business number and, if applicable, your cell phone number in case the customer needs to contact you after hours. Notification should also be given to both managers—yours and the user’s—that the job has been completed.

If you are providing phone support, keep these guidelines in mind:

  • Always answer the telephone in a professional manner, announcing the name of the company and yourself.
  • Using the customer’s name can help build rapport. Using it in every sentence can sound condescending, but using it once in a while can make you seem more personable.
  • Make a concentrated effort to ascertain the customer’s technical level and communicate at that level, not above or below it.
  • The most important skill you can have is the ability to listen. You have to rely on the customer to tell you the problem and describe it accurately. They cannot do that if you are second-guessing or jumping to conclusions before the whole story is told. Ask broad questions to begin, and then narrow them down to help isolate the problem. It is your job to help guide the description of the problem from the user. For example, you might ask the following questions:
    • Is the printer plugged in?
    • Is it online?
    • Are there any lights flashing on it?
  • Complaints should be handled in the same manner they would be handled if you were on site. Make your best effort to resolve the problem and not argue. Again, your primary goal is to keep the customer.
  • Close the incident only when the customer is satisfied that the solution is the correct one and the problem has gone away.
  • End the telephone call in a courteous manner—thanking the customer for the opportunity to serve them is often the best way.

Talking to the user is an important first step in the troubleshooting process. Your first contact with a computer that has a problem is usually through the customer, either directly or by way of a work order that contains the user’s complaint. Often, the complaint is something straightforward, such as “There’s smoke coming from the back of my monitor.” At other times, the problem is complex, and the customer does not mention everything that has been going wrong. Regardless of the situation, always approach the situation calmly and professionally, and remember that you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

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Communication Is Everywhere
Communication, and problems that can occur with it, are not isolated to the IT world. Almost every profession stresses the importance of good communication. Jamie Walters, founder and chief vision and strategy officer for Ivy Sea, Inc., and Sarah Fenson, Ivy Sea’s guide to client services, wrote an article for Inc.com on steps to smooth conversations (www.inc.com/articles/2000/08/20000.html) that included this advice:
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  • Don’t take things personally. If someone acts inappropriately toward you, just react in a calm manner. They are likely responding that way because of outside factors.
  • Admit when you don’t know the answer to something. It’s okay to defer to somebody else or tell the user or customer that you’ll have to look into their complaint and will get back with them as soon as possible.
  • It is better to validate someone’s feeling or respond to the information they have given you than to react to them. For instance, if somebody complains that a help ticket has not been responded to in a timely manner, tell them you understand how they feel and will look into it instead reacting in a defensive manner.
  • Don’t let your personal opinions or feelings get in the way of what the real complaint is. Try to put yourself in the user’s or customer’s shoes.
  • Be sympathetic. If you need a user to leave their laptop with you overnight, tell them you realize it’s frustrating and apologize.
  • Try to provide a solution that you both can benefit from. Look for commonalities between you and the client, and work to find a solution that is agreeable to both of you.
  • Try to be as informative as possible when discussing a solution to their problem. Most people are uncomfortable with change, so explaining the benefits of a particular solution might help ease this discomfort.
  • Try to keep a positive attitude and be optimistic.
  • Always work on your listening skills!

Using Appropriate Behavior

Critical to appropriate behavior is to treat the customer, or user, the way you would want to be treated. Much has been made of the Golden Rule—treating others the way you would have them treat you. Six key elements to this, from a business perspective, are punctuality, accountability, flexibility, confidentiality, respect, and privacy. The following sections discuss these elements in detail.

Punctuality

Punctuality is important and should be a part of your planning process: If you tell the customer you will be there at 10:30 a.m., you need to make every attempt to be there at that time. If you arrive late, you have given them false hope that the problem will be solved by a set time. That can lead to anger if you arrive late because it can appear that you are not taking the problem seriously. Punctuality continues to be important throughout the service call and does not end with your arrival. If you need to leave to get parts and return, tell the customer when you will be back, and be there at that time. If for some reason you cannot return at the expected time, alert the customer and tell them when you can return.

Along those same lines, if a user asks how much longer the server will be down and you respond that it will up in 5 minutes only to have it down for 5 more hours, the result can be resentment and possibly anger. When estimating downtime, always allow for more time than you think you will need just in case other problems occur. If you greatly underestimate the time, always inform the affected parties and give them a new time estimate. To use an analogy that will put it in perspective, if you take your car to get an oil change and the counter clerk tells you it will be “about 15 minutes,” the last thing you want is to be still sitting there four hours later.

Exercise 11.3 is a simple exercise that you can modify as needed. Its purpose is to illustrate the importance of punctuality.

Exercise 11.3
Understanding Punctuality
1. Consider this scenario: You call someone important in your life—your spouse, a parent, an in-law, or a close friend—and tell them you have something very important you need to discuss. You give that person no other details, but ask them to meet you in exactly 1 hour at a location familiar to both of you.
2. Now imagine that you waited 2 hours before showing up.
3. What would that person’s reaction be? How would that person feel about having to wait for you? What kind of an impact would it have on the person’s mood and behavior?
This is an interaction with someone who matters in your life. Imagine how it would affect a customer who does not know you. Punctuality can go a long way toward keeping dialogue pleasant between two parties.

Accountability

Accountability is a trait every technician should possess. When problems occur, you need to be accountable for them and not attempt to pass the buck to someone else. For example, suppose you are called to a site to put a larger hard drive into a server. While performing this operation, you inadvertently scrape your feet across the carpeted floor, build up energy, and zap the memory in the server. Some technicians would pretend the electrostatic discharge (ESD) never happened, put the new hard drive in, and then act completely baffled by the fact that problems unrelated to the hard drive are occurring. An accountable technician would explain to the customer exactly what happened and suggest ways of proceeding from that point—addressing and solving the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Accountability also means you do what you say you’re going to do and ensure that expectations are set and met. Here are some examples of ways to be accountable:

  • Offer different repair or replacement options if they’re available.
  • Provide documentation on the services you provided.
  • Follow up with the customer at a later date to ensure satisfaction.

The last one is the most overlooked, yet it can be the most important. Some technicians fix a problem and then develop an “I hope that worked and I never hear from them again” attitude. Calling your customer back (or dropping by their desk) to ensure that everything is still working right is an amazing way to quickly build credibility and rapport.

Flexibility

Flexibility is another equally important trait for a service technician. While it is important that you respond to service calls promptly and close them (solve them) as quickly as you can, you must also be flexible. If a customer cannot have you on site until the afternoon, you must make your best effort to work them into your schedule around the time most convenient for them. Likewise, if you are called to a site to solve a problem and the customer brings another problem to your attention while you are there, you should make every attempt to address that problem as well. Under no circumstances should you ever give a customer the cold shoulder or not respond to additional problems because they were not on an initial incident report.

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You should always follow the express guidelines of the company for which you work as they relate to flexibility, empowerment, and other issues.

It’s also important that you are flexible in dealing with challenging or difficult situations. When someone’s computer has failed, they likely aren’t going to be in a good mood and that can make them a “difficult customer” to deal with. In situations like these, keep in mind the following principles:

Avoid arguing. Arguing with the customer—about anything—is only going to make the situation worse. The customer may be mad and may be yelling at you, but don’t argue back or take their comments personally. Try to diffuse the situation by calmly reminding them that you’re here to help and you want to understand what’s going on so you can do that. They may need to vent for a bit, so let them to do that. Just focus on doing what you need to do to resolve the problem.
Don’t minimize their problems. While the customer’s problem might seem trivial to you, it isn’t to them. Treat the problem as seriously as they’re treating it. Keep in mind that facial expressions and body language are also important. If someone tells you their problem and you look at them like they’re delusional, they’re probably going to pick up on that, which can make the situation worse.
Avoid being judgmental. Don’t blame or criticize. As stated earlier, just focus on what needs to happen to fix the problem. Accusing the user of causing the problem does not build rapport.
Focus on your communication skills. If you have a difficult customer, treat it as an opportunity to see how good a communicator you really are. (Maybe your next job will be a foreign ambassador!) Ask nonconfrontational, open-ended questions. “When was the last time it worked?” is more helpful than “Did it work yesterday” or “Did you break it this morning?”
Another good tactic here is to restate the issue or question to verify that you understand. Starting with “I understand that the problem is…” and then repeating what the customer said can show empathy and proves you were listening. If you have it wrong, it’s also a good opportunity to let your customer correct you so you’re on track to solve the right problem.

Confidentiality

The goal of confidentiality is to prevent or minimize unauthorized access to files and folders and disclosure of data and information. In many instances, laws and regulations require confidentiality for specific information. For example, Social Security records, payroll and employee records, medical records, and corporate information are high-value assets. This information could create liability issues or embarrassment if it fell into the wrong hands. Over the last few years, there have been a number of cases in which bank account and credit card numbers were published on the Internet. The cost of these types of breaches of confidentiality far exceed the actual losses from the misuse of this information.

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Confidentiality entails ensuring that data expected to remain private is seen only by those who should see it. Confidentiality may be implemented through authentication and access controls.

As a computer professional you are expected to uphold a high level of confidentiality. Should a user approach you with a sensitive issue—telling you their password, asking for assistance obtaining access to medical forms, and so on—it is your obligation as a part of your job to make certain that information goes no further.

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Confidential materials on work spaces and printers should always be protected.

Respect

Much of the discussion in this chapter is focused on respecting the customer as an individual. However, you must also respect the tangibles that are important to the customer. While you may look at a monitor they are using as an outdated piece of equipment that should be scrapped, the business owners may see it as a gift from their children when they first started their business.

Treat the customers’ property as if it had value, and you will win their respect. Their property includes the system you are working on (laptop/desktop computer, monitor, peripherals, and the like) as well as other items associated with their business. Do not use their telephone to make personal calls or call other customers while you are at this site. Do not use their printers or other equipment, unless it is in a role associated with the problem you’ve been summoned to fix.

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The Customer Respect Group, www.customerrespect.com, measures the behavior of corporations and the respect they give to customers through their websites. Such items as privacy, responsiveness, attitude, simplicity, transparency, and business principles are combined to create a Customer Respect Index (CRI) ranking. The items they rank in the online world are just as important in the offline world and mirror those presented here.
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Respecting the customer is not rocket science. All you need to do—for this exam and in the real world—is think of how you would want someone to treat you. Exercise 11.4 explores this topic further. This exercise, like Exercise 11.3, can be modified to fit your purpose or constraints. Its goal is to illustrate the positive power of the unexpected.

Exercise 11.4
Surprise Someone
1. Pick a random, toll-free number used for business solicitation and call it.
2. Chat with the operator for a few moments about the company’s product or service, and then ask to speak to the supervisor.
3. When the supervisor comes on, commend the operator you have been speaking with for the job that he has done.
It is likely the operator became confused when you asked to speak to the supervisor; this almost always occurs only in a negative situation. How did the operator handle the request? Did it change the tone of the communication that was taking place? Did they fulfill your request even though they feared they could lose from it? Did the supervisor respond by expecting negative comments? How was the positive information you offered accepted?
Ideally, this illustrated the importance of staying professional and keeping the channel of communication open even in a tough situation. You should be able to adapt this to the workplace when a customer asks to speak to your superior or has another request that is difficult for you to fulfill.

One last area to consider that directly relates to this topic is that of ethics. Ethics is the application of morality to situations. While there are different schools of thought, one of the most popular areas of study is known as normative ethics, focusing on what is normal or practical (right versus wrong and so on). Regardless of religion, culture, and other influences, there are generally accepted beliefs that some things are wrong (stealing, murder, and the like) and some things are right (for example, the Golden Rule). You should always attempt to be ethical in everything you do because it reflects not only on your character but also on the company for which you work.

Privacy

While there is some overlap between confidentiality and privacy, privacy is an area of computing that is becoming considerably more regulated. As a computing professional, you must stay current with applicable laws because you’re often one of the primary agents expected to ensure compliance.

Although the laws provide a minimal level of privacy, you should go out of your way to respect the privacy of your users beyond what the law establishes. If you discover information about a user that you should not be privy to, you should not share it with anyone, and you should alert the customers that their data is accessible and encourage them—if applicable—to remedy the situation.

Dealing with Prohibited Content/Activity

This is a situation that no one really wants to deal with, but it happens more often than we would care to admit. A computer you are fixing has content on it that is inappropriate or illegal, or you see someone on your network performing an action that is against policy or laws. How you respond in such a situation can have a significant bearing on your career, the other people involved, and depending on the situation, the well-being of your company. The lynchpin to dealing with prohibited content or activity is to have a comprehensive policy in place that covers appropriate behavior. After that, it’s a matter of executing the proper steps per the plan when something happens.

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A Little Goes a Long Way
The following examples of respecting and disrespecting the customer come from one of the authors’ own experiences:
“My wife and I were in an unfamiliar part of Chicago without ready access to a vehicle when we started to get hungry. I am a meat-and-potatoes man and rarely take a chance on anything else. There were no restaurants of that type around, however, and we wound up in an Asian grill. Expecting not to like the buffet, we ordered a side of lettuce wraps and then two buffets and drinks. As it turned out, I liked the buffet a great deal and went back through the line many times. We also liked the drinks and got several of those. Everything was great, except the waiter forgot to bring the lettuce wraps. I dismissed it and made a mental note to inform the waiter when he brought the bill and have him deduct them from our tab. Instead, the manager brought the bill over when we were finished eating, and he had scribbled on it ‘no charge.’ When I asked him why, he apologized that no one brought the wraps and said he hoped we would come back another time. I was beside myself with disbelief and thanked him profusely, and since then I have told many people about that restaurant, describing it as the best place in Chicago I know of to eat.
“In a very different situation, while driving home one night, the ‘low tire pressure’ dashboard light came on. Upon inspection, I could hear the right-rear tire hissing. I drove to a tire store and explained the situation. I had used this same tire store over the past 14 years for tires, oil changes, exhaust, maintenance, and a number of other things on the vehicles I’ve owned. The manager came out and said they found a nail in the tire. They removed the nail, patched the tire, and charged me $13. I was delighted, expecting it to cost much more, and so I paid the bill and went on my way. The next morning, I woke up to find the right-rear tire completely flat. I canceled the morning’s appointment, filled the tire with an air compressor, and drove back to the tire store. Shortly, the manager came out and told me that they found another nail in that tire; they were going to eat the $13 on this one, but it had better not happen again. I could not believe the insinuation—that I was driving about looking for nails to hit with that one tire just so I could spend my morning taking them for $13! Instead of offering the possibility that they had overlooked a nail the previous night, apologizing for the inconvenience, or anything of that sort, he shifted the responsibility to me. Needless to say, I have not been back since, and all of my repair business is now done elsewhere.”
These two examples illustrate two different approaches to treating the customer. In the first example, the customer is well respected and treated better than expected. In the second example, the customer is disrespected and is treated as an inconvenience. Given the lifetime value of customers, it is always better to respect them—and retain them—than to offhandedly dismiss them.

Creating a Prohibited Content Policy

As mentioned, creating a policy is the most important part of dealing with prohibited content or actions. Without a policy in place that specifically defines what is and isn’t allowed, and what actions will be taken when a violation of the policy occurs, you don’t really have a leg to stand on when a situation happens.

What is on the policy depends on the company you work for. Generally speaking, if something violates an existing federal or local law, it probably isn’t appropriate for your network either. Many companies also have strict policies against the possession of pornographic or hate-related materials on company property. Some either go further than that, banning any personal files such as downloaded music or movies on work computers. Regardless of what is to be on your policy, always ensure that you have buy-in from very senior management so that the policy will be considered valid. Here are some specific examples of content that might be prohibited:

  • Adult content
  • Content that advocates against an individual, group, or organization
  • Unlicensed copyrighted material
  • Content related to drug, alcohol, tobacco, or gambling
  • Content about hacking, cracking, or other illegal computer activity
  • Violent or weapons-related content

A good policy will also contain the action steps to be taken if prohibited content or activity is spotted. For example, what should you do if you find porn on someone’s work laptop?

The policy should explicitly outline the punishment for performing specific actions or possessing specific content. The appropriate penalty may very well be based upon the type of content found. Something that is deemed mildly offensive might result in a verbal or written warning the first time and a more severe sentence the second time. If your company has a zero tolerance policy, then employees may be terminated and possibly subject to legal action.

Finally, after the policy has been established, it’s critical to ensure that all employees are aware of it and have the proper training. In fact, it’s highly recommended that you have all employees sign a disclosure saying they have read and understand the policy and that the signed document be kept in their human resources file. Many companies also require that employees review the policy yearly and resign the affidavit as well.

Handling Specific Situations

If you have your policy in place, then this part should be relatively scripted. It might not be easy to deal with, but the steps you should take should be outlined for you. Because we’re talking about professionalism, now is a good time to remind you that people will be looking at your reaction as well as your actions. If you see prohibited content and start giggling and walk away, that probably doesn’t reflect well. Always remember that others are watching you.

The specific steps you take will depend on your policy, but here are some general guidelines:

Follow your policies exactly as they are written. Yes, we’ve already said this several times. It’s crucial that you do this. Not following the policies and procedures can derail your case against the offender and possibly set you up for problems as well.
If you are the first responder, get a verifier. Your first priority as the first responder is to identify the improper activity or content. Then, you should always get someone else to verify the material or action so it doesn’t turn into a situation of your word against someone else’s. Immediately report the situation through proper channels.
Preserve the data or device. The data or device should immediately be removed from the possession of the offending party and preserved. This will ensure that the data doesn’t mysteriously disappear before the proper parties are notified.
Follow the right chain of custody. The removed materials should be secured and turned over to the proper authorities. Depending on the situation, materials may be held in a safe, locked location at the office, or they may need to be turned over to local authorities. Always document the findings and who has custody of the offensive materials.

Once this first part is complete, then it’s a matter of levying the right punishment for the infraction.

Situations involving prohibited content or activities are not easy to deal with. The accused person might get angry or confrontational, so it’s important to always have the right people there to help manage and diffuse the situation. If you feel that the situation is severe enough and are worried about your own personal safety, don’t be afraid to involve the police if needed. While the situation needs to be dealt with, there’s no sense in putting yourself in direct danger to do so.

Putting It All in Perspective

Whether you are dealing with customers in person or on the phone, there are rules to which you should adhere. These were implied and discussed in the previous sections, but you must understand them and remember them for the exam:

  • Use proper language and avoid using jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms. Every field has its own language, and outsiders feel lost when they start hearing it. Put yourself in the position of someone not in the field and explain what is going on by using words they can relate to.
  • Maintain a positive attitude and tone of voice. The customer is counting on you to fix their problem. The last thing they want is for you to sound defeated when you hear the problem.
  • Listen to your customers. Allow them to complete their statements and avoid interrupting them. People like to know they are being heard, and as simple an act as it is, this can make all the difference in making them feel at ease with your work. Everyone has been in a situation where they have not been able to fully explain their problem without being interrupted or ignored. It is not enjoyable in a social setting, and it is intolerable in a business setting.
  • Be culturally sensitive. Some people may have a language barrier that makes it difficult to explain their problem. (Think about how much computer language you learned in your high school language courses!) Others may have different habits or practices in their workplace. Be respectful of their world.
  • Be on time. If you’re going to be late, be sure to contact your customer. Not doing so indicates that you think their problem isn’t important.
  • Avoid distraction and/or interruptions when talking with customers. You need to make them feel like their problem is important and that it has your full attention.
  • Exercise patience with difficult customers and situations:
    • Avoid arguing with customers and/or becoming defensive.
    • Do not minimize customers’ problems. While it may be a situation you see every day, it is a crisis to them.
    • Avoid being judgmental and/or insulting or calling the customer names.
    • Clarify customer statements and ask pertinent questions. The questions you ask should help guide you toward isolating the problem and identifying possible solutions. Don’t be afraid to nod, ask questions, and repeat to the customer what you think they are saying to make sure you are understanding it correctly.
  • Set and meet—or exceed—expectations and communicate timelines and status. Customers want to know what is going on. They want to know that you understand the problem and can deal with it. Being honest and direct is almost always appreciated.
  • Deal appropriately with confidential materials. Don’t look at files or printouts that you have no business looking at. Make sure the customer’s confidential materials stay that way.
  • Create a policy that covers appropriate use and prohibited content. Ensure that everyone who uses the company’s computers is trained on and understands the policy.
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