What are the most common technical support mistakes?

Most common include rushing to solve a problem and not listening or reading carefully. Others include: assuming the user's technical level; lacking empathy; and poor communication. Notice that these are mainly soft skills. Mistakes usually lead to user frustration, poor user satisfaction, and long time to a resolution. Efficient tech support requires listening, good communication, and empathy. Improving on these soft skill will lead to a more positive customer experience and successful issue resolution.

If the problem is down to the customer's design or implementation, then making the customer feel like they were an idiot is a huge mistake.

Most common technical support mistakes are mostly due to communication or understanding gap. - Without fully understanding the problem and jumping to solution leads to misdiagnosis. - User does not understand technicalities he want fix or resolution in simple terms. Bombarding Technical terms in solution causes understanding gaps. Unclear explaination causes confusion and frustration - Lack of Empathy toward user problems causes frustration - Lack of Knowledge - Negative attitude - Complex solutions instead of simple -

To listen and to catch up well about customer requirement and challenge is a main responsibility of System Analyst. Developer can not do it properly.

The most common technical support mistakes, - Not having a clear incident response plan - Not knowing the severity/ priority of the reported issues - Lack of communication while providing support - Not understanding the Customer's Perspective - Not documenting the problem resolution as Knowledge articles & educate team to avoid it in future

Feedback is the end result of the cycle, without obtaining a feedback on the changes the issue doesn’t stand to be resolved. Technical support is not a one way process, feedback ensures customers needs are met.

No solo el servicio post venta merece una atención especial, sino todo servicio que hagamos al cliente. Debe haber sostenibilidad en nuestras atenciones. El cliente merece tener un plus de todos los que hacemos parte de su equipo de soluciones.

After providing a solution or troubleshooting steps, following up with the customer to ensure the issue has been resolved satisfactorily is important. Failing to follow up can leave customers feeling neglected and may result in unresolved issues.

Documenting problems faced by customers will help with addressing some of the following points - Improving products and solutions as a part of standardisation. - Training workforce and giving them hindsight on issues. - Changes in people handling the situation are a constant challenge, by documenting it will help the next person to ensure implementation - Ensuring spares or parts supplied in future would be in compliance with the changes

I agree with the points made in the article but it is missing 1 key point. As the article noted, most of those elements are around interpersonal skills (all the more reason to hire the right personality and train them in the tech) but when it comes time to actually troubleshoot, newbs don't keep it simple. i.e. user reports they cant load a website, tech runs tracert, pings etc. instead of just checking the cable. (If any newbs read this ALWAYS start with the cables)

Hace poco recibí un feedback de como poder documentar una reunión: mediante un acta. Las actas son documentos ágiles en los que se concentran los temas tocados en las reuniones. De dichas actas nacen los planes de acción (5W1H).

Customer feedback is valuable for improving the support process. Ignoring or dismissing customer feedback can prevent necessary improvements and hinder customer satisfaction.

Thinking that the person knows a lot about technology can cause misunderstandings. It's crucial to figure out how much the person knows about tech and explain things in a way that matches their understanding.

Importantísimo. El saber darnos que para problemas complicados hay profesionales con mayor preparación y esto no debe frustrarnos, mas por el contrario, debe ser un aliciente, un envión para poder seguir aprendiendo en temas desconocidos.

Too often the same problems are solved again and again because the infrastructure and support system don't surface previous solutions to either support staff or to the customer. Helpdesk databases are overfull with tickets where there is more commonality than not, but no one can get at that knowledge in accurately curated real time.

To summarise, ‘superiority complex’. I’ve been a Tech Support Engineer and I could vouch for the fact that we often succumb to the feeling of superiority. It’s very easy to develop superiority complex being a technical support engineer because we have the expertise on the product and its environment while the person requesting support may not. We are humans after all and some times we slip. Anyway, this is also one of the reasons why a seasoned technical support engineer is paid handsomely in the market. A seasoned technical support engineer not only carries the years of experience but also the cultivated patience and wisdom with him to deal with any kind of customer, humbly.

In my experience, a lot of ticketing systems are built (and/or utilized) to manage tickets in isolation. A ticket is opened; it is closed; end of story. The problem: The same issue can occur twenty times and twenty different support reps will repeat exactly the same steps to “resolution” but if they are only solving for the individual user each time, the issue will continue to occur until the systemic problem is uncovered and solved. Root cause analysis can help reduce this type of churn.

One of the most significant mistakes in technical support is failing to set clear expectations. Without providing customers with a clear understanding of how and when their issues will be addressed, it can lead to a cyclone of questions and concerns. This not only impacts customer satisfaction but can also escalate into a broader set of problems. It's crucial to establish and meet service level expectations to maintain trust and efficiency. By doing so, technical support teams can prevent the proliferation of avoidable issues and enhance the overall customer experience. Frameworks like ITIL, and utilizing tools with service catalog capabilities, such as ServiceNow, can bring significant value to setting and managing expectations.

Here are a few that were not directly mentioned: -Assuming the User's Knowledge -Using Over-Technical Jargon -Ignoring Feedback -Failure to Update Knowledge Base -Not Recognizing the Human Element -Inadequate Training for Support Staff -Inconsistent Communication