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Exceptional IT Customer Service from a Simple Sandwich Exercise

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Internal IT help desk specialists, members of the human resource department and front desk receptionists may be the most well-known people in a company, as they typically come into contact with every employee at one time or another.  

Technology solutions organizations like MCPc provide IT talent to their customers. These skilled technical types are the face of MCPc to our customers, yet they often receive the least amount of soft skills training — like how to provide exceptional customer service.

Lessons over Lunch

Our Director of Staff Augmentation  led a visually impactful customer service training exercise with his staff earlier this year.

He ordered boxed lunches for everyone on his team and invited them to get together in a conference room for a break. He didn’t let anyone start eating, promising he would serve each of them himself.

For Person One, he placed his napkin on his lap, took out his sandwich and unwrapped it for him, opened his chips and set them conveniently to the side, placed the apple and cookie behind the sandwich and opened the drink for him. For Person Two, he dropped his napkin on the floor first, partially unwrapped his sandwich and lumped his chips, cookie and apple all on top of each other to the side. He didn’t bother to open his drink. For the third person, he simply put her box on the table in front of her and moved on without saying a word.

What a simple but effective way to get his point across about what is and what isn’t great customer service!

Surviving the Balancing Act

How difficult it is for onsite IT talent! They are serving two masters simultaneously, by keeping an attentive eye on their own company’s goals, while constantly maintaining customer satisfaction in their physical place of work. 

Here are a few tips we teach our managed IT services staff to help them maintain this balance:

You’ve gotta have heart. Have you heard of the acronym, Hear Empathize Apologize Respond and Thank?  Exceptional customer service in any organization, and for any position, demands a day-in-and-day-out positive personality. Remember to listen carefully to your customer, appreciate the inconvenience they are experiencing, apologize graciously when necessary, follow up with them in a timely fashion and thank them for their time.

Know your audience. Customer personalities come in all forms, but here are some of the most common:

1. Creative, Talkative, Dramatic – These people will likely have a flair for the dramatic, may exaggerate the problem and have an interest in how they look coming out of the situation. They’ll likely respond warmly to any suggestion that will help them look good.
2. Analytical – They are organized, detail-oriented and seriously discuss their IT problems in a systematic way. Make sure that your evidence and details are correct, present them in an orderly fashion and take the time to make a thorough presentation.
3. Warm and Friendly – They talk in terms of feelings, are cooperative and ask a lot of questions. Since these types generally avoid conflict and don’t like to disagree, be open and honest, and try to deal with them in smaller settings.
4. All Business – These are the fast-paced, to-the-point people who can be blunt. Recognize that they are probably extremely busy and avoid going into the details. Remain business focused throughout your conversation.

Anticipate Customer Needs.

1. Make them feel important. Pay attention, and give them your undivided attention.
2. Approach everything with a smile. We all prefer people with positive attitudes, which are both uplifting and contagious.
3. Be different. Unique and special service is long appreciated and never forgotten.

Exceptional customer service is about common sense and remembering to treat people the way you would want to be treated. Customer service can be shown through thoughtfully serving someone a sandwich, or while providing complex IT support desk-side. Put your customer first, and remember that they have feelings and needs much like your own. They want to feel heard and understood. If you can succeed in these things, it will be the reason they want to retain you as a client.

Beth Stec is VP of Corporate Communications and Human Resources at MCPc, and is responsible for the development and management of personnel programs and policies. Connect with Beth on LinkedIn.

image credit: fotoosvanrobin

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