There’s often no way around offering internal support for most organizations. Many companies have customized software or hardware that no-one else can support. Others need tech support to happen fast and can’t don’t want to outsource it. If your organization relies on providing technical support internally, making the support process as clear as possible can help avoid problems and speed up the process.

1. Provide a process for minor or frequent issues. Many of the problems that an internal support team can find itself facing regularly are fairly minor or even repetitive. When the rest of the organization has appropriate tools, like checklists, they can diagnose those sorts of problems themselves, rather than immediately turning to the support team, which can let your team focus on the problems that are really crucial.
2. Create tutorial and reference materials. A support team’s time can also be well spent heading off potential issues. If you can sink some of that time into creating tutorials and other reference materials that can help the rest of the organization avoid potential issues, it’s possible to get ahead of the game. Tools like TeamSupport put a high priority on creating “knowledge bases” — reference materials that customers and clients can refer to quickly, rather than putting in a call to support.
3. Set expectations, especially for response times. People can get a little on edge while waiting for a solution to their problem. But if you clearly communicate when they can expect a response, if not a solution, you can at least minimize the phone calls and emails the support team receives just to check up. An internal website listing updates may be one option, while an automated email system may be another. Many companies now post statistics for the tech support they provide external customers on the web, such SiteGround’s full list of their response times, which could be an option for internal support as well.
4. Put a face on the support team. It’s hard for people to see a support team as individuals. But by making an effort to get the support team out and about with the rest of the organization, you can at least humanize them. That can mean bringing them into meetings, changing up the office space, or using social tools.

There will always be frustrations in the support process: people always want problems fixed immediately, which isn’t necessarily possible. But the more you can smooth out the process, the fewer of those problems you’ll have to face on a regular basis.

Image courtesy Flickr user Ellecer Valencia

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Not every situation requires a call to tech support staff. TeamSupport provides a customer portal that includes a knowledge base that makes it easy for someone with a problem to look up an answer, rather than waiting on on a response for support. Of course, TeamSupport also allows for support ticket submissions, along with ticket management, so that support staff can handle any issues that a search of the knowledge base can’t address. More advanced features, including live chat, are available as add-ons.

TeamSupport puts a major emphasis on communication, making it as easy as possible to not only track tickets but to talk to the people submitting those tickets. Customers who need support are organized into a database automatically, making it  possible to provide ongoing help to those who need it (as well as track issues against the customers who report them). For teams responsible for providing internal support, TeamSupport also offers communication tools to help simplify the support process. A wiki and other collaboration features make it easy for your support staff to stay up-to-speed on potential problems.

The app is available in three different editions, with prices ranging from $15 to $35 per month per user, going from from a package meant for small teams that need a step up from spreadsheet to manage support issues up to an edition that allows users to closely track tickets, bugs and more.

TeamSupport offers its own support portal, providing in-depth information for users interested in getting a closer look. If nothing else, it’s a great example of company eating its own dog food.

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1. Attention to small steps. On New Year’s Day, I found myself feeling increasingly overwhelmed by the goals I hoped to achieve this year and wondering how in the world I’d ever reach them. I became frustrated by the sheer volume of work that needed to be done and wasted the majority of the day worrying over it all. The next day, though, I remembered that success really comes from consistency in the small steps. I’ve made a lot of progress in my business over the past couple of years, and I know that what it’s really about is increasing the number of small steps I take, as well as the frequency that I take them. In 2010, the important thing is to simply take small steps — and more of them.
2. Discipline. Small steps only work if they’re taken over and over again. If you start an exercise routine and miss a day, that won’t matter so much, as long as you exercise more days than you don’t. To succeed, simply focus on reducing the number of days you don’t do the things you need to do.
3. Having a destination in mind. Most entrepreneurs appreciate that the journey is usually far more important than arriving at any given point, but it’s still important to know where you want to go and have a general direction to move toward.
4. Constantly switching from big picture to small picture. For me, I know that I have some pretty big goals and several large rocks to move this year, but I also have to keep my eye on smaller-view things (like how the bills will get paid this month and next). I have a tendency to either be in big-picture mode or small-picture mode, when what I really need is to look at my situation from both vantage points very frequently. By switching view points often, I’m less likely to neglect the present or the future of my business.
5. Support. Even though it may feel like we’re on an island a lot of the time, we definitely need support to build successful businesses, whether that’s our accountability partners who keep our feet to the fire, our networks who help us bridge the gaps along the way, or our family and friends who keep us grounded to what’s important.
6. Leaving behind limiting beliefs. We all have our own gremlins that follow us around trying to convince us of what we can’t do and why we can’t do it, but to succeed, we have to leave them behind. There will always be excuses and reasons not to do things, but this year, figure out reasons why you should and how you can.
7. Encompassing valued traits. Just as important (maybe more so) as the doing and the having is the being. Who is it that you hope to be? What traits do you want to embody? How can you start integrating those traits into your daily life?
8. Appreciation. It’s hard to stay connected to any vision if you’re not savoring the things in your life along the way toward reaching it, and that includes the people in your life, who you are, where you’ve been, and what you’ve accomplished.

Success in the new year will come if you stay focused on making the most of each moment you’re given, and with these few tools helping you along your way, I hope success will prove inevitable.

What else could you use in your toolkit in order to make 2010 a success?

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Besides, wouldn’t you rather solve your problems instead of waiting for a live support person to pick up the phone and sweeten you up, telling you how important you are and how the company wants to provide you with the very best service possible. Yadda yadda … just ask me what my problem is already!

Here are 10 steps to becoming your own Mr. or Ms. Fix-it:

1. Reboot or power off/on. This applies to computers, mobile devices, printers, routers and other electronics. It even works on my DVR when it freezes. For PCs, shut them down before rebooting, if you can. If the computer freezes and won’t budge after enough time passes, turn it off for a few minutes before turning it back on.
2. Run anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and keep it up to date. For some of you, this is probably a no-brainer. Sadly, I’ve heard stories of people with problems who were many updates behind, or they forgot they turned off the software and never turned it back on. Most standard anti-virus apps can run a full-system scan at least once a week. Make sure yours does.
3. Check cables and switches. Just last week, my son told me his laptop wouldn’t work. I checked the adapter and it was fine. It turned out the surge protector wasn’t switched on.
4. Know how to save and import files in different formats. When Office 2007 was released, people in my community emailed me because they couldn’t open the .docx, .pptx and .xlsx files it uses. Easy fix: download the free Office Compatibility Pack from Microsoft. Those with Office 2007 can change the default save file format back to .doc, .ppt and .xls. There are some fairly standard formats, like vCard and CSV files, that you can import and export into many different applications: Outlook, Gmail, Apple Address Book, Excel and more. Make “File > Save as” your friend. You can almost never go wrong in converting files to Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format as virtually everyone can open and view them. Many free sites and apps can covert your files.
5. Visit manufacturer and developer web sites. Software not behaving? Hardware acting wonky? Go to the web site of the developer or manufacturer to search the knowledge base or support pages. You can often find the answers here without having to call support. Or if you can’t find the answers, email support. It’s often less time consuming (if you don’t need an immediate answer) because you don’t wait on anyone or sit through long questions. But before you do that, try #6.
6. Search the web for a solution. Bloggers often receive emails from people asking for help with a problem, just because they once blogged about the product or service — don’t be tempted to go down this route! Save yourself a step and go straight to the resource or an already published answer. If the manufacturer or developer web site doesn’t have the answer, search the web. I’ve found many solutions on other web sites. Make your search as specific as possible. If you receive an error message, copy/paste the error text (if possible) or write it down (or take a screen shot), and use it in your search query, along with the name of the application or other relevant information.
7. Rule out other possibilities. Tech support people and programmers do this all the time. Let’s say you keep receiving a pop-up message that your USB drive could perform faster on a USB 2.0 port, as happened to me recently. A few things come to mind: The USB drive is broken; the USB port is broken; the drivers need updating. Now, I could still open the files on the USB drive, so I didn’t think it was broken. For this same reason, I knew the USB port wasn’t broken. Before trying complicated debugging, I located another USB drive and plugged it in; the error message didn’t show up. Problem solved: it was the  cheap USB drive causing the problem. I switched to a newer one and haven’t had a problem since.
8. Watch Wi-Fi use. Keep your credit card and other personal information off public Wi-Fi connections, which have little security. Limit what you log into while on Wi-Fi. In other words, checking your bank account can wait until you find a more secure connection.
9. Uninstall and reinstall the application. Sometimes an application can become corrupted. After exhausting all other options, re-install the app.
10. Sync and backup everything. I recently lost a file (yes, just lost it). Luckily, I had a back-up on an external drive, so I just copied it back to my computer. I sync my personal information manager with Google Calendar and Contacts and my BlackBerry. When someone’s contact information disappears from one of the resources, I had it on another. With many syncing tools and options available, you can make sure never lose any data. Not only do I have an external drive, but also I use an online backup services.

While a phone call to tech support sounds faster than finding the answers yourself, it doesn’t always work out that way. You can solve many problems within a few minutes using these steps. The best parts? There’s no waiting, no working through someone’s idea of a script, no redoing the steps you’ve already done, and no listening to awful hold music. You’re your best tech support person.

What tech support tricks do you use?

Photo credit: Joe Zlomek

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But as Paisano wrote recently, current conditions won’t last forever. Many sites will eventually become fee-based; others will shut down when their funding runs out, or when their owners decide to move in a different direction.

So when I evaluate a product that I’d like to incorporate into my company’s workflow — especially a product that will be visible to clients — I try to consider the product’s feature set, along with the issues raised in Judi’s 2007 WWD post. I also ask the following questions:

• Is the product open? Like a lot of people, I prefer open source projects. But I will consider proprietary systems if I am comfortable with how my data is stored and backed up, and whether the product allows me to do my own backups.
• Does it use standard formats that are easy to import and export? If the product will interface with my existing data, I need to evaluate how much work it will be to prepare the data for use by the new product.
• Can I host the product or software myself? Because my company does web hosting, we have easy access to web servers, bandwidth and backup systems. Therefore, I tend to prefer software that we can host ourselves. Maintaining a web server isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, although most of the major hosting companies make it really easy, as long as you’re willing to keep up with security patches and so on.
• If I can’t host the software myself, how reliable and robust are the product’s servers? Of course, even major services (like Gmail) have occasional outages. Here in Seattle, a fire caused a significant outage for many web sites just a couple of weeks ago. So I need to decide how my company will deal with such outages if we adopt the software.
• How will using this product affect my bottom line? Managing any new product requires investing time and resources to install, set up, maintain and troubleshoot. Proprietary services are priced many different ways, and may require an up-front cost, plus continued license fees or service contracts. And while open source products don’t require license fees, many open source software companies offer service contracts. I need to decide whether I want to invest in such a contract, or whether I think I can rely on the user community. Whether open source or not, it’s always a good idea to look at the complexity and maturity of the product, how likely it is to need support, and how active the user base is.
• What is my exit strategy should the product no longer be available? I need to decide how I will get my data, and plan for alternatives, if the product goes away.
• How likely is it that the service provider will be available in the long run? This one’s tricky, since as a small businessperson, I’m hardly in a position to see, much less analyze, the business plans and financial statements of every producer I consider. But there is a fair amount of public information available, so I need to do what due diligence I can.

It’s never possible to plan for every contingency. I had to scramble to replace my Sunrocket VoIP service when that company ceased operation, and I still have some SyQuest backup disk cartridges somewhere for which no players are now available. But with a little common sense, it’s possible to avoid putting all of our technological eggs in one basket and becoming too dependent on any one service.

How do you evaluate what new services to include in your workflow?

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Many technology companies have come to the end of the line on providing personal customer service. I won’t point any fingers, but some of the biggest names in software, web sites and online services have no way for customers to contact them by phone or even online chat; even email forms go unanswered. Instead, users must rely on volunteer help on bulletin boards, discussion groups and the like.

We should be taking advantage of our “end-of-the-line” position. Web workers and small businesses can maintain professional relationships with customers in ways that large companies cannot. Clients should know that they can get help from us, and we should make clear what support services we offer. Service is how we can differentiate ourselves, compete with larger businesses, and thrive in difficult economic times.

Unfortunately, saying “we provide outstanding customer service” has become a cliche. It’s up to us to convince current and potential clients that the service we provide is worth the added cost.

• Provide ways to connect with us. Many of our clients prefer to talk to a human being. As the founder and co-owner of a three-person web development and hosting company, I spend what sometimes feels like an inordinate amount of time assisting customers. But I’ve concluded that providing excellent customer service is the only way that a company like mine can survive.
• Provide self-help options. In a recent talk, Chip Lackey of J.D. Power and Associates (the people who do the well-known ratings) said that customer satisfaction goes up when self-help options are provided. You don’t need to be a big company to offer such options. My company offers status updates (available on two separate web sites, on Facebook, on Twitter and as recorded phone messages), a knowledge base/FAQ, and a blog. We’re also experimenting with offering technical support through Get Satisfaction.
• Maintain reliability and responsiveness. We try to answer phone calls immediately during business hours, even when we’re out of the office, thanks to call forwarding. And we respond to emails within 24 hours. We’re also on call after hours; we’ve found that most clients don’t abuse our availability.
• Stress creativity and uniqueness. Our customers come to us because they don’t want a web site that looks like a tired template from a stock source. And despite our small size, we have the content development, graphic design and programming skills matching those of larger companies; we also have arrangements with others who offer services that we don’t.
• Make the cost as painless as possible. We have found that most clients don’t want to pay extra for a service contract, so we include the cost of service in the project fee. But we make clear which services are included, and spell out rates for services that are not part of the project cost. We also take credit cards, and set up payment plans when needed.

Like Darrell, I’m not a big fan of personal branding. I have a journalism background, and am skeptical of advertising/marketing jargon. But, unlike Darrell, I do think that it’s important to be visible, so I’ve used the above strategies to stand out in the crowd.

Share your customer service tips in the comments.

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If ContactHelp just provided support phone numbers, it would be only mildly more useful than simply Googling for numbers, but the site goes well beyond that. It’s designed to allow users to add tips on how to get support efficiently; supplies hours of operation for most support centers listed; often provides support email addresses and, in many cases, describes how to get support in multiple languages.

Have you ever called for support from a big company such as Sony or HP and gotten lost in the voice navigation loop or put endlessly on hold? Here’s the citation that ContactHelp has for questions specifically about Sony digital imaging products, found right underneath the correct phone number:

“How to reach a live person: Keep pressing 0 (3 times) and ignore the error messages.”

In other cases, users have posted similar tips such as: “Keep pressing # and ignore their messages until they say ‘Sorry but I’m having trouble helping you’ and then you’ll be transferred.” These are good tips! Who likes to listen to elevator music or get unhelpful responses from non-human attendants?

Users at ContactHelp can even upload recordings of unhelpful support calls, and there are a lot more tips on how to reach live attendants than the ones listed above. I also noticed that the site is good at providing phone numbers and tips for the many e-commerce sites that seem to deliberately make it difficult to get phone support. Amazon is the most searched-for company at ContactHelp, for example. Give it a try next time you need to get support on the phone.

Share your telephone support tips in the comments.

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The above is a conversation I’ve had to have with clients time and time again, although not in those exact words, of course. Often, I later realized, it actually was my fault. In the early days of my career, I wasn’t providing clients with enough of an end-to-end solution. I short-sightedly forgot that when you’re transferring IP, it’s important to make sure that the client (and all of the client’s staff who will be involved) will be able to use whatever it is I’ve produced for them, for as long as the tool is in active use.

What that shouldn’t mean is that I end up acting as tech support for the rest of my days. What it should mean is that I provide them with enough resources up front that they don’t have to call me every five seconds to ask how to change or update something. Here are some tools you should provide to help make the handover as one-way as possible.

FAQ

Preferably generated through actual use cases and interactions with client staff. For example, if you’re providing a client with a web site, these might be questions that they themselves will receive from clients, like “What is the optimal browser for viewing the site?”, or they might be questions that client staff have about the update/modification process, like “What size images work best for the site’s homepage?”

User Guide

You’ve seen them, you’ve used them, now it’s time to make one. A user guide is an invaluable tool for any kind of deliverable you may be producing for a client. Usually, user guides are living documents and will continue to grow and be added to by client staff.

My advice for producing these is to start with a best-in-class survey, so dust off those that you’ve received packed with software, hardware, etc. and get a feel for the genre. Also, try to strike a balance, if possible, between visual and textual learners, by providing both ample descriptions and screenshots where appropriate. Also, use Clear Writing principles to maximize readability.

Quick Reference Card

Chances are, the people you’re turning over your deliverable to are no more inclined to read through an exhaustive manual or guide to find out what they want then you are. Hence the beauty of the Quick Reference Card. There are plenty of these documents available online, so it isn’t hard to find reference documents to work from.

The danger here is to go overboard and try to provide too much information. Remember, it isn’t supposed to be a manual.

You can also provide different versions of these documents for different stakeholders. Someone producing content might need a flow chart outlining the content approval process, for example, while someone responsible for changing code might need a basic HTML reference.

It can be hard to anticipate every possible question that a client will have after the project is handed over, but after a while you’ll get used to guessing the kinds of things they’ll expect answers to, and all of the above documents will be the better for it. Even if you’re not a pro, though, start using these documents and I promise your phone will ring less, or at least less for the wrong reasons and more for the right ones.

What strategies do you use for minimizing support after handing over your projects? Is some support inevitable?

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However, early on, many companies were not monitoring the site and not addressing the complaints. In fact, one of my rants was actually addressed by a former employee of the company in question.

Now I’m finding that GetSatisfaction is becoming a key tool in troubleshooting all of the technical – and vendor – issues that come up in my web work.

First, I had to make sure that I was accessing the right forum to vent my frustrations. Then I had to decide if I had a question or was announcing a problem. GetSatisfaction prompts you to provide as much detailed information as possible to expedite the process of getting a response and appropriate answer or recommendation.

My latest GetSatisfaction interaction occurred when I discovered that a Firefox Add-on that I was trying out – Power Twitter – wasn’t working well for me. In addition to a few bugs that were driving me crazy, my typical twittering flow was being interrupted by the app. Granted, I knew the app was in beta, but when I realized it wasn’t for me at this time, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to remove it from my browser.

My first thought was tweet it so I put out the question “How do I remove Power Twitter from my browser?” The recommendations that initially came in were telling me to download an application cleaning software to remove it. This didn’t sound right to me. Then I noticed a tiny T3 at the top of my Power Twitter’d Twitter page. Clicking on it led me directly to the company’s GetSatisfaction page. Smart. Very smart.

I posted my quandry in the company’s support forum, and gave my question a catchy title (per GetSatisfaction’s recommendation): “How Do I Kill Power Twitter?” Okay, maybe I was a little harsh. But it got responses from other users. The trick was to go to my Firefox menu: Tools > Add Ons > Extensions > Uninstall.

To be honest, the first person to give me the above solution was on Twitter, and the tweets came in within about an hour of my initial question while the GetSatisfaction responses were hours later than that. Still, I’m impressed that a company would have the foresight to build in a link or button to get users – beta or otherwise – straight to their GetSatisfaction forum. While I didn’t hear yet from an actual employee of the company, clearly harnessing the combined knowledge and experience of customers is working.

You may also want to use GetSatisfaction to make suggestions and recommendations to a company for their product or application, especially if you’re a beta user. Sending your ideas to a company directly may get lost in the ether while posting it on GetSatisfaction creates a permanent record which has obvious value.

Companies can benefit from paying power users of their products to monitor and participate on their GetSatisfaction page. Or GetSatisfaction could build in some kind of payment or “tipping” process for very helpful members. The helpful advice and solutions are really worth the money.

Have you been getting satisfaction from GetSatisfaction.com yet? What other ways are you getting great customer service?

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The pitch here is basically the same as with the other services: if you need to have working computers and other technology to keep your business running, but learning how to do it yourself is a distraction, call in a specialist. (They do make sure to note that their team is “U.S. based” – for many, that will be an important distinguisher). They offer both subscription and pay-as-you-go plans, and the prices are fairly reasonable.

The menu of services they offer is reasonably wide: PC tune-up and optimization, network security review and setup, wireless network setup, software installation, and so on. One key limitation: your computers have to be running Windows 98, XP, or Vista (and they’re wise enough to advice you to upgrade instead of pouring a lot of money into Windows 98) due to the remote connection software that they’re using. They offer 24/7 coverage.

You can buy “SmartMinutes” to connect you to their support in blocks starting at 15 minutes for $35, up to 300 for $420. But most businesses will want to look at the unlimited service plans instead: they start at $19 per month per computer, with a mandatory $89 sign-up fee including a tune-up when you bring a machine into the program. $19 per month gets you basic service; moving to the $24 advanced plan adds more services, and for $28 a month they’ll throw in a Carbonite backup account.

Technically-oriented web workers are unlikely to be interested in signing up for this service themselves. But if you find your day being interrupted and used up by offering technical support to your own customers, it might be worth steering them towards AT&T instead – think of it as your own tech support outsourcing department. The AT&T name will leave many clients in their comfort zone, freeing you up to do the actual work you’ve been hired for.

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37signals started the debate, wondering Why would you want to call me? which, by describing a “typical” phone support experience justified why they only offer support via email. This prompted responses from both FreshBooks and BatchBlue who both acknowledge that, while email can be more efficient than phone support, personal interaction by phone is key and offering that level of service is important to them.

I know a couple of us here at WWD have had interesting and lengthy phone support conversations this week, long calls to resolve issues that really shouldn’t have been so difficult. Would email support have been better? Perhaps. Does that make it the best method for all communication? I certainly don’t think so.

Inefficient and unpleasant phone support isn’t the fault of the medium, it’s the fault of the provider. I personally have had good support experiences via phone and horrendous experiences with email. It really comes down to the commitment of the company to have a wide range of efficient customer support services available, and the telephone is indeed a powerful and useful option in that arsenal.

Are we as web workers more inclinded to take advantage of email and online support options? Which do you prefer?

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By allowing you to build a profile of your skills to share with the public at large, CrossLoop now becomes a viable outlet to promote your business and services beyond friends and family.

The new Marketplace profiles allow you as a “Helper” to post a description of you and your offerings as well as your pricing and areas of expertise. It logs and displays your help sessions and any ratings or feedback you receive while using the CrossLoop application.

For the “Helpee” in need of assistance, an easy search option lets you find helpers who have the expertise you need. You can then sort and filter by location and language. Results are plentiful if not overwhelming. For example, a search for Outlook brings back 360 results. I am thinking a wizard approach might be more useful to pre-filter results to a more manageable level.

Overall, I find the addition of the provider profiles and marketplace to be very well done, particularly the way the web site and application mirror each other with a similar look and feel.

I have always found CrossLoop to be a handy tool in my support arsenal. Folks appreciate that it is easy to install and requires zero configuration. It is 100% permission based and requires an explicit request for assistance and approval step before any information is transfered. The addition of the Marketplace makes it a much more useful tool for a service provider to locate potential clients.

As a Web Worker, it can also be a good place to find help you may need be it for support or perhaps to outsource design or photoshop work for example.

CrossLoop is currently PC Only and leads generated through the Marketplace are currently free, although I imagine this will change.

Can you see value in having your profile listed in the CrossLoop Marketplace? What tools do you use to provide remote support?

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