7 Ways To Ace Calling Technical Support

When my clients have me come in to solve a problem for them, it frequently involves calling technical support or customer service. People HATE calling and ending up in the on-hold limbo. I’m an expert at these kinds of calls. Let me give you some tips on how to turn a painful situation into a productive endeavor.

1. Make sure you have AT LEAST a half hour of uninterrupted time to devote to waiting plus the time it takes to solve the problem.
2. Wear a headset so that you can continue to type and work while you are on hold. This really makes the time fly. If they offer you the option to hold with no music, you don’t need me to tell you to take advantage of that. I frequently forget that I’m on hold until I hear someone say hello in my ear. Surprisingly, you can get a lot done while waiting.
3. Have all of your notes out and ready to go. Write down the issues, problems, and questions to speed up the process and make sure you don’t forget anything. This can prevent further calls. I recommend taking screenshots of errors and issues as they are often asked for by tech support.
4. On that same note, be logged into the website or account before you call. Not having your password available is the biggest sucker of time. Get it out before picking up the phone.
5. If you’re upset while making the call, remember that the person you’re talking to is not the person who made a mistake (if that’s why you’re calling) and try not to take it out on them. If need be, let them know you’re upset and that you don’t want to unload on the wrong person and it would be a good idea if they sent you along to a manager.
6. Inform the customer service agent of whatever steps you’ve already taken to solve your problem and what the outcome was. I’ve saved hours by letting them know, “YES, the computer is plugged in.” (80% of the time the problem is solved at the power source i.e. plug it in!).
7. Contact the vendor using social media.

Number 7 is magic, I’m telling you. Have you tried to find a phone number to contact technical support recently? They bury that information (or simply not providing it at all) because it isn’t cost effective to have reps on the line with customers anymore. Heck, it was never cost effective but there’s no doubt about it anymore.

Test it out for yourself

I’ve tested Paypal, Vertical Response, Hootsuite, Comcast and Involver to name a few. Yes, they are all involved in technology but did you hear about airlines booking flights for people via Twitter during the recent snowstorms on the East Coast?

Every time I’ve asked for help or complained via Twitter (and Facebook for that matter), I’ve had a speedy response from customer service that helped me solve my problem. I also feel like I got better service than via phone. I think it’s because of the layers we have to work through to even reach a person makes me feel distanced from the individual that’s helping me. With social media, that distance is minimized. If you have an Xbox, you might want to reach out to Microsoft on Twitter as they are monitoring activity to make platform and technology changes.

Be prepared, reach out in multiple ways, and you can slay the beast that is technical support. Oh! And they can hear you when they turn off their microphone, so don’t talk smack.