Thursday, February 20, 2014
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
The Right Way to Get Support
Forwarded to me by a front-line customer support representative:
Software developers of all ranks hate escalated support requests more than an empty soda machine. In practical terms esclations wreck a well-planned day since they typically have to be deal with before going on to forward-looking work -- and production schedules don't yield. In softer, fuzzier terms, software developers take a hit to morale every time their software doesn't work as planned, or some user has failed to grok its obvious genius.
The excerpt above is how you blow past all that and get good service. The user has a point. He's tried all the "usual stuff" before picking up the phone. And he tells the representative this, so we know where to start. But the obvious win is the humor. It's going to win you top-notch effort from all involved, including the senior engineer who may eventually have to drop what he's doing and investigate your problem.
An approach like this is far and away better than berating the support representative with profanity, telling him how much your business is losing for every second your web site isn't working, demanding to speak to supervisors, etc. A soft answer turneth away wrath, saith the good book. In the same vein, a cleverly worded, deferential, entertaining trouble ticket not only turneth away wrath and getteth really good service, it can windeth up immortalized on someone's blog.
To Hosting Provider: [redacted]
re: Domain [redacted]
My SQL DB has decided that it will pretend to be invisible. I have tried to repair, update, and upgrade to no avail. Besides playing it comfort music and preparing it grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, I am officially lost. Oh ya, and the Backup in [web panel] won't load... Totally not zesty. Ya dig?As the senior engineer I deal with escalations of last resort. By the time a customer's issue reaches me it has already gone through two tiers of support, and I have nowhere to escalate it further. Sadly, unlike the Supreme Court, I can't just let stand the lower court's decision. I have to fix it.
Software developers of all ranks hate escalated support requests more than an empty soda machine. In practical terms esclations wreck a well-planned day since they typically have to be deal with before going on to forward-looking work -- and production schedules don't yield. In softer, fuzzier terms, software developers take a hit to morale every time their software doesn't work as planned, or some user has failed to grok its obvious genius.
The excerpt above is how you blow past all that and get good service. The user has a point. He's tried all the "usual stuff" before picking up the phone. And he tells the representative this, so we know where to start. But the obvious win is the humor. It's going to win you top-notch effort from all involved, including the senior engineer who may eventually have to drop what he's doing and investigate your problem.
An approach like this is far and away better than berating the support representative with profanity, telling him how much your business is losing for every second your web site isn't working, demanding to speak to supervisors, etc. A soft answer turneth away wrath, saith the good book. In the same vein, a cleverly worded, deferential, entertaining trouble ticket not only turneth away wrath and getteth really good service, it can windeth up immortalized on someone's blog.
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