Everything is customer-centric nowadays. Marketing and sales people have all the tools and technology at their disposal to make customers’ experience better. However, they understand the need to build soft skills first before jumping in the never-ending customer hunt, and try to polish them whenever possible.
IT professionals do have all the technology at hand, too. But when it comes to remote IT/helpdesk support, many often forget that developing soft skills is no less important than just being a computer guru and fixing issues.
So, what are these soft skills that can make an IT support tech stand out?
- In short, they can be described as something related to interpersonal communications like:
- Oral and written communication
- Critical thinking
- Flexibility
- Ability to empathize
- Positive attitude
Ironically, soft skills are hard to master, as they require quite a lot of patience and practice. Which is difficult when you think that the customer you’re talking to knows nothing about computers, and all you’re saying right now means nothing to them. Well, they might not know anything, but they actually shouldn’t.
Here’s when the ability to explain any kind of complex information in plain English comes to help, and it’s key to handling IT helpdesk calls or emails like a pro.
Researches say that increased efficiency is what motivates IT support techs to build and polish their soft skills. Look at it this way: the more empathetic you are, the better all the challenges are addressed. In this sense, you need to be an all-in-one professional, knowing how to resolve technical issues, how to reason, how to settle disputes, appease, and, in the end, market yourself and your services.
What can be done to cultivate these skills? Read more, talk more, write more. Or join a speech craft class, for instance. Learn to listen to the customer, learn to empathize and sometimes ignore what may seem to you as “technical illiteracy”. Remember: practice and patience. When you actually improve your soft skills, you’ll see a whole new bunch of opportunities ahead.