Technibble » Lorna

Make it Work

Lorna — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:32:53 +0000

Is often the motto of the freelance techie, and make it work you can often do. Some of the most talented innovative and resourceful people I know are technicians, and many of them pride themselves on making things work. However, sometimes the “˜make it work’ motto is one that can get you into a lot of bother, especially when providing technical support, help, fixes or advice for larger organisations.

Due to the current trend to find someone or anyone to blame/sue in the event of a problem, it is important to make sure that when providing support, you know what the guidelines are and are able to follow them. Rules may be in the form of

Laws ““ data protection, data security, computer misuse, international business, copyright, intellectual property and many many more laws are in place surrounding the use of IT. If, as a supporter of IT systems, you are enabling others to break some of the rules by allowing them the tools to do so, you may also be held liable.

Company rules and regulations ““ again, if you enable people to break them (for example by allowing them to access a restricted website across a filtered web service), who is to blame ““ you or them? If they are caught, it’s likely that you’ll be the one pointed at, in spite of the fact that it won’t strictly be your fault.

Industry best practice ““ this is often optional, but the best practice is there for a reason, and is often based either on closing loopholes or the best company rules and regulations.

“˜Make it work if it’s right, document it and make sure it fits in with the rules and can be understood and followed by other people’ is much more in keeping with what you actually mostly do, and this is far more acceptable and easy to manage.

I know, as I said, lots of talented people who are technologically aware, and capable of fixing most things with a KitKat wrapper and a bit of gum. But it really has to be a case of not doing things just because you can. (Sorry to be a spoilsport guys.)

If you are new to this and have not had a formal education in IT, systems and system support in its varying guises, you can quickly learn the rules in a number of ways; either asking to take part in a work placement at a large and formalised IT support company, taking a formal qualification (one of the vendor qualifications or similar) or by offering to work for free at one of the better industry leaders if you have such a thing near to you. Other than that, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time with your nose in a book, and ask a lot of questions!

A generally helpful source for computer laws across the globe is included below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_law

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Make it Work

Scams in the Computer Business – How to Avoid Where Possible

Lorna — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:09:10 +0000

There’s often no easier target than a new business. Full of the joys of being the newly appointed senior executive managing director, with a few K behind you from one of your grandparents and maybe some of the business you’ve been doing for friends and family, there’s a great temptation to fall prey to the unscrupulous methods of wily sales teams.
Our commenter last week (in response to our Stock story), Bay Geeks Computer Repair shared these words of wisdom:

“One thing to keep in mind when it comes to stock is to know who your customer is! I remember getting my first purchase order over 5 digits. I was so excited, only to find out they were using a fraudulent credit card. They tried real hard to get me to ship the products to them before the $ cleared. Not a chance (thank god)!”

And that’s spot on. When you’re new to the game, it also doesn’t just apply to customers who are buying things, you’re also setting yourself up to be conned ““ with a capital C, if you don’t pay attention to what’s going on. Everything from charities to insurances are clamouring for your time (or your dime), it’s all likely to be presented as “˜Free’ but yet, when you come down to it, you may well have signed yourself up for a monthly direct debit of a squillion dollars, and not be able to get out of it.
Everyone from parts sellers to your own bank will rip you off in some way shape or form if you aren’t savvy and you let having your own business appeal to your vanity. Some of the easiest traps to fall into are listed for you here ““ but remember, the list is endless.

1. Poor stock ““ companies will sell you seconds or parts which have been RMA’d and then make it hard for you to send stuff back.

2. Poor accounting ““ cashing your cheque and than making another demand for payment

3. Poor stock recording ““ sending you less than is on a delivery note is a common one

4. Telesales ““advertising – they are often very well trained, and able to appeal to your vain side ““ do you really need to be paying yellow pages/Google adwords a monthly $50 to advertise your wares if you aren’t going to be getting any business that way?

5. Telesales ““ anything at all, if you’re a new business, is a risk. Make sure you keep track of the conversation, don’t give away information (don’t talk if you can help it!) and bear in mind, if you really wanted to be included on this years’ calendar/Xmas card/mouse mat, you’d be doing it already. If it is something that sounds like a good idea, make a note of it and go and find out what the best price is.

6. Emails giving you special offers. At best they are a sales tool. At worst a scam. How many genuine Kings of Siam are there do you think? And why would they be emailing you?

7. Any announcements to do with your Paypal/ebay/bank account.

8. Try and think ““ if this was your own personal money (which it is) would you be parting with it?
As always, if you have some info or have been caught out, share it with us ““ email us with your info if it’s a long story, or “˜Discuss’ below, and we’ll include as many of your comments, thoughts and words of guidance as we can!

Stock – A Short Story

Lorna — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:26:54 +0000

When our family tech shop first started out, it was co-managed/owned ““ by what effectively was Ying and Yang of stock control (and we’ll leave the names as such to protect the guilty!). Ying’s approach was to buy nothing. Anything a customer wanted, over around the Â£20 mark, they had to order. You’d come in to make a purchase, ask for the part you wanted (e.g. monitor, hard drive, CDROM etc.) and have to leave a deposit and go back for your component in a couple of days.
Yang was the opposite. Anything and everything he could get his hands on, he did. However, Ying was the financial backer, and therefore was the one who got to say yes or no to new stock.

You can imagine which one was the richer of the two? But you can also imagine the appearance of the computer shop, with little or no stock ““ luckily it was small. However, imagine how many customers left without being able to get their hands on what they needed, and went elsewhere?
One Ying left, Yang had a free hand with whatever stock was purchased. This meant that the shelves were overflowing, quite literally with software, cartridges, components, cables, stuffed toys from travelling sales reps, lighters, etc etc. The place was overflowing with stock. However, once the main sellers had gone, as Yang had spent all of the capital he had on rubbish and little needed junk, he had no cash for any more stock, and customers now had to come into the store, order and PAY for what they needed, and then come back in a couple of days when their component had arrived.
A starting point for your own stock holding is listed below- and again, “˜discuss’ this item to pass on your own hints and tricks, and any comments you want to share with other or newer techies ““ we want the benefit of your experience.

1. Buy what you need, and keep your eye on what is coming up, going out, or any fluctuations in the business.
2. Try and adopt a “˜just in time’ approach to your stock, unless there is a definite market for an item, in which case, try and buy some stock in bulk if it saves you money.
3. “˜Just in case’ buying doesn’t work that well with computers because of the speed of developments ““ so be up to the minute but carry small numbers.
4. How much of an item do you sell/use? Keep track of this and it will help with your buying decisions.
5. Can you get anything sale or return?
6. Remember that stock you have in your shop is potentially cash in the bank ““ don’t buy it if it’s just going to sit there.
7. Be careful of damage and theft ““ it will cost you money
8. Be insured ““ a way of avoiding problems if the above happens
9. Take a moderate approach
10. Look back at each month and see if you used what you bought- and if so, could you have sold some more if you had them? If so, stock a little higher.

Your Own Pad – Reasons to be (and stay) Cheerful?

Lorna — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:52:13 +0000

Part 1 ““ the layout: If you’re lucky, and successful enough, to be able to consider opening your own bricks and mortar “˜shop’, we’ve got some hints and tips below that will give you some food for thought. This week, though, we want all you Linus Torvalds (Bill’s day off) esq/Alan Sugar success stories to contribute to our advice ““ if you’ve opened your own place, either a workshop or a reseller, WHAT do you think our newbies should know? Here’s our take on it ““ and let’s get some input from you guys during the week (our very own Wiki article!). If we get enough input, we’ll include it all in the Part 2 we’re doing for next week. Here goes….

1. Where is your pad going to be, and why is that a good place for it? Are you going to be relying on passing trade, and if so, how much potential trade passes? If you’re new, with no existing customer base, your word of mouth referral rate is going to be nil or next to nil ““ so if you want to tempt people in, you need to be where you can be seen. However, one of the key things that contributes to rent for a building used for commercial purposes is its location, and the better the location, the higher the rent. Unless your long lost cousin twice removed was lucky enough to leave you a space in a mall, you’re going to have to be inventive as well. Some things to make your passing trade notice you more easily are;

a. Banners ““ great big ones you put on the front of your building, especially if it can be seen from a main road

b. Sandwich or a-boards ““ often placed at the corner of a street or at the entrance to a shop to make it more obvious.

c. Signs on the corner of the street, on another building.

d. I’ve even stooped to footprints chalked onto a pavement (you’ll probably have to get permission for this) pointing in the direction of a building, and followed that up with balloons streaming through windows and the like to raise attention on an open day or launch day.

e. Good window graphics ““ the norm is yellow or white, as they are easily seen, but be careful if you plan to have blinds as you could undo all of your good work.

2. How is your building going to be laid out? What’s going to draw the customer in, and what will they see if they walk in to your shop/den?

a. Do you have window space, and if so, how are you going to use it? You’ll have to be wary about security and where you intend to work, especially if you are going to be mostly on your own, as this makes you an easy target. If you do intend to have a window display, make sure you have either a secured area or are not going to put yourself at risk or put your stock at risk.

b. Where is your workspace going to be? Computer parts tend to look like junk, let’s be honest, so you’re going to need to be smart with your storage, and to be clever with your work area. Shelves, screens and storage boxes can all be used well, and having power points and network and phone points in the right place can cut down on mess. You also need to make sure that any workspace installed is in the right place (can you see people coming in and out of your pad), and is at the right height for you to work at.

Next week we’ll look at stock, credit card and tills and general appearance of your store….and give you the benefit of the wisdom of all of our veteran readers.

Veterans, choose Discuss and leave us your comments on starting up in your own place. As always, comments are open, you dont need to signup to make a comment and you can even post anonymously. Best of all, if you are one of our top 10 commentators and you leave a URL, it will appear on all Technibble pages on the lower left.

A Pat on the Back? Or a Kick up the CPU? We Ask You to Take a Six Month Health Check This Week!

Lorna — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:51:26 +0000

We’ve been providing you with nuggets of weekly business hints, tips, sarcastic commentary on your communication, dress sense and management skills since January 2007. As this week’s offering, it’s a good time (hitting exactly the six month mark of our advice, guidance and general pointers in the right direction), for you to spend a little time reflecting.

Now you’re at the top, do you still know what you need to know? How are you keeping your management skills updated? Have you been on courses and spent time reflecting on your performance? Have you spent time reviewing your business plan or have you been slowly sliding into self satisfaction and congratulation having opened your own tech business, not been carted away to a debtors court or prison, and still been able to fund your pad (or bedroom in your parents house and penchant for ipods and gaming software?)

Give yourself the day off work, pack yourself off to a quiet place in your office/at the beach/in the garden, and take our six month healthcheck.

It’s not enough to be the MD of your own business if you’re not using the hunger and drive you had to get you started on a daily basis to take you further. Ask yourself these questions before resting on your hardwired laurels!

1. If you were starting up in business now, would you be doing the same activities as you did before, or have you learned anything along the way? Only a moron won’t have picked up some tips along the way, and the good thing is, as you’re the boss, you don’t have to wait for anyone’s permission to make changes and improvements.

2. Have you learned any lessons that you can apply now, for example, marketing materials and campaigns that have been successful or poor, customer drives that have worked or fallen really short. It’s never too late for a relaunch, or to change your mind about an activity or a product, and it’s always, always a good time to advertise, in whichever way you do it.

3. Have the grand plans on your business plan materialised? Why not, what have you not done and what might you go back and revisit? A business plan has to be a work in progress. Put some work in and progress it! Go back to your competition, and see what they are doing well, poorly or making a killing on!

4. Technology – has it changed (it has – do you know how/why/where/when and what they effects of it are?)

5. Opportunities – can you get into a new area that was not available when you originally planned your business?

6. Threats – is there anything looming now that you need to be aware of?

7. Strengths – are you still at the top? Do your customers come to you because you are the best/most reliable/closest/friendliest or because they can’t be bothered to go anywhere else?

8. Weaknesses – is your business under threat in any way? Are there holes in your portfolio that you need to consider?

9. Finances – what are you making? Are you looking at an improvement in income or at a reduction? Are you able to take a salary yet, and if not, when might you be?

10. Equipment – do you have what you need? Is there anything pending? Do you have the potential to lose business because of not having the right stuff?

11. Accounts – are you keeping on top of your accounts? Do you keep receipts and document your incomings and outgoings?
12. Customer payments – everyone paying or paid up? Are you doing what you can to make sure that you encourage your customers to pay in a timely manner, in the way you need to be paid?

13. Contacts – have you managed to network with reliable, useful people?

14. Where next? Do you have a path to follow, and do you know what to do, every day to make it happen?

15. Vision – can you see developments, and know when and where to go to take advantage of these developments?

Not all of these questions are going to be easy question, and not all of the answers are going to be YES. However, some of them should be, and most of them ought to be what you are striving for, in order to make sure you are developing your business in the right direction. If you’re not sure, make some time in your week over the coming month, and invest some time and some energy to gather advice and guidance for your next six months. Spend time watching what others are working on and copy and adapt as you can – it’s not the most innovative, it’s often the most adaptive and responsive that make it big.

Freelancer in Shining Armour – Supporting the Teleworker Phenomenon

Lorna — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 08:18:43 +0000

Almost a twenty percent of people in employment in the UK (a small island with a lot of places that are next to each other and therefore quite easy to get to unlike the US or Australia) are teleworkers (CIPD Autumn 2006). These are people who work from home at some point, using a telephone and a computer to conduct their business. Some of the reason for this is geographical (it makes sense from a travel point of view), some of it is financial, and some of it is to do with flexible working and family friendly arrangements. However, the one area where your front bedroom is definitely at a disadvantage to your office is the distinct lack of technical support available. Any takers????

If you do decide to include support for teleworkers in your offering of technical support for the coming year, look at our rough guides as a firm starting point – and before you know it, you’ll be galloping toward a ‘damsel/duke’ in distress and making their boss exceedingly happy as another wasted day has been averted by making sure that their best brain power is able to access the info it needs!

1. If you want to set up this type of first line teleworker support, you need to actually be able to get to the place the workers are working. That means you can only support teleworkers near to you, and that means as well you must be prepared to work outside of normal office hours, and respond to calls outside of normal office hours, as that’s when teleworkers tend to work. Many a freelance writer or manager is up at 5am writing reports to enable them to head off to a meeting somewhere at 7. So only service your local area, and decide in advance if you’re prepared to do what it takes, or you’ll have some very unhappy customers.
2. Advertise directly in your local area, and aim the advert at your would be clients, the teleworkers. Give them the means to escalate this request to their employers, and offer to meet with their managers to discuss further.
3. Find out, if you can, where people you live near actually work. Approach their companies directly and explain what you do.
4. State the benefits – how many days are lost due to not being able to access onsite tech support? How much easier would it be if an expert was liaising with the main tech support desk instead of the user? What can you offer by way of linking in with main support systems?
5. Contact all large employers within a 250 mile radius, and explain that if they have IT teleworkers, you can provide this service.
6. Liaise with tech support companies, especially outsource ones, and sell your advantages – offer to subcontract to them if you wish to, on a trial basis. This is a good one to get your foot in the door, as you’ll know about their procedures and about the opportunities and gaps.

Areas teleworkers are often struggling is connection to their ISP, especially at first setup, configuration of email management software to tap into their internal mail system, VPN connections (and clouds and stuff), remote desktop, password problems (old but still done, I’m afraid), permissions incorrectly set, software and access incorrectly installed first time, backup, file and data corruption, converting file types, reading received file types, virus infection, wireless networking problems and interruptions, and understanding what they are being asked to do by a standard first line support team. Not forgetting correctly installing any components, the very annoying (as I remember back to the bad old days (last year) of sitting on a train apoplectic that my laptop and phone would not work and I could not answer my emails) using mobile devices and phone cards correctly, setting up the work area correctly, knowing where to get consumables from or risk assessing desk and office space relating to work.

So, with your red bull in hand, your pager at the ready and a big smile plastered on your horse (read the title amigo) you could make a couple of quid/dollars. Remember to wipe your feet on the way in!

For more information on teleworkers and on homeworking, check out

http://www.tca.org.uk/magazine.html
http://www.homeworking.com/library/librar.htm

Keeping Good Customer Records (and record numbers of good customers!)

Lorna — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:18:49 +0000

Back to customer service again, I hear you say to yourself. However , we never send you far wrong, so this week’s foray into keeping good and reliable customer records has got to be worth five minutes of your time.

Customers – the one thing you can bet they have in common is that they expect their needs to be met, if not their expectations to be exceeded, they have little or no idea of the lengths you have to go to, to service them and their business, and they think you do nothing else other than sit around, wait for them to call, and of course you keep details of their business needs, family setup and inside leg measurement at the tip of your fingers (so to speak!)

This means you need to look at more than one type of recording of your customer records – the ongoing stuff – such as when you went to see them, what you did, what it cost, how long it took (as I imagine you need to put that into some sort of time sheet anyway), their protocols, password, security issues and architectures and also the other stuff what their business motto is, what they have on the cards for development in the coming year/years, what their work ethic is, how many staff they have, who their key partners are. You can use all of this information to ensure that you are aligning your business to their needs. It’s going to come through in your dealings with them. Even something like “well, when you expand into another state next year, don’t forget we can also sit with you and look at your IT support needs/rewrite your SLA”, or something similar can and will reap rewards.

Personal recollection of data is useful and welcomed as well – who they are, what their families are made of, what they do in their spare time, and what their hobbies and interests are. It can help you to focus on how best to help them, and can also make you the person that makes them feel like their business is being dealt with by a professional, caring, sharing sort of a person. Be careful not to be stalkerish though. I once went to a conference and had looked up a trainer on the net, read articles about her (as a colleague who I may be able to write training books for) along with the other ten delegates that were going to be there, and basically recognised her, when I had not met her before, as she entered the conference – making the mistake of saying ‘Hi! – I’d recognise you anywhere – you haven’t changed since your photo in the army training article back in 02!’. Got me a funny look, I can tell you.

So – to help you, collect pertinent info about the business and your key contact.
Keep it on a card and use it when you contact them or before a meeting
Check your last actions before you make a call to a regular customer to a make sure you did what you said you were going to.
Last but not least, learn when to speak and when to keep quiet!

You Can’t Afford to be Indispensible

Lorna — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 15:03:24 +0000

A business operating manual is the difference between a business that can run without you, and a business that can’t. Normally, not being indispensable would be certain bankruptcy for a small business owner, however, as a techie, your customers will still be there, even if you aren’t, and you need to ensure your business continues being able to service them, even if you’re absent, away, ill or unable to function. Someone else needs to be able to follow your work, and to carry out further support for your customers if they need it.

Imagine if you got hit by a bus. What would happen to your customers? How would their calls and needs be met, and by whom? Who would know enough about what you do and how you do it to step in? An operating manual can do just that for you, and, when touting for new business, can ensure that your potential customers feel just as comfortable hiring you as they would a three or more person outfit.

Items to include in the operating manual

The structure of your business – what you deal with, how many employees you have (just you, likely) where you operate from, what your contact information is, and any other key pieces of information – this should be near the front of your operating manual, and should be clear to read and easy to find.

The manual should then be divided into sections -each section should match an area of your business operation.

For example, how do you conduct your customer contact? Your procedure for dealing with your customers. Do you courtesy call them to make sure everything’s OK on a weekly/monthly basis for any regulars, or is it more often? Do you wait for them to come to you? (I hope not – you should always have a regular contact set up). How do your customers make contact if there is a fault or a need for your to visit? What happens if they want to make a purchase from you?

How do you organise support mechanisms? Do you connect remotely to customers, and if so, how? Do you need passwords? If so, please don’t keep these with your operating manual, but instead, ensure they are accessible only via a secure method such as a safe or passworded file. Customer details and operating manuals should never be kept in the same place!

Do you always run a set of diagnostic tests first? Do your customers know what they are? You can save time, money and irritation by documenting what your diagnostic tests are, and, in some cases, training your customers (especially if you are supporting a workplace with many machines) to run through these diagnostic tests with you. Can you give your (regular) customers a procedure to follow? How do you provide them with details of their security/password/admin rights setup/software licensing information?

How do you collect payment? Do you invoice after 30 days? Do you offer a discount? When and why? What is your model?

What about suppliers? Do you have key contacts at your suppliers, and is there a mechanism for ordering that you use? Do you look about for the cheapest, do you have experiences of particular suppliers that you will benefit from noting for the future? When do you pay your bills, and how? Do you get notification via email, letter or telephone? Again, point to the place these details will be kept rather than keeping each individual item with your operating manual.

How to get started!

It’s OK knowing you have to do something, but a whole lot harder to actually do something about it. Follow these steps to make a start!

1. Document your business outline – you should have this on the tip of your tongue – failing that, get it from your website or business plan. Who are you, what do you do and who do you do it for?
2. Start making a file for key customer and supplier contact details. You can think about how to organise it later.
3. Keep a rough note of the work you are doing – is any of it repeatable and should there be procedures to make it easier? Look back over the notes at the end of each week and ask yourself if any of it can be improved or documented.
4. Make a list of the weekly jobs you do, the monthly jobs and the daily jobs – these are also operating instructions – then create procedures (instructions) to show HOW and state WHY you do the daily/weekly/monthly jobs.
5. Are there things your customers should know that you currently only share verbally with them? Would they know what you had done if you weren’t there to tell them? Would another technical firm be able to step in if they needed to? If the answer is ‘NO’ go back to the beginning of this article and READ IT AGAIN starting with the title!

Moving on – How to Make your Business a Worthwhile Purchase

Lorna — Mon, 28 May 2007 09:23:19 +0000

If you are a business owner worth your salt (or silicon), you’ll be planning big things for your small business in the future. Either you’re going to want to grow your business to the tune that someone from Google/IBM/Comet want to offer you a cool few mil to acquire you, or else you want to make sure your precious life work yields more cash than just to keep you in a good line in designer tees and holidays in far flung places.

In other words, you need to think big, and you need to think ahead. What is it about your business that makes it valuable? Where is the income from your business coming from for the next few years, and what is its potential? Your business, once you’ve been operating, should be more than just YOU – after all, once you have a brand, a loyal following and some measurable income, you become a business not just an individual with a winning way with a screwdriver.

What is it about your business that makes it valuable?
Your brand, your built up customers and your goodwill, although dificcult to measure, are one of the key selling points for any business, as this shows its potential. A restaurant that takes thousands of dollars/pounds a month, and then poisons all of its diners in one sitting, is no longer a viable business. It’s the same thing with any small business.

Brand: Make sure that customers, suppliers and contacts know your brand – your logo, your company motto or slogan and the way you conduct yourself and your business transaction are all key in making sure that your brand is associated with you, which will add value to your business. My own brand is ‘We can help you love learning’ and it has to come through in my writing, in the conduct I have with my contacts (consequently I volunteer for learning events, am stocked in the library, offer lots of stuff for free, and am currently back teaching!) And I mean it – it’s not a hollow statement, it’s a fact of my business conduct.

Regular activities: What do you need to do, and when, for your business to keep going in the way that it is, but in an upward direction. Are there regular tasks you have to do, on a particular day/month/time of the year, that make your business function well? If so, this is part of your business activity ‘model’ and should be recorded in an operating manual. Operating manuals, although you may feel in the beginning a large and unwieldy activity, can support your business case for selling, and give weight to claims that you know what you are doing. As well as that, if anything was to happen which meant that you can’t operate your business yourself, another could step into your place, and run the business for you for a while. That couldn’t happen if there were no ‘instructions’ on how to run the business, which, essentially, is what a business operating manual is.

Regular customers: Especially if any have contracted you on any sort of retainer or monthly subscription basis. However, a regular customer file, along with their average annual spend, can show how much your business is worth in potential sales.

Well kept accounts: If you keep your books on a monthly basis, and finalise at the end of the financial year, you can’t go far wrong. Accounts should detail your outgoings, capital purchases, other expenses, income, profit, loss, depreciation of any equipment etc. These accounts make up what you’re really worth, at a given point in time, on paper. Any stock or cash you have will be shown here.

Detailed business plans – to show that you have a direction, and if possible, show where you have built the business from.

Other areas to consider

Look after your stock and equipment – after all, if you don’t it will lose value.

Look after any property you have – if you sell a business as a going concern, appearances are everything. A smoky shop or workshop does not give a good impression, nor does a pile of spare parts littered on every surface.

Maintain a good reputation and a good credit score -pay your bills on time, deliver what you say you are going to, and conduct your business with professionalism,

Find out as much as you can from others who have done the same – what made Google want to buy YouTube?? Potential – and that’s where you can compete with the bigger businesses!

Customer satisfaction…because they’re always right!

Lorna — Sun, 06 May 2007 10:48:25 +0000

The customer’s always right. Even if you work in a technical area where the customer is actually (pardon me customers) CLUELESS! They are still right. Know why? Because if they don’t like what you do, they take their business elsewhere. So even if they weren’t technically correct, they’re still right, because they’re buying, or not, if you fall foul of one!

If you know this before you start, and can manage to get through each and every customer interaction with a big, deferential smile on your face, whilst providing them with what the customers think they want, in a manner that doesn’t cause their technical set up any problems, you’ve probably cracked it. However, if, like many IT bods in the business, you sigh with impatience at the stupidity of the clientele, you’ve got a problem…and some of your customers are likely to be transient to say the least! However, you can work on putting this right, using the steps below as a good starting point….

1. Every transaction counts. Think of it like a satisfaction ’swap shop’. If the customer says/indicates something to you, your response counts. Ever played ‘THE SIMS’? (No?? Where have you been????) The satisfaction of each SIM goes up and down depending on how they interact with the SIM world and with the other SIMS. Realistically, your customers have a similar ’satisfactometer’ somewhere, and you have to feed it each time you speak to them or carry out some work for them.

2. Remember when a customer is in technical trouble, they feel less confident. Imagine going to your doctors. These people are putting their technical troubles in your hands in the same way that you would put your medical ones in the hands of your doctor. You want to be reassured that everything’s OK, that there is an answer/treatment for what’s wrong, and that it wasn’t your fault it happened in the first place. (Discount that last one anyone who’s ever been for a post-drinking broken nose!)

3. Consider that when a specialist is at work, it can be an opportunity to ask all the things you wouldn’t ask normally. So you’ll open up lots of room for ‘when I was using the computer the other day, it got up and walked off/was only working slowly’ or whatever the experienced malaise was. Sometimes you don’t have to say anything more than ‘Everything OK now or do you want me to take a look?’ or ‘Oh. OK well next time you could always try X,Y,Z’.

4. Bear in mind your face usually gives away how you feel. Try looking blank or just neutral. It’s a particular skill, and can help buy you some thinking time, or at least allow you not to betray your horror/amusement.

5. Have a sense of humour. If you don’t, it makes life so hard at work!

6. Remember the customer is your bread and butter. In every customer facing job I’ve ever had, the rant has always been (from me and my colleagues) ‘It would be great without the customers’. Think this through. You’d be out of business without the customers. Thank your lucky stars each day for the gaps in other peoples’ knowledge.

7. Ask your customers what you do badly, and how to improve. If you ask for feedback, and look like an orphaned puppy, you’ll get the sympathy vote. However, if you ask in a businesslike way, usually when you’re not facing the person you’re asking, how the experience could have been better, you will likely get some good hints and tips, especially if you explain why you want the feedback.

8. Give yourself a day off once in a while. It’ll improve your disposition no end, and allow you some time to reflect on what you do well and what you can improve on.