I’m about to dig in and feast, when this commercial comes on. The guy on the screen is a caricature of a Gypsy fortune teller, wearing a hideous hat with colored beads all over it, and tassels hanging down about 2 inches around the brim. He’s holding an envelope next to his temple, with his eyes closed, and giving a terrible rendition of a strong "Indian" accent.

"Thank you for calling, and although you have an elementary ability to understand my English dialect, I will take you through a script for the next hour, before I inform you that your problem isn’t covered by your system’s warranty."

He then opens the envelope and reveals that what came before was "what you get when you buy a computer from one of those impersonal computer stores or manufacturers." The commercial then cuts to a picture of his local Computer Store, and goes on to tout the personal service it offers, along with guaranteed response times, pick up and drop off service, etc.

Once I got past the obviously insulting, stereotypical and bigoted attitudes of this proprietor, I had to acknowledge a fundamental truth in that commercial. The real message was that beyond the actual technology, and the skills of any respective technician, what ultimately is being sold is Customer Service.

Personal, caring, attentive … Customer Service. As a matter of fact, some of those major PC manufacturers will "up sell" American-based tech support, thus promoting a more positive "customer experience" for the buyers of their products.

Why Is Customer Service So Important in the IT Field?

Just a couple weeks ago, I was doing some work for a local Computer Service company. At the end of the project, I asked the owner if I had performed the job satisfactorily. His response was interesting, and emphasizes the point of this article. He didn’t discuss my technical skills at all, or the speed at which I performed the project.

No, he indicated that he’d spoken to his client, and they were very pleased with my efforts to be helpful, my professionalism and my courtesy. He was pleased, because they were pleased.

Customer Service — it’s a much needed skill and ability which is often overlooked in our industry. While I worked for one of those major PC manufacturers, I received two awards for "Exceptional Customer Service." I also received a couple hundred extra bucks for those awards, which was nice. While my "Resolve Rate" averaged around 93%, which was in the top 5% of all technicians at that campus, I never once received compensation or awards for that.

What sets the Champions apart from the average in our industry — or any industry, for the most part — is exceptional customer service. Granted, this includes the speed and accuracy of our performance, along with our technical skills and knowledge; but, the hard, cold statistics at that company revealed that the attitude and behavior of the technician toward the customer — tone of voice, courtesy, respect, etc. — was the most important factor in ensuring a "great customer experience."

Customer Service and IT Certifications

Now, you may be asking yourself what any of this has to do with preparing for certifications and the exams we take to achieve them. Let’s take a look at just a few of them, specifically some of the entry-level CompTIA certifications.

For the A+ certifications, approximately 15-18% of the total Exam Objectives deal with Professionalism and Communication.

The PDI+ (Printing & Document Imaging) certification allots 8% toward this objective. While the CDIA+ (Certified Document Imaging Architect), Project+ (Project Management) and CTT+ (Certified Technical Trainer) exam objectives don’t specifically have that classification, if you were to look at them closely, about 80% of them include some kind of relational interaction as a part of their objectives.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself — you can download exam objectives for all of the CompTIA certifications here: http://certification.comptia.org/resources/objectives.aspx

So Why the Free Pizza?

You also may be thinking that this subject really isn’t apropos, not on a web site that sells training videos for IT certifications and skills.

The fact that you have all these blogs to read is a prime example of excellent customer service. Train Signal isn’t just selling a product. They’re earning lifetime customers, and these articles and the free training videos demonstrate their commitment to us. This is the reason why I keep coming back to this site.

Also, you might be considering … we’re technicians (or aspire to be), and we spend our time dealing with hardware and software issues. Well, I would venture to say "that ain’t so."

Quite often, something the customer did resulted in the problem, even if they don’t think so. Malware is a classic example. Usually, they’ve downloaded or installed the culprit. Of course, we can’t emphasize that point too strongly, or we risk losing a customer.

Also, consider the customers you may have — be they doctors who treat illnesses, CFO’s that manage finances for billion-dollar companies, or grandparents that let their grandchildren play games on their PC’s. In every case, bar none, there’s some kind of interaction with other human beings, and their PC’s are the tools that allow them to meet the needs of those people.

Ultimately, there’s a relationship that requires "service" to one degree or another. Such is the case in our line of work, every day. We all need to master the ability to articulate, communicate and facilitate.

It behooves us to lay aside our preconceptions, and help that person without insulting them or intimidating them. That is what Customer Service in the IT Field is all about — treat people with respect, and dignity, and you’ll usually keep that customer for life.

As a matter of fact, that pizza I ordered — it didn’t come the way I wanted it. It was late, burnt and didn’t have one vital component … meatballs. I was hungry, and upset. In the end, the store manager needed to use some kind of customer management skill to appease my dissatisfaction.

I just love getting free pizza.

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