Chapter 2- Customer Service Skills For User Support Agents

True

Communication skills are more often difficult for a new help desk agent to learn than technical skills or business skills.

False

Customer satisfaction with a support incident is more directly related to the solution to a problem than to the communication skills a support agent uses.

False

Effective communication skills are more important in telephone conversations than in face-to-face, email, or other forms of communication with users.

True

Communication is a two-way process that involves both listening and responding.

False

Communication is a one-way process that involves an effective transmission from sender to receiver.

False

A customer service ethic is an organization-wide philosophy that the customer is always right.

True

Support staff should return a telephone call when promised, even if no progress has been made on a problem.

True

Of the three essential communication skills, listening comes before understanding and responding.

True

In discriminative listening, a support agent’s purpose is to learn about the user, such as his or her knowledge level.

False

purpose of comprehensive listening is to develop a rapport with a user.

False

In order to educate users, a support agent should use technical terms and explanations in communications with users.

False

Empathy means a support agent takes ownership and responsibility for a user’s problem.

True

A support agent who can empathize with a user is one who understands the problem or question from the user’s point of view.

False

A common barrier to effective listening is asking probing questions to get additional details about a problem.

True

One method support agents use to communicate effectively with a user on the telephone is to visualize the user and communicate with the visual image.

False

To avoid mistakes and misinformation, scripts designed to guide a support agent through an incident should be read verbatim to the user.

False

Scripts designed to guide a support agent through an incident should ideally be memorized to be effective.

True

When reading a lengthy, prepared response to a user, the best strategy is to tell the user you are reading a passage to him or her.

True

Eye contact and facial expression are examples of nonverbal behavior.

False

Inexperienced support agents tend to speak too slowly when they experience stress during a conversation with a user.

True

A rising inflection at the end of a sentence communicates that a support agent is unsure or lacks confidence.

False

Empty phrases, such as "Now let me see…," are effective ways for a support agent to fill pauses in a conversation.

True

Even in a telephone call, clients can often tell whether a support staff member values the call.

False

Putting a caller on hold is considered a poor customer service tactic.

True

Feedback from users, other support agents, and supervisors is useful information for a support agent who wants to develop a personal incident management strategy.

False

Support agents develop their own incident management strategy from scratch.

True

One goal of incident management is to help users be more self-reliant.

False

A support agent should always be honest in every response to a user’s questions.

True

How much information a support agent can divulge to a user is often determined by an organization’s policies.

True

Goal-directed diagnostic questions are designed to move a support incident to a successful resolution.

False

Support staff should always provide the information or services a customer needs, no matter what the request.

False

Support agents should avoid apologizing to users who have been kept on hold or who have been given the runaround.

False

One goal of incident management is to give users information about how they should organize their files, improve their personal work habits, and make more effective use of their computers.

False

The likely result of increased user self-reliance will be to eliminate the need for user support agents as an occupation.

False

One goal of user self-reliance is to make users change the way they use computers.

True

Total user self-reliance is probably not achievable, but it is a worthwhile goal.

False

Factors such as personality type probably have little impact on the working relationship between a support agent and his or her colleagues.

False

Employers usually hire support agents whose Myers-Briggs personality type is extrovert.

True

Most support workers and computer users are considered to be a mixture of the personality types on the Myers-Briggs dimensions.

False

A support agent should work to deny the sense of self-importance of users who are "power users."

False

A support agent who handles complaints or incidents from angry, upset users should try to move the incident into the problem-solving stage as rapidly as possible.

False

Most users who are angry or frustrated are personally upset with the support agent.

False

A blog is a Web site where users who are angry or abusive can go to post complaints about a company’s products or services.

False

Designers of customer service Web sites find that since Web site content changes frequently, the design of a Web site is less important than its contents.

False

A commitment to customer service excellence means the customer is always right.

True

A comprehensive client service orientation among support staff applies to every staff member, and to every mode of user communication.

Effective communication skills are important primarily to support agents who communicate ____.
a.via telephone c.via email
b.face-to-face d.any of these

ANS: D

Dissatisfied clients are more likely than satisfied clients to ____.
a. resolve support incidents quickly
b. contact the help desk repeatedly for assistance
c. resolve support incidents at a low tier
d. convey a positive business image to other users

ANS: B

Effective communication skills are based primarily on a support agent’s ability to ____.
a. listen and read effectively
b. understand a user’s problem
c. communicate solutions to a user
d. any of these

ANS: D

Excellent customer service in a support organization is based primarily on which of these factors?
a. The ability to solve user problems
b. The ability to communicate effectively with users
c. Both A and B
d. Neither A nor B

ANS: C

Which of these is not a primary strategy for a support organization that aims for customer service excellence?
a. Treat clients with respect.
b. Explain to clients what the support organization can do for them.
c. Return calls to clients when promised.
d. Meet all of a client’s demands.

ANS: D

Analysis and evaluation of a user’s message are likely to occur during which type of listening?
a. Discriminative
b. Comprehensive
c. Critical
d. Relational

ANS: C

A support agent should aim to use language that is ____ the language level that the user uses.
a. slightly above
b. at the same level as
c. slightly below
d. none of the above

ANS: C

One measure of whether a support agent understands a problem is that he or she can express the user’s problem in ____.
a. the user’s words
b. the support agent’s own words
c. industry standard vocabulary
d. none of the above

ANS: B

"I can give you a workaround for this problem, then later we can diagnose the cause of the problem so you don’t encounter it again." is an example of ____.
a. empathy
b. probing
c. sincere greeting
d. nonverbal communication

ANS: A

A user’s first impression of a support agent comes from the ____.
a. solution to the problem
b. incident script used
c. tone and style
d. incident greeting

ANS: D

A script to handle a support incident has ____.
a. a single sequence of questions and dialog from beginning to end
b. a sequence of questions with one decision point
c. several sequences of questions with multiple decision points or paths
d. none of the above

ANS: C

The most effective strategy for using a script is to ____.
a. read the script verbatim to the user
b. restate the script in your own words
c. memorize the script
d. use the script only when needed

ANS: B

Which type of nonverbal behavior is the least effective posture for support agents?
a. An open stance
b. Face the user
c. Establish eye contact
d. Fold arms

ANS: D

Which type of nonverbal behavior is suggested for effective voice quality?
a. Use inflection to add interest.
b. Speak at a normal pitch.
c. Use a warm, upbeat tone of voice.
d. All of these

ANS: D

Inexperienced support agents tend to speak ____ when they experience stress in a conversation with a user.
a. too slow
b. about the right speed
c. too fast
d. none of these

ANS: C

In a telephone communication, which of the following is the telephone activity a support agent least likely needs to develop?
a. A call greeting
b. A way to transfer a call
c. A way to hang up on abusive users
d. A dialog to put a call on hold

ANS: C

Which of these is not one of the four goals of incident management?
a. Make the user more self-reliant.
b. Complete the incident in the least amount of time possible.
c. Manage stress levels for both user and support agent.
d. Provide the user with the information he or she needs.

ANS: B

When a support agent does not know the answer to a question, a good incident management strategy is to tell the user ____.
a. the support agent will research the question and get back to the user
b. the support agent doesn’t know and nobody else does either
c. the question isn’t as important as other questions
d. to call back later when a different agent is available

ANS: A

Which of these is not a recommended incident management strategy for support agents?
a. Ask goal-directed diagnostic questions.
b. Don’t admit that you’re wrong or don’t know.
c. Say thanks.
d. Teach user self-reliance.

ANS: B

A support agent who feels that a user needs substantial assistance with the organization of files on his or her computer system should ____.
a. indicate how upset he or she is with the user’s file organization
b. tell the user how to straighten out his or her file organization
c. point the user to useful information about file organization
d. intimidate the user into changing his or her file organization

ANS: C

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) measures ____.
a. customer service ethic
b. personality and work style preferences
c. nonverbal behavior
d. user self-reliance

ANS: B

Incidents that involve complaints ____.
a. should be terminated as soon as possible
b. are likely from angry and frustrated users
c. are a valuable source of feedback and suggestions about products
d. should be escalated immediately to experienced support staff who know how to handle them

ANS: C

Support Web sites that use Web 2.0 technologies differ from earlier support Web sites primarily in ____.
a. including frequently asked questions (FAQs)
b. the authoring language used to build and maintain the site
c. improved site navigation tools
d. an emphasis on collaboration and communication among users

ANS: D

A feature of a Web site where discussions are posted by members of a user community is called a ____.
a. blog
b. user forum
c. chat room
d. Twitter

ANS: B

A Web site that contains large numbers of misspelled words and grammatical errors fails which of these general criteria?
a. Content
b. Organization
c. Format
d. Mechanics

ANS: D

Posts to a user forum with commentary on a single topic, arranged in date order, are called _____.
a. Web 2.0
b. a thread
c. a blog
d. Web 3.0

ANS: B

An organization-wide commitment that client relationships and client satisfaction are the most important aspect of a business is a(n) ______________________.

ANS: customer-service ethic customer service ethic client-service ethic client service ethic

____________________ include the ability to listen or read effectively, understand a user’s problem, and relate a solution to a problem.

ANS: Communication skills communication skills Communications skills communications skills Communications communications

The three essential communications skills are ____, understanding, and responding.

ANS: listening

One purpose or type of listening is to develop rapport with a user. This type of listening is called _____________________.

ANS: relational

The purpose of ____________________ listening is to provide positive support to a user.

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