Screencasts can make the life of a customer support agent a breeze. Well, almost. The most common customer support call by far is the forgotten login credentials. Almost all websites that require a login have an automatic but safe way for the user to get their login credentials. Screencasts will help you with another common customer support task: Teaching your customers how to use what they bought.

One of The Most Common Customer Support needs.

As a customer support agent, I often get messages or calls like this: “RJ, I love the site, and especially the [name of feature]. But how do I ____________”? Much of customer support is teaching people how to use what they’ve bought. Sometimes their message is very direct like this one. But as a customer service agent have you noticed that a lot of support communication goes something like this below?

Customer: “Your website is broke”

Agent: “I can help you with that. Tell me what’s going on.”

Customer: “I’m trying to do X and the Y isn’t showing up.”

Agent (In his or her private thoughts): “Ah ha! This customer doesn’t know that they need to activate the W for X to show the Y.”

I bet if this happens to you, you simply help the customer step-by-step to activate W. Sometimes they realize they forgot a step or didn’t know one. Other times they think you fixed what was broken. Either way, if the customer is happy and continues to be a customer, your goal is reached. Sometimes you can do this live without any screencasts or screen-sharing software. What if I showed you how to create a video that shows your customer how to do the things they ask you to teach? I can help you with that: Screencasts. How Can Screencasts Improve My Bottom Line?

Imagine a customer support event that lasts a fraction of the time as your average? And it not only helps your customer, it WOWs them? Do a better job in less time, and you’ll have savings and increased revenue. That’s the idea anyay. Create screencasts of the tasks you most commonly teach your customers. Then when you realize the customer needs to learn how to activate W, you can quickly send them the link to watch your screencast. Some customers will still want their hands held, but they will be fewer than the total who need the learning.

How Does Screen Sharing Help?

Remember when Windows was new and you often helped people find the Start button? How often do you need a customer to click an icon in their system tray but they say they don’t see it? I can help you with that: Screen Sharing.

If you have a customer with a problem (most important customer-right?), and you just plain need to see their screen, have them share their screen with you. You immediately see what they don’t know is right in front of them. You tactfully tell them where to look. “See the spot where it shows the time? Next to that is a blue icon with a happy face. Click that with your rigt mouse button.”

Or better yet, some screen-sharing software lets you take control of their mouse or draw on their screen. It is very effective to say on the phone, “Click here,” and draw a circle over the spot. Customers will love you … and come back.

If you have a high customer support load, screen-sharing and screencasts will make a significant difference.

My Recommended Screencasting and Screen-Sharing Tools

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Screencast-O-Matic will capture screen video and your audio. It’s free and it just works from your browser. Easy and free, a great combination.

http://camstudio.org/
CamStudio is an open-source screen capturing software. CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)

http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/
Adobe Captivate is the screen capturing leading software. It is specifically taylored to creating educational screencasts. If you are doing high-volume profesional instructional design, you’ll need this one.

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
TechSmith Camtasia creates videos that train, teach, sell, and more. It is one of the most well-known screencapture software programs.

https://www.gotomypc.com
GoToMyPC is primarily to access your PC from anywhere. I include it here because some of my customers have it and use it to invite me to view their screen.

http://www.gotoassist.com
GoToAssist is the easiest and most secure customer support screen-sharing software I have found so far. Your customer calls you on the phone, and you easily connect to view their screen without any vulnerablility to them. If security is a common concern in your customer base, this one will do the trick.

Some of the popular instant messangers support screen sharing. If that works for you that’s great, but again consider whether your customers will be comfortable with that. Make your life easier by reaching out to your customers either by giving them a video to learn what they need (Screencasts) or by helping them while you view their screen (Screen Sharing).

 

      

Does a 4-hour work week seem like a pie in the sky to you? Not to me. After reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, I’m convinced it’s possible. Ferris’ unique journey is a compelling read. More importantly, it has increased my efficiency and therefore… profits.

4HWW Principles

Timothy Ferris found four basic principles that when combined will help you escape the doldrums of every-day life, create success and prosperity without long hours, difficult bosses, commuting, or a time clock. Change your world by riding this roller-coaster to efficiency.

One of these four principles, Elimination, has left me without the ton of bricks I used to carry around for no reason. I’ve removed my least profitable projects, stopped commuting, simplified my processes, found my inefficiencies and dropped them, found my strengths and mulitplied them.

Elimination

Elimination is removing those things in your life or business that drag you down, tie up your time, cause errors or distractions. If you change your paradigm and see your day in terms of “what do I have or what do I do that really doesn’t help?” then you can eliminate and simplify – getting more done in less time. And I don’t mean more in quantity – volume isn’t the key. How you reach your goals is the key. Any activity, customer, or project that is really a time-waster should be considered for elimination.

My Personal Elimination Tools

• StayFocused by Transfusion Media is an extension to the Google Chrome browser that lives up to its name. It helps you stay focused by limiting the time you can browse websites you have designated as time-wasters. Track your time on websites and then configure them into StayFocusd. Like an automatic diet you’ll soon spend less time surfing and more time working.
• Other Inbox is a tool that analyzes your incoming email and places low-priority emails out of the way so you easily focus on what is truly important, not what appears to be urgent. This works great with Gmail.
• Google Voice gives you more control over your voice messages. Screen calls, read voicemail (which is quicker than listening), and customize your greeting based on who is calling you.
• Gmail removes spam better than an any other email client I have every used. Spam is growing; I get over 1,000 spam emails a day. Gmail has the best filter, and it lets me add my own filters. Combined with Other Inbox, and you will never waste time in email again.

Don’t misunderstand me. The 4-Hour Work Week is not a proposal to do more in less time. It teaches you how to identify and do what is most beneficial and leave out the rest. If the most important work is only a fraction of the time you are currently spending, wouldn’t you want to know? Wouldn’t you change your activities to maximize your profit or reach other goals? Get your copy of The 4-Hour Workweek now.

Tell Me

Now it’s your turn to help me. What tools do you use to eliminate wasting time?

      

A typical day In our business… Replace “Boss” with “Client.”

What is your favorite Dilbert strip?

To view Dilbert Cartoons, go to http://www.dilbert.com.

      

Audio File for Effective Time Management
(2 minutes 19 seconds)

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As some of you know, I’ve been going to law school at UALR for the past year. It’s a part-time program which fits nicely into my work schedule but has cut deeply into my time availability.

During the Semester
During the semester, a typical day starts around 8am and as soon as I get off of work, I’m in class by 5:30pm. I sit in a class room until 9pm. I then get home, reply to emails, return urgent calls, prepare for the next day’s work, and then start reading for the next day of classes.

When I sit in class, I think about all of the thing that I COULD accomplish if I were not in school.

Needless to say, when I got out of school for the summer, I couldn’t wait to get out and see how much I could accomplish. As the summer began, I thought that I needed to work long hours to “get caught up.”

Now, in mid-August, I’m still working late hours and probably getting just as much done as I did while I was in class.

I’ve come to the realization that I lack time management skills. Actually, I don’t lack time management skills… they just go away if they’re not required. My formula looks something like this:

The more stuff I have to do and the less time I have to do those tasks… the better my time management skills. This follows my theory of:

“If you push yourself to accomplish more than you think you can handle… you’ll surprise yourself with how much you can actually accomplish.”

So, a few things that I’ve learned while trying to fix my time management skills.

1. Do not work with outlook open. Set time aside to respond to emails.
2. You do not have to answer every phone call. Set time aside to respond to phone calls.
3. Prioritize your task list. Not every task is equally important. Hone in on tasks that are important.
4. Log Your time. To measure your time management, you must know where you are spending your time.
5. One task at a time. I’m the worst at trying to do three things at once. But time and time again, I’m reminded that making a list is a better solution.

I leave you with a book that was given to me by an ex-girlfriend that told me long ago that I had time management problems. Admission is the first step to solving the problem.

      

Employee Empowerment
When people ask me about my management style, I usually respond with something corny like “employee empowerment.” The idea is that the people I work with are smart enough that they don’t have to be managed. They know the company goals and they know how to take care of a customer. Let the employee manage themselves. They’ll hold themselves to a higher standard, make their own deadlines based on reality and work load, and they’ll put the customer first because of their own inner drive. Overall, I think this management style has worked for me. It might be the lazy man’s way, but I think if you have good people, you’ll see great results. It’s less time consuming than other management style’s and I think the employees get a lot more, long term gain out of this style of management.

When Employee Empowerment Doesn’t Work
But, “employee empowerment” doesn’t always work. You don’t want to use this style when you’re working with people that don’t care about quality, their customer, or future. These people live for today, not the long term. They over promise and under deliver. They say they’ll be there and never show up. They promise you’ll love the work and you end up hating it. They swear they didn’t see the errors you point out. They make excuse after excuse. They make errors without any excuse at all. They promise to change and they don’t. You don’t want to work with these people but sometimes you have no choice.

When It Doesn’t Work
When I notice that empowerment isn’t working, I switch to what I call “Reward Management.” This is typical in some industries such as the construction industry. This is also typical when you’re working with sub-contractors. The basis is, you only get paid when the job is done and when the job is done right. This is the last leg for me. I’ll call it quits if they can’t get the job done, maintain a great quality, pickup the phone when I call, or they can’t get it done when they say they’re going to get it done.

That’s it. Those two things are my only management options. Sometimes, I get handcuffed to a bad worker. Sometimes, I get a guy who starts a project and they’re so deep in the project, its hard to get them off of it. From experience, its always worth getting them off of the project as soon as possible. Don’t give them a third and forth shot, just get rid of them.

Conclusion
Good people are the hardest things to come by. When you find them, treat them as good as you can and be prepared to treat them better than you treat yourself. Don’t double cross them because you’ll need them in the future. And get them on your team as soon as you can.

Bad people are a dime-a-dozen. Dump them as soon as you can. Don’t give them a third chance and don’t think they’ll change.