Customer Service and Customer Support CRASH COURSE

Learn about different client types and common misconceptions, recognizing that internal or external clients and outsourcing mean everyone is a client, including customer service roles.

Learn how external clients interact with Bananas Corporation, as customer service collaborates with the AP team, the app team, and the IT helpdesk to resolve issues and confirm payments.

Explore how internal clients in a multinational IT helpdesk function as one-sided customers, with separate business units, cost considerations, and performance metrics across regions.

Learn how outsourcing clients enable cost-effective support by third-party teams, with dedicated engagements for SoftDisk, Green Energy, and Blue Code, handling accounting, software development, and customer service.

Learn how to use customer service tools like Zendesk to manage tickets across channels such as email, chat, and phone, and build confidence at work.

Understand when to use the ticketing tool versus outlook, convert client emails to tickets, and track SLA, archiving exchanges, and conversation history across teams.

Learn when to use chat for internal teams versus external clients, including Microsoft Teams vs external chat tools, and how urgency and role affect whether to email or use tickets.

Use humor to cope with work stress, reframe tense moments, and stay calm. Apply stoicism to stay present and not fixate on outcomes, and practice Wim Hof breathing techniques.

Tame your emotions, manage angry clients with stoicism, focus on what you control, and do your best, as Marcus Aurelius suggests.

Develop a practical approach to handling multilingual names by mapping how letters are pronounced in the target language and using notes to avoid spelling errors when searching records.

Learn to recognize and spell names in a foreign language, use familiar names to speed database searches, and improve phone interactions in customer service.

Learn to use pre-prepared sentences to enhance client conversations, including 'based on my experience' and 'let me check with my team and get back to you,' while avoiding cliché phrases.

Adopt a partner-oriented approach by building informal, friendly conversations with internal clients while maintaining professionalism and clear boundaries with external clients.

Note the most repetitive client issues to save cognitive energy and speed responses. Use Excel to filter, build templates for recurring issues, and share a guidebook with teammates.

Seize opportunities by changing projects or departments, pursue job hopping for higher pay, and take on customer service projects; focus on building experience and a solid resume rather than salary.

Avoid openly admitting to your mistakes and focus on learning and improvement. Avoid a master-slave dynamic; foster a partnership with your supervisor and with clients.

Learn essential customer service vocabulary for accounting and collections, including due date, build date, disputed invoice, remittance, open invoice, credit note, commission, and banking coordinates.