Protecting Your Team Against Your Customers: Quick Guide for MSP Owners
The previous article about dealing with technician burnout generated a few fascinating private discussions with MSP owners who suggested that, in many cases, the reasons for burnout are not related to internal operations but rather to the need to deal with abusive customers.
In the last month, I heard numerous stories of customers screaming at MSP technicians and doing something completely unexplainable, like unplugging a server from the power outlet and forcing a technician to drive for a few hours to plug it in. Another surreal story was about a customer who regularly put wet paper into a printer, causing jamming that would result in a technician visiting the customer site and listening to various complaints about internet speed and slow coffee machines. People do behave strangely sometimes…
Handling complicated customers is a serious issue, especially for technicians who are uncomfortable with customer communications. When they get into arguments, they close down, suffer and burn out. Therefore, business leaders need to address the issue as early as possible.
Here is a short guide based on best practices for handling complicated customers I recently collected from MSP owners.
A policy on handling customer behavior
Start by creating an internal document describing acceptable and unacceptable customer behavior and how technicians deal with it. Using the document as a guide would help technicians understand the recommended course of action.
Most owners recommend politely ignoring complaints and screams while onsite or during a phone call and informing them about the behavior so they can have a conversation with the customer. Technicians appreciate if their managers or MSP owners handle all complicated “human” situations, and many consider getting somebody else involved in non-technical issues a benefit.
Train your team
Help your technicians learn conflict resolution skills. Accepting negative feedback and apologizing for whatever disturbs the customer can end unpleasant communication. The manager can address the actual issue later. The goal for the employees is to de-escalate conflict on the spot, not get emotionally involved.
In most cases, when another person screams at you, it has nothing to do with you—they are just dealing with their internal discomfort. Knowing this and approaching unpleasant situations helps you emotionally detach from the altercation.
Show support to your staff
After handling a situation with the customer, communicate it to your technicians. They want to know that you have their backs and that your policy is not just a piece of paper. Also, feel free to congratulate people on solving technical issues despite the complications in communication.
One amazing MSP had a policy that at the end of the year, all technicians would vote for the worst customer to handle, and they would “fire” the customer if there was a clear leader by the number of technician votes. Even though they rarely do that, technicians know their opinion is important, and the owner supports them.
Discuss customers in employee meetings
Most MSPs have one-to-one conversations with their employees, focusing on the tasks and hand, compensation, and time off planning, yet they do not discuss customer relationships. And engineers may not share their concerns and complaints without being asked directly. Thus, asking questions about how they interact with customers is a good practice. However, ensuring that employees feel safe sharing the information and don’t feel like you are evaluating their performance under stress is vital.
One MSP founder told me he always asks how well customers treat his engineers. If he hears about gracious customers, he sends them gift cards with a small handwritten thank you note expressing gratitude for their good treatment of their employees.
Building trust with the team is extremely important. They should feel they can discuss any issues with you, and raising concerns about customers won't damage their reputation.
Protecting your employees builds stronger relationships, learns about problematic customers early, and retains your best talent. Even more, having a strong work ethic and reputation helps attract talent looking for a better work environment.