Handling customers is an essential skill

The deficit of skilled people in western Europe will reach one million by 2005. This is a worrying statistic, and the government proposes to engender change by unveiling a National Skills Strategy this month.

The strategy will set out how the government and its partners will work together to improve skills and productivity.

While increased dialogue between companies, employees and education bodies is a great idea, I believe that a significant contributor to the skills deficit is a lack of interpersonal expertise. And these skills are very hard to teach.

Three or four years ago, it would be fair to say that most IT companies were primarily made up of techies and sales teams. Or to put it another way, workers who dealt with customers and workers who didn't.

But customer relations are now becoming crucial to an IT company's success, because the internet market is becoming more competitive and specialised. All members of a company should be able to interact with the customer.

But this is where the problem arises, because many technical people don't have the dedication or personal skills needed to provide quality service to the customer.

We've been recruiting technical support staff and I was reminded of this. I hate to say it, but too many techies fit the nerd role.

They spend too much time in a darkened room with only a computer for company. And they cannot offer the level of reassurance or comfort that is expected when they are required to speak on the phone with a distraught customer.

So how can a candidate ensure that they are ready for a customer-focused employer? And how does an employer ensure that it has the best customer-focused technical staff?

You might have thought that in the IT economic slump people would be desperate to promote themselves in job interviews. You would, however, be mistaken.

People arrive for interviews without their CV, don't know anything about the company, and are unable to successfully communicate their view of the customer.

We now ask technical candidates how much of their job is customer-facing during initial telephone contact. If they answer less than 80 per cent, we don't ask them to come in for an interview.

We also ask for personal examples of when the candidate has helped a customer in extreme circumstances. If you hire extraordinary people, and commit to investment in their development, they will enjoy their job and be prepared to go the extra mile.

Companies should be continually striving to offer customers the best possible service by being consistent, distinctive and memorable. If you support outstanding performance and service it leads to strong motivation, and vice versa.

The industry is not spending enough time ensuring that its people can provide the right support services. When it comes to finding the right staff, it's a bit like choosing a car. You should always make sure that a Ferrari is really a Ferrari and not a Reliant Robin in disguise.

Dominic Monkhouse is managing director at Rackspace Managed Hosting Europe.