Dan, can you tell us about your role as a Technical Customer Support representative at County Broadband?
Absolutely. As a Technical Support Supervisor, I oversee a team of Technical Customer Support agents who provide second-to-none technical support for our customers. My main role is to ensure that the Technical Support Team is able to deliver fantastic customer service and get to the bottom of what can more complex technical based issues that our customers may experience, whether this is by e-mail support or over the phone.
What does a typical day look like for you in this role?
It’s hard to give an answer for a typical day, as it can always change! But if I had to define a typical day for me, it involves responding to customer queries through phone call and emails whilst also monitoring our network to make sure everything is running smoothly. Working closely with my team, I also look to offer coaching, support and deal with any escalated cases to help find a positive outcome for customers who may have had a particularly difficult time.
What do you find most rewarding about working as a Technical Support Supervisor at County Broadband?
In a supervisory position, you often deal with escalated cases that can’t always be resolved at the first phone call. This can understandably lead to further upset for our customers. Being able to turn these situations around, to then building a great rapport with these customers really provides you with a sense of accomplishment. You know you’ve done a good job when a customer either asks for you directly or mentions you to another employee.
This leads onto the second-best thing for me, which is seeing all of the amazing Trustpilot reviews we get where customers mention the agent that provided them with a 5* service. It’s just so great to read and really shows off the fantastic level of service we offer and makes me so proud.
How do you stay updated with the latest technological advancements in the broadband industry to better assist customers?
A lot of it comes down to my own personal interest in technology, especially in the broadband field as you will occasionally find me scrolling through various forums soaking up what I can about the latest releases.
However, and it may seem surprising, but our customers sometimes educate us on what’s good and what’s not. There have been many situations where a customer has brought an issue to our table, whether it’s something regarding their own internal network or a certain configuration they require for their particular setup, that we have not previously encountered previously. These situations really help define what we in the Technical Support Team do, as we have the opportunity to really listen and understand what our customers want and need from our service.
Many technical individuals will refer to a ‘diagnostic process’ that is followed, and it’s no different for us. Without this, we aren’t able to understand why certain things happen, or to define what is better or worse for a customer’s experience with us (and we want the absolute best for our customers..!).
What advice would you give to someone considering a career in technical customer support within the broadband industry?
The door is open to anyone who is willing to put their mind to it. I often hear customers, friends or family members say, “this is all too technical for me” and to them I say nothing is too technical if you allow yourself to learn. A big part of our role as a Technical Support Team is providing education and giving customers information on how to sometimes fix these issues themselves. It’s all well and good saying “it’s fixed”, and there will always be people who just want to hear that and nothing more, but sometimes explaining why something has happened and how to prevent it can be so valuable and from experience, our customers often appreciate that more.
There will always be jargon that some customers may not understand, and that’s okay, but a good starting point is to find ways to compare technical issues to other real-life scenarios and to break it down this way. Whilst a degree or background in the field can help, it’s not necessary. Anyone at any time can dive in.
Whether you’re a resident or business, you can check if you’re covered in County Broadband’s rollout by entering your postcode at www.countybroadband.co.uk where you can also register your interest to learn more about the full fibre infrastructure and service.
