Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

[blackcat4866]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought this thread was about teaching the customer their own (other source) software, not copier manufacturer's software. I consider myself to be familiar with my manufacturers MFP print drivers and utilities, but certainly do not consider myself competent to teach anyone else CorelDraw, Adobe Professional, Accounting software, etc. Can you imagine the number of possible programs? It's mind boggling. =^..^=

[Kidaver]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought this thread was about teaching the customer their own (other source) software, not copier manufacturer's software. I consider myself to be familiar with my manufacturers MFP print drivers and utilities, but certainly do not consider myself competent to teach anyone else CorelDraw, Adobe Professional, Accounting software, etc. Can you imagine the number of possible programs? It's mind boggling. =^..^=

Been there done that...not too much fun....working for a school district with 11 campuses, maint office, food service, and admin. Classes had about 25-30 educational programs I had to learn...even spend time playing silly learning games to troubleshoot stuff lol. Also had the Accelerated Reader program. We had it set up on a Novell network with Macs....the company had never dealt with that set up so they started calling us for tech support on some issues. Spreadsheets, word documents, attendence software, id card printing programs. been there done that....no t shirt tho

[nmfaxman]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

If I can print a test page from the driver, my job is done.
Software companies have their own support numbers for printing problems and patches.
If I can scan to my email or a shared folder, my job is done.
What they do with the document after that is not my problem.

[mjarbar]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

If I can print a test page from the driver, my job is done.
Software companies have their own support numbers for printing problems and patches.
If I can scan to my email or a shared folder, my job is done.
What they do with the document after that is not my problem.

Exactly - we teach them to use the print driver after that it is the domain of their IT and support.

There are way too many software packages out there to know the ins and outs of them all and we aren't getting paid to support it either, if there is a quick query that I have done myself I will help if I can, when I can, but it isn't covered by the company and I make sure the customer understands that our company isn't liable in any way if it goes wrong.

[Akitu]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

Exactly - we teach them to use the print driver after that it is the domain of their IT and support.

There are way too many software packages out there to know the ins and outs of them all and we aren't getting paid to support it either, if there is a quick query that I have done myself I will help if I can, when I can, but it isn't covered by the company and I make sure the customer understands that our company isn't liable in any way if it goes wrong.

Invaluable advice to anyone doing work outside the norm.

[rthonpm]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

Depending on the customer, I'll either do a quick check for any kind of incorrect settings like the 'Choose paper source by PDF page size' setting in Acrobat or go as far as seeing if there are any known issues with the software on the copier's knowledge base site or on the software vendor's site.

Often the issues are with custom developed applications or a simple check in the wrong box.

[BIG PAPA]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

It seems there are multiple discussions going on. As far as being able to train on aspects of the machine, yes. As far as Quark, publisher, etc... I say no. They are paying for maintanence and service on their MFP, not their comps. Basic click rates do not cover the costs of "IT" work. Of course there are gray areas for "customer satisfaction", but it is not our job to train customers on Software packages from other vendors. Just my opinion.

[RRodgers]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

It seems there are multiple discussions going on. As far as being able to train on aspects of the machine, yes. As far as Quark, publisher, etc... I say no. They are paying for maintanence and service on their MFP, not their comps. Basic click rates do not cover the costs of "IT" work. Of course there are gray areas for "customer satisfaction", but it is not our job to train customers on Software packages from other vendors. Just my opinion.

No problem, I'll sell them OUR machine tell them it can do it and then show them how to do it. Thanks for your customer!! errr I mean, now my customer.

[KenB]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

We cover the basic office apps: Office, IE, and Acrobat as far as a basic install package goes. Any support beyond that is billable. We do NOT train the customers how to use their applications, only how to interface with those apps to get output. Sometimes, that can be a very delicate balance.

If a customer is paying for a high end B&W or high end color install, we cover the mainstream apps: InDesign, Quark Xpress, and so on, but we charge a premium for the packages, and only certain techs are capable of doing that part of the install. Again, we don't train on how to use those apps, only how to get output.

Note that CorelDraw is NOT considered mainstream.

Where we do get caught in the proverbial middle, though, is with MS Publisher -it doesn't rate a being a premium application, yet can be an absolute pain to get to print properly. Unfortunately, we probably have 20 churches who use it to do their weekly bulletins, as well as a number of funeral homes.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

That's a really good post and how we try to do things but it can be tough to decide where to draw the line, and to draw the line consistently for everybody. Because you know if you cross it just once maybe by slip up or by being nice then people like to throw in your face, "well you helped me last time."

The question asked on this post borderlines a problem that we face a lot with our online sales of new and refurbed machines that we'll give a warranty on. Where do you draw the line on support.

Had a person just this week email saying their machine won't print smoothly...well what the hell does that mean. You've all heard it before, "there's something wrong with the machine." Well you know that 99.99% of the time the machine is fine. Usually a driver, setting, windows version, or software application issue. Because the machines will always work fine in your shop but never at the customers location.

Unfortunately I have to be the "a-hole" to them and break the news of how much it will cost them if we take the machine back and it works for us.

Seriously, if you aren't capable and able to hook up a machine and print to it using your own computers and software apps then you should not be buying printers or you should phone a friend who knows what they're doing.

[Hemlock]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

If I can print a test page from the driver, my job is done.
Software companies have their own support numbers for printing problems and patches.
If I can scan to my email or a shared folder, my job is done.
What they do with the document after that is not my problem.

Dude, you're cheating yourself out of valuable experience. If the customer's app wouldn't print properly (and the boss wasn't breathing down my neck) I'd work the problem to the end. The kind of experience you get doing that can't be taught in a copier class. When you get known as the guy that takes care of the bizarre problems, calls to rebuild fusers and do PMs get routed to greasemonkeys and you find yourself with all kinds of latitude in your workday/schedule. Plus, it's a bargaining chip when you want a raise or when you interview with another company.

Though, if you're cool with being a toner sniffer, more power to ya.

[RRodgers]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

Dude, you're cheating yourself out of valuable experience. If the customer's app wouldn't print properly (and the boss wasn't breathing down my neck) I'd work the problem to the end. The kind of experience you get doing that can't be taught in a copier class. When you get known as the guy that takes care of the bizarre problems, calls to rebuild fusers and do PMs get routed to greasemonkeys and you find yourself with all kinds of latitude in your workday/schedule. Plus, it's a bargaining chip when you want a raise or when you interview with another company.

Though, if you're cool with being a toner sniffer, more power to ya.

Dude, you are my new best friend!!!

[pacman]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

It really depends since I'm technically the IT guy. We're a somewhat smaller dealer and for us to get that high-end customer or to close a deal that nets us a lot of profit, we do have to take that extra step in dealing with software issues. In some instances, I've had to learn on on the fly how do some things while in front of the customer, but in the end if I ever see that situation again at least I know what to do. HOWEVER, there are some things that I'm just not equipped to deal with such as some software suites.

We just got a MacBook Pro for the company for me to learn on so I can understand that aspect of it. I can say this: 95% of the difficult issues I've encountered have been on a Mac. Some customers want Fiery power on an inkjet budget. Sometimes we just have to tell them "your Pantone color #whatever in Washington Apple Red isn't going to look exactly the same." And that's just the way it is. Luckily, we've encountered people that are pretty Mac savvy so all we do is give them the driver and they take it from there.

Actually, this thread reminds me of something that I wanted to put a separate topic up for....

[Star]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

No problem, I'll sell them OUR machine tell them it can do it and then show them how to do it. Thanks for your customer!! errr I mean, now my customer.

Sounds like you've got all kinds of time on your hands if you're willing to teach the customers their software under the mentioned basic click rate? Good for you. I hope you have money left over to fix the actual machine when it breaks. Otherwise, you'll lose that newly gained customer real fast.

Take your time, learn their software packages, and tutor them to your hearts content. Personally, I've got other paying customers waiting, so my I.T. services are billable. Either they can pay me for my time, or pay the fly by night I.T. guy. It's totally up to them.

[RRodgers]

Re: Anyone required to learn cust's software and train them how to use it?

Sounds like you've got all kinds of time on your hands if you're willing to teach the customers their software under the mentioned basic click rate? Good for you. I hope you have money left over to fix the actual machine when it breaks. Otherwise, you'll lose that newly gained customer real fast. Take your time, learn their software packages, and tutor them to your hearts content. Personally, I've got other paying customers waiting, so my I.T. services are billable. Either they can pay me for my time, or pay the fly by night I.T. guy. It's totally up to them.

I deal with a lot of our high end color customers. Ya know, the one's that pay like $.10 per click (if not more) and run thousands, if not (ens of thousands. Like I said before, if the machine can make booklets I have no problem teching them how to print said booklets on our machine. We make the money on it. The more they do, the more we make. So for them, yep! I got the time. If you don't wanna show your cutomer how to do that on there machine I'd be happy to show them how to do it on our machine and how fast and pretty it comes out.