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Q:  Should soft skills still be high on my list when my budget has been cut to practically nothing?
 
Soft skills are always an important part of supporting customers and shouldn't be neglected. We sometimes have the tendency to think communication skills, writing skills, problem solving skills, etc. are less important things to worry about when are budgets are tight. We have to remember though, that these are the skills our support professionals use to interact with our customers- the very customers we are desperately trying to keep and convince that they should purchase more product. We should equip our support staff with the tools they need to do the job well. These tools not only include up to date support technology and technical product training, but training in interpersonal communication as well.
 
In today's environment of total Customer Relationship Management, it is extremely important to have support professionals that: are/feel empowered; can communicate professionally and confidently with customers; know and can adhere to written processes and procedures (such as knowledgebase entry formatting); understand the importance of knowledge collecting, documenting, and sharing; and understand the benefit of add on selling. All of these things make a support professional more efficient and effective.
 
So how are we to afford such soft skill training when our support dollars are stretched? Make deals! Any reputable support training vendor will be willing to work with you. Ask them set up a payment plan. Or talk to them about delayed billing. And certainly ask them about such things as volume discounts. Additionally, most vendors will even go so far as to discount classes delivered before the end of a fiscal year. If your vendor is good, they care just as much about training your staff in the skills that will make them successful as you do. So the vendor will be willing to work with you to accomplish the task.