What is the one thing you can do to help a caller who needs phone support and is not a competent computer user?

Ask them if they are sitting in front of the computer so you sound confident and professional in your wish to help the caller to help themselves to identify why they need phone support. Professionals in phone support know how much easier it is to help a caller if they can describe what the problem and fix the problem themselves. It also means they do not keep making the same mistake again and again

Answer

The key is to really listen to what they are saying. Ask them to bring up the system information and read it to you. It is simple and you know what kind of system they have. Patience and encouragement will get you through the call faster--not to mention using as few steps as necessary. We used to go by the SPUD method--system, program, user and data--to zero in on the issue.