Ever walk into a store and find that almost no one knows how to help you? Particularly in stores that sell high-tech products, the people who are best able to answer your questions aren't necessarily where you make your purchases.

Consider: Linksys, which sells computer networking equipment, is adding support staff to serve a growing number of home and small-business customers who depend on the vendor, rather than the mega-stores that stock the products, to be the primary source of support.

The demand for support is substantial. Linksys' products occupy at least 30% of the shelf space devoted to networking equipment in retail stores, says CEO Victor Tsao, citing statistics from market research firm NPD Intelect. The Irvine, CA-based company, which has offices throughout Europe and Asia, receives a million support calls a month from US customers alone. Since Linksys doesn't sell its products directly, the calls come from customers who buy the company's products from retail stores, retail Web sites, resellers and high-tech catalog firms, including CDW and Micro Warehouse.

Yet when the authors of this book spoke with Linksys at the end of February 2002, the company's in-house support operation at its headquarters comprised between 80 and 90 support representatives. And these representatives, or "reps" as we call them throughout the book, answered calls only on weekdays.

So how is Linksys able to assist its customers after they purchase its products? That's where this book can help you.

Whether or not your company sells high-tech products, The...