Outsourced Tier 1 help desk services can be invaluable – if done right. They can offload relatively less complex customer problems from more technically (and expensive) help desk employees, delivering faster, better quality and less costly help desk services. Let’s examine six factors that help desk services providers must perform:
1: Answering the Telephone the Right Way
The first words expressed by the Tier 1 help desk call center services provider are crucial. They establish the tone and the atmosphere in which a healthy and helpful connection between the customer and the services provider can thrive. Sadly, help desk services companies make the wrong assumption that staffers will answer the telephone the right way. Too often calls are begun with a discourteous: "What’s your ticket number?" or "Hello." The customer feels he’s on a conveyer belt that the help desk worker is trying to process as quickly as possible.
Calls should be answered with courtesy and care. The help desk services representative should be trained to understand that callers are valued customers, that many of them are calling because they are unhappy or frustrated and that the job of the employee is to make them feel important and well-supported. The ultimate goal is to foster customer loyalty.
Calls should be begun with: "Hello, thank you for calling Technical Support at NAME OF COMPANY, my name is BOB, how may I help you?" This communicates to customers that they have reached the correct department at the right company, tells them who they are speaking with, and shows them the representative is there to help. And it demonstrates good manners and respect.
2: Explain the Process
When customers speak with a help desk, it is frustrating to have the service provider stubbornly pursue a particular process despite the customer’s belief it will not be useful. Sure, the customer may be wrong. But the customer may be perfectly right – the process may have already been tried unsuccessfully. In either case, it is incumbent on the Tier One help desk representative to describe the steps being taken. The service provider should use words like: "I understand you already attempted this process, but my company’s policy requires me to try it anyway. It’s possible that in doing so I will understand why you are having this problem." Or perhaps, "I understand your concern, but I have a document here developed by our technical staff that explains that this setting might be the problem after all."
Explaining things to customers in this way will help them appreciate that you are acting in their best interests and that you are doing your best to help them. Communication is key.
3: Carefully Review the Ticket Notes
The best way to avoid making customers angry is to not ask them for information they have already provided. The best way to accomplish this is for the help desk agent to read the ticket notes. In so doing, you don’t ask the customer to explain what their problem is. If the notes are poorly written or not complete, the help desk representative should talk about the problem with the agent who wrote them. And the representative should explain the situation, and apologize, to the customer of whom you are asking for repeat information.
4: Quality Ticket Notes
The other side of the coin is to be sure that representatives write good quality ticket notes, which should cover:
• The company and the name of the customer spoken with
• Why they called again
• The process and procedures that were taken, along with the results, error codes, and outcomes
• Details about parts used, serial numbers, etc.
• Actions the customer was asked to take
• Actions the help desk committed to taking
• The date and time the help desk is meant to recontact the caller
5: Examine Previous Cases
When a customer has a problem, clues to resolving the issue can commonly be found in previous cases for that customer or that product. A review of past tickets for the product helps determine if it was a defective product or if a fix could be made. In other cases, it’s important to look at the environment in which the product is used. In reviewing previous tickets, it can be possible to take the customer’s environment into consideration as a cause of the problem.
6: Escalating a Case
A key to Tier 1 help desk programs is training representatives on when to escalate a case. It’s important to tell agents that it’s perfectly acceptable to pass the problem up the food chain. Refusing to do so doesn’t help anyone. The customer’s problem isn’t getting fixed, and the representative is putting the company in a bad light by delivering poor help desk service – in short, everyone loses. Tier 1 help desk managers and supervisors should frequently review with their employees how and when to recognize that a customer’s problem requires escalation.
Mark Fichera, CEO
OnBrand24
Call Center Services
Beverly, MA
Savannah, GA