Unsung heroes- Service Desk agents and the moment of truth

In a world where we’ve craved simplicity and stability of service, we seldom get both and a perfect transaction. That’s because service processes are designed by humans, and we make mistakes, we sometimes fail to anticipate every possible scenario. Where do we go when things don’t go exactly as we want them, to the Service Desk (or the Help Desk, as historically called.)

The Service Desk has traditionally been the front line and the hotline for all things technical and not so technical in a company. Whenever you have a problem and you don’t know where to get it fixed, you’re likely to dig for that number so you can unload your problem and get quick relief. Regardless of how well or fast we design a product, customers still have questions or need help with something that failed or otherwise isn’t meeting expectation. The customer may be even-tempered or they may be calling when they’re at the end of their rope, charging at the first person they can get to hear them out. At that precise moment, at the moment when words are hurled at 100 miles/hour, the Service Desk is tested. Will the Service Desk agent…

1) listen fully to the entirety of the account/rant of the issue or request,

2) empathize with the customers’ pain/predicament,

3) look for the best and shortest path to addressing the issue/request,

4) take ownership of ensuring that the customer gets passed on to the right area by brokering the introduction to that next agent/supervisor,

5) ask what else they can do for the customer?

Your customer, when things go sideways.

Or will they place them repeatedly on hold? Or will they place them back into a bottomless hole of a phone tree? Or, the best one yet, disconnect them as they place them on a hold?

Each and every contact with the Service Desk is essentially a moment of truth, where your service is being tested, even stress-tested. In that moment, it doesn’t matter how much funding went into manufacturing and marketing your product. That moment is when that voice represents YOU and YOUR COMPANY. If that voice in that moment speaks respectfully and is cooperative, getting the issue or request resolved on first contact, you’re golden, you’re a hero. But if that voice falters, displaying indifference to the need and the customer’s frustration ….well, you guessed it, you’re a zero. Training your Service Desk properly and thoroughly is therefore MISSION CRITICAL to the success of your operation. That goes to both an insourced or outsourced Service Desk. The customer doesn’t know the difference, nor does he/she care. All they know is that person represents the company and product that they paid for, and if they are helpful and the call terminates well, they may be loyal to both, however if it doesn’t, you’d better believe they will likely consider other options.

Your Service Desk Agent- the unsung hero

How to ensure you’re setup for success. Here are 5 tips. (Insourced/Outsourced- doesn’t matter.)

1) Invest in your technical people by training them thoroughly and frequently. This goes beyond a typical 1 to 2 weeks of training through manuals and then a drive-by shadowing with other agents. Focus on teaching them the actual business. Send them out into the field whenever possible, either during orientation, or throughout the business cycle. This will pay dividends because once they really know the way the business works, they can best support your customers. Make sure soft-skills training is also part of this and not short-changed.

2) Ensure you’re taking care of their compensation and they’re very fairly paid. Nothing hurts Service Desk agents more than feeling that they’re the bottom of the barrel on the pay scale, and that they have to work overtime to make up a portion of that difference. Assess the pay against the skillset needed, including certification, customer satisfaction ratings, and other performance measurements, and factor in technical adjustments over set periods in alignment with these milestones.

3) Automate the mundane, and elevate the humane. Most people don’t want to do redundant, meaningless work, so work to eliminate unnecessary keystrokes and effort so the agents can focus on the customers instead of the ankle-biter issues hindering that focus. Wherever possible, look to shift to AI for basic steps like customer security validation, password resets, basic status relay, form distribution and checking.

4) Place safeguards to protect both sides- your agents and your customers. Through the ACD, Chatbot, Chatting, Email or a Portal, ensure you have a mechanism for QA and periodic review for quality of interaction. On the ACD there is sentiment management software that can detect mood changes, voice intonation, word choice as well as speech patterns to flag calls where customers became irate or something inappropriate was said/done. Other controls also exist on the different channels, so enable these.

Hero of the moment and the day!

5) Develop and leverage a “Balanced Scorecard” approach for measuring kPI’s. With this you would be focusing on a combination of quality and quantity metrics, things that make your Service Desk both effective and efficient. Examples of kPI’s to include are customer satisfaction rating, speed of answer, call/contact counts, first contact resolution, absenteeism, and employee morale. These balance scorecards help focus managers on looking at the whole picture and not just one metric. This also places the people at the center of the equation, both the employee and the customer.

Finally, thank them (your agents) for the hard work they do. I cringe at the term “thankless job” when referring to the role of a Service Desk agent or Customer Service representative. It’s actually the opposite- every contact can and usually ends with the customer thanking that person for helping them. That’s when things go right of course, which they don’t always. And when they go wrong, they end with significant hostility channeled towards the agent/representative, who then has to try to diffuse the situation while not taking the attack personally. Neither is easy to do, and it can be very stressful to these professionals. Remember, the more your Service Desk delivers great support, the better your product/service brand will be and the more likely you can continue to generate revenue and grow!