A help desk or customer service center is an essential tool that every company must have to offer after-sales services, either due to legal requirements (product and service guarantees) or as part of a strategy to retain customers. In addition, it can also be used to provide support to the company’s own workers.
Importance of help desk: Improving after-sales service
What skills should a good help desk agent have?
Integria IMS is a help desk software with a wide range of features that make both internal and external communication easier. All of this is designed to achieve customer satisfaction, which increases the likelihood that they will purchase your services or products again.
In addition to having excellent help desk software such as Integria IMS, it is necessary to establish and maintain communication channels that stay always operative. This is critical to delivering solid customer service, although these fundamentals are more often than not not visible or perceived by customers.
That said, there is a key component that directly confronts users: agents or staff in charge of receiving contact from users to address issues, queries, etc. These people are responsible for opening tickets to keep track of incidents.
What skills should a good help desk agent have?
Customer service
Customer service is essential. Once the right tools (such as Integria IMS, phones, email accounts, social media, etc.) have been acquired and provided, you should focus on training, polishing, and perfecting help desk agents. This involves providing them with training and information so that they are familiar with the products and services offered by the company, as well as with the established policies and standards. It is important to integrate people into the objectives of the company.
A quick way to have good help desk agents is to hire and retain experienced professionals, which will make it easier for them to perform assigned tasks to provide exceptional customer service.
Open mind to change
A skill that can come integrated into help desk agents is their ability to contribute ideas on how to improve work through techniques and methods agreed upon among the staff. In case they lack this skill, incentives such as promotion options and other benefits can be offered, always fostering an optimal work environment. It is important to establish efficient communication channels to gather these ideas, as the best and most viable initiatives could greatly benefit the company.
Capacity for perception
An essential skill that a help desk agent must have is the ability to identify and understand, from a professional perspective, the needs and opinions of customers. In case this skill is not present, it can be developed through techniques such as small surveys or even by asking direct questions at the right and timely time. Another important skill that should go hand in hand is honesty in looking for the best option for the customer, making sure that you can make the most out of the company’s products and/or services, and that these are really necessary and useful for the customer.
Ability to listen
Yes, after so much effort invested in determining what motivates customers to make their purchases, all of those achievements can fade out if you lack the ability to listen to the customer, process that information, and turn it into useful actions.
Undoubtedly, it is not an easy task, and it requires a lot of patience and willingness to listen carefully to the opinions and wishes of buyers, as they are often accompanied by personal details that professional help desk agents must distinguish from the business process. This skill, properly cultivated and perfected (with empathy and patience), is one of the most valuable skills among help desk agents.
Know how to report
When it comes to complex services and products, it is not advisable to deliver all the information at once to the customer. That’s why it’s important to have the ability to dose information, starting with general guidelines and clear options, and then allowing customers to decide whether they want to delve into specific points.
It is at this point that we move on to the second stage of providing information, providing broad and precise details, thus taking advantage of the specific interest shown by the client.
Proper ticket management
It is assumed that a help desk agent has the ability to handle different situations, even the most adverse ones. However, it is important to make sure that the agent can handle any situation without needing to call another employee to help solve an incident ticket. Nothing discourages a customer more than seeing that the person helping them needs to turn to someone else to solve their problem.
Although Integria IMS is a very comprehensive software for incident management, it is advisable to periodically measure and evaluate the ability of users to ensure efficient ticket management and resolution.
Integria IMS is a program that provides, among many other features, a help desk software based on ticketing that can be useful for customer service management within companies and organizations.
Conclusions
In short, a good help desk agent must have a number of fundamental skills to provide exceptional customer service. These skills include customer service, the ability to generate ideas to improve tasks, the perception of customer needs and opinions, the ability to listen to and process information, the ability to dose information appropriately, and the efficient handling of incident tickets.
It is important to provide help desk agents with the right tools, such as Integria IMS software, and train them to be familiar with the company’s products, services, policies, and standards. In addition, foster a work environment conducive to the development of these skills and establish efficient communication channels to collect ideas and suggestions from the staff.
Periodically evaluating the ability of users in the handling and resolution of tickets will guarantee efficient incident management. Integria IMS, with its ticket-based incident management system, is a valuable tool to improve customer service in companies and organizations.
In conclusion, having competent help desk agents with the aforementioned skills is essential to offer a quality service, maintain customer satisfaction and strengthen the relationship with them.