There are any number of ways to Organize and run a help desk.  This blog post is for the existing helpdesk organization and is meant to give them 3 ideas to improve the environment of the service desk organization.

3 Ways to Improve Your Help Desk

1.  Are you surveying your customers at the end of each month?  Or just when business hits a low?

How happy are your customers really?  The only way to really find out is the call them.  If you have a thousand customers, sending out written or electronic surveys may possibly send up a few flares, but most customers don’t have time to sit and fill out a survey, and if they do, they don’t really give you enough details to allow you to improve your organization.  The only way that you are going to do that is to work at it each month.  Set aside 4 hours every other week to sit down and call your largest clients.  Just check in with them to see how things are going.  Look at the sales trends within your organization, if you have a customer that shows promise in the upward curve, make it a point to check in with them to see how you can improve their business.  Pay little attention to the bottom 50% of your customer sales report unless you can pick out one that is climbing the chart.  In most cases, the top 20-30% make up 80% of the sales anyway.  And I’m not saying to ignore the bottom 50% with mediocre customer service, I am simply saying that the top of the pyramid will give you better answers to improve your business.  Make the information and notes that you take away from these calls public for your staff.   I suggest that top management perform this tasks, and before you know it, it will have a trickle down effect to the rank and file.  And people will notice.

2.  Are you surveying your Company?  Or just listening to the squeaky wheels?

Your staff is a good barameter on your customer’s as well.  Have short but informative meetings with them as a group to discuss the last month’s customer service tickets and how the issue was resolved.  Also pay attention to how quickly the issue was resolved.  You don’t have to reward your people for giving good service.  Recognition is generally the best reward.

3.  Are you surveying your employees?

Surveying your employees is necessary if you are going to continue to deliver first class customer service.  Are your people happy in their jobs?  Do they have the tools necessary to be able to do their jobs correctly.  Are there particular customers that are making their jobs more difficult, and could these clients be shifted to other reps for efficiency?  Nothing can tarnish your customer support faster than a bad apple.  We strongly suggest that our clients record every phone call that takes place on the system.  By monitoring these calls on a frequent basis, you can determine the level of service that your customers are getting.  Just by having the recordings take place let’s your staff know that you are going to be checking in with them on a regular basis.