The Service Desk

Team selection and training

A company's brand image can depend to a large extent on the quality of service given by its Service Desk.

We have all endured frustrating experiences dealing with large companies that promise high quality, round the clock support, and when it comes to the crunch, turn out to have a contact centre with staff who are poorly trained, if not downright rude.

"Your Service Desk's success is your company's success" and it depends to large degree on the people in the team. It is therefore essential to establish strict selection and training protocols for them.

Ideally, the Service Desk staff should:

• Share the organisation's customer care philosophy.
• Deal with customers in a way that is correct and polite, using language the customer can understand.
• Have an in-depth knowledge of the services and products offered.
• Understand customers' needs and redirect them, if necessary, to the experts in question.
• Control all the technological tools available to them in order to offer a high quality service.
• Be able to work as a team.

The training they are given should relate to all these aspects and not be limited to building their technology skills.

It is also essential for the management to be committed to:

• Close monitoring of the services delivered, particularly as regards their effectiveness and performance.
• Continuous support to the service desk team in its difficult task of dealing directly with customers.
• Team work.

And finally, remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.