What your help desk can do to augment agent productivity

Customer support agents act as a bridge between the customers and the solutions, playing a vital role in the contact center. However, a lot of factors can impact the productivity of agents. It can be a ticket that slipped through the agents’ notice and ends up as an escalation. It can be limited accessibility to customer information. Hey, it can even be another agent’s delayed response to an urgent call for help. All these factors can stifle the performance of the agents and, in turn, hurt the quality of customer service. While this is worrying, don’t worry, because the solution is right there in your contact center. Yes, the help desk software that you’re using holds the key to improving the performance of your agents. What can you do with your help desk software to ensure that your agent productivity remains intact?

Work on the strengths of the agents. 

Agents come in different types and with different set of skills. Some are good at closing tickets that are in a state of emergency. Some are good at charming the loyal customers. Others expertly close tickets just before they become overdue. With such diversity in agents, it just isn’t fair to provide them with the cliched list. By sorting the tickets into lists (based on customer type, due date and ticket status), the agents can pick out the list that’s convenient to them and start solving problems straightaway.

Equip the agent’s arsenal with information.

By providing exemplary customer service, your agents are all set to win the customers’ hearts. However, there’s a catch in their plan. When a customer contacts the customer support center, the agent needs information about the customer to make the most out of the interaction. With customer information scattered across different departments, it can be difficult for the agent to get information in an instant. One way to counteract this problem is to integrate information from different departments in the help desk itself. This way, when the agent starts interacting with a customer, pulling out information about the customer and assessing the next course of action will become a walk in the park. 

Secondly, finding solutions and conveying them to the customers is tough when the solutions are scattered across the software. To counter this, unify all the solutions into a common knowledge base so the agent gets a list of viable solutions while typing out keywords. Enable the agents to add solutions directly into the ticket without having to type out long answers every time. And hey, encourage your agents to post their own solutions, for you won’t know what gems you might unearth from your agent’s brain.

Patch up redundancies.

Apart from scouting for the right solution, what can be time-consuming for the agents? Performing redundant tasks associated with each ticket sure is. When you consider the volume of tickets that the agents handle every day, the time spent on the repetitive tasks does take the lion’s share of the agents’ time, and in turn, impact the agents’ efficiency. Your help desk software can aid you in conserving your agents’ time by providing you with macros, a set of pre-written rules and tasks associated with each ticket. Whenever the agents need to perform the tasks, a simple execution of the macro is all that is required. As a result, your agents can focus on creating an amazing customer experience.

Encourage introspection.

Nothing works like self-analysis. Even when your agents are provided with inputs from the managers about their performance, it would do them a world of good if they maintain tabs on their performance themselves. By viewing their ticket status, response time and happiness ratings, they can scrutinize what needs to be improved and plan accordingly. For example, if the agent finds that the customer happiness rating isn’t satisfactory, they can take measures to turn the frowns upside down.

With all these simple steps at your disposal, make the best use of your help desk to help your agents provide exemplary customer service.