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Many help desk managers make the mistake of hiring inexperienced professionals and end up with staff that is just doing their job, rather than providing quality services to the customers.

The people you hire will make a big difference, when it comes to provide the best help desk support to your customers.

Hiring the right help desk agents can have an enormous impact on your customer’s attitude and overall well-being of your business. These agents are the face of your business, and it is crucial to bring the right people on board. Else, you will be at the risk of losing customers and damaging the reputation of your company.

To ensure that you hire the best possible people in your help desk team, you should consider the below qualities.

1. Patience

Patience is one of the must to have qualities of a help desk agent. Patience is not only important to the customers who reach out help desk when they are confused and frustrated, but is also important to the company. Your help desk agents can provide greater service with patience, where the time spent with the customer is used to understand their problems in a better way.
Help desk agents should stay patient, as they have to deal with customers on a daily basis. Also, they should take time to figure out what they want, especially when the customer comes to them frustrated and stumped.

2. Empathy

One of the first and foremost steps when fielding a help desk support call is to stop for a second after hearing or reading the issue and put themselves in the shoes of the customer they are dealing with. The help desk agent should be able to think about what the customer is feeling and try to understand their problem.
If the issue demands an apology, you should start with a sincere apology and let them know that you understood why they are upset and how can you help them. This will ease the worries of the customer allowing you to resolve the issue and keeping the customer happy.

3. Active listening

Customers have their voice, and they want somebody to hear their voice. They need to explain you the whole picture and make you understand the problem. Sometimes, the customer may be confused by the terminology of help desk agent and may communicate things in a different way. It is important for help desk agents to listen to the customers intently; as if they miss a single thing then it might be difficult to identify the root cause of their problem. This will eventually affect the ability of help desk agents to help their customers. A keen ear is a must when it comes to understand problems and find solutions.

4. Sense of urgency

The help desk agents should recognize the urgency of the issues that need resolution. It is must to know the difference between issues that need to be taken care of immediately and the ones that can be resolved afterwards. It also depends on the services you provide. There are a few services that need immediate assistance, while some can be resolved later. Being able to filter and prioritize takes patients, time management skills and knowledge.

5. Good interpersonal skills

To build a strong customer relationship, your help desk agent should go above and beyond being friendly. The agent must be able to convey complicated process in an easy manner to help customers understand it easily. As said before, customer often get confused easily with the jargon of help desk industry. Help desk should try their best not to use it, as it may make irate the customers. Being friendly with the customer is only the tip of iceberg. Help desk agents should go far beyond the expectations of the customers to win their trust.

6. Well-organized

Agents who are working in large companies should be incredibly organized. They should be able to juggle between multiple tasks across multiple platforms for better support. Whether it is checking the knowledge-base or taking notes in help desk or updating the CRM, the help desk agent need to do all while attending the customer’s needs.
Staying organized will allow help desk agents to reduce errors during the process, allowing them to address customer’s needs effectively while completing all the after call work effectively. To make sure that the help desk agents are well organized, companies should hire people who have track record of being organized and met all the application process deadlines.

7. Speed and accuracy

Help desk agents should have the qualities of speed and accuracy. They should work quickly without compromising the quality of work. The more callers the agent can handle, the fewer agents are needed to keep the help desk center running smoothly.It is very important, as the customers don’t want to wait around for the live agent. Customers want the call to be answered as soon as possible and provide accurate information/solution.

8. Creativity and flexibility

Strong help desk agents are always creative and know how to deal with customers. The agent should be able to come up with workable solutions, regardless of the complexity of the problems thrown their way. Help desk agents can meet the caller’s needs in the best way by being creative.

Flexibility is another must to have qualities in help desk agents. The agent should be able to interact with customers with challenging personalities and be flexible enough to meet the needs of different kinds of customers. They should be able to handle an angry customer one moment and a chatty customer the next. Successful help desk agents can be challenging to find. However, it helps to know what makes a good one when hiring. Remember that most of the above qualities can be fostered over time. You can hold a good training session to teach these skills to exiting help desk agents. A little help can lead the agents working extremely well with both the customers and organization.