4 Principles of Delivering Superior Customer Service (Part 10)

The Journey So Far

So, where are we? And where are you on the customer service journey? Let’s take a quick review. There are four principles to follow to deliver superior customer service: #personalization, #competence, #convenience, and #proactivity.

Personalization requires that the service desk understands the end users. I would offer that this is the second most powerful principle, right behind competence. By understanding the end users’ specific wants and expectations, the service desk can deliver a more personalized experience that leads to quicker resolution times.

Competence, in every aspect of the service desk’s work, can cover for many, many other ills. Competence refers to the ability to consistently deliver high-quality technical support that meets or exceeds end user expectations. Even if a service desk technician knows nothing about the end user and has little information about the issue, a highly competent technician can get to the bottom of the end user’s issue to help them.

Convenience reduces the friction at which an end user can get technical help. This does not mean that they are just using the phone to call for help, this could be for self help with knowledge. As a personal note, I find it amazing how often end users will not try to Google or Bing their issue. This is especially surprising with Commercial Off the Shelf (#COTS) products! But I digress.

Proactivity is the act of finding ways to reach out to end users to anticipate issues to reduce problems before they even begin. This principle is especially difficult for a service desk, however, knowledge and training end users on technologies are ways to achieve this.

With these four principles in mind, a service desk can work towards achieving superior customer service for the end user community. The devil is in the details. However, tools can accelerate the maturity of the service desk.