Helpdesk Hell

“Helpdesk Hell” could be the title of a new Michael Moore movie or a cheezy teenslasher pic.  Trying to find a callcenter that helps you in ways you want to be helped, with respect and , is hard these days.  And it seems that the bigger the company, the smaller the service they offer.

The problem?  Those who call are idiots and those who answer are geniuses.  Not that they are actually idiots and geniuses, I just want to illustrate why communications between them fails, they’re on different levels with no means to reach each other on some form of common ground.  Most of the times there are two conversations going on where no-one is actually talking to each other, combined with the added result of more frustration and ‘helpdesk’-anger.

·  You probably once had some though days at work?  Remember how that felt when you talk to a person.  Whatever the content of the problem may be, you’re still two persons talking to each other.  ‘Treat every human being like you want to be treated’ seems appropriate, even seems like this should be glued onto helpdesk walls.

·  It’s not because someone calls with a lame question that he’s an idiot.  Try to understand that not everyone knows everything about whatever it is you’re trying to help them with.  I know college professors that can’t tell what the basic ingredients of bread are.  If I thought them to be stupid, I wouldn’t have kissed their ass that much.

· Start from the belief that someone has a sincere question he can’t solve and that someone really wants to help.  We judge ourself on our intentions and others on results, while it should go the other way around.

·   How would you pick up the phone, dial a helpdesk and start talking if you were convinced they would treat you with respect and solve your problem?  Seems like a different phonecall right?

It’s easy to moan about bad customer service, but how would you react when you get the same (stupid) question over and over again?  And would you like some smart-ass technician laughing at you when you have a geniune problem?  Finding some common ground… seems like something impossible.

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Tagged as: callcenter, helpdesk