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Today’s help desk industry is less static and more like an organism – constantly evolving in order to fulfill the needs of clients. Those you support are no longer satisfied with long turnaround times for replies. With high demand for quick results, there are a multitude of practices your help desk team should be well versed in. Here are ten great strategies your team should develop:

1. Review the Previous Tickets

Have an idea of why a client is in need of assistance early on. Whether you are responding to an initial problem, or taking over from a junior tech, gain a sense of why the help desk has been contacted.

2. Establish a Unified Phone Greeting

Memorizing a unified greeting on the phone will help brand your help desk team, and give a personal touch to the discussion. Consider something like, “Hello, this is Eric from IssueTrak. How may I help you?”

3. Notes Are Your Best Friend

Taking specific notes while discussing an issue will not only help you reassure the caller, but it can also help future support stay up to date with an issue. Get the client’s name, office location, their issue (in as much detail as possible), suggested solutions, and whether or not it was resolved. You can also use previous notes to judge if this has been ongoing or a global issue.

4. Talk Them Through the Process

Not keeping a caller in the dark will help them feel at ease. Explain why you’re taking a specific path with the issue, but keep things high level.

5. Know Current Help Desk Policies

IT support may decide to pull a faulty unit after three failures, while others deem a unit showing major issues must be replaced immediately. Know the IT company policies, and mix in some best judgment when dissecting a problem.

6. Know the Market You are Assisting

There’s no better way to help your clients than to understand what they do. Are they a design agency that uses Apple products? Are they a marketing team that calls offices across the world? Get to know the people you are serving and what equipment they favor.

7. Open Up Lines of Communication

Don’t just speak to your clients when there’s a problem. Connect with them on a regular basis; send out emails about updates to servers and keep them abreast of upcoming changes to their IT infrastructure.

8. Own the Issue

If there are ongoing issues with a certain product used by your help desk, or on the client’s end, be sure to inform all parties and take ownership of known or ongoing issues.

9. Understand the Help Desk Hierarchy

You never want to have a client hang-up without solving an issue. Know your supervisors’ strengths and connect them to a client when things seem beyond your knowledge.

10. It’s OK to Give Up

When all else fails, be ok with connecting the caller to a supervisor.