Service with a Smile

Help desk staff hone customer service skills through training

A visit to the Information Services help desk can conjure feelings of frustration and unease. It is often, after all, a trip of necessity, not desire. But Scott Tilghman, who oversees the help desk, sees each trip as an opportunity for his team to build relationships. He wants the students, staff, and faculty who visit his area to leave with both a solution and a smile.

The combination of positive resolution and good feelings is the ideal result of a great customer service interaction, said Tilghman, director of user services in Information Services. He credits this philosophy to working at hotels during college — and says it was lacking when he started working in IT 35 years ago.

“You couldn’t really count on technicians being personable or helpful,” he said. However, “the University of Richmond is more about an experience — the Richmond experience. Everything about it elevates our game.”

Soon after Tilghman arrived at UR in 1998, he designed a customer service training program for his staff, pulling ideas and practices from manuals he encountered throughout his career. One trend he noticed but wanted to buck: a tendency to focus on either the numbers or the customer, but not both. He wanted to ensure the help desk employed good metrics while building solid relationships with customers. Tilghman believes that “good technician” and “good customer service agent” are highly compatible skill sets.

“Eighty percent of what we do is customer service; 20% is technical,” he said. “We take care of our customers’ needs, and in the process, we fix a few computers.”

Tilghman’s methodology focuses on what he calls “12 Secrets to Making a Difference,” and he requires all new help desk employees to undergo three days of training, during which they don’t even touch the technology they’ve been hired to support. He takes common ideas, such as knowing one’s customer, and applies them in concrete ways to the University context. For example, a first-year student may need help setting up a brand-new computer or getting onto a University network, whereas seniors might be dealing with older laptops that are beat up and worn down after years of use. Tilghman’s training also includes segments on problem solving and empathy. A listening activity teaches employees to home in on repetitive or unusual words and phrases when speaking with a customer, which can help them determine the root of the customer’s issue and empower them to act on their behalf.

“The key to good customer service is knowing what services you provide and how to enable your customer to use technology for what they need,” he said. “Technology shouldn’t be a barrier; it should be a tool to assist you in reaching your goals.”

In A Nutshell

Tilghman cites “12 Secrets to Making a Difference” as central concepts to good customer service.

They are:

• Have a mission that matters.

• Be a big thinker.

• Be ethical.

• Be a change master.

• Be sensitive.

• Be a risk taker.

• Be a decision maker.

• Use power wisely.

• Be an effective communicator.

• Be a team builder.

• Be courageous.

• Be committed.