Never forget - your technicians talk to your customers more than anyone else in your business

Is it time to view your helpdesk differently?

In most MSPs, the helpdesk is the part of the business people discuss in terms of ticket volume, headcount and cost. It's the engine room. Everyone agrees it's necessary, but it's rarely the department that anyone credits when a customer renews or a new deal lands.

I think that's backwards.

Your technicians talk to your customers' end users more than anyone else in your business. That includes sales, account management and leadership. When someone at a client site thinks about your MSP, there's a good chance the voice or chat window they picture belongs to someone on your helpdesk team.

Plenty of people will tell you the future of the helpdesk is more bots, more automation and fewer people. That's not for me. I'm interested in the humans: the technicians who pick up the phone, answer the ticket and decide in a split second whether they're going to sound like a person or a script.

Every ticket is a conversation with the customer

When I'm short of time and I need something resolved, I want to deal with a human who cares. I'm all for efficiency. But efficiency without any warmth leaves me and plenty of others, cold.

It turns out I'm not alone. Genesys, a customer service software provider, publishes a report on the cost of poor customer service, and it backs this up. The report doesn't pin down exactly what better human service means, but I think we can all take a guess.

Now think about volume. Every password reset, every printer that refuses to print, every Monday morning email meltdown is a conversation. Each one leaves an impression, and those impressions add up to what the customer thinks of your MSP. It's your helpdesk that shapes that picture, far more than your website or your proposal deck.

That's why robotic answers bother me so much. It doesn't matter whether they come from an AI tool or from a human pasting the same sign-off into every ticket regardless of what just happened. Either way, the customer can tell the technician is being lazy.

Referrals and recommendations: ask while they're grateful

According to Heinz Marketing, 84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral.

Now think about the moment just after a technician has got someone out of a hole. The server's back up. The laptop works again, an hour before the big presentation. The person on the other end is relieved, and more than a little grateful.

This is where the law of reciprocity kicks in. When you've helped someone through an issue, they're looking for a way to pay you back. That makes it the ideal moment to ask whether there's anyone they'd recommend you to.

It doesn't need to be clunky. Shortly after the conversation wraps up, ask if they know anyone else who might need a hand, and offer to send a link they can pass on. That's it. Keep it simple.

You can make it more sophisticated with an incentive, like a credit on their account for anyone who signs up. The American Marketing Association found that offering a reward increases referral likelihood, but the size of the reward doesn't matter. Honestly, the reward often isn't needed at all. Most people are happy to recommend a company they've had a good experience with. Your job is to prompt them and make it pain free. Have a link or a short paragraph of text ready that they can forward on. Don't expect anyone to go too far out of their way for you.

One important thing: this has to be agreed at a team or company level. Technicians shouldn't be asking for referrals on their own. If your MSP isn't already doing it, raise it. Once you've done it successfully a couple of times, it becomes addictive.

What's the worst that could happen? A customer says no. Ask in the right way and you won't offend anyone.

The habit loop (trigger > routine > reward) looks like this:

• Happy customer > thanks for the call > ticket closed
• Happy customer > referral offer > new business potential

Renewals: what happens after something goes wrong

Mistakes happen in every MSP. Patches break things. Backups fail. Someone forgets to call back. Customers generally understand that things go wrong. What really matters is how you react and what you do to fix it.

This is called the service recovery paradox, and it's a concept I've talked about endlessly for years. If a customer has a service failure and you resolve it professionally and to their satisfaction, that customer is likely to become more loyal to you over time. Not just as loyal as before. More.

Why? Think about human nature. When someone helps you out of a difficult situation, even one they caused, you feel indebted to them.

Loyalty over time is exactly what renewals are made of. Your account manager might send the renewal paperwork, but the decision to sign it was often shaped months earlier, by a technician handling a bad day well.

The way a technician accepts blame matters enormously. If your business is at fault, accept it graciously. Don't accept it with a "but". Don't explain that it's not really your fault. Own it, then go out of your way to fix it.

The habit loop for a service failure looks like this:

• Failure occurs > standard customer service > home on time
• Failure occurs > remarkable, go-out-of-your-way service > delighted customer and personal fulfillment

Reviews: customers talk about the people who fixed it

The same moment that builds loyalty also gets people talking. A customer whose problem was resolved well will talk about you more and refer you more. That's the service recovery paradox at work again.

I'm not going to promise that one great technician will transform your review scores overnight. But good news spreads fast when service feels human rather than robotic. Expectations in many marketplaces are sadly very low. That means your helpdesk has a real chance to shine and stand head and shoulders above the competition.

When people do talk about a good experience, they rarely talk about the ticketing system. They talk about the person who sorted it out.

Make the helpdesk's part visible

Your technicians are central to referrals, recommendations, renewals and reviews and the helpdesk deserves to be treated that way.

If you're not making the most of your team's abliities - here's where I'd start to make improvements:

1. Agree your referral approach as a team. Decide when it's appropriate to ask, what the wording sounds like and whether there's an incentive. Then everyone asks the same way.
2. Set up a referral program on the helpdesk. If you don't have one, put time aside to get one in place as a matter of urgency. Keep a forwardable link and a short paragraph of text ready, so asking takes seconds.
3. Hunt down robotic phrases. Go through your templates and scripts. If a line is only there because it's in the template, or it sounds automated, consider dropping it altogether.
4. Let personality show. Where your company allows it, encourage technicians to be themselves. Be friendly, have a heart, be human. Know when to rein it in, and if in doubt, play it safe.
5. Go the extra mile when it counts. Give technicians permission to go out of their way for a customer, especially after something has gone wrong.
6. Own mistakes without a "but". Make gracious acceptance of blame part of how the helpdesk handles every failure.
7. Practice until it sticks. Talk through these habits in team meetings and 1:1s, and share wins with each other (and with #helpdeskhabits if you like).
8. Give the helpdesk the credit. When a referral comes in or a customer renews, trace it back. If a technician's handling of an issue played a part, say so out loud.