Helpdesk Habits

Customer service skills training

Transform your technicians into
Helpdesk superheroes

Great service delivered consistently can only be done by embedding habits.

Helpdesk Habits is four things, in order:

  • the training your team learns from
  • the certification that proves they did
  • the coach that works on their real tickets
  • the tools that keep the habits alive long after the videos end

Mark Copeman introduces Helpdesk Habits

About the screenshots on this page

They belong to Dunder Mifflin, Scranton branch, who are trialling the platform and are entirely fictional. Fans of 'The Office' will get it. For everyone else: they are a mid-sized paper company with a customer service record best described as 'interesting'. We felt could benefit from enrolling in the program.

#1 Learn it

Fifty habits, built to stick

The training is focused around Fifty habits in short video modules across the five ACETS layers: Attitude, Communications, Emotions, Tactics & Superhero Habits. A question checks understanding and written reflections (optional) connect each section to the tickets your team actually handles.

The ACETS framework isn't a slide in the training - it's the progress display. Five layers fill from Attitude at the base upwards, so every technician can see how far they've climbed.

Notes from Scranton

Michael Scott is 30% through. The dashboard greets him with 'Almost there'. He has finished Attitude, which was never in doubt, and has not yet started Emotions, which surprises nobody, least of all Jan.

The learner dashboard, showing progress through the five ACETS layers
Click to open full screen.
A habit page: the video, the habit loop and downloadable wallpapers
Click to open full screen.

Your training. Your way.

Every habit page breaks the habit loop down beside the video: the trigger, the old routine it replaces, and the new one worth keeping. A habit stated clearly is a habit you can then put into practice.

  • Pick up where you left off, on any device
  • Drip feed modules, or focus on them in team meetings
  • New starter on a Monday? Boxset binge works too

Notes from Scranton

Habit 02 swaps 'wait for it to happen' for 'take action'. Dwight applied it to the office thermostat within the hour, and has since requested a harder habit, stating he has never once waited for anything to happen. His request is in a queue.

Team leaders can watch in real time

Learning is a team sport here. Admins can see who has started, who has stalled, who is one module from certified - all on one screen, always current. When somebody needs a reminder there is a button for it.

  • Every technician's progress, by ACETS layer
  • Send a nudge without drafting the email
  • Subteams, bulk invites and licence reassignment

Notes from Scranton

Toby has quietly reached 70% and nobody in the office has mentioned it. Kelly got through four modules in one afternoon, most of it during a conversation with somebody else.

Team management: every learner's progress, status and last activity
Click to open full screen.

#2 Prove it

Something to put on the wall with pride

The certificatation is earned after a 25-question exam. Pass at 80% and it means a certified technician has genuinely been through the program.

  • 25-question final exam - checking program understanding
  • 100% training completion to unlock the exam
  • Badges for LinkedIn and email signatures
  • Certification validation for LinkedIn

Notes from Scranton

Four Scranton employees are certified. Stanley is one of them and has not mentioned it. Dwight has asked twice whether the certificate can be laminated.

Stanley Hudson's certificate, with Download PDF and Add to LinkedIn beside it
Click to open full screen.
Reporting: the certificate register, filterable by date with CSV export
Click to open full screen.

Team admins get the paper trail to prove it

Every certificate has an ID and a date, and the register lists all of them - filterable, exportable to CSV, ready for audits, ISO evidence or a client review that asks how you train your team.

Notes from Scranton

Michael describes the team as 'fully certified'. The register shows only five of twenty-three are certified, with IDs and dates - which is why the audit asks the register, and not Michael.

#3 Use it

Response Coach - your unique ticket assistant*

The habits, in action, at the moment you need them. It how your company sounds and writes replies worth sending - with the coaching attached.

#1 Define your team's style

As a team admin, spend a moment describing your company's way - how you sign off, the words you use and the ones you don't, the promises you never make, what makes your company different. A few short lines is enough. Every reply the Response Coach writes from then is guided by that AND by the Helpdesk Habits ways.

Notes from Scranton

Scranton's notes run to 757 characters. They include never promising same-day delivery to the Business Park, because Meredith drives the van. The phrase 'limitless paper in a paperless world' is capped at once per reply.

Customising the Response Coach with your team's style notes
Click to open full screen.
Pasting a draft reply into the Response Coach
Click to open full screen.

#2 Get to work on real tickets (and we will prompt for redactions)

A team member pastes in a ticket OR adds their own draft response (better). Before any of it leaves the browser, emails, phone numbers, IPs, links and anything else you choose are stripped and replaced with placeholders. The technician confirms exactly what is about to be sent to the coach.

Notes from Scranton

Michael's draft opened with 'Hey hey Karen!!!', named the colleague responsible in the course of explaining that he was not naming names, promised a 20% lifetime discount he cannot authorise, and closed with a Wayne Gretzky quote attributed to Michael Scott. This is precisely why the Response Coach exists.

#3 Review the ultimate response and send

They get back a polished reply, written the Helpdesk Habits way and tuned to your team's custom style, alongside relevant coaching. Every change is traced to a numbered habit from the program, quoting the words that triggered it. One line at the end names the single thing to remember for the next ticket.

*small additional credit packs apply after the first five responses per user - see pricing page.

Review and send a better reply today - they need the coach a little less tomorrow.

Notes from Scranton

It scored Michael 4/10 on Attitude and 2/10 on Superhero Habits, then gave Karen a named owner, a real date and an apology that arrives before the jokes. It also declined to keep 'That's what she said.'

Michael is now telling the sales floor he scored 4/10, which he is treating as a personal best.

The Response Coach output: a rewritten reply scored by ACETS layer, with each change tied to a habit
Click to open full screen.

#4 Keep it

Training days fade, but habits compound.

Everything beyond the videos exists for one reason: embedding the habits until they stop being an effort. This is the part most training never does.

Habit of the Week

Available for every license holder. One habit at a time, kept in front of every team member. Focus on winning streaks rather than finishing and forgetting. Each learner runs at their own pace, and sharing progress with the team is optional. 50 habits. 52 weeks. You see what we did there?

Notes from Scranton

Angela is on a nine-week streak and has mentioned it in three separate meetings. Creed's current habit has been 'Understand urgency' since June. He says he is still understanding it.

Habit of the Week: one habit, a daily practice prompt, the streak and the year grid
Click to open full screen.
The 4 Rs board with wins logged: referrals, reviews, renewals and recommendations, valued at $63,500
Click to open full screen.

The 4 Rs board

Helpdesk teams are often undervalued. This feature helps to prove that shouldn't be the case.

A shared wall for the moments the habits pay off: a client who referred you, recommended you, reviewed you, or renewed. Each win records who earned it, what happened, and what it was worth - so the results of good service get noticed.

Logging one takes two lines. The board does the remembering. The team can take the credit.

Notes from Scranton

Dwight leads the wins table with three and maintains it is not a leaderboard, which he is winning. Michael has logged no wins, but has asked to be mentioned in several. Phyllis has logged a five-star review from Vance Refrigeration - nobody has raised the conflict of interest.

And the account runs itself

Wallpapers and the phrases swipe file keep the habits on screens and in tickets. Team admins can reassign licenses in a click when someone has barely started. Users can easily be deleted too. 1-click license purchases means new starters are learning the same day, and the whole account renews on one date instead of multiple.

Notes from Scranton

Scranton hold 39 licences for 23 people. Somebody in Accounting has been at the order form again, and after what happened with the cardstock, nobody is raising it.

The admin dashboard: licences, seats, renewal date and team progress
Click to open full screen.
Refer.Recommend.Review.Renew.

The four things clients do when you get this right.

Clients don't leave because you fixed it slowly - they leave because of how it felt.

See it for yourself, free

Trial the program, the platform and receive 5 free Response Coach credits.

Join 5,000+ others - start your journey below.

No card, no call, no demo.