General Resources
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Hiring a Zendesk Consultant
Helpdesk and Customer Experience tools are a necessary piece of company's Go-to-Market Tools stack, allowing organizations of all sizes to properly manage communication with their customers. Zendesk is one of the most popular Customer Support platforms that gives businesses a way to field important requests, escalate cases to the right members of a Support or Customer Success team, automatically create tasks, and provide user-level support.
Zendesk's suite of products offers a complete package for managing end-to-end customer interactions. The Zendesk platform includes a ticketing system, support center, forum, messaging and voice channels, reporting and analytics tools, and Sunshine, Zendesk’s all-in-one approach to building customer profiles to track user interaction from Marketing through post-sale Support.
What does a Zendesk Consultant do?
Internal Tools like Zendesk are only powerful if they are implemented properly.
A company needs to define the specific business processes and workflows of their internal users, typically Support Agents and Customer Success teams.
A Zendesk Consultant will work with key stakeholders across Revenue Operations or Support teams to build a unified customer experience so that your Agents can focus all their attention on getting customers the answers they need.
The process of implementing Zendesk can be overwhelming to companies that aren’t versed in IT. Zendesk Consultants are available to help with building powerful workflow automations, integrating the tool to other systems you use via APIs, deploying Knowledge Bases to facilitate self-service, streamline communication via Desktop and Mobile chat, and build a powerful support experience overall.
Finding a Zendesk Consultant
Companies that want the best support experiences have to be careful where they find their Zendesk Consultants. Individuals vary by skill level and can make or break the success of ongoing projects.
It's important to find a Consultant that has expertise in the specific area you need help, whether that is leading an initial Zendesk implementation, helping to optimize your existing use of Zendesk, or generally supporting and training the internal team on best practices.
There are many places that provide access to Zendesk Consultants but some require you to do all of the due diligence on the individual's actual capabilities.
Here are the best resources for identifying and hiring a Zendesk Consultant:
FoundHQ
Companies that want help identifying the right Zendesk Consultant should identify a partner that specializes in matching Consultants to companies.
FoundHQ is a Freelancer Marketplace specialized in working with Salesforce Consultants, Zendesk Consultants, Hubspot Consultants, Marketo Administrators, and other GTM Tools Experts.
The process is simple:
Step 1: Companies list a Zendesk project and identify the specific type of Consultant needed.
Step 2: FoundHQ will conduct a quick discovery call and assess the specifics of the work to be performed, identify the correct seniority level and Zendesk skill set.
Step 3: FoundHQ will match a company with 2 Zendesk Consultant recommendations from a network of 200+ Zendesk Expert Freelancers.
Zendesk Partner Directory
The Zendesk Partner Directory provides a centralized resource for businesses to find apps, themes, and any other resources they need for their Zendesk solutions. These resources make it easy to get started with implementing Zendesk and introducing it to members of your team that are less familiar with the tool.
Popular apps used in the Partner Marketplace include Trello, Jira, and Salesforce. Businesses often use these common support solutions to simplify help desk channels and make it easier to streamline case management and deliver support. There are many useful categories available to users who want quality integrations and expert Zendesk Partners at the click of a button.
Generalist Freelancer Marketplaces
The final option is looking at general Freelancer Marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr.
These platforms don't tend to have a specific focus in terms of the Freelancers they offer through the platform. This is beneficial because you can find any type of skill set and experience from their pool of available Freelancers.
However, there are no quality controls in who can create a Freelancer profile and the skill sets aren't verified. This can create problems with skill set alignment.
Tip: If your company has significant Zendesk knowledge and the ability to vet a Zendesk Consultant, these could be a good option but it will still require a lot of work from your team. If you don't have strong Zendesk knowledge internally, it's better to go with a partner that will handle all Freelancer qualification and skills verification.
Other Zendesk Service Providers
Hundreds of Zendesk Consulting Partners exist, both on their Partner Director and the broader Professional Services ecosystem.
Finding the right Consultant for your specific project means identifying the data points that are relevant for your specific criteria.
Be sure to spend time asking about total number of customer reviews, customer testimonials or case studies they can showcase, and the amount of experience each team has brought to the project.
You also want to focus on criteria that might be unique to you.
Industry and PII Data Requirements
Do you operate in a regulated industry with specific requirements on how data is handled? For example, Financial Services, Healthcare etc.
Be sure to identify a Zendesk Consulting Partner that understands these regulatory requirements and can implement with customer data privacy best practices in mind.
Company Size and Support Ticket Volume
The complexity of your Zendesk instance will be determined by what features in the tool you plan to utilize and how robust your Support Operations are currently.
Fortunately, Zendesk is an easy-to-use product, so you can start small and build out the instance over time. Find a Partner that is willing to work with you in this capacity rather than encouraging you implement everything at once.
System Integration Requirements
What other tools are you currently using? Perhaps Zendesk will need to be integrated to Salesforce, Hubspot, or other Business Systems.
Finding a Zendesk Consultant familiar with these data integrations will help ensure you build a cohesive systems environment.
Current Team Capabilities
Is Zendesk training going to be part of the project? Some Zendesk Consultants are uniquely suited to implement the tool and train your Agents on how to use it, while others don't get involved in training at all. Be sure to account for your needs in this area when selecting the right Consultant or Partner.
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