Help Desk Certification Test

1. Which of the following monitor the service level performance in terms of caller information?

Answers:

• Number of calls received.

• Number of calls transferred.

• Number of calls dropped.

• Number of calls held waiting for given periods of time.

• All of the above

2. Which of the following statements are true about the Call Capture Rate (CCR)?

Answers:

• It is the percentage of total calls handled by the call center.

• It does not include calls where customers hang up before reaching an agent.

• It is the percentage of total calls that do not reach the agents.

• It is the percentage of total calls handled successfully by the call center.

• a and b

3. Which Software should be used to make a business presentation with slides?

Answers:

• Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Excel

• Adobe PhotoShop

• Microsoft PowerPoint

• None of the above

4. How can a Microsoft Word user read files created in the later versions of the same software — something that occurs countless times between various versions of Word?

Answers:

• Open as a text file.

• Open the document in RTF.

• Download the 'recover text from any file' option.

• Open the free Microsoft Word viewer.

• None of the above

5. You attend the phone and the caller tells you that he wants to speak to one of your colleagues. How will you handle the call if your colleague is available at that moment?

Answers:

• You'll ask "Who's calling please?" and then pass the phone on to your colleague after finding out the caller's name

• You'll ask ''Who's calling please?'' and, after finding out the caller's name, you'll ask your colleague whether he would like to talk to the caller

• You'll pass the phone on to your colleague without saying anything to the caller

• You'll say ''Just a second'' and pass the phone on to your colleague

6. What does 'mark-up' mean in sales terminology?

Answers:

• A study of the product's strengths and weaknesses.

• The margin that a selling company adds to the cost of a product while selling.

• A reduction in profits due to an increase in the cost of production.

• A hike in the price of the product to achieve better profits.

7. Your office requires you to compile a costing report comprising rows and columns of data along with totals and averages of the columns. Which Software would you ideally use?

Answers:

• Microsoft Access

• Adobe PhotoShop

• Microsoft Excel

• Microsoft Word

• Microsoft PowerPoint

8. You are asked to make a call to all the distributors of your company's product to apprise them of a new pricing offer. The first call you make connects you to the answering machine. What would be the most appropriate message for you to record?

Answers:

• Hello, I am Steve calling from A1 Marketing. Please get back to me at my office numbers as soon as possible. Thanks.

• Hello, I am Steve calling from A1 Marketing. I called you at 1:00 pm to let you know that we are announcing a new pricing offer. Please get back to me at my office numbers as soon as possible. Thanks.

• Hello, I am Steve calling from A1 Marketing. I called to let you know that we are announcing a new pricing offer. Please get back to me at my office numbers as soon as possible. Thanks.

• Hello, I am Steve calling from A1 Marketing. I called you at 1:00 pm. Please get back to me at my office numbers as soon as possible. Thanks.

9. You are handling calls for a travel agency which wants to promote family tours. The price is $500 per adult, with a 20% discount for children and a 40% discount for senior citizens. A 10% tax is applicable to each of these. What is the travel cost for a family of 5 consisting of 2 adults, 2 children and 1 senior citizen?

Answers:

• $2000

• $2310

• $2400

• $2100

• None of the above

10. What is the term used for the incoming calls that are logged but not yet resolved?

Answers:

• Unresolved calls

• Only logged calls

• Open calls

• Process calls

• Pipeline calls

11. What does 'receiving a buying signal' from the prospective client mean?

Answers:

• Resetting all computers due to an incredibly large order coming through.

• A formal agreement from the client to buy the product. This agreement can be through phone, e-mail or fax.

• A request by the client to the Company to contact him about a particular product or service.

• A comment from the client that indicates that he is considering, to whatever extent, buying your product.

12. If you have to send a scanned document to a client by e-mail, what should you do?

Answers:

• Send the picture as a zipped file in the e-mail.

• Fax it, even if you've been advised to e-mail it because their fax machine is not always working.

• Send the picture as an attachment with the e-mail.

• a and c

• a and b

13. Which of the following does the call cycle time include?

Answers:

• Closing the call, and call logging.

• Break times, lunch and when the office is closed.

• Diagnosing the problem, and providing a solution to the problem.

• a and c

• a and b

14. Which of the following options best demonstrate a helpdesk that is clearly functioning well and ready to help callers?

Answers:

• A system that can examine the best areas for improvement in the service offered by the helpdesk.

• A system that logs the most commonly reported issues so helpdesk staff can learn from the history of their operations.

• A wide range of software and systems in usage that reflects the expertise of the helpdesk staff.

• Long opening hours for the helpdesk by keeping it open on the weekends and in the evenings.

• All of the above

15. What is an 'online trouble ticket system'?

Answers:

• An online system whereby customers are placed in a waiting order before their 'ticket' is the next in line and their call can be dealt with.

• The same as a) but always involving a log-in system so callers can check on their status; otherwise it is not a true 'trouble ticket system.'

• A system whereby customers e-mail their question, and it is answered on a random basis.

• A lottery machine that customers can use while they wait for their complaint to be addressed.

• A system of buying tickets to purchase discounted software.

16. Which of the following are important when dealing with a helpdesk customer over the telephone?

Answers:

• Being good at listening.

• Developing a rapport by matching the caller's tone, tempo, and word usage.

• Having a pleasant telephone voice.

• "Placing" the caller's complaint and "leading" them to a solution?

• All of the above

17. While commencing a sales campaign, you have been asked to talk only about the USP of the product you are promoting through tele-calling. What will you tell the prospective clients?

Answers:

• How the competition is gearing up to counter the huge popularity of the product.

• The most valuable unique advantage of the product.

• All the best features of the product.

• The shooting sales of the product.

18. You have been asked to handle calls for a major account. What does it mean?

Answers:

• You will be handling calls for a large financial institution.

• You will be handling calls for a very profitable client of the company.

• You will be handling calls for a business concern that is considered a large organization by your company.

• You will be handling calls for a business concern along with several other members from your company.

• All of the above

19. Which of the following are priorities when analyzing the efficiency of your helpdesk operations?

Answers:

• The complexity and age of your IT systems, whether automated or operated by the staff.

• Ensuring the office works on a strict 9 to 5 basis.

• Ongoing comprehensive training to all levels of management and staff.

• a and c

• a and b

20. Which of the following are crucial when helping a helpdesk customer?

Answers:

• What you are wearing to work that day.

• Whether or not the customer makes additional purchases with the company.

• Whether or not you are addressing the customer's concerns.

• Whether or not you are using the customer's full name (unless you have been permitted by him to use his first name).

• c and d

21. Which of the following best represents a lower level helpdesk operator?

Answers:

• DSL faults, problems escalated from lower levels.

• Difficult technical problems, and annoyed/aggressive customers.

• Offering help with things like the dialer, email, DSL setup.

• Help with advising new staff, especially as you become more experienced.

• Possibly all of the above; it depends on the circumstances of the specific helpdesk.

22. State whether the following statement is true or false:

The average length of a call is the time required to process a customer call, from the initial receipt to the final closure and does not include the off-phone time.

Answers:

• True

• False

23. Which of the following e-mail etiquette styles do you consider important?

Answers:

• Do not add a CC to a special offer e-mail as it can be viewed by all the recipients.

• Keep the e-mail very brief and to the point.

• Add a proper title to the e-mail.

• Clean up forwards that are automatically pasted at the end of E-mail replies

• c and d

24. Which of the following is the most important first impression to make on a caller?

Answers:

• That you understand their concern and sympathize with their frustration.

• That it may take a while, and involve temporarily being placed on hold, but you will deal with their concern shortly.

• That you have an idea about what could be wrong, and that you will find a solution one way or another.

• That you can help solve the problem when your manager or supervisor returns.

• a and c

25. Which of the following terms describes the practice of letting the customer know what format your sales conversation will take before you start your sales talk?

Answers:

• Conversation preview

• Sign-posting

• Pre-sales talk

• Symbiotic selling

• All of the above

26. Your company requires you to print offer letters to existing customers through the printer attached to your computer. The letters must be printed along with the address labels. Which of the following will you use to speed up the job?

Answers:

• Spreadsheet Software

• Database Software

• Word Processor Software

• Mail Merge Software

• None of the above

27. Which of the following would you categorize as a help desk operation?

Answers:

• A single point of contact in the Company for answering customer complaints and requests.

• The reservation booking office at the local travel agent.

• The enquiry counter at the local museum.

• The receptionist at a dentist surgery.

• a and c

28. What is the name of the in-built feature in Windows that allows you to browse through your files and folders?

Answers:

• Internet Explorer

• Windows Navigator

• Windows Explorer

• Windows Mapper

• Mozilla Firefox

29. Which of the following are the most helpful initial questions to ask a caller whose printer is not working?

Answers:

• Are there other printers connected to the computer, and is the current printer the default printer?

• Are you sure it hasn't already printed and the paper is on the floor somewhere?

• Is the printer switched on, ready, not jammed, contains paper and are all leads connected?

• Perhaps you should consider a new printer? Do you know how little they cost now?

• a and c

30. Which of the following might be deemed good service additions to a helpdesk system that didn't already have them?

Answers:

• More expensive workstations.

• IM, java-type help with online trouble ticketing, call waiting.

• Longer work breaks.

• Less pay for less time in the office.

• Fewer supervisors and more like-minded colleagues.

31. Which of the following could benefit professionally from a helpdesk training course?

Answers:

• IT helpdesk agents

• Technical support representatives and engineers

• Field engineers

• a, b and c

• Customers and callers.

32. A $50 product is being sold at a discount of $20 in a clearance sale. What is the percentage of discount?

Answers:

• 5%

• 20%

• 25%

• 40%

• None of the above

33. What is the possible danger of hiring a highly technical person with limited interpersonal skills to work on a helpdesk?

Answers:

• No real danger — a technical person always has good interpersonal skills.

• They may be patronizing about errors they see as very minor.

• It may be more difficult to work alongside them in the office due to their limited interpersonal skills.

• They may not come to work as technical people are often lazy.

• b and c

34. You are required to report your annual expenses to your boss. Your expenses are as follows:

Salary bonus: $6799.22

Stationery: $123.43

Refreshments: $789.43

Electricity: $767.33

What is your total expenditure on the expense heads mentioned above?

Answers:

• $8478.33

• $8479.41

• $8577.22

• $8500

• None of the above

35. What does the 'drop rate' on calls refer to?

Answers:

• The number of calls that falls below a certain level over a given period of time.

• The number of calls to the helpdesk that are wrong numbers.

• The number of calls made rather than received by the helpdesk.

• The number of calls cut off between the caller and the helpdesk, often accidentally by the helpdesk system.

• None of the above

36. Which sections of the population at a university would a helpdesk ideally serve?

Answers:

• Just undergraduate and postgraduate students.

• Policemen, detectives, firemen, doctors.

• Alumni, students, staff, faculty, administrators etc.

• b and c

37. Would you say that technical skills are, on the whole, more important than interpersonal skills when running a helpdesk?

Answers:

• No, interpersonal skills always come first even if you can help the caller only in a limited way technically.

• Yes, politeness is secondary to whether you can actually solve the caller's problem or not.

• Interpersonal and technical skills must work together — you must be able to deal politely with a caller, and at the same time, have technical knowledge to advise them proficiently too.

• None of the above.

38. You are required to send a Word document to your branch office by e-mail. What would you do to ensure that the document reaches the branch office in the same format?

Answers:

• Ask the branch office to install the same version of Word.

• Send the document as an e-mail attachment.

• Password protect the document.

• Paste the contents of the document into the e-mail.

• Use the export document feature in Word.

39. Which of the following can increase the chances of your computer becoming infected with a virus?

Answers:

• Leaving the computer on all night.

• Downloading games and songs from the internet.

• Using a PC more than a month old.

• Installing software from a CD-Rom or thumb drive without knowing its origin.

• b and d

40. What is meant by 'Abandon Rate' in help desk terminology?

Answers:

• The percentage of total calls received in the case of which the caller hung up or which queued before reaching the support staff.

• The percentage of total calls received but for which no acceptable solution or reply was provided to the caller.

• The percentage of total calls received but not answered due to shortage of agents.

• The percentage of total calls received that are terminated before an acceptable solution or reply is given to the caller.

41. What is the disadvantage of asking a customer phoning the helpdesk with a computer complaint questions with 'yes' or 'no' answers?

Answers:

• Nothing: 'yes' and 'no' answers will lead you to the solution eventually.

• They do not get to the root of the problem but work as a process of elimination which can be too slow.

• It would be better to ask the customer to describe what they were doing when the error occurred and the specifics of the problem.

• b and c

• None of the above

42. Which of the following is the best helpdesk philosophy?

Answers:

• Think fast, leave early.

• Save your best advice to the end of the day in case there is a particularly aggressive caller, or difficult problem.

• Answer the phone quickly, and resolve problems effectively without passing customers around.

• Answer the phone quickly, and refer callers to somebody else the moment you get stuck dealing with them.

• First thought, best thought.

43. Which of the following are good initial responses to the customer who is calling because they 'can't log-in'?

Answers:

• Advising the caller to log-in using a different computer even if he or she has to change location.

• Referring them to your boss after asking a few preliminary questions.

• Asking the caller to check the basics i.e. whether the password is correct, the caps lock key "isn't on" or the network cable isn't unplugged.

• Asking the caller for his or her log-in id and password, and insisting on the information if he or she is reluctant to give them.

44. Which of the following are significant skills when hiring helpdesk staff?

Answers:

• Whether they can make tea or coffee for other staff.

• How well travelled they are in the world.

• How polite and helpful they can be on the telephone.

• Previous Help Desk experience, with references, in the same industry.

• c and d

45. Which of the following are useful additional technical skills for helpdesk workers?

Answers:

• Marketing, presentation, and staff management skills.

• General knowledge of computer systems in terms of hardware as well as software in order to advise the caller professionally .

• Up-to-date knowledge of new computer technology.

• Ability to keep good records, and accounting skills.

• All of the above

46. Which of the following are good questions to ask a client who tells you 'My computer is not working'?

Answers:

• What were you doing when the error started? And what is the exact error message?

• Where did you buy the computer?

• Have you recently installed any software or made any other changes?

• Does it affect all machines or just yours?

• a, c and d

47. What is the name given to the process of assigning a service request to a higher support level?

Answers:

• Promotion

• Raising

• Incrementing

• Escalation

• Handshake

48. Which of these terms refers to the average time that an executive spends actually talking to a customer on the phone?

Answers:

• Average Response Time (ART)

• Average Interaction Period (AIP)

• Average Voice Stage (AVS)

• Average Talk Time (ATT)

49. A business employee calls the help desk of an internet service provider to report that his internet speed is below the promised speed. Which of the following tasks should be done first?

Answers:

• Logging the call.

• Asking the customer what speed he is getting.

• Asking the employee for a proof that he is a valid customer.

• Suggesting an immediate remedy such as rebooting the computer.

• None of the above

50. Having learned a significant amount of helpdesk terminology, which of the following do you see as essentially the role of the helpdesk operator?

Answers:

• Solving problems and seeking customer satisfaction.

• Increasing the salaries of all who work at the company represented by the helpdesk.

• Slightly intimidating callers so that they seek their own solutions to problems.

• Deciding when and when not to help the callers, as due to necessary priorities, some callers cannot be helped at all.