Support Team Lead / Dispatcher

Department: Customer Support
Level: Senior operational
Primary objective: Team resolves on time, queue is clean, KB grows, customers are satisfied

What this role does

The Team Lead doesn't just resolve tickets — they orchestrate the team. They monitor the queue, assign tickets to agents, manage escalations, build the knowledge base, configure predefined replies, and parameterise team tools. They are the link between agents and the Manager.

Modules used daily

Daily routine

Morning — queue review (15–20 min)

1. Tickets → filter all departments → statuses: New + In Progress + On Hold
2. Sort by priority + last activity → identify:
   • Urgent tickets without reply → assign or take over immediately
   • Tickets without activity > 4h → check why → reallocate if agent is blocked
   • On Hold tickets > 24h → check if they still make sense → contact the agent
3. Balance volume across agents — if one agent has > X active tickets vs. average → redistribute

During the day

4. Respond to escalations received from L1
5. Add new predefined replies when you identify recurring patterns in tickets
6. Add KB articles from recently resolved tickets
7. Monitor WhatsApp inbox — conversations not picked up by agents

Weekly — quality review

8. Randomly read 10–15 replies from each agent → individual feedback
9. Analyse trends: which ticket categories are growing? Which problems recur?
10. Send the weekly metrics report to Manager

Key workflows

Workflow 1 — Managing escalation from L1

L1 agent escalates a complex ticket
→ Open ticket → read agent's internal notes
→ Access customer file → understand full context
   (invoices, orders, other tickets, relationship history)
→ If you can resolve directly → reply + internal note explaining to agent
→ If it requires another department:
   ├── Sales/KAM: upsell opportunity or contractual issue → pass on
   ├── Warehouse: delivery issue → pass on + track
   ├── Finance: invoice dispute → pass to AR Accountant + keep customer informed
   └── Technical/IT: bug → fully document + create task for IT team
→ Customer receives immediate update: "We've taken over your case..."

Workflow 2 — Create KB article from resolved ticket

Ticket X resolved with a valuable solution (it's a frequent question or new issue)
→ Knowledge → Knowledge Base → Add Article
→ Fill in:
   Title: phrased as a question (e.g. "How do I reset my account password?")
   Group: appropriate category (e.g. "Account & Access")
   Content: solution steps, clear, with images if possible
   Visibility:
     - `staff_article = 0` → visible to customers in portal (recommended)
     - `staff_article = 1` → internal staff only (internal procedures)
→ Publish (`active = 1`)
→ Next time the same issue appears → agent sends the link, doesn't write again

Workflow 3 — Incident / maintenance communication

Platform in maintenance Saturday 02:00–04:00

→ Marketing → Announcements → Add
   Title: "Planned Maintenance — 14 June, 02:00–04:00"
   Message: "The platform will be temporarily unavailable..." (clear details)
   showtousers = 1 → visible to customers in portal
   showtostaff = 1 → visible to agents at login

→ Announcement appears immediately in customer portal
→ If it's an active issue → update announcement with current status
→ On resolution → delete announcement or add "Issue has been resolved"

Workflow 4 — Managing spam filters

You notice a sender flooding with spam tickets
→ Marketing → Spam Filters → Add filter:
   Type: sender (email address)
   Value: [email protected]
   Active: YES

OR if multiple similar subjects:
   Type: subject
   Value: *promotional*

→ From now on, matching emails are automatically ignored
→ Caution: periodically verify filters aren't blocking legitimate emails

Workflow 5 — Configure workflow automation for support

Recommended automations to configure:
→ Integrations → Workflow Automation → Add Automation

1. Automatic Urgent escalation:
   Trigger: New Ticket + Priority = Urgent
   Action: Push notification + email → Team Lead

2. Unattended ticket alert:
   Trigger: Ticket In Progress + No staff reply > 4h
   Action: Notification → Team Lead + assigned agent

3. Post-resolution survey:
   Trigger: Ticket status → Closed
   Wait: 1 hour
   Action: Send satisfaction survey → customer email

4. Automatic close of inactive tickets:
   Trigger: Ticket status = Answered + no activity > 7 days
   Action: Status → Closed + automatic note: "Closing ticket due to inactivity..."

5. Automatic reopening on post-close reply:
   Trigger: Customer sends email with [Ticket ID: X] to a Closed ticket
   Action: Status → Open + agent notification

Managing the predefined replies library

Where: /admin/tickets/predefined_replies

Recommended structure (prefixes for visual organisation):

[General] Receipt confirmation
[General] Request for additional information
[General] Problem resolved — customer confirmation
[General] Escalation in progress
[General] Close due to 7-day inactivity

[Account & Access] Password reset instructions
[Account & Access] New account activation
[Account & Access] Missing permissions — redirect to admin

[Billing] Duplicate invoice — investigation
[Billing] Unmatched payment — verification steps
[Billing] Credit note request — instructions

[Delivery] Order in processing — timeline
[Delivery] AWB tracking instructions
[Delivery] Goods return — procedure

Quality rules for predefined replies:

• Tone: professional but human (not robotic)
• Length: maximum 5–6 sentences for simple situations
• Include variables: {client_name}, {ticket_id} if the platform supports them
• Update when procedures change — a predefined reply with incorrect information does more harm than good

Metrics monitored daily/weekly

Practical tips

Clean queue = healthy team. Tickets stagnant > 48h without activity signal something is blocked — overwhelmed agent, unclear issue, missed escalation. Detect them early.

KB grows from daily effort, not dedicated projects. Add one article per day from resolved tickets — in 3 months you have a solid self-service base that reduces ticket volume more than any new hire.

Stale predefined replies are worse than no replies. A predefined reply with the old procedure misinforms the customer. Audit them quarterly.

Communicate incidents proactively, not reactively. If you know the platform will be down, announce it 48h in advance. If it's down now, announce it within 15 minutes. Silence during an incident generates dozens of unnecessary tickets.