Shared values: From classroom lessons to teaching moments in customer service

Shared values: From classroom lessons to teaching moments in customer service

While the world observes Teachers’ Day on October 5, in India, we celebrate a month earlier, on September 5, to mark the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a great teacher, renowned scholar, educationist, and advocate for empowerment.
We've all had different kinds of teachers in our school years. Their influence continues to shape us as professionals. Some inspired creativity, others instilled discipline, while many patiently walked us through challenging lessons. If we reflect, each teacher has made an impact on our lives, just as every customer interaction leaves a mark on both sides.


The common ground for teachers and customer service

Patience and endurance

Teaching and customer service require patience. Customers may come to us frustrated or overwhelmed by circumstances. Sometimes, the stress of the moment affects them more than the “issue”. Like teachers guiding students through confusion, customer service professionals' empathy and patience offer clarity and reassurance alongside solutions.

Simple communication

Teachers excel at breaking down complex concepts into simple, digestible lessons. Customer support agents require this skill to help customers find solutions with simple and easy navigation steps. A simplified process helps customers get hooked on our business. 

Empathy and encouragement

The best teachers are remembered for the way they made us feel: valued, encouraged, and raised our confidence to achieve more. Great customer service works the same way. A thoughtful email, a clear solution, or a proactive follow-up can turn frustration into trust and confidence.

Adaptability and continuous learning

Every student is different, and good teachers adapt their methods accordingly. In customer service, no two tickets nor two customers are alike. Support teams offer guided support through calls, live chats, webinars, and one-on-one sessions that mirror interactive lessons.

Beyond the issue

Teachers don’t just answer questions; they prepare us for future challenges. Likewise, customer service empowers agents to not only solve current tickets but also guide customers through proactive tips, tutorials, and community discussions that help them succeed long-term.

Feedback and growth

Teachers evaluate, correct, and encourage us to grow. Customer service thrives on feedback through CSAT surveys, community discussions, and follow-ups. Each interaction is a chance to improve, both for the organization and the customer relationship.

How does Zoho Desk embody teaching principles?

Knowledge base: Articles, FAQs, and screenshots serve as textbooks for customers.
Help center: A virtual classroom for customers to self-learn, track tickets, and stay informed.
Community: A space for peers and agents to exchange insights, like collaborative learning.
Continuous empowerment: Zoho Desk provides proactive support, product updates, product walkthroughs, and trainings to keep customers engaged and confident.

Time for reflection

Just like how our teachers have left lasting imprints on our lives, the service we provide to customers leaves an impression on them. Each successful issue resolution can help a person grow and thrive at work.

We’d love to hear your experiences:
  1. Which teacher has influenced you the most, and how have their lessons carried over into your professional life?
  2. Share teaching experiences you've had with customers: imparting knowledge, building trust, or guiding them through challenges.
  3. Can you recall a moment where your patience and empathy changed the course of a customer interaction?
At Zoho Desk, we believe in celebrating not just service, but the spirit of teaching that underpins it. Thank you for continuing to share your experiences with us; it helps us connect, learn, and grow together.

Happy Teachers’ Day to all the teachers who shaped us, and to every customer service professional who continues to teach, guide, and empower their customers.

Best wishes, 
Lydia | Zoho Desk

    • Sticky Posts

    • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

      With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features
    • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

      Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 
    • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

      Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 
    • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

      Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here
    • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

      With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing
      • Recent Topics

      • Email Integration - Zoho CRM - OAuth and IMAP

        Hello, We are attempting to integrate our Microsoft 365 email with Zoho CRM. We are using the documentation at Email Configuration for IMAP and POP3 (zoho.com) We use Microsoft 365 and per their recommendations (and requirements) for secure email we have
      • I need to do crud with snippet html

        I need to implement a form with an improved user interface. I would like to use snippets to build a CRUD that allows me to create and update records. How could I achieve this using snippets?
      • Allow Stripe Credit Card and Stripe ACH payment methods to be enabled separately on an invoice.

        I need to be able to pick at the invoice level whether Stripe Credit Card and/or Stripe ACH payment methods are available. Currently, I'm not able to select from the two Stripe payment methods individually on an invoice. However, there are some larger
      • Resume Harvester: New Enhancements for Faster Sourcing

        We’re excited to share a set of enhancements to Resume Harvester that make sourcing faster and more flexible. These updates help you cut down on repetitive steps, manage auto searches more efficiently, and review candidate profiles with ease. Why we built
      • Incorrect “correct” password on email client apple mail

        I have troubleshot this account several times. I have deleted and re added account. It keeps saying incorrect password. Can you check that it is not locked on your end?
      • Is it possible to lock editing subform rows?

        Ideally editing would only be locked after the form has been updated but I still want them to be able to add new subform records at any time and they should be able to delete rows from the subform. It is a named subform if that's relevant however the
      • "Spreadsheet Mode" for Fast Bulk Edits

        One of the challenges with using Zoho Inventory is when bulk edits need to be done via the UI, and each value that needs to be changed is different. A very common use case here is price changes. Often, a price increase will need to be implemented, and
      • What is the maximum file size of a video upload in Zoho chat?

        Can I upload a 20 mb video file and share it with my colleagues? 
      • Update a field in ALL all calls under a contact

        HI guys! I have written some deluge code to update a field in my calls after i have comepleted the call, i need this field to update in all my scheduled calls as well that are comeing up. I just cant seem to get it to work, i have put teh code below,
      • Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

        Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these
      • Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

        I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's
      • Fat Download of Ulaa Browser

        I just observed that Ulaa Browser is offering an one-capsule big download. These days it is a custom to offer a small bootstrap downloader and based on user customization options an appropriate download completes. And this is particularly common with
      • Cancelled Transfer order problem

        Hello, We've canceled a transfer order, and we can't add the related items to a new Transfer Order. The system tells us that the bin doesn't have the required quantity, but when we check the item, it indicates that there are 2 units in the bin. It also
      • Billing Management: #8 Usage Billing in Logistics & Delivery Services

        The logistics and delivery industry thrives on movement and precision. Every delivery completed, every kilometre driven, and every ton transported is a measurable activity. However, billing often lags behind. Many logistics companies still rely on fixed-rate
      • Tags for New Tickets

        Hi there, When creating a new ticket, there is currently no way to choose a tag you would like to associate with the new ticket. Being able to associate a tag while creating a new ticket will be very beneficial as it will save time and flow well with
      • Zoho Desk: No Incoming email

        Is Zoho Desk services down? No incoming email reflect to desk tickets.
      • Zoho CRM - Widgets | Update #3 : Introducing SDK V1.5 along with new ZDK Methods and ZRC Support

        Hello everyone! Widgets in Zoho CRM just got a big upgrade! With the release of SDK v1.5, developers can now create more immersive widget experiences. This update elevates Widget development with new ZDK methods for easier interactivity and ZRC support
      • Unusual activity detected, account blocked

        I am unable to send emails and am getting the error "Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected. To unblock your account, please and submit a request. Learn more.". I am unsure as to why this is happening since all my activity is legitimate, mainly confirmation
      • Unable to Send Emails – Outgoing Mail Blocked (Error 554 5.1.8)

        Description: Hello Zoho Support Team, I am facing an issue with my Zoho Mail account ( admin@osamarahmani.tech ). Whenever I try to send an email, I get the following error: 554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked I would like to clarify that I have not done
      • Issue connecting Zoho Mail to Thunderbird (IMAP/SMTP authentication error)

        Dear Zoho Support, I am trying to configure my Zoho Mail account on Thunderbird, but I keep getting authentication errors. Account: info@baktradingtn.com Domain: baktradingtn.com Settings used: IMAP: imap.zoho.com, Port 993, SSL/TLS, Normal Password SMTP:
      • Payment issue with Mail Lite plan – personal NIF not accepted as payment info

        Hello, I have already contacted Zoho Support by email regarding this, but since I haven’t received any reply yet, I’m sharing it here as well to see if the community can help. I’m facing a payment issue for my Mail Lite plan. I have a personal account
      • Customer payment alerts in Zoho Cliq

        For businesses that depend on cash flow, payment updates are essential for operational decision-making and go beyond simple accounting entries. The sales team needs to be notified when invoices are cleared so that upcoming orders can be released. In contrast,
      • Figma in Zoho Creator

        Hi Team, I’m creating a form using Figma and would like to know how to add workflows like scheduling, custom validation, and other logic to it. Can anyone help me understand how to set this up for a Figma-based Creator UI form?
      • Restore lost Invoice!

        Some time ago I tried to Upgrade from Invoice to Books. I not upgraded and staid n Invoice. Now i tried again and first i deleted the old trial of books. But now all is gone, PLEASE HELP!! i have no backup and i have to have at least 7 years data retention by law. 
      • Zoho Desk Down

        Not loading
      • lookup and integrated forms

        I might be misunderstanding things but I wanted to integrate our zoho crm contacts into creator. I imagined that when I used the integration it would mirror into creator. It did brilliant. BUT We have a ticket form in creator that we want to use a lookup
      • Partially receive PO without partial Bill?

        Most of our inventory is pre-paid. Let's say we purchase 30 pieces of 3 different items for a total of 90 pieces. It is common for our supplier to send us the items as they are ready. So we will receive 30 pieces at a time. How can I partially receive
      • 2 users editing the same record - loose changes

        Hello, I'm very new to Zoho so apology if this has been addressed somewhere i can't find. I have noticed the following: If we have 2 users put an inventory item in edit mode at the same time: say user1 click on edit and user2 while user1 is still in edit,
      • How to get the Dashboard page to be the first page when you open the app

        So when it opens on a tablet or phone it opens on the welcome page, thanks.
      • How I set default email addresses for Sales Orders and Invoices

        I have customers that have different departments that handle Sales Orders and Invoices. How can i set a default email for Sales Orders that's different than the default email for Invoices? Is there a way I can automate this using the Contact Persons Departments
      • Formula fields not refreshing until page is reloaded

        I need help/advice about the formula fields and how I can refresh the information in real-time. We have two formula fields on our deals page which show calculated prices: One formula is in a subform which calculates the subform total + 1 other field amount
      • How can I setup Zoho MCP with Chat GPT

        I can set up custom connections with Chat GPT but I cat an error when I try to set it up. The error is: "This MCP server can't be used by ChatGPT to search information because it doesn't implement our specification: search action not found" Thoughts?
      • API ZOHO CRM Picket list with wrong values

        I am using Zoho API v.8. with python to create records in a custom module named "Veranstaltung" in this custom module I've got a picket list called "Email_Template" with 28 Values. I've added 8 new values yesterday, but if I try to use on of those values
      • Group Emails

        I have synced Zoho CRM to Campaigns but there are certain email not synced. showing it is Group Emails, but this email ids belongs to different individuals. please provide a solution as i nedd to sync the same.
      • Enable Password Import option in ulaa browser

        Dear Ulaa Team, I noticed that the Ulaa Password Manager currently offers an option to export passwords, but not to import them. This limitation poses a challenge for users like me who have stored numerous credentials in browsers like Chrome. Manually
      • "Is Zoho CRM customer" vs "Is linked with Zoho CRM"

        Recently while building a Flow, I was setting up a Decision action following a Zoho Invoice Fetch record action. There were 2 choices that I had not seen as something I could manually action in Zoho Invoice: "Is Zoho CRM customer" and "Is linked with
      • Client Script | Update - Introducing ZRC: Simplified HTTP request library

        Hello Developers! Are you tired of juggling different methods to make API calls? Are you confused with multiple syntaxes and version restrictions? Have you ever wished for one simple way to make all API calls in CRM? We heard you :) Here comes ZRC (Zoho
      • Selection Filed for Data Export section

        Hi FSM Team, I hope you are all doing well. I would like to share an idea for future development based on my experience. Currently, in FSM, we can only download up to 5,000 records at a time. If the development team could add a selection option to choose
      • Text wrap column headers in reports?

        Is it possible to auto wrap column headers so that a longer multi-word header displays as two lines when the column is narrower than the width of the header title?
      • What if I dont see contacts on the left side list

        My CRM does not show the contacts tab. In order to create list this is needed and I cant find it.
      • Next Page