Even the best MSP technician needs proper training to provide your customers with the specific type of assistance they need. They need to understand your platform, as well as the psychology of your customers. In other words, they’re a craftsman who’s trying to fulfill an order for two clients at the same time. Whether they’ll be able to do this depends on the quality of training they receive.
The problem is that this is not a simple, binary scenario where they either get good or no training. Bad training can instill some bad habits in them, which may cause them to hurt your brand in the long run.
So, what are some of the MSP training mistakes that can cause this outcome?
Assuming They Understood and Paid Attention
When you’re wrapping up a training session and ask if everything’s clear, most people will nod along even if they’re completely lost. It’s not that they’re trying to trick you or be careless—it’s just a knee-jerk reaction. People don’t like looking clueless, especially not in front of someone evaluating them.
Specialists in outsourced MSP staffing solutions claim that there’s always a bit of fear involved. Some employees are scared that you’ll start thinking they’re not cut out for the job if they ask too many questions. So, they hold back. They let the moment pass, then quietly struggle when it’s time to actually put that knowledge to work.
You see, that’s why it’s on you to dig deeper. Don’t just ask if it’s clear—ask them to walk you through the process or explain it back to you. And if they stumble a bit, that’s fine. What matters more is how you respond. Encouragement goes further than you might think.
When you overlook these learning gaps, you’re falling into one of the most common MSP training mistakes. You can’t expect someone to execute a proper MSP SOP if they don’t fully understand the instructions in the first place.
Overloading Them With Irrelevant Information
It’s easy to fall into the trap of teaching everything you know, especially if you’re passionate about your tools. But if a technician won’t be using a certain platform or feature daily, why spend half a session explaining it? You’re just giving them extra stuff to forget by next week.
You’re wasting valuable training hours when you cover tools they won’t even have access to. Picture showing someone how to use enterprise-level automation when their role only involves basic ticket responses. It’s not just unhelpful—it’s confusing. They’ll sit there thinking, “Do I need to know this?” Spoiler: they don’t.
MSP staffing service providers claim that jumping into complex concepts too early can backfire. If they’re still trying to wrap their head around your basic workflow, diving into advanced troubleshooting methods is like tossing someone into the deep end before they’ve learned how to float. They’ll either panic or tune out entirely.
You see, it’s easy to mistake information overload for thoroughness, but that’s a huge error in MSP operations. Filtering out what’s unnecessary is actually one of the most effective ways of fixing MSP mistakes before they spiral into long-term confusion.
Not Training Them in Your Ticketing System
Some MSPs assume new hires will “figure out” the ticketing system on the job. That’s optimistic at best, reckless at worst. You wouldn’t toss someone the keys to your truck and say, “You’ll get used to it.” Yet we do that with tools that are central to our helpdesk workflow.
Real-life ticket examples are far more valuable than hypothetical ones. If the only thing you show them is textbook scenarios, they’ll get blindsided when someone writes, “Laptop won’t turn on, tried everything, plz help.” They need to see the actual messiness of real client requests to be ready.
Without a proper explanation of priority levels and tagging, tickets don’t flow correctly, which is a significant problem. Emergencies get buried, small issues get flagged as critical, and suddenly your helpdesk is a disorganized disaster. Teaching the logic behind tags and urgency ratings should never be treated as optional or intuitive.
Skipping training in ticketing systems is one of those MSP training mistakes that’s easy to overlook but deeply affects daily MSP operations. A good SOP starts with a good ticket trail—and that only happens when people know how to write one properly.
Only Covering the Technical Stuff
Fixing tech issues is only part of the job. If a technician doesn’t know how to talk to a client who’s clearly frustrated or overwhelmed, they’ll end up escalating problems that could’ve been diffused with a little empathy. A calm, understanding tone often does more than fix itself.
Also, it’s easy to forget soft skills when you’re focused on teaching the tech stack. But those skills determine how comfortable a customer feels during a call. Tone, patience, even how you handle silence—all of it matters. These aren’t “extra” skills; they make someone good at this job.
Vague tickets are another area where communication makes a difference. When a client writes something unclear, the way your helpdesk staff follows up can either bring clarity or cause confusion. If they’re too blunt or robotic, the client may shut down. They need to know how to ask the right questions.
Skipping soft skills entirely can be a critical MSP training mistake. Your MSP SOP has to include customer communication standards, not just technical protocols. Otherwise, you’re training robots, not professionals.
Training Just Once and Never Revisiting
One training session at the start of someone’s job is not enough. Think about how much you actually retain after a single workshop—probably not much. Yet, we expect new hires to recall everything perfectly from week one to year one. That’s just not how learning works.
Onboarding should be the beginning, not the end. Once someone’s officially part of the team, that’s when real learning starts. They’ll run into unfamiliar issues, new clients, updates to your tools—none of which were covered in that initial session. Ongoing training helps them handle those curveballs.
It’s not just about giving them the knowledge—it’s about checking if they’ve kept it. Memory fades. People forget details. If you’re not testing or reviewing what they’ve learned after a few weeks, you have no idea whether your helpdesk is actually applying things the way you want them to.
This is one of the most overlooked MSP training mistakes. If you don’t circle back to reinforce your MSP SOP, don’t be surprised when people do things their own way—and not necessarily the right way.
Wrap Up
Good helpdesk performance doesn’t just come from hiring smart people but from training them correctly. If you keep running into the same issues, chances are you’ve got some MSP training mistakes baked into your system. The good news is that once you recognize the problem, you can fix it. Whether it’s revisiting your documentation, updating the mentorship process, or customizing training by role, fixing MSP mistakes starts with knowing what’s broken.
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