Did you know that $62 billion is lost annually by companies in the US due to poor customer service? This is because several customers have been reported to abandon a company after a bad experience.
This makes the key role of customer experience evident in building the reputation of a brand.
In today’s time, the quality of customer service matters just as much as product quality, especially when it comes to building brand loyalty.
21 Key Customer Service Skills That You Should Know:
1. Problem Solving:
Problem-solving skills are ideal because not only does the representative have to address the problem of the customer, but also educate the client on how to deal with a similar issue that may arise in the future.
2. Patience:
How would you deal with a furious customer who has self-diagnosed his problem incorrectly?
The answer is patience. You must listen to customers and make them feel like your team is going to address them.
3. Empathy:
Empathy is a must-have customer service skill because even if you can’t find a solution to your client’s problems, putting yourself in their shoes and demonstrating empathy undoes the damage, to some extent.
4. Clear Communication:
Miscommunication due to vague and ambiguous responses is going to frustrate the customers and is likely to drive them away. You can even set up free live chat for website to avail instant interaction.
5. Attentiveness:
You need to take out the time to truly listen to what your customer is saying to comprehend the problem they are facing.
Keeping your ears open to the feedback you receive can improve as a whole.
6. Emotional Intelligence:
Being able to relate to a customer is a key customer service skill.
As customer service representatives, it is crucial not to take things personally but instead, communicate compassionately and reiterate the problem at hand.
7. Writing Skills:
Customers will not always reach out to via phone calls. They might contact customer service reps via email which makes writing skills necessary.
Face-to-face conversations allow representatives to demonstrate empathy through facial expressions and body language, but with emails, you don’t have that advantage.
8. Persuasiveness
This is where persuasion skills come in handy when a customer reaches out to you to inquire about a product.
The representative must convince the interested customer that the product is the best purchase the client will ever make!
9. Creativity:
A customer service rep shouldn’t just be a problem solver, but he must also be willing to go the extra mile in a fun way to solve a customer’s problem. This will make the client experience memorable and leave a good impression of your company.
10. Positive Langauge:
Persuasion depends on language which means the use of positive language can convince a customer to purchase your product.
Customers tend to perceive your company as good or bad based on what you tell them. Tweaking your conversational patterns is going to create happy customers.
11. Product Expertise:
It is nearly impossible for a customer support rep to assist a client with a product if they know nothing about it.
This means reps must know their company’s products from head to toe so they can help customers when they run into problems.
12. Basic Acting Skills:
Humans tend to display emotions and dealing with grumpy customers can ruin your cheery persona.
This is why customer support representatives require basic acting skills so that they can cover up their emotions while they deal with customers.
13. Time management:
Although taking your time to sort out a client’s problems is necessary, there is a limit to the amount of time one can dedicate to a customer.
In other words, your team must find solutions to customers’ problems efficiently so no one is left unheard by the end of the day.
14. Handling Difficult Customers:
There are several kinds of customers you are going to come across.
One might act calmly and be polite while the other might shout at you and use abusive language.
In this scenario, a customer service rep needs to be thick-skinned to understand that the customer is just frustrated with your company and has nothing against you, especially.
15. Ability to read customers:
Being able to pick up on subtle cues can give you an idea of what the customer is feeling. This will help you keep customer interactions positive.
16. Ownership and Responsibility:
You might disagree with apologizing even when it isn’t your fault, but that is one of the most important rules of customer service. Apologizing for a problem that a customer faced might and be willing to fix the issue is a must-have quality.
17. Tech-Savvy
A customer service rep must be tech-savvy because this enables them to answer queries on numerous platforms at the same time and address more customers at the right time. This raises the efficiency levels of the customer support team.
18. Growth Mindset:
Customer service is all about dealing with different kinds of people daily. This means one should be open to feedback and remain curious to learn from other people.
19. Tenacity:
Taking shortcuts is not the key to success for a customer support rep. One needs to have a great work ethic and make customer experiences memorable to leave an impact.
20. Goal-oriented focus:
The adoption of frameworks such as the Net Promoter Score provides employees with guidelines on how to deal with customers. It also provides them with go-to fixes for common problems.
21. Closing ability:
Ending a conversation with a customer with guaranteed customer satisfaction is a skill that is primal to customer service.
At the end of the conversation, a customer must feel like their problems have been addressed and will be taken care of.
How to Develop Customer Service Skills?
Here are a few tips that can make your customer service even better:
- Customer service reps must listen consciously and be patient to understand the perspective of the client.
- Speaking in simple terms that the customer understands enhances clarity and leaves a good impression.
- Communicating with customers the measures you are going to take to fix their issue leads to greater customer satisfaction.
- While dealing with an angry customer, representatives must keep in mind that the customer is angry at the company as a whole, not you as an individual
- Ask your team or your manager for help when dealing with an overly difficult customer.
Often, companies use CRMs and other platforms to manage their businesses which allows them to strengthen areas such as customer service while the platform handles all other departments, for example, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Shopify integration.
This is also a good approach to enhance your customer support.
Conclusion:
Customer service is foundational to the success of a brand. The type of people in your team is going to influence the quality of customer support you provide.
In other words, choosing your customer service reps carefully can go a long way in improving your quality of customer support.
