10 Customer Service Skills That Every Employee Needs
Sibel Hos
On the road to success for brands, the importance of customer service is undeniable. In today’s world where there is a lot of competition between brands, 50% of consumers now have higher expectations for customer service. Therefore, you need to keep customer satisfaction for your brand at the highest level and to achieve that, your team needs to have the required customer service skills.
Let me explain why.
Because your ability to create happy customers will ensure an increase in customer satisfaction. Otherwise, you may lose your customers due to poor customer service or you may see negative comments about your brand on social media.
In order not to experience such problems, you should keep your customer satisfaction at the highest level and provide a positive service experience to increase customer loyalty.
So how?
We’ve listed for you 10 key customer service skills that every employee needs to have.
Let’s start!
1. Listen to your customers
When an unhappy customer who is not satisfied with your product or service gets in touch with your customer services, first give him the opportunity to explain his problem. Please note that active listening is the basis for effective communication. If you give customers a chance to express themselves and do not start defending your brand, you can make your customers feel better and understand exactly what the problem that your customer is trying to explain is.
2. Empathize with your customers
Just like active listening, the ability to empathize with customers is one of the most important features that all customer service representatives need. If you focus on the emotions of your customers instead of defending yourself and giving advice to them, you can deal with their problems based on their feelings. If you are willing to listen and see the problem from the customer’s point of view, you will be able to solve your customers’ problems in a shorter period of time.
3. Show customers you really care
Having a genuine interest in and asking questions about a problem makes you a better customer service representative. For instance, when a customer calls you and makes a complaint about your product or service, you can ask for more information to get a deeper understanding of what the complaint is. Going deeper and asking questions that will help solve the problem will help you overcome the complaint in a short time.
4. Be patient
Dealing with angry and impatient customers is an important part of the daily routine for customer service representatives. That’s why remaining patient and calm under difficult conditions is one of the most important skills that a customer service representative should have. For instance, you should explain the application step by step to your customer who has a long-lasting problem with your product or service and keep in touch with him until a solution is found. You should remain calm and patient on the other side of the line while your customer is trying to solve the problem.
5. Prioritize the Customer Problems
Customer service is often hectic. There are always too many customers in the queue with problems waiting to be resolved. However, some customer problems are more serious or urgent than others. For instance, while you should immediately deal with a negative social media post, an information e-mail written in a positive tone should be below the priority list. A customer service representative needs to know how problems should be prioritized.
6. Have advanced writing skills
Customer service representatives need to specialize in the use of writing skills. This is why typing mistakes and wrong grammar leave a bad first impression and reduce credibility. For this reason, a customer service employee should use language well, not make unnecessary abbreviations, and use clear, concise, and understandable sentences indicating that he understands the problem. If you write a long piece of content, your customers may not fully understand what you mean.
7. Always be one step ahead of your customers
Most of the problems encountered by customer representatives are similar. Therefore, develop yourself regarding the solution to such problems and find solutions in advance for the problems that may arise. In this way, you can handle more complaints in a shorter period of time.
8. Don’t let angry customers affect your mood
Most of the people who contact customer service are angry or unhappy customers. That’s why they can raise their voices, use slang language or threaten you during the conversation. Although this is a nightmare for customer service, unfortunately, customers who have a bad customer experience may behave this way. However, you -as a professional- need to stay calm and should not let the customer affect your mood when the customer hangs up in anger. All you need to do is focus on your next customer service request.
9. Establish an effective communication
With the development of technology, customers’ habits regarding customer service have also changed. Customers now benefit from online customer services or chat boxes instead of calling call centers by phone. However, although customers’ habits have changed, call center employees must maintain effective communication across the entire platform, just like on the phone. Let me explain why. Effective communication helps build a positive relationship between your brand and customers and resolve issues quickly. Excellent communication skills are essential for making customers happy.
10. Have a comprehensive product or service knowledge
Any personnel dealing directly with customers should have extensive knowledge of the brand’s products, services, or procedures. A customer service representative with insufficient knowledge cannot professionally assist customers. Please note customers don’t want to wait when they ask for information about a product or service.
As a result, working in customer service is more than answering phone calls or e-mails. You can become a better customer service representative and create happy customers by following the tips we have shared for you.
