By Jenifer Brown
There are certain customer service skills that every employee should master if they are working directly with customers. Without them, you run the risk of finding your business in an embarrassing customer service train-wreck. You could also lose customers as your service continues to let your client or your employer down.
Here are some specific skills that every support employee should demonstrate when interacting with clients/customers:
Patience
Not only is patience important to customers, who often reach out for support when they are confused and frustrated, but it’s also important to the business at large. Be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want. Great service beats fast service every time.
Attentiveness
The ability to really listen to customers is crucial for providing great service. Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customer interactions (watching the language/terms that they use to describe their problems), but it’s also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.
Clear Communication Skills
Make sure you’re getting to the problem at hand quickly; customers don’t need your life story or to hear about how your day is going. You need to be cautious about how some of your communication habits translate to customers. It’s better to err on the side of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation.
Equipment Knowledge
Knowing the equipment that you support inside and out is mission critical for anyone in service. Having that solid knowledge foundation not only ensures you’ve got the best tricks up your sleeve to help customers navigate even the most complex situations, it also helps you build understanding about their experience so that you can become their strongest advocate.
Positive Language
Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based off of the language that you use. Small changes that employ “positive language” can greatly affect how the customer hears you.
Tenacity
A great work ethic and a willingness to do what needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people talk about. The memorable customer service stories out there (many of which had a huge impact on the business) were created by a single employee who refused to just do the “status quo” when it came to helping someone out.
Closing Ability
Being able to close with a customer means being able to end the conversation with confirmed satisfaction and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of (or will be). Be sure to take the time to confirm with customers that each and every issue they had has been entirely resolved.
