Customer service handles company issues in stores, over the phone, and even by email. Sometimes, with a lot of the customers calling in for inquiries or complaints, it feels as if the company’s running a call center. Calls are frequent, so are the multitude of emails. It takes a lot of skills to handle each issue professionally.
We list down eight skills that matter when handling a customer.
6 Important Customer Service Skills
Patience
Patience is the top of the skills that any person handling a customer should have.
Customer service is not an easy job. There will be times that the customer will be angry at you. As well as there will be times that your customers will need extra attention to understand things. There will be times that it’s just difficult.
During these times, the best you could do is be patient and simply keep your emotions in control. You can’t lose your cool no matter what. If the customer is angry, listen first and wait for him or her to cool down before you talk. If the customer needs extra attention to understand things, be patient and explain it again calmly. Your patience is your best weapon against any type of difficult situation.
Attentiveness
Remember that customers aren’t as knowledgeable about the ins and outs of your products as you do. So, when they face a problem, they turn to you.
Attentiveness is a skill that will be useful when figuring out what your customer really wants you to do. You don’t expect your customer to ramble with all the jargon that you use, right? Normally, they would say it in a very runaround way. If your customers say, “I can’t find this thing!”, it could mean that your user interface is a little difficult for them. Listen to what they say and to what they mean.
Clear Communication Skills
We already shared some tips on how to sharpen your communication skills, and sharp and clear communication skill is very important.
Often, customer service issues are not handled face to face. It’s either via call, email, or sometimes through social media. These means to communicate doesn’t allow you to express yourself through body language or facial expressions. You could only use your voice (if thru phone calls) or only your writing. You have to express yourself clearly so that no other meaning will be read in your message aside from what you really intend it to deliver.
Positivity
This positivity is not necessarily about your outlook in life, but on how you communicate with your customers. Change any negative words to positive. For example, instead of saying, “No, we don’t have that feature” you could say, “Thank you for writing us! For now, we don’t have that feature but we’ll be working on it.” Note how different these two sentences sound. Instead of being blunt and saying a straight no, you could show your appreciation that the customer took time to contact you. You could also end your statement with a promise for the future.
Time Management
Be efficient with the time you spend on your customers. Your time is not the only one at stake, but theirs, too.
Instead of going around in circles, talk to the customer and set a direction towards your goal. The goal is to help the customer, so try not to dilly-dally so much. This tip also applies when you really could not help a customer. If you know that you can’t help him, don’t waste both of your time.
Closing
Closing, in this sense, means being able to end the conversation with satisfaction and everything taken care of (the best that you could).
Confirm with your customers if you have taken care of everything that they want you to do or everything that they want you to answer. Ending the conversation prematurely and without any sort of confirmation may lead to a dissatisfied customer.
Once you have confirmed that everything’s set with the customer, you thank them for their time, and that’s when the conversation ends.
There you have it! We have listed down 6 skills that are important for customer service. Let us know if there are other skills that you think matters for customer service!
