Key Customer Service Skills

The current business landscape has become quite tough, the boom that many corporates saw after the end of the pandemic is quickly fading away. Now the demand for products and services has reverted back to their standard levels, however, the additional resources that were hired to increase productivity are now facing layoffs. Many trade analysts already predicted the year 2023 as the year of recession.

This means that the art of running a business, which was already a difficult task has become even harder in this day and age. With the constant decline in revenue streams, corporate think tanks are struggling to find a way to make this volatile business environment stable to some extent, and the only way this can be achieved is through happy customers. Customer satisfaction was already an integral part of a business lifecycle, but, it’s become crucial for the survival of any business today.

This isn’t only a theory, many case studies of businesses that rose to become corporate giants only through their exceptional customer service and client handling are present. One such company is Cox Communications, it started with humble background back in the 1960s and today it has become the third largest cable company in the United States, with a customer base of millions. This has only been possible due to efficient Cox customer service that has kept their existing customers intact.

If you are a business owner, CEO, or in any sort of a client servicing role and you want to salvage your dying revenue streams then you should definitely follow Cox’s customer handling model and learn the key customer service skills. This will not only empower your business to bring in revenue but also significantly increase your customer retention rate. And it’s a simple fact of any business that the better the customer retention rate is the more revenue any business will incur.

However, for the ease of our readers we have summarized all the key customer service skills to make your customers happy and your business successful. So without any further ado let’s get right into it.

Empathy   

Customer interactions are not anything out of this world, they are just like any other conversation. A conversation in which someone is trying to convey their problem, and the main quality a good listener should possess is empathy. Empathy is necessary while talking to someone who’s venting out in distress.

Someone who calls customer service is definitely facing either some kind of a problem with their services or is curious about any specific information. Empathy is especially important when dealing with frustrated customers who are facing any issue with their service.

Be calm and composed, you might be subjected to yelling, harsh words, and even swears at times. But do keep in mind that they are saying all that to the company and the provider not you as a person. In fact, they don’t even know the agent on the other side of the phone.

So in times like these display empathy, put yourself in the shoes of the customer and understand why are they feeling aggravated and then try and work together to solve the issue at hand. A few kind words, a good gesture, and a little acknowledgment go a long way.

Communication Skills

What are you doing in a customer service department if you don’t have adequate customer service skills? That’s a question every agent dealing with customers should ask themselves. This reaffirmation of sorts will not only encourage you to be better but this self-conversing behavior improves your overall communication skills.

Communication skills are a core aspect of a customer service environment. How are you going to address the concerns of the customers if you’re unable to get your word across in a comprehensive way? Plus, sometimes some issues need to be resolved by giving the customer instructions over the phone line, a scenario like this can quickly turn into a nightmare for someone without adequate communication skills.

An agent with good communication skills can easily cater to a frustrated, angry, or confused customer and help them with their concerned problem. Furthermore, good communication skills often come in handy when trying to gather detailed information about the problem which in turn helps the agent to get to a resolution quickly and effectively.

Problem-Solving Skills

These types of skills come in handy, especially in times when customers are facing technical problems. An agent with apt technical expertise and problem-solving skills can handle most problems a customer is facing, just over the phone. However, the scope of problem-solving skills isn’t just related to technical stuff.

Problem-solving skills can be used in various types of situations, for example, a customer is having trouble paying his bill, wants to know the location of the nearest store, wants to cancel, or wants a refund of goods or services. All these scenarios require some kind of problem-solving skill in order to handle them adequately and to reach a positive conclusion.

Ending Note 

In the end, we would like to clarify that customer service is not limited to only these three skills, in fact, if we start writing about the intricacies of this client-handling job, we would be left short of words. But the main objective of this article was to guide those new to the field and give them a direction from where they can start their customer service journey.