{"id":33427,"date":"2023-03-30T10:00:53","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T00:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rcblogau.wpengine.com\/au\/en\/blog\/?p=33427"},"modified":"2023-03-27T19:00:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T09:00:27","slug":"customer-service-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/au\/en\/blog\/customer-service-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"10 must-have customer service skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can you put a price on customer service skills? Well, yes, depending on<\/span> which research<\/span><\/a> or studies you\u2019re looking at, there are estimates that it can cost anywhere between <\/span>four to seven times<\/span><\/i> more to acquire a new customer than keep an existing one. (Go ahead, give it a quick Google.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever the price, as a business, it\u2019s valuable to have first-rate customer service skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this post, we\u2019ll look at this key way to attract and retain customers:<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s \u201ccustomer service,\u201d really?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The definition of \u201ccustomer service\u201d is basically the help and advice that you as a business provide to the people who buy or use your products and services (aka. your customers). And this applies to your prospective customers too.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a combination of both service and skill set: to provide the service, you need a team with the right skills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some examples of good customer service skills:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Communication<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Collaboration<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Patience<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Decision-making<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Empathy<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Digital awareness<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Customer management<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Product expertise<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Standardised practices<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Analytical understanding<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Why is good customer service important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Well, to put it simply, customer service is crucial to attracting new customers and keeping existing ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Yes, yes, sales and marketing have a hand in this too but don\u2019t neglect the fact that new customers are more likely to buy from you in the first place if they know you offer a first-rate customer experience. (Plus existing customers are more inclined to make future purchases if they receive that same great <\/span>customer experience<\/span><\/a> on an ongoing basis.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Without good customer service, what\u2019s stopping your customers from buying the same product from your competitor?<\/span><\/p>\n

    Your frontline customer service team is usually the first port of call for customers interacting with your business. So, make sure that team has the training and tools they need to represent your image, mission, and values.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Customer service professionals are literally the face of your brand, after all.<\/span><\/p>\n

    By employing quality customer service reps, you\u2019re not just \u201cbuilding a great team\u201d, you\u2019re also giving customer loyalty a boost. If customers keep coming back to you, then that means the amount of money each customer spends with your business <\/span>rises<\/span><\/i>. They buy more frequently, which will probably generate positive word-of-mouth for you, which attracts more customers, and the virtuous cycle continues\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

    5 essential soft customer skills<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Let\u2019s start with the soft skills you and your team needs to deliver quality customer service.<\/span><\/p>\n

    These are elements of customer service that most people typically associate with \u201cpeople skills\u201d and relate more to <\/span>how a person interacts with others<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    They aren\u2019t unique to any one specific job either. Having soft skills can make you a great fit for a wide range of occupations because it\u2019s a transferable skill that\u2019s also really flexible.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Take a look at this survey data:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Reason<\/p>\n

    You\u2019ll notice that other than call quality being out of your individual reps\u2019 control, the top two reasons for customers hanging up can be solved with good customer service skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

    A truly top-notch customer service rep or agent <\/span>takes care of customers\u2019 problems with empathy \u2014 <\/b>which is key to reducing the chances of customers getting frustrated (and hanging up on you).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In general, excellent soft skills are just plain useful in customer service scenarios because they allow you to bring your own personal touch to the conversation. Even better, they can be learned or improved easily with training and the help of the right tools.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Now, let\u2019s look at five soft skills that are especially useful when problem-solving in the customer service world.<\/span><\/p>\n

    1. Communication<\/span><\/h3>\n

    To provide good customer service in traditional situations like on the phone and in person, the first rule is of course that you must speak clearly. But to provide <\/span>great<\/span><\/i> customer service, you must be a great communicator across all mediums\u2014adaptability is essential.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

    Because customers no longer rely solely on the phone to talk to businesses.<\/b> That means customer service reps should be skilled in communicating via other channels too, like email, live-chat, and managing tickets through a customer portal.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Then there\u2019s social media. You may be handling inbound social media messages on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And if you\u2019re in a business that has \u201chigh-touch\u201d (personal, one-on-one) relationships with customers or clients, you might do video conferencing calls with them. With these, body language and eye contact come into play.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s take an example. You may have a customer service pro who\u2019s super experienced with handling social media inquiries. <\/span>But<\/span><\/i> they may not be used to dealing with <\/span>angry customers<\/span><\/a> over the phone. This is why it\u2019s helpful to cross-train your team so that literally anyone can pick up a conversation on any channel and deliver exceptional customer service.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And don\u2019t forget, communicating with your customers is important, but so is communicating with your own teammates. Why? Because customer service is rarely a one-person show. Someone may have more context and information about a particularly difficult customer, or you might need to reach out to your sales team to see if you can offer a discount to \u201csave\u201d a customer, or you might need to double check with Marketing to find out more about a certain promo or feature that a customer saw in an email newsletter. <\/span>Being able to talk to your own team is an often-overlooked, but vital, part of providing good customer service.<\/b><\/p>\n

    The thing is, <\/span>though, most<\/span>\u00a0companies <\/span>don\u2019t <\/span><\/i>communicate well with each other. People might be in different time zones, or they might be working from home\u2014but the thing that we see most often is that everyone is using different tools. Teams might be using different apps for messaging, managing projects, for video conferencing\u2026 and when no one is talking to each other on the same tools, it makes collaboration hard.<\/span><\/p>\n

    So, what\u2019s the fix?<\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s actually pretty straightforward. Try to incorporate every communication channel you use regularly into as few apps as possible. In other words: streamline. For example, your first step could be moving your <\/span>phone system to the cloud<\/span><\/a>. The benefit of doing this is that you can consolidate your business phone number along with other features like <\/span>video conferencing software<\/span><\/a> and team messaging\u2014all into one system. Here\u2019s how it looks in RingCentral\u2019s desktop and mobile app, for instance:<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Collaboration\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Working together as a team <\/span>with a customer<\/span><\/i> empowers you to do more, with less\u2014and more quickly. (Seriously, we think every company should be doing this more, especially when dealing with tough customer problems.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Treat the customer as your partner. Interact with your customers on the platforms <\/span>they<\/span><\/i> use. Let\u2019s say a heavy Twitter user has already explained their issue at length to you on Twitter. Would you ask them to explain themselves in detail <\/span>again<\/span><\/i> in an email, just because you prefer to email customers about problems?<\/span><\/p>\n

    By responding on your customer\u2019s platform of choice, not only are you being considerate of their preferences, you\u2019re almost increasing the chances that your customer is fully engaged and will give you all the details you need on that channel quickly. (Remember, in the end, your goal is to resolve problems during the customer\u2019s first contact with you.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    But what if your customers all like using different platforms? What if you regularly get messages on Facebook <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>Twitter <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>email <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>live chat <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> LinkedIn and so on? Does that mean you and your team need to have all of those platforms open in different windows and tabs constantly?<\/span><\/p>\n

    Of course not.<\/span><\/p>\n

    There are tons of digital tools that are designed to help you deal with customers across all these platforms\u2014in <\/span>one place.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    For instance, let\u2019s take <\/span>RingCentral Engage Digital<\/span><\/a>\u2122, which consolidates all these different channels of communication into one easy dashboard for you:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"The<\/p>\n

    This lets you stay in your usual workflow and get the full picture of a customer\u2019s relationship with your company, without having to toggle between a number of different windows.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Being able to manage your conversations efficiently like this is especially important for social media. People expect responses faster on social channels, and you don\u2019t want issues being public on Twitter and Facebook for too long without a response from your company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Patience<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Patience improves customer service in two main ways:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Keeping calm and allowing a customer to explain their situation puts them at ease. If you interrupt a customer mid-sentence, you could cause unnecessary friction and set the customer experience off to a bad start.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. The ability to step back from a situation to assess all angles and possibilities will help your own decision-making.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If you find that you need to work on your patience, try to find the source of that impatience.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Maybe you may rush calls because you\u2019re evaluated on your call times or the number of calls answered (which is very common). That measurement is often the source of impatience in a customer service environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

      To change that behaviour, sometimes it\u2019s helpful to just look at your metrics. See if extra time with customers improves <\/span>customer satisfaction<\/span><\/a> (CSAT) and the <\/span>customer retention rate<\/span>.<\/span><\/a> Often, the problem isn\u2019t you; it\u2019s just time management.<\/span><\/p>\n

      4. Decision-making<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      Let\u2019s say a contact centre team is under pressure to end calls within a certain amount of time. Or to \u201chit targets\u201d at the expense of providing a good customer service experience. What happens? The quality of their decision-making suffers.<\/span><\/p>\n

      And it can cost you. Often in ways you don\u2019t even expect. Bad decisions can lead to anything from sending replacement equipment to the wrong address, to sending out the wrong equipment, to hurriedly telling a customer their problem isn\u2019t solvable (or that it can be easily solved when it can\u2019t).<\/span><\/p>\n

      These types of wrong decisions aren\u2019t just harmful in and of themselves either. They can lead to unresolved problems, which means the customer ends up calling back and starting the process all over again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Bad decisions have several escalating consequences:<\/span><\/p>\n