Customer Service Skills

Customer Service Skills required. Information from the UK government shows that 7 out of 10 jobs are in the service sector. Where we used to build Rolls Royces, make steel or mine coal, we now and increasingly provide services.

So what skills and attitudes are required to deliver the Rolls Royce of customer service?

Customer Service Skills

Skill #1 Communication

Anyone involved in customer service or customer care must have great communication skills. They’ll need to talk to a wide range of people about a wide range issues. Face to face, by phone, by email, and in writing. Whether it’s front of house, or providing a support function, the need to connect and communicate with people is becoming more important in this technological age.

Skill #2 Helpfulness

People involved in customer service need to be helpful. You may argue that this isn’t a skill, it’s an attitude. The important thing is that it’s an attitude that can be developed. People can become helpful if their focus is the customer and doing the best for them. Helpfulness could be tested for in your recruitment processes. That willingness to be helpful aids customer retention, customer experience and helps to create an environment where teamwork can flourish.

Skill #3 Customer Focus

Customer facing people need to know why customer service is important and need to display their understanding of the customer and the customer’s world in every conversation with a customer.

Skill #4 Problem Solving

The ability to think through a customer’s situation and solve the problem there and then, minimising the need for the customer to keep contacting your organisation, reducing and keeping unhappy customers to a minimum.

Skill #5 Call Handling

Customer service representatives need to translate their company’s way of doing business to a customer. Customers form opinions based on what is said and the way it is said. Call handling skills have to be developed if targets are to be met, and to ensure customers are happy with the level of service. The benefits of good call handling skills are felt throughout the business, minimising mistakes improves cash flow. Happy customers buy more, it doesn’t have to be anymore complicated than that.

If you’d like help developing the skills of your customer facing people call us now on 0845 450 0988