Kind words are worth much and cost little. This creates opportunity: when you can’t out-spend the competition, the solution is to out-support them.
Here are 14 tips from the support documentation of world leaders in providing best customer service. I hope these will help you in improving your customer service.
- Practice sympathy, Patience, and Consistency: Some of your customers will be full of queries, some just chatty, and others plain mad. You must be ready to handle all of them and provide the same level of service every time.
- Good customer Service may be a Continuous Learning process: Every customer is unique and each support situation is totally different. In order to handle surprises, sense a customer’s mood, address new challenges consequently, you've got to be willing to stay learning. Strive to have a deep understanding of your customer’s challenges and still search for better ways to deal with them.
- Train customer service agent for understanding product detail: The training and development program must cover all aspects of how to deal with issues, talk to customers, and resolve problems. Apart from that, your team should believe in and understand your product before they are sent out with the task of pacifying a customer. If your team does not know the product or the service well enough, then they will not have enough knowledge to tackle an issue.
- Solving a problem as soon as possible: When customers complain, your team must acknowledge the issue quickly and try to resolve it timely.
- Use technology to assist them: Customer support can only be performed accurately if we mix the technology with the humanistic approach.
- Add live chat to your website: Live chat can help your customer support team to interact with the customer in depth so that the customer can get resolved his queries easily.
- Use customer service templates: It’s important to keep your standards high and your response times low. Don’t waste keyboard strokes for every basic and common question. Build professional templates so you can respond to customer with ease and professionalism.
- Maintain a positive attitude: It is very important that your team keep a positive and bright attitude when managing your customers. If you maintain an accommodating and inviting attitude, then you will easily avoid conflicts.
- Apologize for any inconvenience: Whatever the issue, and whatever role your company played in the issue, you need to apologize to the customer. If the consumer’s credit card did not work, tell them you’re sorry for their inconvenience or that it happened.
- Listen to your customer: One of the simplest ways in which to serve your customer is by listening to them from the beginning. Most customers contact or reach bent on your support team to when they want to convey a message or a problem. Therefore, the first and most important thing you can do is to hear them out completely.
- Never say “I don’t know”: When your team represents your business, they need to speak as if the business itself is speaking. So, once an executive says “no”, Customer instantly diminishes the value of your business. “No” isn't an answer. If a customer is facing a difficulty, then your team should try and resolve it, one way or another.
- Admit your mistakes: If you mess up, admit it, even if you discover your mistakes before your customers do. Admitting you messed up builds trust and restores your customer’s confidence in your service. It also allows you to control the situation, re-focus the customer’s attention, and fix the problem.
- Follow up after a problem is solved: Follow up with your customers to ensure their issues were resolved properly and that they were satisfied with the service. Give them a call, send them an email etc.
- Always close conversations correctly: Every conversation you close with a customer should end with you saying “Is there anything else I can do for you today? I’m happy to help!”
Everyone should be feeling the customer’s pain points. When your whole company is encouraged to be involved in customer service, knowledge of problems, bugs, and features becomes illuminated for the entire team. There’s no faster way to make improvements that drive your business forward.
In almost every industry, customer service agentsact as intermediaries between companies and customers. They answer questions and resolve issues with a company's products or services, and they are often the only communication a customer has with a company.
To become a customer service representative, you need to be an excellent communicator. You should have the ability to converse with anyone since customer service representatives talk to multiple people throughout the day. There is no educational requirement needed to become a customer service representative, but a high school diploma and previous work experience are often preferred. Becoming a customer service representative is also a great entry-level job.
Customer service representatives typically need a high school diploma or equivalent and receive on-the-job training to learn the specific skills needed for the job. They should be good at communicating and interacting with people and have some experience using computers.
Customer service representatives usually receive short-term on-the-job training, typically lasting 2 to 3 weeks. Those who work in finance and insurance may need several months of training to learn complicated financial regulations.
General customer-service training may focus on procedures for answering questions, information about a company's products and services, and computer and telephone use. Trainees often work under the guidance of an experienced worker for the first few weeks of employment.
In certain industries, such as finance and insurance, customer service representatives must remain current with changing regulations.
Important Qualities for Customer Service Representatives
- Communication skills. Customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person so that customers can understand them.
- Customer-service skills. Representatives help companies retain customers by answering their questions and responding to complaints in a helpful and professional manner.
- Interpersonal skills. Representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers.
- Listening skills. Representatives must listen carefully and understand a customer's situation in order to assist them.
- Patience. Representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers.
- Problem-solving skills. Representatives must determine solutions to a customer's problem. By resolving issues effectively, representatives contribute to customer loyalty and retention.
A customer service representative talk to customers on behalf of companies and businesses. They answer customer queries, resolve customer complaints, and address emergency issues. If a customer needs help placing an order or needs to change their order, the customer service representative walks them through the correct steps. Customer service representatives will also provide additional sales or products, or sell products or services directly.
What Customer Service Representatives do?
Customer service representatives typically do the following:
- Listen to customer’s questions and concerns, and provide answers or responses
- Provide information about products and services
- Take orders, calculate charges, and process billing or payments
- Review or make changes to customer accounts
- Handle returns or complaints
- Record details of customer contacts and actions taken
- Refer customers to supervisors or more experienced employees
The specific duties of customer service representatives vary by industry. For example, representatives who work in banks may answer customer’s questions about their accounts. Representatives who work for utility and telecommunication companies may help customers with service problems, such as outages. Those who work in retail stores often handle returns, process refunds, and help customers locate items. Some representatives make changes to customers' accounts, such as updating addresses or canceling orders. Although selling is not their main job, some representatives may help generate sales while providing information about a product or service.
How to define your Customer service project?
Your job description is the 1st touch point between your company and your new hire. With millions of people looking for jobs on so every month, an excellent description will assist you attract the most qualified candidates to your open position. To urge you started, here are some tips for making an efficient description.
A great job description starts with a compelling summary of the position and its role within your company. Your summary should provide an overview of your company and expectations for the position. Outline the types of activities and responsibilities required for the job so job seekers can determine if they are qualified, or if the job is a good fit.
Basic of customer service project description are as follow:
- State a brief one to two sentence overview of the project objectives.
- State this in one sentence so the professional understands how the work fits into the bigger picture.
- Be specific with requirements, such as specific software knowledge, typing speed, and language fluency.
- Enter a start and end date. Most independent contractor projects are project based and/or short-term. If you’re unsure of the end date, or if the work may be ongoing, you may need to consult your HR partner or other advisor to verify the worker’s classification.
- Independent contractor work is often paid at a fixed price. When paying hourly, you may want to specify the maximum number of hours for the project if any.
Sample:
We need an experience agent for a ten month project, expected to require 25 hours/week of services, from [start date] to [end date]. We’re launching a multimedia campaign that’s expected to dramatically spike call volume. You’ll work from your own location to handle product calls, take orders, and process payments.
Skill Requirements:
- Knowledge of Zendesk and Salesforce software
- Expertise in providing customer service via phone and live chat
- Fluent in English and Spanish
- Handle 10-15 calls per hour
- Ability to upsell and cross-sell products on the phone
- Basic knowledge of Microsoft Excel
