Customer Service Skills

It doesn’t matter how great your product is: If your customer service is poor, people will complain about it, and you’ll lose customers.

The positive side? It's entirely possible to reverse this situation. However, upgrading your customer service from average to outstanding isn't an instant fix. It demands a dedicated effort towards substantial improvements, a team of exceptional support professionals, and collaboration across your entire organization.

What is Customer Service?

Customer service is the act of providing support to both prospective and existing customers. Customer service professionals commonly answer customer questions through in-person, phone, email, chat, and social media interactions. They may also be responsible for creating documentation for self-service support.

Organizations can create their own definitions of customer service based on their values and the type of support they aim to provide. For instance, at Help Scout, we define customer service as the act of providing timely, empathetic help that keeps customers’ needs at the forefront of every interaction.

Why is Customer Service Important?

When 86% of customers quit doing business with a company due to a bad experience, it emphasizes that businesses must view every support interaction as an opportunity to acquire, retain, or up-sell.

Good customer service acts as a revenue generator. It offers customers a complete, cohesive experience that aligns with an organization’s purpose.

Recognizing that customer service is the cornerstone of your customer experience allows you to leverage it as an opportunity to delight customers and engage them in new, exciting ways.

Summary

While consistently delivering good customer service requires effort and alignment across your entire organization, your customer service team is a good starting point. It's crucial to hire individuals who genuinely want to help your customers succeed and to offer competitive rates to attract skilled professionals.

Finding the ideal fit for a support team can be challenging. No specific checklist of job experiences and college diplomas necessarily adds up to the perfect candidate. Instead, you’re seeking qualities that can’t always be taught.

These individuals possess the following key skills:

• Patience: Ability to remain calm and composed in challenging situations.
• Enthusiasm: Eagerness to assist customers and resolve their issues.
• Communication: Clear, effective communication to convey information clearly.
• Product Expertise: In-depth knowledge of the company's products or services.
• Time Management: Efficiently managing time to handle multiple customer inquiries.
• Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of customers, showing genuine care.
• Adaptability: Flexibility to adjust approach based on customer needs and situations.
• Problem Solving: Ability to analyze issues and find effective solutions.

These individuals thrive on one-on-one interactions within their community, enjoy problem-solving, are warm and approachable, and excel at teaching others how things work.