Skills you will develop in customer service roles
In total, I have around four years of professional service in customer service environments: from navigating busy checkout departments to swiftly replenishing aisles, and from offering product knowledge to pitching product insurance offers.
Beyond becoming more efficient at competing these tasks, I have developed key life skills within these roles that have served me well in the higher education environment, and in other industries.
Therefore; in this article, I will detail each and every one of the valuable skills cultivated in customer service roles--ones that will last a lifetime. I strongly believe the skills acquired are some of the most valuable a working professional can ever have, and to not mention them would be to do an immense disservice.
On that note--we shall begin. I hope you can take something from this article and consider the value of customer service based skills.
1) Interpersonal skills
Virtually every job requires interaction with others to some degree, be it face-to-face, over the phone, or electronically.
The degree to which interaction with others takes place in a job role highly varies. However, as you might suspect, interaction with others happens very frequently in a customer service role.
It is implicated in the title of the role itself!
Throughout, there will be a wide range of interpersonal interactions in customer service roles. You will offer product knowledge and support when requested, dispense general advice, and will interact with a wide range of people as you aim to deliver the best service you can: to customers, clients, colleagues, managers, stakeholders, and so on. As you progress in proficiency, you can use these developed skills to progress further in your role, or thrive in another role in which interpersonal interaction is important!
If you struggle with shyness and/or a lack of confidence, fret not: you will face your fears and develop interactional skills quickly. This will serve you in other areas of life and as your career progresses. I credit my first part-time job in retail to providing me with the fortitude to succeed in future social environments, such in successfully delivering academic presentations, making social connections, and gathering experience in other fields.
Additionally, there is another kind of social interaction that happens in a customer service environment:
One that forms an important part of the role.
2) Teamwork
Teamwork might not seem distinct from interpersonal skills. However, I believe teamwork to be a significant extension of the skill, because teamwork is specifically about working together rather than interacting with others.
In life, we have tasks that we do alone and do with others. When I write, for example, I do so alone. I occasionally ask others to read my work and I sometimes interact with other writers on writing platforms, but I do the heavy lifting when it comes to creating my own articles.
However, in all of my full-time job roles, I have worked with others in some capacity--no less, this happened to a strong degree in my customer service roles. In my very first job, I replenished stock for a produce department in a supermarket, and I had to communicate with other members of my team and divide the labour fairly to ensure that the tasks were completed.
The teamwork did not stop there, either:
When I had finished one section of the department, I would let members of my team know, and inform them that I would start on another part.
When I got stuck, I had to ask for help.
When I had finished a task, I asked other members if they needed help...
…and all of this taught me the importance of communication and teamwork.
Additionally, sometimes in a team, you might people whom you do not get on well with, or witness animosity between two or more other colleagues. In a professional setting, you have to work through these grievances professionally and ensure that they do not interfere with the task at hand.
We will come on to this a bit more later.
For now, we will move on to something else.
3) Initiative
I cannot count how many times I have dealt with a query in which I have realised, "wow, I have not encountered this before". Many of my friends and colleagues have said the same thing in their retail and sales roles.
It really feels like "no day is the same".
Most customer queries are relatively simple to resolve. Typically, they relate to the location of a product. From there, you then point them to said product, ask them if there is anything else they need assistance with (and follow up if need be), and wish them a great day.
However, sometimes, a customer will ask a question that you do not know the answer to. In a customer service environment, there will always be unique and novel situations like this to resolve. If novelty is part of the process--unfamiliar situations being the norm--then a skill must be developed to navigate them.
To me, that skill is initiative.
If I was unsure where a product was, or about the nature of the question being asked, my mindset shifted to: "how can I find out the answer to this?".
I thought about what I had available to me:
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Even if I did not know the direct solution to a problem, I could guide the customer towards it.
When I release articles, my goal is ensuring that my readers are finishing them for the better: either through greater education and understanding, or by feeling more positive.
I think this axiom was present when I worked in customer service, too: I wanted customers to feel like they have gained something via our interaction. Thus, I tried to deliver excellent customer service to the best of my ability in the moment; treating others how I would myself want to be treated.
Taking initiative pays dividends. As its name implies, initiative involves creating solutions on the fly.
Indeed, that kind of demand was essential in customer service roles, as they are roles demanding quick thinking...
4) Working in a fast-paced environment
This one is short and sweet: customer service roles are often fast-paced environments.
If you work on a till, then you will serve one customer after another.
If you serve food and drink, then eating times--think breakfast, lunch, and dinner--will typically involve fulfilling orders back-to-back.
If you work as a retail assistant, then you will have several duties to complete: stock replenishment, customer service, checking for out-of-date items, cleaning, and so on.
Learning how to complete tasks within these environments demonstrates to employers that you can work under pressure and with speed. Many roles, including customer service positions, are fast-paced and require multitasking, making developing the skill essential.
Similarly:
5) Working to targets
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to track how well a company is performing in the market, and how well one is performing in a role--for example, revenue generated, sales made, products assembled, words per minute, items prepared, etc. Targets are set with respect to KPIs, factoring in quantity and a time period.
For individuals, they are expected to achievable yet challenging, with guidance on how they can be attained.
KPIs are prominent in sales roles: the number of deals closed, units sold, clients retained, quarterly revenue generated, extra services existing clients have taken out, to name a few. These targets also appear in customer service roles as the main purpose is to serve customers regarding a product/service, wherein your actions improve product/service sales and customer retention.
From here, targets can be set regarding these metrics.
If targets are met, then there might be discussion of maintaining those targets or exceeding them. If targets are not met, then discussion can be had about how they can be met--for example, ensuring that all products are stacked and labelled clearly and in priority of date to boost sales and decrease waste. When scanning out-of-date items, my target was a minimum of 80% accuracy--which rose to 85% over a few months--which ensured that items would go to waste less and be reduced in price when appropriate.
And they did.
Last, but certainly not least:
6) Conflict resolution
As alluded to earlier under point two, conflicts are experienced when members of a team do not see eye to eye. However, they can also occur when interacting with clients, stakeholders, and customers.
Challenging situations arise in any job role--for example, in freelance writing, they pertain to writer's block and working to deadlines. In customer service, they often form when clients or customers are displeased with a product or service. Reactions can vary from mild frustration to anger.
It is your and your colleagues' responsibility to ensure a resolution is reached carefully and promptly.
In these situations, I always remembered what a manager once said about these situations. They said that in such circumstances, the best approach is to try to see a problem from the customer's point of view--to understand the source of the frustration--and to then offer the customer service that you yourself would want offered. This empathy grounds you within the situation and ensures the best outcome can be reached for the customer.
To me, conflict resolution is a resume of most of the previously mentioned skills. It is also something that inevitably occurs throughout life--in and outside of the workplace--and being able to solve conflicts maturely is an important overarching skill to have.
Who knows when it will be utilised next--best to be prepared. All I know is that customer service roles have me well-prepared for such scenarios, and they will for you, too.
Closing statement
To summarise, the skills that are developed in a customer service environment pertain to:
All of these skills have immense value, whether you decide to progress to a more senior role within customer service or choose to move to another industry at a later point.
As always, thank you for reading my article. I hope that it will give you some food for thought regarding skill carryover in the workplace.
Take care.