When you run a business, you want to make sure you hire a good customer service team. You want your customer service team to be empathetic, skilled, and engaged. Do you know what you can do in order to improve your relationship with your customers? Long story short, you can improve customer service. Regardless of how good your product may be, one of those things you customers are more likely to remember would be the interaction they had with someone from your company. Basically, you need to look at it like it is – the customer service team is the face of your company.
Perhaps it’s time to improve your teams customer service skills? Here are some tips just for you …
The Reps Need to be Engaged
You can have the best training in the world, but if the reps aren’t engaged, none of that is going to matter. In order to make sure your customers have a good experience with your company, then improving employee engagement is important. You will want to know how your customer service team feels about their environment, the opportunities for career advancement, and their compensation.
The Right Skills
Of course, you need to check over the customer service team and make sure they have the right skills needed in order to help your customers. There’s CRM software available, but all of the CRM software in the world won’t help compensate for shortcomings. Look for the following skills in a customer service rep:
- Adaptability – No two customers are alike. Your customer support team will need to be capable of handling a wide variety of moods.
- Empathy, Consistency and Patience – There will be times where a customer won’t hold back on what they have to say. There are customers that call customer support lines and act extremely rude. Then, you have others that are going to be full of questions and they will expect answers right away. Other customers are just super chatty. The customer service rep will need to know how to handle all of those moods in a professional manner.
- Knowledge – Customers call customer service for their knowledge. The rep needs to stay informed enough so that they can respond to most inquires. If the questions are too technical for them to answer, then they should know where to turn.
- Communication – Communication between the rep and the customer will need to be clear. You don’t need your customers to think something that isn’t true. The rep will need to use positive language, and never end a conversation without confirming that the customer is satisfied.
Improve Customer Interactions
If you have a staff that has the skill set you desire, then you’re off to a great start. However, they will still need to relate to your customers. Here are some tips for improving customer interactions:
- Practice active listing – Rephrase what the customers are saying. By doing this, it lets them know that you heard what they said.
- Own up to your mistakes – Even if you discover your mistake before your customers do admitting your mistakes will build trust.
Conclusion
As a business owner, it is important that you look over your customer service team and make sure they have the skills needed to handle your customers. After all, remember, they are the face of your company.