Consumers are enjoying a much wider range of choices. Couple that with no longer being forced into lengthy contracts, customer service has become the battleground that determines growth of your brand or company. Thanks to the internet, customers are fully in control. With instant access to a wider selection of product offerings, open platforms showcasing social media reviews, and access to a wealth of background information on your company, they dictate your success.

Customers are quick to judge your level of service and will be more inclined to post a negative review on any form of media if your service is not up to par. They are much more likely to review when posting a negative review than they are to post a positive review.

Learn Your Script

Customer service can sometimes feel like acting, because it involves portraying a certain type of person or feeling that might not be accurate to your personal self. Let’s be real, customers can sometimes be very mean and rude. It’s not always their fault – these people may already be on edge because of instances you know nothing about. But, it does makes it harder to keep a friendly attitude during the interaction. This is why knowing your stuff – the basic information of the product, the right departments, and common questions and concerns – can smooth out what could have been a less than happy experience.

Knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it can change a customers mindset. If you change their mindset, you can change their thoughts on your product. Remember that customer service, to many people, is a direct reflection of the company and its values. It will also make customers much more comfortable because it will reflect that you are capable, able, and willing to solve their problems.

Problem Solving Abilities

To stand out as a good customer service representative you need to be able to problem solve.  Problem solving for your customers will show them that you can do anything they need done faster and more efficiently than others.  They will feel that they can trust you with their problems because you are the person who has presented them solutions in the past .

A person that is good at problem solving is categorized as having these skills: critical thinking, accountability, logic, and intuition.

• Critical thinkers question things, they want to know the who, the how and the what? They are opened minded and open to listening. They think before they speak.
• Accountability references the ability to find the solution to the problem instead of trying to prove that they are right. Which will decrease chances of confrontation in the interaction. Accepting they are at fault for the product or service; these people are saying, “I am sorry, I will try my best” and not treating it as a hardship.  They are also logical, or not emotionally driven. Not letting their emotions get in the way of their work and maintaining a professional attitude regardless of how difficult the situation is hallmark for good customer service reps.
• Good intuition means instinctively Knowing what caused the problem because of extensive experience or understanding of the customer. The Webster’s definition of intuition is: quick and ready insight. This means that a person with good intuition can be fast and decisive.

Multitasking Abilities

Multitasking is being able to maintain focus and discipline on various tasks, or when one person can handle more than one item at a time. For example, talking to the customer and looking for the product the customer wants or researching a solution to a situation. Searching through emails, talking to colleagues, looking up past logs and other data while maintaining a friendly and approachable attitude is needed in lots of service positions. It’s understandably a lot to ask of anyone. But these are abilities or skills that a customer service personnel are tasked with. How to multitask: work on similar task, prioritize, plan in advance, and make it an everyday thing.  

• Work on similar tasks by working on the same minded tasks you will stay on track.
• Prioritize by prioritizing your tasks you will have a better chance of succeeding. You have to place your task in order from most important to least important or from critical to less critical. This is a critical skill and can make a huge difference in your professional life.
• Plan in advance by planning ahead it will help you multitask better. You have to have a clear plan in regards to what you are going to do. Also, knowing your tools like your company’s program or platform, who supervisor is just in case you are confronted with complex problems beyond your control, and you SPG or manual provided to you when you first began.
• Make it an everyday thing by multitasking on your everyday life you make it part of your lifestyle. This will help to make it less overwhelming when you have 5 task pending that require your attention at the same time.

Multitasking is hard and stressful, but if you work at it it can be a powerful tool and set you apart when dealing with the diverse tasks that need attention.

Willingness to Learn

Willingness to learn expresses your desire to better your customer service ability. To improve yourself by learning new skills, programs, terms of service, policies or other changes your company makes. This enables you to be more qualified for whatever job you get tasked with. A company has to be willing to change with the times.

Nowadays, there are new ways to communicate with clients via technology. A client doesn’t have to necessarily call or mail in a complaint, they can easily go on twitter on the company’s account and complain directly or even publicly. At these times, fast and accurate responses have a direct impact on how the public sees your company, it’s products, and its customer service. This is why willingness to learn is so important because modes of customer service change and we have to change with them.

Stay on Top of Your Game

Staying on track with progress and technological advances is a key ingredient for successful customer service. You need to make strategies to keep your customer’s attention. Customer service is more than waiting for a call or a complaint. Nowadays, customer service is about facilitating the way that you help your customers and their experience with your product. It also entails them having favorable things to say about your product and services.

All these things will make your customer service hard to compete with. Your goal should always be to become the standard of the industry, to be the best. If you work on this aspect, customer service, you are sure to be known far and wide.