Not every person out there has what it takes to provide excellent customer service. And good customer service is something that customer says is hard to come by. At least 45% of customers can’t remember recently having a successful customer service experience.

If you don’t offer quality customer service, your customers will leave. Poor customer service is the top reason that people switch over to a different brand.

In order to create and maintain a support team that retains customers and effectively solves their issues, your agents have to have a certain set of skills. Here are five customer service skills that every employee needs, regardless of their specific roles on your customer support team.

First and foremost, your agents need to have a solid understanding of your products and services.

1. Knowledge of the Product/Service

Your agents might have the best customer service skills out there, but if they don’t understand all of your products and services, they won’t be able to solve every problem. When customers need help, they don’t want to deal with representatives who lack knowledge about the company they’re working for. Agents need to know all of the nitty-gritty details about what you’re offering. That way, they can give quick, detailed solutions for every specific situation, like Apple does in their support answers:

To avoid this problem, provide training for all of your customer service agents about the ins and outs of everything you’re selling. On top of that, you should give representatives access to knowledge bases full of the information needed to understand every issue. 26% of agents say that finding the right information is the biggest problem they face when trying to provide support.

A knowledge base solves that problem. With it, agents can hunt for solutions and check queries against the facts to close out issues quickly without making customers wait for too long. Another important skill that agents must have is the ability to empathize and communicate effectively with customers.

2. The Ability to Empathize and Communicate with Customers

Most customers think that service representatives aren’t as empathetic as they could be. Half of all customers (50%) believe that companies should focus on providing “more human service.” You’ve probably dealt with an agent who lacked empathy when trying to figure out your own customer service issues.

Usually, these types of agents aren’t interested in hearing you out or placing themselves in your shoes. They just want to throw out “solutions” before hearing the entire problem. When that happens, you probably have to start all over because the “solution” isn’t the one you were looking for at all.

Make sure that your agents understand the importance of talking to customers like they care. (And they should actually care, for the record!) Empathized customer service is part of how Carbon6 Rings built a $1.7 million business. The brand owns the responsibility to make customers happy. And they do it across all platforms.

Your reps can do the same. Try to mirror customers’ emotions, be patient, use active listening skills, and focus on communication. Make the customer feel like they’re at the top of your list, even if there are people waiting behind them.

You want agents who will be proactive. Representatives should always use positive language, be respectful, and cut out the unnecessary fluff by being clear about how you’re going to fix the problem.  Once an agent resolves the problem, they should ask if there are any other questions that they can help with. The main goal is to persuasively turn the bad experience into a positive one. Your representatives also need to have good time management and organizational skills to solve issues the right way.

3. Time Management and Organizational Skills

60% of consumers who try to connect with companies on social media say that they expect a response within one hour or less. That’s why your agents need to have good time management and organizational skills, and they must be able to respond to queries quickly.

They should never spend too much time on one customer while tons of other people are waiting for help. Working well under pressure is a skill that every agent must have. To manage their time effectively, agents should plan out their days, set priorities and goals, cut back on interruptions, pay attention to detail, and avoid procrastination.

They also need to know when to delegate responsibilities in situations where they don’t have the authorization or resources to solve a problem by using critical thinking skills. That way, someone who can help quickly will be able to resolve the issue.

In Freshdesk, you can prioritize and track customer issues to make time management easier, like Megaventory does.

With such features, it’s easier to keep inquiries organized and stay on track. Representatives also need to have the mindset that it’s a priority to make the situation right, no matter what it takes.

4. Flexibility to Make it Right… No Matter What

Companies in the United States lose over $62 billion each year because of poor customer service. When dealing with customer issues, flexibility is key. Encourage agents to occasionally use their own judgment to make customers happy.

If this means that they have to slightly bend the rules from time to time and give something away at a discount or for free, give them the freedom to do that. This might be just what a customer needs to feel that they’re getting what you owe them. Just take a look at this example from Kepple, for instance:

The company promised a refund to affected customers and assured them that they would never allow the issue to happen again. Kepple knows that the cost of all of the refunds is nothing compared to the overall cost of losing a customer. Tell your agents to shoot for the same kind of resolution when nothing else can make it right. Thick skin and a positive attitude go a long way. Especially when dealing with angry customers.

5. Thick Skin and a Positive Attitude

It’s a given that some customers are going to get angry. They might yell, scream, or become unreasonable. But unhappy customers gossip more than happy ones do, so it’s best to try and calm them down. In fact, they will tell an average of 16 people about a bad experience. That’s a lot in comparison to the nine people that happy customers tell about a good experience.

Your agents need to know how to not take things personally when dealing with an emotionally-charged situation. They have to stay calm and keep a positive outlook on the situation, even when being insulted. Sometimes, a customer just needs to let out their frustration before they can move on.

Luckily, with Zapier integrations, Freshdesk can connect with Cyfe for data mashups. These data mashups allow your customer service agents to visualize correlations with positive chat metrics and sales conversions.

If your representatives respond with resilient positivity, the situation is likely to diffuse so that they can actually begin to offer solutions. And, these solutions could mean more sales. Even though they initially got angry, the customer will be more likely to walk away from the interaction feeling as you listened to them, understood them, and valued them.

Conclusion

Not everyone can offer top-notch customer service. There is a certain set of skills that your employees need in order to serve your customers well. But you need customer service representatives who can do their job well. Customers will leave if they don’t experience good service from your company. In fact, it’s the leading reason that people leave a brand.

That’s why your employees need to understand all of your products and services, be able to empathize and communicate effectively, and manage their time so that they stay organized. They also have to be flexible and willing to make things right no matter what, even if that means giving a discount or refund.

Finally, they have to have a thick skin and a positive attitude. Customers get mad often, but agents shouldn’t take offense. They should try to solve the problem as calmly as possible and move on. Once your team has understood and mastered each of these customer service skills, make it easier for them to implement their skills with Freshdesk.

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