Success Tips In A Customer Service Career Part 1

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A customer service career is an interesting, challenging and rewarding one. The duties of customer service professionals will vary from company to company, but most of the time it involves attending to inquiries or service requests from customers via mediums such as Telephone, Email, live chat, Face-to-Face & even on social media.

To get the most out of this career, there are key skills you need to have, such as commmunication skills, phone & computer skills to name a few. Here are tips on how you can make the most of these skills to stand out in your career as a customer service professional

#1. Be Courteous & Approachable

Smile when you talk with customers, be polite and use the magic words in your conversations with them. The aim of is to make your interactions lively, warm and memorable.
It is not as easy as it sounds, because as the day wears off you might loose the drive/energy to be warm & lively to each customer you interact with. This can be overcome by treating each interaction as a completely new one, serve the customers one-at-a-time.
If customers see you as being courteous and approachable, they will warm up to you, and are more likely to make those coveted ‘customer recommendations’ that can boost your career.

#2. Be Positive

Being positive is important in a career like customer service, where the likelihood of dealing with negativity (customer complaints, service failure etc) is high. The energy of a positive attitude is also contagious, you can spread it to your team members and even customers who are in despair.

Being able to stay positive & confident in your ability to handle negative situations can make or mar your career. One of the most effective ways to build a more positive outlook is to ask yourself these questions whenever you are in a negative situation. Ask yourself questions like:

What is one thing that is positive or good about this situation?
Is there a good opportunity within this situation?

#3. Enhance your Interpersonal Skills

Good interpersonal skills are key for anyone in customer service, as you will be required to interact with customers. Honing and developing this skill will help you project yourself (and employer) positively, as well as prevent any awkwardness during your interaction with customers.

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Good interpersonal skills will enable you build close relationships with the customers and foster trust. This makes it possible for you to make successful cross sales that impact positively on your employers bottom line.

#4. Strive To Work Efficiently

Work smart, look for ways to enhance your efficiency (& productivity) at work. Make use of keyboard shortcuts, time management apps and other tools available to enhance efficiency and productivity (Read: 13 Productivity Tips For Customer Service Professionals).

The more efficient you are, the more customers you are able to assist, this makes you a valuable and dependable team member your employer would love. When your employer begins to see you as a valuable employee, your chances of growth multiply.

#5. Learn to Empathize

Empathy is the art of recognizing & understanding emotion in others. This ability is important in building and sustaining both business and interpersonal relationships, and it plays an important role in resolving complaints.

The ability to Empathize is what helps you relate to an upset Customer and envision the situation from his/her perspective. The key to doing this, is to envision yourself going through or experiencing the customer’s challenge (put yourself in their shoes).

When you empathize you effectively, you would better understand how to relate to the particular situation and how you’d feel about it, this enables you to say the right words which would pacify the aggrieved Customer. (Read: Tips On How To Improve Empathy)

#6. Master Patience

Patience is a very crucial customer service skill, it comes handy especially when you have to deal with those customers that make being in customer service a nightmare.

Image: donteversaynever.com
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Patience plays a crucial role when you are dealing with angry or complaining customers, it enables you to listen & calmly filter out the useful information & feedback from an angry customer.

Being a frustrated customer service professional will not get you anywhere with both your employer and customers, and would be detrimental to your career growth.

#7. Work on Your Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, manage and control the emotions of one’s self and of others. This awareness leads to other skills that enable you to empathize effectively, handle social interactions and deliver high quality customer service.

The level of your emotional intelligence affects the quality of your customer service, this makes it important that you work on improving your EI. In the words of Emotional Intelligence expert David Goleman;

“The most successful service reps are emotionally intelligent enough to assess a customer’s emotions. They empathize and stay emotionally present so as to fine-tune their understanding of the customer’s emotional needs as the interaction continues. Finally, they are able to assertively  make suggestions according to what the customer wants”

Stay tuned…Part 2 to be published soon 🙂

I’d love to read your thoughts on this…what other tips would suggest to professionals for a glorious customer service career? Please comment below

Kelechi Okeke
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