''Ability to Read Customers''

This skill is self explanatory. The phrase suggests that as a customer service person,you should have the abilities read the countenance, mood or temperament of your customers at every point of service, as this will enable you serve them better!
You won't always be able to see customers face-to-face, and in many instances (nowadays) you won't even hear a customer's voice!
That doesn't exempt you from understanding some basic principles of behavioral psychology and being able to "read" the customer's current emotional state.
This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because it takes knowing your customers to create a personal experience for them.
More importantly though, this skill is essential because you don't want to mis-read a customer and end up losing them due to confusion and miscommunication (Gregory Ciotti).

  
While approaching a customer you want to serve(be it a first time customer or an existing one), look and listen for clues that will suggest their mood/current state of mind. Also watch out for their personalities, purported patience/irritability levels, as this would also aid in how you commence 'serving' them. Every customer service person/organisation MUST imbibe the psychological skills required to profile customers, this would go a long way in preventing possible discomfort and complaints by the customer, and thus create an excellent customer service image for any brand.

Time Management Skills

This quality of service delivery is as important as the definition of ''Customer Service''. Time management skill is a brief and straightforward essential of optimum service delivery. A simple definition of the term ''Time Management'' is; ''the analysis of how working hours are spent and the prioritization of tasks in order to maximize personal efficiency in the workplace''.

           


With the definition above, it is safe to simplify this skill as the ability of an organisations staff to analyze every situation while serving customers, decipher between their requirements which services are needed before the others( prioritization),and successfully offer the services timely and with the professionalism of a customer-centric business. The trick here is that this should also be applied when realizing when you simply cannot help a customer. If you don't know the solution to a problem, the best kind of support member will get a customer over to someone who does. No one person knows everything, also no one customer serving staff will serve ALL customers perfectly all the time. The key is knowing when a customers requirements/ suggestions have exceeded your capacity, and having the good head to call in for ' back-up' as soon as possible,all in record time to deliver the services to a customer. 

Don't waste time trying to go above and beyond for a customer in an area where you will just end up wasting both of your time! 

Mastering '' Time Management Skills'' would complement the other skills earlier discussed,as the delivery of services is incomplete if the customer has to wait for an unreasonable amount of time to get a service that ordinarily should take much less! 

ACTING SKILLS; THE ''AATA'' SERIES......

We just started breaking down the ''AATTA'' series as a continuum of the ''PACK'' series. Last week, we simplified the first letter ''A'' ; Ability to use positive language. And now, we are going to discuss in simple terms the second letter of the series acronym. Acting Skills.

     
Acting skills, this can simply be defined as when someone pretends to have attitudes or feelings that they do not really have. This also means getting into character to achieve a certain purpose or objective. In serving customers, Sometimes you're going to come across people that you'll never be able to make happy. There are situations that will be beyond your control in serving certain customers, situations outside your control like a customer who has had a bad day, or natural-born complainer or insatiable people. These people will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and you will be greeted with those ''barnacle'' customers that seem to want nothing else but make you have a day as terrible as they are having. At this point, the self taught 'professional' acting skills to be mastered by every organisation's staff is required to kick in and manage the situation as best as it could be handled.

Every great customer service rep will have those basic acting skills necessary to maintain their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may be just plain grumpy. The ability to get into character and manage such customers, without giving off any attitude, displeasure or unpleasant aura is what makes one an exceptional customer service provider, and their organisation a customer-centric brand that focuses on providing a positive customer experience both at the point of sale and after the sale in order to drive profit and gain competitive advantage.

Introducing the ''AATA'' Series: Sequel to PACK Series

Having successfully concluded the pioneer series; ''PACK'' , we are pleased to introduce the continuum of the series, a Phase 2 of the ''Essentials of Customer Service''. This series is called the ''AATA'' series. It is an acronym for; Ability to use positive language, Acting skills, Time management skills, Ability to ''read'' customers. Today, we start with the first ''A''.

 


Ability to use positive language. Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based off of the language that you use. This skill basically stresses that the mannerism in which a customers complaint or challenge is tackled is largely dependent on the choice of words, tone of voice and body language used by a sales person in resolving their issues. Customers are very sensitive when laying a complaint or experiencing some difficulty in the course of using 'your' product or service. Sometimes, when they make these complaints, they are aware that an instant resolution is far fetched, however they seek some understanding and empathy from the product/services provider. As such, the ability to use positive language is the only skill at the moment that will determine if that customer leaves a business sated or disgruntled.

Here's an example: Let's say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product, but that product happens to be back ordered until next month.
Small changes that utilize "positive language" can greatly affect how the customer hears your response...

• Without positive language: "I can't get you that product until next month; it is back-ordered and unavailable at this time."
• With positive language: "That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse."

What is the distinctive feature in the responses above? Afterall, both responses are in the negative, and have not necessarily solved the customers immediate request.
The first example isn't negative by any means, but the tone that it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal, and can be taken the wrong way by customers.
Conversely, the second example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but instead focuses on when/how the customer will get to their resolution rather than focusing on the negative.

If optimum customer service is to be achieved in an organisation, then every sales person of the organisation MUST master the ''Ability to use positive language'' in communicating. If information and communication is not managed properly, the entire process of customer service can be altered!

 

Product Knowledge: Essentials of customer Service

First of all, I want to start by apologising for the late post. Been under the weather, no thanks to the dwindling weather. So to the business of the day, we are still exploring the ''PACK'' series, and we are at the final letter of the series, after which the continuum will be introduced.

''Product Knowledge''. How is this best explained in lay man terms? Product knowledge is an essential sales skill. Understanding your products' features allows you to present their benefits accurately and persuasively. Customers respond to enthusiastic sales staff who are passionate about their products and eager to share the benefits with them. This basically summarizes everything this skill seeks to communicate. The importance of product knowledge can not be overemphasized as sales begin at product knowledge. The previous skill stressed ''ability to communicate''. A sale can not be made if a sales person does not have knowledge of the product of a brand.

Product knowledge is 70% the employers duty, and 30% the duty of the salesperson at the point of entry into the organisation, after which the mastering of product knowledge lies largely with the employee.It is also very important to note that these skills should not only be taught to the sales people of the organisation, but also to the security personnel as they are the first point of contact of an organisation.Knowledge is power is a famous slogan by successful business people. To be powerful is to be in control/charge. This is an essential skill to be mastered by every organisation, as when your employees feel empowered by the knowledge of the goods and services offered by their establishment, communication and resolving customer inquiries/complaints is EASY!

It's not that every single team member should be able to build your product from scratch, but rather they should know the ins and outs of how your product works, just like a customer who uses it everyday would. Being knowledgeable is the first step of gaining trust, and gaining the trust of your customers is an essential key to making new customers, retaining existing customers, and setting your organisation in the fore-front among their competitors!