The Customer Service Skills That Matter!

 
When most business publications talk about customer service skills, things like "being a people person" tend to take the spotlight.
It's not that this trait is outright wrong, but it's so vague and generic that it is hardly a help to those looking to get involved in support positions within a company, and certainly doesn't help out entrepreneurs/founders who are looking for the right set of skills when hiring the all-important folks who will be taking care of their customers.

With that said, let's get into some specific skills that every support employee can master to "WOW" the customers that they interact with on a daily basis...

I would break down the skills into sub-series, and present them to you every week when I drop my posts. The purpose of this, to engrave each skill into your minds that the default action from your good selves is customer service driven.

Series one is called the ''PACK''. This simple acronym means ; Patience, Attentiveness, Clear communication skills, Knowledge of the product, and Ability to use ''positive language''. Lets start with edition one of series one; Patience.

If ''Patience'' is not the first thing you see on the top of any publication on customer service skills, then you have been punk'd. This is the foundation of all skills with regards to customer service, and the determinant of the rest of the behaviour needed to achieve optimum customer service in every organisation. According to the dictionary, Patience is defined as ''the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious''. Yet patience should not be an excuse for slothful behaviour either. Every customer service driven organisation should ensure that their staff are taught this skill,and continue to practice and master this skill in all their dealings with customers.

If you deal with customers on a daily basis, be sure to stay patient when they come to you stumped and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want — they'd rather get competent service than be rushed out the door!