Having great customer service skills is important for many reasons. For some it comes naturally and for others it is difficult to come natural. If you enjoy people and you want to have people skills so that you can then focus on learning customer service skills this may be a place for you to learn. Not all people working in customer service have people skills so they have poor service. When I was a crew trainer in customer service one of the first thing I'd tell my staff is treat them as you'd want to be treated. For example if you are calling your cable company because your service is out how would you like their voice and actions be towards you? Would you want them having a happy to serve you kind of voice and attitude? Of cores you would, and so would I.
Lets do an imagine roleplay that you're at the restaurant for dinner and receive bad customer service. Your server greets you with no smile, no hi how you tonight, no nothing other than have you decided what you want to drink? You are already not pleased with the service but you order your drinks and continue to figure out what you want to eat. Your server comes back with your drinks with the same attitude and asks if you're ready to order. At this point you're not pleased with the service provided but you order your dinner and wait. FINALLY!! food has arrived! but wait.. your server still has that unpleasant attitude. How are your feeling at this point? Like most people you're most likely already making up your mind that the server is not going to get a very good tip even though the food was amazing.
Lets do an imagine roleplay that you're at the restaurant for dinner and receive good customer service. Your server greets you with a smile and greets you with a: Hi what can I get you to drink? Your server comes back with your drinks with a smile and friendly voice and asks if you're ready to order. Food has arrived and your server still has the same attitude. With this kind of service I am sure the server is going to get a good or even great tip.
Here is a site that I love sharing with others. Your List of the Most Important Customer Service Skills (According to Data)
Customer Service Skills That Every Employee Needs Is:
1. Attentiveness.
2. Clear communication skills.
3. Knowledge of the Product.
4. Ability to use positive language.
5. Acting skills.
6. Time management skills.
7. Ability to 'read' customers
8. Patience.
If you don't see these near the top of a customer service skills on your list, you should stop reading!!
Without them you wouldn't have a job. Customers are always important. It could be a pizza job or customer support team. Customers pay for their services or items. I can never say this enough that customers pay your paychecks that you receive. When working in customer service make sure you’re getting to the problem at hand quickly as possible. Most importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of your communication habits translate to customers. It’s best to eerrgg on the inside with caution whenever you find yourself in a hard a situation that is bugging you. When it comes to important points that you need to relay clearly to customers always keep it simple and leave nothing to doubt them with and do it professionally. Anyone who has worked in customer service knows that there are those who try and scam us, or who are just difficult every time we have to deal with them. How do you handle these kinds of people some of my crew would ask. I would tell them it is quite simple. Be even nicer and patient with them. Remember that saying "kindness kills" and when I say kindness kills I don't meant the distorted kindness, I mean the real kindness that hold so much positivity to all around you including yourself.
Your 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. An example: Let’s say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product like a vacuum, but that product happens to be backordered until next month. Small changes that employ “positive language” can greatly affect how the customer hears your response. Time is important to everyone. We don't like wasting our time away standing inline especially if we have other places to run before rush hour starts. The faster you take good care of your customers the more likely they are to leave even happier. Reading customer means, example: Lets say your line is growing and you see someone looking at their watch or maybe even looking at their feet for a few seconds. This means your customer feels they have been waiting a while.
Another example: The other day I went to Starbucks to get a hot coffee. The woman behind the counter walks up and doesn't say a word and her facial expressions looked as if she was having a very bad day. I expressed to her that I wasn't ready to order yet and still needed time to decide what I wanted. When I was ready to order, she just looked at me and I said hi how are you? She didn't say anything. I asked her what the flavors of the month are and she snobs off the flavors. I stated what drink and size I wanted and she snobs saying: You want that as a medium size? I smiled and said, yes please. After I paid and waited for my order she was upset with me that I didn't put anything in the tip jar. I stayed silent but thought to myself, why in the world would I tip you! I eventually received my order and the drinks had been made lazy and didn't taste the way they should nor did they look the way they normally do.
So not only did I receive poor customer service but also poor products. So guess what? Do you think I am going to go there again? NO. Do you think I am going to share my experience I had there? Yes. Do you think I'll advise my friends and family to go there? No, I'll tell them they can find a better store to go to. You see what happens when you provide bad customer service. You lose customers and losing customers means losing business. Now had she provided me good customer service I'd return and tell all my friends and family to go there. So not only having bad customer service looks bad on you as a person, but also as a business and a store.
Your 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. An example: Let’s say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product like a vacuum, but that product happens to be backordered until next month. Small changes that employ “positive language” can greatly affect how the customer hears your response. Time is important to everyone. We don't like wasting our time away standing inline especially if we have other places to run before rush hour starts. The faster you take good care of your customers the more likely they are to leave even happier. Reading customer means, example: Lets say your line is growing and you see someone looking at their watch or maybe even looking at their feet for a few seconds. This means your customer feels they have been waiting a while.
Another example: The other day I went to Starbucks to get a hot coffee. The woman behind the counter walks up and doesn't say a word and her facial expressions looked as if she was having a very bad day. I expressed to her that I wasn't ready to order yet and still needed time to decide what I wanted. When I was ready to order, she just looked at me and I said hi how are you? She didn't say anything. I asked her what the flavors of the month are and she snobs off the flavors. I stated what drink and size I wanted and she snobs saying: You want that as a medium size? I smiled and said, yes please. After I paid and waited for my order she was upset with me that I didn't put anything in the tip jar. I stayed silent but thought to myself, why in the world would I tip you! I eventually received my order and the drinks had been made lazy and didn't taste the way they should nor did they look the way they normally do.
So not only did I receive poor customer service but also poor products. So guess what? Do you think I am going to go there again? NO. Do you think I am going to share my experience I had there? Yes. Do you think I'll advise my friends and family to go there? No, I'll tell them they can find a better store to go to. You see what happens when you provide bad customer service. You lose customers and losing customers means losing business. Now had she provided me good customer service I'd return and tell all my friends and family to go there. So not only having bad customer service looks bad on you as a person, but also as a business and a store.
