Customer service and customer experience are becoming an essential part of any business.
Companies in the US lose a whopping $41 billion in revenue each year due to bad customer service, recent research by NewVoiceMedia discovered.
Companies focusing on customers to excel in providing the best service are more likely to thrive and remain competitive, especially with the growing e-commerce industry. 2020 out customer service and customer experience at the forefront, as businesses had to deal with an influx of complaints.
Therefore, the demand for customer support agents is also increasing. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecast, customer service representatives will be the largest occupation group to add the most jobs in the US in 2022.
Customer service skills are essential in customer service and other customer-facing sectors such as healthcare or real estate. So, if you are considering applying for that job, let’s go through the essential soft and hard skills you need to perfect in 2022 to succeed as a customer-facing representative and excel during the interview phase.
What are customer service skills?
Customer service agents have to deal with all kinds of customers – with different personalities and various problems. In customer service, the essential traits are soft skills, such as communication and listening skills, as people have to know how to deal with rude customers and be patient.
Through practice and feedback, even soft customer service skills can be improved via active feedback and listening. You don’t have to be born a great listener or an empathic person (even though it can hugely help), but don’t worry, everything is possible with practice.
Before we dive into the essential skills for customer service needed to succeed, let’s quickly define the difference between soft and hard skills.
Soft skills vs. hard skills in customer service
Soft skills are any skills that come naturally as personality traits and are harder to learn. Even though generally, these characteristics are related to personality, people can still master them through practice. Examples of soft skills for customer service include communication skills, social skills, listening, patience, empathy, etc.
Hard skills are teachable and measurable skills and abilities that everyone could learn over time – for example, math, computer skills, reading or writing – anything taught in school—also, knowledge needed for marketing, science, chemistry, or languages.
Soft and hard skills in customer service can help customers or clients in a friendly and positive manner across industries like healthcare, call centers, retail, hospitality industry, administrative support, and sales.
And that is why in customer service, soft skills are often more in focus; however, it is necessary not to exclude hard skills to succeed. That’s why we have listed three primary skills in each that you will need to succeed in a client or customer-facing job.
3 essential customer service soft skills
Customer service skills are a balance between soft and hard skills. Once you have proven you have the soft skills necessary for the job, you can learn any needed hard skills.
On the other hand, when you have already mastered the essential hard skills, you need to work on your communication skills!
Here we have listed the three most essential soft skills you will need to work in the customer-facing service industries:
-
Communication
Communication is one of the essential skills for customer service that you will need if you want to work in a customer-facing industry. In customer service, you will face several challenges, including understanding customer expectations and complex issues.
Therefore, you must speak to other people calmly and clearly, actively listen, and understand different personalities. Effective communication helps to understand your customers’ needs to answer questions and provide the necessary information, solutions, and clear instructions to help them solve the problem at hand.
-
Empathy
Dealing with rude, angry, and upset customers is one of the main challenges for people working in customer service. Things can go south quickly if the interaction isn’t handled correctly; empathy is one of the essential skills for customer service.
It is crucial to handle angry customers with empathy.
Empathy is the ability to feel what the other person is feeling or experiencing. Not only to sympathize with them but to truly put yourself in their shoes and encompass their emotional states.
Showing empathy while communicating to angry customers, your response can turn their bad experience into a positive one. It helps if you can understand and label the other person’s feelings and emotions, respond accordingly, and address their needs. Don’t take things personally, and always focus on the best solution at hand.
-
Patience
Patience is the third most important trait you will find is necessary when navigating a customer service job. Customers can be so demanding; therefore, keeping calm and listening to what they have to say can go a long way.
At times, it will be difficult to understand the problems, so being patient and actively listening can help navigate a variety of issues. Being patient is also helpful when dealing with angry customers; this way, you can make them feel valued and listened to rather than rushing them.
3 essential customer service hard skills
Believe it or not, you can learn almost any complex skill, as well as work on your soft skills. The trick is that hard skills you can easily add to your CV, soft skills are the ones you will get tested during an interview, so you have to prepare.
Here are three hard skills to keep in mind and focus on before applying to work in the customer-facing service industries:
-
Product knowledge
Customer service representatives need to be skilled wherever they are providing support. Otherwise, providing the best solutions and excellent service isn’t easy.
For example, someone working in a retail store selling suits and ties should know how to tie or measure sleeve length. Or someone working in sales for a software company needs to know their product ins and outs to navigate customer questions during best product demos, and so on.
The good thing is that you can also learn these things on the job, and you don’t necessarily need the skills before starting, although previous experience won’t hurt! It is also possible to use skills-based routing. Customers are redirected to the customer rep who has more in-depth knowledge of a particular product area and is best suited to handle specific questions.
-
Digital awareness / IT skills
Automation, omnichannel and multi-channel customer support, and cloud-based CRM systems are all customer service trends helping businesses offer seamless and uninterrupted service.
Modern customer service strategies include:
- Phone calls.
- Social media messaging platforms.
- Email.
- SMS messages through 2-way communication.
- Live chat.
- Self-service portals like help center or FAQ page.
- Customer service videos.
Therefore, to effectively communicate with customers across all channels, good computer and digital skills and awareness are necessary to navigate all channels and offer the best support; these are essential skills needed for customer service.
-
Analytical skills
Previously, only large enterprises could use a customer relationship management (CRM) system. But with the increased and wide availability of cloud-based SaaS solutions, small and medium-sized businesses can easily benefit and implement them.
Historically, it was challenging to gather customer data without CRM systems, and the analysis would have taken hours to collect and process. But nowadays, with the technological developments, each customer service agent has to be prepared to use contact center software and systems. Therefore, having an analytical mindset is an increasingly in-demand skill needed for customer service.
In conclusion
With the increased retail-, and online competition, and drastically changed consumer behavior, businesses have had to adjust and continuously improve their customer service operations. Ultimately, this has had a significant impact on how companies will recruit in the future and the skills they are looking for in candidates.
People are dealing with the effects of the pandemic. The Covid-19 crisis emphasized the importance of soft skills for customer service, such as empathy and patience. Furthermore, hard skills like analytical skills and digital awareness are increasingly in demand, as more and more businesses are improving their processes through automation and new software systems.
Leave a Reply