Improve your customer service skills
Customer service skills aid professionals in delivering quality service and meeting customer needs. This skillset includes patience, attentiveness, timeliness and good communication.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that job seekers with strong customer service skills will have the most promising job leads, with customer service roles growing by 10% through 2024. This means that strong customer service skills are a great thing to list on your resume.
If you ask 10 people what constitutes good customer service, you will likely get 10 different answers. Still, there are some features of good customer service that most people agree on.
1. Good customer service comes with a good attitude: Customers appreciate employees who are polite and courteous throughout their visit. This means that you maintain a professional tone of voice and a positive demeanor throughout your interaction with the customer.
2. Helpfulness is key: Being helpful and solicitous is a core aspect of customer service. Professionals who aim to provide good customer service actively meet customer needs and ensure that the customer walks away feeling more satisfied than when they initially asked for help.
3. Going the extra mile: Have you ever asked a service professional a question and the answer was simply “yes” or “no”? For example, you ask a sales associate in a clothing store if the jacket you want is available in a different color.
The sales associate says “no” but does not offer to check the inventory or inquire with another store location. Going the extra mile is not about having all the right answers, but helping the customer find the person who does.
4. Empathy: Good customer service starts with empathy. Empathy requires you to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and assist them in the way that you would want to be assisted. Customers appreciate feeling understood, so when you empathize with them, they can sense your genuine interest in helping them meet their needs.
5. Personalize your approach: To provide good customer service, you cannot treat customers like they are a number, make assumptions or “lump” customers in with one another. Customers respond favorably to being serviced according to their unique needs. You can personalize your approach by asking questions, verifying information as you go and reviewing the customer file or history, if that is available.
How to improve your skills
Improving your customer service skills starts with self-development. Apply the skills in your daily activities. For example, practice patience while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic or waiting in a long line at the bank. Take a new exercise class or try different routes to work to practice adaptability. When you hear a difficult story on the news, work on demonstrating empathy by thinking about how the people involved may feel and how you would feel if it were you. Consider positive ways you could respond if you were working with a customer in a similar situation.
Another way to improve your skills is through professional development. Be proactive about identifying training, seminars and workshops that are designed to enhance your skills through activities and lessons. Your employer may offer these opportunities or you may find them on your own.