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Some of the most important qualities of great customer service

Customer service works most closely and frequently with customers. It is often even responsible for the impressions customers keep about a brand. There are many qualities that define good customer service, but they all can be broadly classified into these important types.

People-first attitude 

Technical and critical solving

Personal and professional skills

Individually distinct, yet when united, the trifecta of these qualities empowers agents to create service interactions that customers love.

People-first attitude

These qualities empower you to address customers as individuals, not just another face in the crowd. You try to connect deeply with the problems and struggles they go through.

It all starts with a positive attitude and a genuine desire to help the customer in need. Client-facing roles like customer service requires agents to turn rapport into relationships.

Here are the distinct customer service qualities that make you more people-first:

Active listening: 

Customers have situations to walk you through, frustrations to let out — listen carefully.

Empathy: 

You know what the problem is — now try to put yourself in your customer’s situation. Genuinely feel what they do and you’d be able to assist them better.

Patience: 

Customer service renders a highly charged atmosphere. It’s your job to stay collected even in tense situations.

Emotional intelligence:

 This quality goes hand in hand with empathy. Agents with high emotional intelligence are able to better assess, respond and regulate customer emotions.

Some of the most important qualities of great customer service

Customer service works most closely and frequently with customers. It is often even responsible for the impressions customers keep about a brand. There are many qualities that define good customer service, but they all can be broadly classified into these important types.

People-first attitude 

Technical and critical solving

Personal and professional skills

Individually distinct, yet when united, the trifecta of these qualities empowers agents to create service interactions that customers love.

People-first attitude

These qualities empower you to address customers as individuals, not just another face in the crowd. You try to connect deeply with the problems and struggles they go through.

It all starts with a positive attitude and a genuine desire to help the customer in need. Client-facing roles like customer service requires agents to turn rapport into relationships.

Here are the distinct customer service qualities that make you more people-first:

Active listening: 

Customers have situations to walk you through, frustrations to let out — listen carefully.

Empathy: 

You know what the problem is — now try to put yourself in your customer’s situation. Genuinely feel what they do and you’d be able to assist them better.

Patience:

 Customer service renders a highly charged atmosphere. It’s your job to stay collected even in tense situations.

Emotional intelligence:

 This quality goes hand in hand with empathy. Agents with high emotional intelligence are able to better assess, respond and regulate customer emotions.

How to develop the skill

Employ reflective listening: 

Summarize information back to ensure you are on the same page as the customer

Involve role-playing: 

Simulate real-life scenarios and tackle them with practical empathy

Utilize thought journaling:

 Ruminate over conversations, your responses and alternate ways to handle situations

Technical and critical solving

These set of qualities usually come in play in the exact order of thought process.

Knowledge and expertise: 

As a customer service agent, you’re required to keep deep knowledge of the product you’re providing help for. Product knowledge enables you to troubleshoot most concerns customers have.

Problem-solving: 

If you have the right knowledge, then you must find its practical application to fix an issue. Else, you must apply out-of-box thinking skills to approach an issue, if it requires going beyond the realm of conventional product understanding.

Clear communication: 

No issue is solvable if it isn’t communicated well. An agent can only pacify a customer if they know how to state and deliver the right message in a clear, empathetic manner.

How to develop the skill

Gamification of learning: 

Use interactive games or quizzes to make product knowledge retention engaging and enjoyable

Workshop training: 

Bring in experts to conduct workshops to address specific areas like written communication, critical thinking, assertiveness and cross-cultural communication

Implement frameworks: 

Guide agents with proven problem-solving methodologies like:

Five Whys:

 This technique involves repeatedly asking "why" to identify the root cause of a problem.

Pareto Analysis: 

Also called the 80/20 rule, Pareto Analysis helps focus efforts on the most significant factors contributing to a problem.

Ishikawa Diagram: 

This is a structured approach to brainstorming and visually map potential causes of a problem and their relationships.

Decision Matrix:

 This tool helps evaluate and compare options based on multiple criteria to make informed decisions.

. Knowledge and resource management

Problem: Agents often run into roadblocks because of lack of knowledge, limited resources, lack of training and difficult company policies.

Solution: Monitor performance to ensure company-compliant behavior and use agent training to strengthen your team. Create a knowledge base for agents as a technical guide to implement nuanced solutions. Make it accessible to them during live interactions.

Operational hindrances

Problem: Agents also find it difficult to juggle multiple tasks during time-bound conversations. Overworking often leads to burnout and fatigue.

Solution: Energize agents with an AI-powered sidekick to assist them during live interactions. Let AI generate smart, contextual responses to help agents lead the way with minimum effort. Deploy automatic call transcription to let them take notes in real-time.

How to regularly improve the quality of customer service?

Cultivating customer service qualities can not just happen overnight.

It’s meticulous process that takes effort and a conscious shift to a customer-centric mentality.

Here are three best ways to develop such redeeming qualities.

Implement feedback head-on

As it goes with any improvement cycle, tune in at the fundamental level. Take customer feedback seriously because you might just find alarming revelations.

Poor customer response time

Ineffective and unsatisfactory problem resolution

Reports of unhelpful and rude conduct 

Inconsistent and conflicting information relayed to users

Lack of personalization

Inadequate follow ups

Reinforce your learnings from the feedback to attack specific drawbacks. While you can pursue addressing them aggressively, don’t forget that your agents are people too. Appreciate their effort and make sure they don’t harbour any negative emotional dynamic.

Trust your agents

Your agents are qualified and know how to do their jobs.

They have experience dealing with just every kind of customer. 

They have a rich understanding of the customers’ psychological triggers and responses.

Keeping this in mind, it’s only reasonable to let your agents take the wheel.

Give your team the autonomy to take decisions within a prescribed scope.

Foster a culture of trust and support, where they are confident to make independent decisions that align with customer needs and your business goals.

Authorize them to take ownership of conversations they are involved in.

Taking accountability builds character.

It allows agents to develop their leadership skills, letting them practically witness the impact of their work.

Diffusing responsibility within your team will help your agents develop qualities necessary to tackle all concerns under the roof.

Final thoughts

A brand's success hinges on delivering a seamless, unified experiences.

That’s not possible when silos create a major obstacle, fragmenting teams, tools and customer data.

But that’s where. You can curate personalized service experiences

By blending data from everywhere, you get a 360-degree view of your customers — making you nothing less than a mind-reader.

When voice of the customer becomes clearer than ever, service teams like yours can proactively anticipate exactly what they expect, want, desire and demand.