Part 2: Soft Skills Customer Service Staff Need to Make Customers Happy

Whether you are a customer support professional or manage a team of agents for your company, certain soft skills for customer service can significantly impact how positive each customer interaction will be. In Part 1 of this series we explored two, and here in Part 2 we take a close look at a few more soft skills that support staff should master in order to provide the best customer experiences.

4.  Organizational & Time Management Skills

Depending on the industry you operate in, your customer service staff may have to process dozens of support tickets each day. Since every ticket represents an individual customer on the other end with specific problems, your agents should be able to manage their time efficiently. This is what makes time management and personal organization a key element of every customer service agent’s soft skill set. Whether you are an agent or in charge of a team of customer service representatives, you should do your best to spread obligations out evenly. Don’t overburden individuals with too many tickets and encourage teamwork and internal communication during working hours. This will not only improve your customer service’s management going forward but also make individual customers happy as a result. 

Many support tickets will come to your doorstep in the form of written emails or social media messages for whatever reason. Some customers may not be native English speakers or have trouble communicating verbally. Thus, your customer service staff should be able to answer their concerns with professionally and cohesively written messages. Corporate writing is an essential part of a soft skill set when it comes to customer servicing. A single mistake in verbiage, terminology, or context can cause confusion and poor brand perception, especially with international customers. Avoid that by encouraging your staff to write, edit, and format messages they send out carefully in order to be clearly understood and in a positive tone to the person on the receiving end.

Professional customer service agents always have an opportunity to grow and improve their skill sets. One of the primary channels for doing so comes from direct communication with individual customers. Adopting a feedback-oriented mindset can significantly improve each agent’s skills going forward and ultimately make customers happy. You can facilitate a feedback-oriented mentality in your team by building a system of surveys for customers to fill out post-engagement. (One tool for this is the NPS scoring system.) Likewise, encourage your staff to ask customers about their experience with the brand so far and what they can do to improve it. Customers enjoy investing time in brands which respect their thoughts and suggestions, so ask them what they think and listen carefully.

In Conclusion

Customer servicing is a field which relies on interpersonal communication and empathy more than most other industries. However, it’s also a career choice which encourages constant development. This makes it perfect for communicative and helpful people who want to solve problems for others as part of their daily routine. Consult your staff and talk about how you can help their team collaboration in order to make your brand’s customer base happier in the future.

About Kristin Savage Kristin Savage is a professional Content Writer at Classy Essay and Content Editor at Grab My Essay writing services. She is a passionate writer who aims to improve her writing style through each subsequent article and publication. Kristin is a trusted associate and contributor to Best Essays Education, where she continues to expand her writer’s skillset to a variety of writing formats.