According to American Express, “A third of consumers (33%) cite ‘a rude or unresponsive customer service representative’ as the most likely customer service issue to influence them to switch brands or companies. Over one in four (26%) cite ‘being shuffled from representative to representative with no resolution of their issue’.”
Another study conducted by NewVoiceMedia revealed that each year, US businesses lose $41 B because of poor customer service.
The numbers that I shared above is a clear indication of how debilitating terrible customer service can be to a business.
Just so you don’t end up experiencing any of the things that I mentioned above, allow me to share with you some of the non-negotiable characteristics that your customer service team needs to posses. Because the truth of the matter is, for you to be able to provide quality customer support, you need to have an amazing customer service team to back you up.
Let’s hop right in!
They need to be good listeners.
If you haven’t given “listening” a closer thought, then you’d have probably thought of it as something passive – at least that’s how most people think of it.
What they fail to realize is listening is just as much of a skill as talking. And because most people do not give listening as much respect as talking, not many are good at doing it.
Listening is a skill that your customer service team cannot live without. Not only is it important when it comes to truly identifying your callers’ concerns, but it also plays a huge role when it comes to building rapport, and giving your customers a better call experience.
Patience
You’ve probably heard of the old adage, “Patience is a virtue”. Especially in the BPO industry, there is value in taking this old adage to heart.
Since your customer service team are the frontliners of your company, they will be dealing with people of varying needs and temperament daily. It’s because of this that they need to remain patient and courteous at all times.
Your team’s ability to calmly, and politely deal with your customer’s frustrations, will make your customers feel respected and understood.
They are able to convey their ideas clearly.
Being able to pronounce and enunciate the words clearly is one thing, but if your customer service team cannot structure their ideas in such a way that their callers can understand what they’re saying, then everything would have been for naught.
Your team needs to be able to share their ideas with a decent level of “completeness” to them, and the way their ideas transition should flow smoothly.
They need to have a strong sense of professionalism.
The people operating in the customer service industry are fully aware of how it is uncommon for them to deal with irate people.
There are customers who call and are frustrated for the right reasons, while there are also those who are venting their anger at the customer service agents, even if their frustrations came about from something personal.
Customer support teams who are worth their salt know that these things are part of the job description. They have a strong sense of professionalism and would not dare talk back to the customers in a rude manner, since they know the kind of adverse effects it may have to the company — let alone the fact that being rude is unprofessional and morally wrong.
When their callers are frustrated and are saying things to them that are uncalled for, they have it in them to stick to helping the customer solve their problems, instead of thinking of ways on how to talk back to the caller.
They need to be confident.
Your customer service team needs to be able to think on their feet when handling unexpected situations. They will only be able to do this, however, if they have the confidence to propose their newly formulated solutions to their callers, and the ability to formulate these solutions the quickest time possible.
What’s next?
Creating a dream team of customer support agents for your business doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process.
If you’re looking for an affordable, yet reputable contact center to help you with putting together an amazing customer support team, then you can reach out to us using this form.