Good Customer Service Tips. 

Use this popular list of customer service skills in your business to keep your customers coming back.

Firstly I need to clarify my feelings on the term Customer Service. I feel the term is misleading, it isn’t about service at all. The word service in my mind and the minds of many others out there, is one that holds negative connotations. Its an old fashioned term and and conjures up ideas of customer service areas in old department stores, returning goods and dealing with grumpy customers.

While I feel the Customer Experience is a much better term, Customer Service is the generally accepted term and therefore I feel obliged to stick with it in this article.

My list of customer service skills and tips will work around how we should view our customer and interact with them on a human level!

1. Listen To Your Customer, we often find it so hard to listen, and it’s not always that easy to do. Sometimes with the best of intentions we cut the customer off with irrelevant information and solutions without really understanding what is being asked of us. By understanding your customer’s needs, it will result in a higher level of efficiency within your customer service team, meaning a higher number of satisfied customers.

2. Be Engaging, whatever scenario you find yourself in, if you engage positively with a customer and devote your attention to them, it will result in a positive outcome. People want to be made to feel important, and feel that their problem is important to you and the organisation. It is terrible to enter a shop to find the sales assistant disappearing into the back room or avoiding you behind a product stand somewhere. By not engaging you are sending the message that you are not interested in interacting with the customer and have no interest in there needs. Resulting in a bad customer experience, and a negative outcome.

3. Be Genuine, no one can stand it when you are putting on a fake smile, or really just being disinterested in the conversation. Don’t be over the top, by jumping up and down like an over excited puppy, but at the same time don’t act as if life has handed you a raw deal. People want to be around positive individuals. Use the points above and make a connection with your customer. This will enhance your Customer Experience, and/or disengage any potential hostility. If you can’t be genuine and connect with your customer, then its time to look for another job.

4. Don’t Be Combative In A Hostile Environment. In other words don’t get into an argument with your customer because they are being grumpy towards you!  One thing to remember is that you never know what the customer has been dealing with before they started speaking to you. They may have had an awful morning, had an argument with their spouse, got stuck in traffic and been late for work or a number of other aggravators. So by the time they get to you they may be in an awful mood. We have all been there and felt like that! Don’t take it personally nor shy away from such encounters. See this as an opportunity. It feels great to turn that customers mood around so they are feeling happy once they finish being whirled through your Customer Service Magic!!

5. If You Say You Will Do Something THEN DO IT! Whatever the scenario, by telling someone that you will look for something, contact them, find out information for them or whatever it may be…DO IT and follow through with your promise. By telling someone you will do something to help them, and then either forget or not be bothered, will only end one way, badly. That is poor customer service, and creates a terrible Customer Experience. On the other hand if you do follow up and contact the customer back you will make their day, create loyalty and almost certain repeat business, simple as that.

Good Customer Service Tips are abundant and there are so many different ways of approaching different scenarios. This makes this a huge topic. We will be concentrating on this in greater detail in the future, with Workshops and Webinars. However in the meantime if you implement this list of customer service skills within your organisation you will be on the right track towards building a loyal customer base, due to you solid foundations within your customer service team.

As always please let me know your comments below, we always love you feedback.