10 Customer Service Tips for Agents to Keep in Mind
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The customer service industry can be tough at times, so in order to attract and retain customers, it’s important to provide them with the best service and care. By acting intentionally, we can raise satisfaction, build brand loyalty, and deliver great experiences. Liveops employees share some of their insights and offer up 10 customer service tips:
1. Listen Actively
Firstly, it’s important to make sure you’re active listening when on the phone with a customer by staying focused and engaging with them. By avoiding distractions and listening whole-heartedly, it shows people that you really care about and understand their concerns.
2. Use Your Resources
Whether it’s reaching out to a staff member with questions or using the resources that you’re given, don’t be afraid to use them! The resources are there for your benefit.
3. Focus on What You CAN Do, Not What You CAN’T
It can be easy to focus on the things that we can’t do, but this mindset is extremely limiting. By focusing on providing a solution, you can guide customer interaction and create a positive experience for everyone.
4. Smile While Speaking
People can hear your mood over the phone, and the tone of your voice actually changes when you’re smiling. By smiling and upkeeping a positive tone over the phone, we can make customers feel more comfortable and confident in the conversation.
5. Be Professional
Even when someone is upset or behaving rudely, it is up to you to remain calm and diffuse the situation. Thus, we need to be professional and uphold the program standards.
6. Walk Away When You’re Frustrated
After you’re done with a call or chat that has frustrated you, try to step back and gain a new perspective. You can step outside and take a breath – understand that it isn’t personal, and it’s just business. A new change of scenery really helps to uplift your mood.
7. Lead with Empathy
Be sure to show empathy to each and every customer whether they’re your first or last connection of the day. By putting yourself in their shoes and understanding what they’re going through, whether it’s good or bad, you’re going to be able to give them the care, concern, and service that they deserve.
8. Follow up, Close the Loop
When issues arise, make sure you share that feedback with internal teams so they can dig deep into the root causes and fix them. Also, check back with the customer to ensure that they’re satisfied – it shows that you care, are empathetic, and are committed to customer excellence. This leaves a lasting impression, which is especially important when mistakes happen.
9. Personalize Interactions
Try to personalize each customer interaction. This can be as easy as using your customers’ name throughout the call or connecting with them through active listening.
10. Have a Conversational Tone
Finally, remember that on the other end of the phone is a person. So, don’t sound robotic or like you’re reading a canned reply – we want to connect with them in a friendly and helpful manner. Treat customers how you’d like to be treated.
While no interaction is sure to be perfect, we hope these tips give a little bit of insight and can help you create the best customer experiences possible.
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