Key Customer Support Skills Every Representative Needs to Have

Outstanding customer service can be viewed as the holy grail of business: once you reach that level, it reveals all of the secrets to success. However, providing top-quality service is not always easy. It is also very difficult to search for candidates who exhibit all of the skills you are looking for in a customer support rep, which is another reason why a lot of business leaders would also agree that just as elusive as the holy mythical holy grail. The good news is that, unlike the holy grail of the Crusades, the search for great customer support reps is based on a much clearer understanding and roadmap. Today we will tell you about some of the skills every customer support representative needs to have and how Mindy Support can help you in your search. 

1. Persuasive Speaking Skills 

Even though persuasion is one of the most desirable characteristics of sales professionals, it is also very valuable in customer support as well. Think about it. Every day, you customer support reps turn problems into solutions and one-time buyers in repeat shoppers or even brand evangelists. This requires a lot of persuasion since 52% of customers have purchased more from a company after having a positive customer service experience. Therefore, it is very important that the customer service representatives that you hire are able to speak confidently, stay positive, and come up with creative arguments that ultimately lead to purchases.

2. Empathy 

Pretty much every list of great customer support skills includes empathy, which is the ability to place yourself in the customer’s shoes and try to understand how they are feeling in the moment. This is very important because a lot of customers make purchases based on how well they believe they are being treated. Therefore, simply solving a problem or offering a refund is not that important since the customer’s bottom line is not based on money. Emotions are more important to people nowadays along with the experiences customers receive. 

3. Adaptability 

Veteran customer support reps will tell you that when you work with the public, your days are never the same. In fact, according to data from New Voice Media, 60% of customers change how they contact you depending on where they are and what they’re doing. This means that you will have inquiries coming in from pretty much all of the channels that you support. Therefore, customer support reps need to have the mental flexibility to respond to a variety of situations in whichever way your customers prefer at the moment.

4. Stay Positive 

If a customer contacts you, most likely they are experiencing some sort of issues or difficulties. Regardless of how angry or frustrated the customer may be, the representative needs to show empathy and stay positive. They need to steer the conversation toward a positive outcome by using positive language. This can be focusing on the solution, thanking the customer for their patience and valued loyalty.

5. Communication Skills

While this one may seem obvious, you would be surprised by the number of customers who struggle to communicate with customer support reps. The problems stem not only from the inability to answer questions from the customers, but reps often mumble, losing focus, and often use unclear language during communication. While it is important to be empathetic and stay positive, customer support reps need to be able to communicate all of those qualities to the customer. 

Mindy Support Can Help You With All of Your Customer Support Needs

Whether you are looking to extend your current in-house customer support team or launch an entirely new one, Mindy Support can assemble a team for you that will have all of the above qualities and any additional ones you require. We are one of the largest BPO providers in Eastern Europe with more than 2,000 employees in six locations all over Ukraine. Our size and location allow us to source and recruit top-quality candidates quickly and we can also scale your team without sacrificing the quality of the support. Contact us today to learn about how we can help you.