5 Secrets To Help You Exude Excellent Customer Service Skills

By Valentine Okolo


In our everyday dealings with customers, one of three things is bound to happen. We either:

   -fail to meet customer expectations

   -meet customer expectations

   -or exceed customer expectations

Exceeding customer expectations is no mean feat. In today’s business world, customers are increasingly knowledgeable about product choices, service standards and above all consumer rights. And so exceeding customer expectations has become a must do for any business that is serious about gaining market share, loyalty and customer trust.

What is customer service? The 5 star customer service experience is what I call “the wowing experience”. The ability to please your customers by delivering customer service skills beyond what is expected, the drive that keeps them coming for more, that impression that keeps potential customers itching for a grasp and the service that keeps your competitors chasing helplessly.

Why is it important for us to provide superior customer service experience? It is because our customers are the reason we are in business. Simply put without your customers you have no business. Customers will continue to patronize you as long as they continue to have good experiences over and over again. This means that as a customer service representative or service person, you must continue to provide a wowing experience every time a customer visits you which leads to customer satisfaction. It therefore follows that for your business to be successful there is no substitute for satisfying the customer.

In order for you to deliver that superb customer service experience, you must learn to demonstrate at all times 5 customer service skills:

Empathy, 
Expertise, 
Respect, 
Responsibility and 
Patience. 

Empathy means that you always try to put yourself in your customers' shoe. Perform your duties with expertise. This means that you must perform your duties quickly and accurately. Always show your customers you respect them and that they are important to your business. The best way to get respect is to first give respect. Accept responsibility and always ensure you keep your promises. Do not be quick to blame others for problems or difficulties at work. Blaming yourself doesn't work, either. Understand that no matter how many mistakes you may have made, tomorrow is another chance to do better.

Every customer is a unique individual with diverse backgrounds, needs, thoughts or expectations. Understanding customer behavior will help you understand the peculiarities of each customer.The key to providing a unique customer experience lies with your ability and customer service skill set to go the extra mile by personalizing your service to meet your customer's expectations. You will need to learn how to manage customers that suffer certain disabilities. You may be faced with the option of dealing with a customer that has a hearing impairment, or a visual impairment, speech impairment or physical impairment. Offer assistance but be careful not to over assist or over patronize them.

You also need to ensure that your communication skills are excellent. To do this effectively, you need to learn the basics of customer communication skills. This involves learning to listen, ask questions, be courteous, communicate clearly and accurately with clients, mind your customers feelings, how to positively use non verbal language in communication, how to communicate with and manage problem customers, the use of technical knowledge and concepts in communicating with clients, anticipating and responding to customer objections etc. Customers do complain when they are unhappy with a situation. These customers may sometimes pour their frustrations on you. You must remain calm and understand that the customer is usually not angry at you but at the situation. In such situations, try to win the customers respect by handling the situation professionally with a view to providing the customer a pleasant experience at the end.

Get the full course at https://www.braincert.com/course/Delivering-5-Star-Customer-Service

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Article By Valentine Okolo