Customer service is the revolving door of clientele for your business. Whether it is attracting new customers or retaining existing ones, it all starts and ends with exceptional customer service. Consumer more frequently read reviews before engaging with a new business or seek recommendations from their peers (in person and online) for places to bring their business to.

If your company does not have adequate customer service skills, you run the risk of not only losing customers, but also those lost customers sharing their bad experience and encouraging others away from your business.

Customer service is vital to the survival of any business—just take a look at these statistics below. When you don’t put a focus on training employees for customer service or outsourcing your customer service to a company to handle this important task, you run the risk of losing customers. And word of mouth of their poor experience could spread and worsen the impact.

So, why focus on customer service rather than a department like marketing or sales to outsource? Aside from the above statistics, over three quarters of consumers believe the biggest issue of customer service is getting a hold of a representative. (Review42)

If anyone in your company will be communicating with customers, vendors, or partners, you want to ensure they have the following traits so you can be rest assured they are representing your brand well.

1. Empathy. Being able aware of a customer’s feelings can help to gauge scenarios and de-escalate issues before they become an issue. An empathetic customer service agent can help encourage a cooperative customer who is more likely to come away feeling satisfied with their resolution.
2. Positive Attitude. A customer service representative who can maintain a positive attitude around customers can rub off on them and add to the customer’s overall experience and interaction with your business.
3. Calmness. Upset, rude, or demanding customers can take an emotional toll when working with to deescalate and resolve their issue. By keeping calm and not reacting to the anger or language presented by the customer, a customer service representative can positively affect the behavior of the customer.
4. Work To Your Strengths. Not everyone can have a chipper voice—customer service agents shouldn’t force it but play to their strengths. Being a real person to talk to is usually all a customer really wants.
5. Pay Attention. Multiple calls and interactions a day can wear on a customer service agent, but it is important to continue to pay attention and be present for each customer who needs you. A distracted customer service agent may not appear to be empathetic or willing to help.
6. Be A Service Expert. Your customer service agents should be well versed in your products and services. When they know the products and the brand they represent, they can better assist your customers.
7. Over Deliver. There is a saying, “Under promise, over deliver.” Customer service agents shouldn’t promise anything they aren’t 100% sure about, so it is best to err on the side of not making promises. To make up for this, over deliver wherever, whenever, and however you can.
8. Patience. No customer is the same—everyone is different and may react differently to the same situation, so your customer service agent shouldn’t approach each similar situation the same. They should be patient with each customer to ensure all parties are on the same page.
9. Excellent Communication Skills. Using active listening is a vital communication skill for any customer service agent. Active listening allows them to get to the root of your customer’s complaint can make the customer feel “heard” and that the company is doing its best to take care of them and their issue.

Don't have the time or resources to train employees for customer service rolls? Outsourcing your customer service needs to a phone answering company such as CallStar®, can be the perfect answer to your needs.

We are an award winning call center—for SEVENTEEN YEARS running! Which means, we have the customer service representatives with the above skill sets to represent your company on the phone with customers. We’ll handle the inquires, scheduling, and moving important messages up the company pipeline.

In addition to recruiting courteous and professional customer service agents, we are U.S. based and have bilingual staff available to service a vast customer base. Our team is ready to handle your customer service needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—holidays included!