On the surface, customer service seems like the easiest thing to get the hang of: just say please and thank you, be helpful, answer their inquiries. In the real world, though, people often do poorly in customer-service positions despite knowing what the correct actions are. It’s not that they don’t know the steps of service, it’s how they put the steps into action, in a real-life interaction with a human being. Service isn’t standard or scripted. People are different; no two interactions are ever the same, and there’s no way to prepare a perfect speech to cover every scenario.
- Chattering and communicating is two different things.
It’s easy to think you know all about communication if you just sound polite, but actually it’s about knowing what a client truly wants, instead of relying on rehearsed expressions. There are plenty of times the client doesn’t make themselves clear. As an agent, you need to read between the lines, to ask the appropriate questions, and direct the conversation. - The biggest thing you can bring to the table is your ability to remain level-headed.
It doesn’t matter whether you know how the entire process of handling a complaint works if you can’t handle the heat when it gets too high. People don’t always have a way of behaving nicely. In any service industry, it’s possible for things to get heated and for a complaint to end up in your face. The best people in the business are the ones who can keep their cool and not react out of the heat of the moment. Even when something feels like it’s unfair or unreasonable, you still shouldn’t let it get to you. - In service-related fields, most errors are caused by miscommunication.
In some cases, even the littlest bit of misinformation can snowball into a larger issue, especially in the service industry. Even if you overlook something, you don’t know what you’re talking about when you don’t know something, or if you don’t clarify it with a customer, then a very simple issue can turn into a big one. This is why communication in the service industry should be so clear, with enough repetitions and confirmations. - What people recall isn’t the process, but the experience.
Customers judge you on more than your company policies or how difficult your job is. They judge you on how they feel about being in your company, as you’re either listening, ignoring, helping them, and/or frustrating them. It’s the emotional part of being in their presence that’s important, not the technical part of dealing with a problem. How you speak and act towards customers is almost as important as actually resolving what is bothering them. - Without any real system, results are unpredictable.
You could be excellent at something in the mornings, and terrible in the afternoons when you’re overwhelmed. Service needs to be consistent, and when it isn’t, the results won’t be either. Good service is a matter of maintaining consistency, not simply relying on chance.
It boils down to this: people fail because they fail to regulate the things that matter most in their job, such as their composure, communication, and consistency. They aren’t failing because they don’t have the knowledge. If only they knew how to keep their cool, how to communicate effectively, and how to read the needs of the client. Once they do, things will get easier for them.