5 Essential Skills Every Customer Support Agent Should Have

Your customer support team has to interact with different kinds of customers and often come across challenging service situations. They have to be proactive when it comes to addressing queries or resolving issues. There are certain skills that your support agents need in order to create a satisfying service experience. You need to have a dedicated team, every individual should be enthusiastic about his/her job and should be patient and responsible. Another essential skill that your support agents need is the ability to communicate with various kinds of clients, they should know the importance of active listening and choosing the appropriate language and medium of communication. Your support agents should also have time management skills since there are days when agents have to take care of multiple customer interactions. Have a look at some essential skills that your customer support agents need!

Enthusiasm, Patience and Honesty

Positive attitude and enthusiasm is vital for customer support agents. Without enthusiasm they won’t develop a customer centric mindset, so you need to make sure your team loves their job. Patience is yet another quality that your support agents need to have, since there are times when customers vent their anger or it takes a lot of time to convince them on a solution. Customer support staff needs to be honest, they should know the importance of transparency and never lie to customers.

The Ability to Multitask

The ability to manage various tasks and time is an essential skill that your support agents need. Whether they have to take phone calls, respond to live chat for websites, or answer e-mail queries, they should be quick and know how to manage different tasks efficiently. If for instance, a live chat agent is handling multiple chats, where one customer is inquiring about a product’s features, while another wants to register a complaint about a delayed order, the support agent should know how to handle both of them simultaneously.

Vital Communication Skills

Delivering remarkable customer support involves excellent communication skills. Your support team needs to understand the importance of interactive communication. Support agents should always pay attention to what the clients have to say, they should use simple language to respond and avoid technical jargon. Choosing positive words and phrases is very important while dealing with irate and frustrated customers. When dealing with clients face to face your support team should use body language that would give them a gesture that they want to facilitate them in the best possible way.

Ability to Understand and Relate to Customers’ Emotions

Empathy is essential for customer support agents to know what a customer needs in a particular situation. It is a skill that lets your support agents understand and relate to customers’ emotions, thus enabling them to answer and provide solutions accordingly. It helps them manage expectations and create memorable experiences. You can train your staff to understand customer needs and emotions in order to provide better responses.

The Skill for Solving Problems

Support agents have to offer customers quick and satisfactory solutions to issues. They should have the ability to critically analyze a problem and think outside the box. This skill can help your staff rectify negative customer experiences. Your team should know how to look at a situation from different perspectives and come up with multiple solutions without taking too much time. Your live chat support service should also know how to improvise while solving problems.