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7 Unexpected Customer Service Secrets

7 Unexpected Customer Service Secrets

When you work in a call center, your role largely revolves around customer service. That said, all of your customers will likely be very different. Understanding how to work with different personalities can help you deliver the best possible customer service experience. 

Fortunately, there are some tried-and-true customer service secrets that can help keep almost any customer happy. Want to take your own customer service game to the next level? Keep reading to discover secrets you can start using today! 

Think about Your Parents (No, Really) 

It’s an open secret that, in customer service jobs, your customers are the best and worst part of the job. A great customer can make you feel energized and happy. But a bad customer can put you in a bad mood for the rest of the day. 

How can you keep your cool and calmly help customers even when they are melting down? One weird-but-effective tip is to imagine you are talking to your parents. Alternatively, you can imagine you are speaking to a childhood teacher or some other authority figure you respect. 

When people like our parents get mad, it’s easier to deal with them because we know they aren’t bad people: they are good people simply having a bad day. When you approach every customer service interaction like that, it takes your service to the next level. 

As an added bonus, this helps you develop the patience to better communicate with fellow employees as well. 

Show Some Personality 

One of the “rookie mistakes” of customer service is thinking that the job is all about memorizing scripts and delivering the same lines over and over again. That’s a mistake because the average customer isn’t going to remember exactly what you said to them. Instead, they will remember how you made them feel. 

That’s why our second customer service secret is to let some of your personality shine through when dealing with customers. Don’t be afraid to laugh and crack jokes. And if a customer is discussing personal stories, and you feel comfortable doing so, you can open up a bit about your own life to them. 

When the call is over, that customer is going to remember that you were friendly, energetic, and understanding. And that’s enough to keep them coming back. 

Ditch the Script 

Earlier, we mentioned how customers would rather hear personality from you than hear you read a script. Nonetheless, many customer service specialists either create their own script and stick to it or stick to one created by the company. But here’s another secret: you’re better off just ditching that script altogether. 

If you work at a call center, then the first thing a customer is going to encounter when they call is your company’s phone tree. In other words, they have already heard a pre-prepared speech and didn’t like it, causing them to reach out to a human CSR. 

By ditching the script altogether, you can tailor your responses to their exact needs while letting your personality and enthusiasm shine through. Best of all, you’ll no longer sound like the phone tree, and that will make customers happy. 

male customer service representative on call with customer holding clipboard

Focus On Customer Needs 

Many customer service jobs involve selling products and services to customers. For example, a call center customer service specialist may be required to sell a certain amount of products to customers each week and each month. 

If you’re not careful, though, you’ll start thinking and acting like a salesperson instead of a customer service specialist. And this can be offensive to customers who need their problem solved and feel like you are just trying to sell them something. 

Our advice is to focus on their needs first and foremost. And if you recommend any products or services, they should be the kind that will help the customer avoid this current problem in the future. 

Learn From Problem Customers 

Every single person working in customer service has horror stories about nightmare customers. As hard as this may be to believe, those are the customers that help you really develop your customer service skills. 

That is because an unhappy customer is going to tell you exactly what they didn’t like about their experience. And chances are that what they say will be rude and at least a little difficult to hear. 

But you can be sure they aren’t the only customer to ever have this problem. By earnestly listening to what went wrong for this customer, you can not only help solve their issues but also avoid potential issues with future customers. 

Keep Things Simple 

When your company gets a new product or service, you may get excited. You may even be excited enough to tell customers who call in about the many great things they can now do with that product or service. 

Here’s the thing, though: customers can get easily overwhelmed with too much information. They don’t want to know about a dozen different things they can do with something new. Instead, they want to know how this can help them with old problems. 

In every customer interaction, think about how you can simplify everything into problems and solutions. Once customers can see how what you sell can improve their lives, then your products and services will practically sell themselves. More importantly, customers will be grateful for the difference you made in their lives. 

Practice Courtesy Phrases 

Previously, we touched on the fact that you should ditch the script and try to speak to customers with personality and authenticity. But it doesn’t hurt to have a rotating collection of “courtesy phrases” that you use when talking to customers. 

Most of these phrases are basic things like “thank you for your patience” and “I’m delighted to help you out.” But customers like to be treated with courtesy and respect, so these phrases go a long way towards making them feel welcome. 

And by memorizing a few key courtesy phrases, you can make your customers feel respected and relaxed without being stuck to a premade script. This lets you adapt to customer needs while still being courteous at all times. 

Get the Best Customer Service Job Today 

Now you know our best customer service secrets. But do you know where you can find the best customer service job

Here at Seguros Confie, we are looking to hire customer service experts just like yourself. To begin the next stage of your career, come apply today