It is not rocket science to know that every organisation needs great customer service skills as they are essential to maintaining existing clients and securing new ones. Excellent customer service is at the heart of a clients purchasing process and organisations that give extraordinary service to clients are immediately distinguished from other organisations in their competitive marketplace. This is the primary purpose why successful companies make this an imperative component of their business plan and make a special effort to provide better customer services through the following 5 Conversational Skills.

Clear Communication Skills

Client service providers must convey information and thoughts positively and clearly whether it’s on the telephone or through email. It is vital that the individuals who interact with the clients every day can pass on information about products and services to clients effectively and accurately, without going into a diatribe of features with no benefits and specifications with no value. Over the telephone, and via email, if your people can’t get their message across in short insightful and ‘client focused sentences’ then your clients will switch off.

Keeping Things Positive

A simple trap to fall into is when telling a client “no,” and not giving them an alternative Switch selling is a skillful technique to transform a negative into something positive. “No, we don’t have any of those left” or “No, we can’t do that this week”, is a very different response to “while unfortunately we don’t have those we do however have these and what they will do for you is….” Or “while unfortunately we can’t do this week we can in-fact do next week and the benefit to you of that is….”

Patience

Too many Customer Service Teams and Call Centres are focused on AHT, Average Handling Time, or the Quantity of calls and minimum amount of time a Customer Service Person spends in a telephone conversation with a client. Quality of conversations is highly important to clients, who frequently need support when they are frustrated and confused. Successful Client Service People offer a good service rather than a fast service, which lets the client feel that they have been listened to, and cared for, even when they might not get the outcomes they wanted.

Listening Skills

Customer Service People need to have the capacity to listen to a client’s issue, assess situations and find appropriate solutions. However, while common sense, not everyone has the ability to listen carefully. Good listeners make the best Customer Service People on the grounds that they are going to identify customer needs accurately and quickly, and not jump in or talk over the client.

Negotiation Skills

Customer Service teams are frequently placed in the position of negotiating with clients to buy an item or accept a certain policy. To reduce ‘delayed service’ by regularly escalating a decision to a Team Leader or Supervisor, they must have the ability to ask intelligent and insightful questions to discover shared ground with a client. Spouting a list of features, product specifications, timeframes, prices, and stock levels, while getting the customer off the phone quickly, doesn’t add value or strengthen their relationships. Customer Service Teams must be given the skills and a basic structure so that they can negotiate with a client to achieve a beneficial outcome for both the organization and the client Going forward All employees should understand the importance of their role in providing excellent service that doesn’t only involve helping the clients, it tries to go far beyond client fulfillment. Going an additional mile to provide amazing service will keep clients returning and directly increase sales. Monica Wynne is the Customer Service and Call Centre Training and Coaching Specialist of The KONA Group, Australia’s leading corporate Sales and Management Training and Coaching organisation. If your business is needs to increase sales and customer retention contact Monica at: 1300 611 288, or email info@KONA.com.au Alternatively go to https://kona.com.au//customer-service-training or, https://kona.com.au//Hearts-and-Minds-Sales-Training