4 Tips on How to Improve Customer Service Skills

One of the greatest challenges to delivering an exceptional customer service experience is learning how to consistently improve customer service skills.

Improving customer service should be a daily priority to any individual wanting to stand out in today’s competitive marketplace. With each customer interaction comes the opportunity for the customer to spread the word to other potential customers, but what will customers say? Will they be delighted with the great service they received? Or will they turn away customers because of a poor customer service experience?

Here are tips to improve customer service skills to get customers talking about you.

1. Keep track of customer feelings and feedback on the customer service experience

Do you offer ways for your customers to tell you how they feel about the service experience? Do you encourage customers to tell you about the service experience? Some organizations use surveys, others a feedback form, some like comment sheets, or even a conversation with the customer. The point is, create channels for you get that information, and keep track of the information.

Customer feedback is the best place to start improving customer service skills. Customers will tell you whether you’re getting it right or if more service training needs to take place. Learn to incorporate customer feedback to improve customer service skills is a critical and ongoing action.

2. Communicate with your customer service team

Improving customer service isn’t just about what your customers think. You team members are always willing to give feedback on how they think they improve their own customer service skills. Feedback from customers can be difficult to obtain, feedback from employees is much a much easier way to see how your service experience can be improved.

The key is to welcome employee feedback, then do something about their concerns and suggestions. As you actually incorporate this information into your customer service skills trainings, employees will respond and continue to feed back information creating a cycle of customer service development.

3. You have to exercise to improve your customer service skills (training)

Rocky Balboa didn’t deliver the knock out punch without having to do through intense training sessions. Your team members won’t deliver a knock out customer service experience without spending time at the customer service skills gym. You have to train in order to improve customer service skills. Speakers, trainers, and conferences are all great places to brush up on the important customer service skills. Organization company-wide meetings and hold workshops on how to improve your customer service skills.

There are many books, blog posts, and articles discussing the best way to improve customer service skills. Reach out to a blogger and get their take on what works best. Authors can be difficult to contact, but bloggers are used to interacting online and you can have a quick reply the same day!

4. Define your improvement in customer service skills

What does successful customer service skills mean to you? how about your organization? Everyone’s vision of customer service is different. Defining what you, your team, and your organization wants to accomplish in delivering the customer experience is key to your success in doing so.

Create a system of goals for your customer service team to track. Get everyone on the same page, working towards the same metrics that will contribute to the overall customer service goal. As you and your team work together, you’ll be heading in the same direction, improving those essential customer service skills that deliver the greatest impact to the customer.

If you want to improve customer skills for yourself, your team, or your entire organization it will take work. It’s a process, not a one-time event. Don’t wait until tomorrow, start making the changes you need today. Each little change makes a difference and will help you to improve customer service skills that matter to your customers.