10 required skills for a support staff member

Customers rarely notice the qualities that your support team has. They simply make up and remember the overall impression of the contact. However, there are specific skills that determine the difference between mediocre help and excellent support service, communication with which increases the loyalty of even difficult customers.

1. Patience

This skill is important both during the conversation with the client and in the process of solving his problems. Keeping cool and lucid - an essential skill for support staff. The client may grumble, not understand the "obvious" things, be nervous and blame the company for all the troubles. From the employee is required full control over emotions, politeness and a clear desire to understand the problem.
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Moreover, impatience not only hinders the enjoyment of life, but also reduces efficiency in solving difficult problems .

Change your attitude to such "irritants." When in difficult situations with customers, patience leaves you, remind yourself that this is just a little discomfort, which is not difficult to bear .

2. Reading between the lines

The client addresses the usual question. For example, asks how to search the site. Good support quickly and politely prompts. Excellent goes further: sees behind this appeal the need to move the search to a prominent place.

The employee must understand not only what the client says, but also his main goals, which often remain unspoken . The task is not an easy one, so the skill needs to be developed constantly. Everything begins with the desire to delve into every detail.

3. Thorough product knowledge

The support service must know the product far and wide. Employees are required to understand how it works, what customers get when using it, what causes problems and how to fix them. Only in this case, customers can count on full assistance.

Specialists who know the product better than others, often receive positive feedback from customers . Informative and confident answers can even be the first step to the conclusion of the transaction. When the client sees that the employee “swam”, he immediately begins to doubt the product and the company as a whole.

4. Clear thoughts

The client communicates the essence of the problem as it can, but the employee must be able to determine the client's “knowledge of the client” in order to answer clearly and clearly. This is especially true of the key questions in which it is necessary to avoid dual language and a large number of terms.

The client understands the good answer from the first time . If this does not happen, and you often ask yourself the question “what is not clear here?”, It means that you have something to work on.

However, in an effort to answer as clearly as possible it is important not to cross the line. No arrogance and dismissive notes - in front of you is not a three-year-old child.

5. Empathy

Many experts consider the ability to put yourself in the place of the interlocutor the most important. An employee who is able to look at a problem through the eyes of a client and feel his emotions can really win the trust of even the most disgruntled client .

Thoughtlessly following the instructions, on the contrary, leads to the fact that the employee misses the important for the client nuances, without which you can not provide quality support.

Communicate more with customers whose opinion is different from yours . With their help, you will learn to look at things from a different angle, which means that it is better to see the big picture and to be more understanding of the point of view of others.

6. Time Management

This skill is necessary for all, without exception, because no one loves those who waste time in vain. And yet, in the case of support, besides his time, the employee spends the time of the client, and this is already a serious problem.

On the one hand, you must thoroughly approach each client’s question in order to provide great support, and on the other hand, you need to act effectively. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly identify situations where you can not help, and “guide the client by the hand” to specialists who can .

7. Positive thinking

An employee does not always have the opportunity to please the client. There are things that do not depend on him. Therefore, in unpleasant situations, it is important to minimize customer chagrin . Compare two examples:

Answer 1: Sorry, but we will not be able to complete your order this week, only next one. If we start on Monday, then Wednesday should be ready.

Answer 2: We will proceed to fulfill your order right from Monday morning and will fulfill it in two working days. Already on Wednesday, the products will be sent.

Feel the difference? In the first version, there is a statement of facts that cause not the most pleasant emotions, and in the second, the employee focuses on the positive aspects. Most likely, the client agrees to wait.

8. Reliability

Excellent support - a stronghold of reliability. During working hours, employees are always on site, they respond efficiently and quickly, they do not disappear when emergency situations arise, and they are sure to do what they promised. The customer can rely on such a support.

Often it is the ability to constantly keep the bar high that distinguishes good support from first-class . Therefore, you need to regularly monitor employee performance and motivation.

9. Flexibility and creativity

Sometimes there are problems, the solution of which requires deviation from the company's internal regulations. Well, if the employee has the ability to think on the go. However, it is better to develop a system of actions in case of unusual situations .

Suppose we are faced with the task of deciding what to do when a client addresses an unfamiliar problem. Three questions will help us figure it out.

Who! The person to whom you should turn for help when we come to a dead end. First of all, the chief suggests itself, but he should not be bothered with any question, therefore one has to be careful with the choice of the “victim”.

What? If, in principle, you are not capable of solving the problem, what should be done to bring it to your colleague in the best possible way? Assign another person in charge, send all correspondence, unsubscribe only key points or set a full-fledged task?

How? What type of communication will be most effective: tickets, email, team chat or project management system?

10. Continuous Improvement

If you stopped improving your skills, it means that you have already left behind those who work on themselves from day to day . Stop in no case.

There are new trends, additional channels of communication appear and improved versions of the company's product are released. Support staff can not afford the luxury when customers find out about everything before and enter their questions into a stupor.

In addition to professional skills, it is necessary to improve performance indicators: the speed of the first answer, the number of answers before closing, the speed of closing requests and assessing the quality of answers.

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Spend time regularly to work on these skills, and you will be surprised how quickly the level of support you provide increases.