12 Essential Customer Service Skills In 2024

Customer service skills are made up of the knowledge, tactics, expertise and understanding that are needed to make customers as satisfied as possible. These skills are developed through several different avenues, including training, support and experience. There are generally two different types of these skills: hard and soft.

Both types of skills are equally important and top customer service professionals are able to strike a good balance of hard and soft skills to provide the best experience possible. Coaching your customer service team to understand and use both sets of skills can make a huge difference in your overall customer service strategy.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are technical skills, ones that can generally be taught and measured. Knowledge and proficiency of hard skills are usually built through education and training and typically focus on the specific tasks that are needed to complete a job. Examples of hard skills in customer service may include note taking, data entry, research or gathering information.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are more difficult to quantify since they tend to be personal attributes. Soft skills are aspects that are developed in someone’s personality so while there can be some training to teach them, these skills are largely learned by an individual over time. Soft skills in customer service include active listening, empathy, conflict resolution and problem solving.

Customer service isn’t limited to a one-time interaction at the point of a sale, but rather is an ongoing process that touches on every part of the buyer’s journey. It includes numerous activities that occur before, during and after a purchase and, ultimately, means serving your customers to the best of your ability.

Good customer service is arguably the most important part of building and maintaining positive, long-term relationships with customers. With so many choices today, dissatisfied buyers won’t hesitate to take their dollars elsewhere, but satisfied customers will remain loyal to the brands that treat them well.

Investing in the planning, training and implementation of a high-quality customer service strategy is one of the most important expenditures a business can make. Demonstrating that you truly care about your customers is a powerful tool that can lead to increased sales, improved brand image and expanded growth.

Customer service is a broad term and what it looks like for your business may be different from others. But no matter what the industry is, good customer service generally needs to include the three C’s: Communication, consistency and caring. All of these must work together to establish trust and build loyalty, which leads to growth. These three components are the backbone to every customer service skill and should be relied upon repeatedly.

These are the 12 most essential customer service skills that businesses should implement.

1. Active Listening

First, customers want to be heard, especially when they aren’t happy or have a complaint. Active listening may be the most important customer service skill that businesses can adopt. Listening sounds like a simple thing to do, but active listening requires a great deal of focus and concentration. When engaging in active listening, customer service team members need to be attentive, patient and nonjudgmental for customers to feel that their issues are truly being heard.

2. Empathy

Empathy pairs with active listening because it means the customer service agent is hearing what the customer is saying without any preconceived notions or judgments. It focuses on recognizing, managing and responding to the emotions of customers as well as keeping your own emotions in check. Being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and empathize with how they are feeling is a crucial part of providing excellent customer service.

3. Problem Solving

When customers reach out with an issue, their expectation is usually that the customer service team will help them solve the problem. It’s crucial that businesses have efficient problem-solving systems in place to help customers as quickly and effectively as possible. While, sometimes, there will be one clear resolution, such as a product refund, in other situations problem solving may look more like offering different options and helping the customer decide what will work best.

4. Conflict Resolution

Conflicts are stressful and stress can lead to short tempers, irrational actions and difficulty thinking clearly. You don’t want your customers to feel stressed, so managing and resolving conflicts as soon as possible is a critical part of good customer service. This is where empathy and active listening come into play since fully understanding what the issue is helps customer service agents figure out how to best resolve the situation before it escalates.

5. Organization

Post-its filled with scribbled notes that others need to interpret is not how effective customer service works. Organization is key and every component needs to be as coordinated as possible. While everyday details like files and personal workspaces are important, it should also include bigger-picture organization, such as team structure and available resources. Being able to access both information and support quickly ensures that customer service agents will be able to assist customers confidently.

6. Good Memory

An already-annoyed customer who contacts customer service with an issue is guaranteed to get angrier and angrier the more they are asked to repeat themselves. Having a good memory is a customer service skill that will inevitably lead to a smoother dialogue, resulting in customers who feel less stressed and more taken care of. Small details, such as names, products and dates, are often important facts for customer service agents to remember.

7. Adaptability

Another important customer service skill is the ability to adapt and think on your feet. Circumstances can change quickly, depending on the nature of the issue and customer service agents must be able to pivot without hesitation. Adaptability in customer service means approaching a situation without expectations and knowing when it is time to switch directions to offer the most effective help.

8. Time Management

Customers want to receive prompt responses, and the only way for that to happen is when customer service teams are cognizant of their time management. Particularly in a call center setting where agents receive many calls daily, managing time will lead to shorter waits and less lag in replying. The best way to develop time management skills is to look at all current assignments and tasks and then prioritize them accordingly.

9. Knowledge

The quality of your customer service will rely heavily on team members’ knowledge about products and services. They need to know enough to answer questions, troubleshoot technical challenges and offer suggestions. It’s also important that representatives know when a customer’s issue has moved past their scope of knowledge and needs to be moved up to the next person in the customer service chain of command.

10. Communication

Whether in person, over the phone or electronically, communication is the cornerstone of customer service. Communicating effectively means taking the time to not only talk but also to listen. Customer service teams need to receive ongoing training that helps them learn how to communicate in many different situations as well as better understand what customers are truly seeking.

11. Transparency

Customers want their issues resolved, but they are also often interested in knowing how or why a problem may have occurred in the first place. Transparency in customer service doesn’t mean sharing all the trade secrets. Rather, it’s about being upfront and honest when helping to solve problems. Honesty goes a long way in building and maintaining positive customer relationships, even when it means admitting mistakes.

12. Humor

Unhappy customers are not funny and should never be treated like a joke. But when used correctly in certain situations, humor can be a powerful skill to help lighten the mood and diffuse tension. After figuring out what a customer is seeking and why they are frustrated, a well-timed funny comment is often exactly what is needed to help put the customer at ease and adjust their attitude.

Since most customer service skills are soft skills, making them more challenging to teach, you’ll need to make a concentrated effort to help nurture these skills in team members. Some ways to do this include:

• Offer continuing education through workshops and webinars
• Connect new employees with experienced mentors
• Provide both initial and ongoing training about products and services
• Support employees interested in taking additional courses or earning certifications
• Create a comprehensive onboarding program
• Ensure employees have constant access to a help center and frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Creating a customer service experience that will leave your customers feeling heard and cared for is one of the strategies needed to establish a long-term relationship with buyers. Whether their issue is large or small, customers need to feel like someone is invested in listening to them and helping find solutions. Investing the time and energy in training your team in excellent customer service strategies will benefit your business by building loyalty, establishing a reputation of helpfulness and, ultimately, promoting growth.