Thoughts on Successful Service

In the post "Do You Have What It Takes?" back in September, I took at look at some of the skills and personality traits needed to truly succeed and provide excellent customer service. I'd like to pick up that thought and look at some additional areas that are really beneficial to success in a customer service position, regardless of the type of position you hold.

Pretty much the majority of businesses have some sort of customer service system in place, whether it be direct sales, phone sales, technical and product support, etc. So there will be many various types of skills that can be utilized, depending on the type of service you are involved in. Someone involved in a technical support or product support type of field would need some kind of professional training in the product of service being offered. This type of skill would be a world of difference from someone working in the health or social services branch of service. These positions require someone with much more compassion and professionalism, since they are most often dealing with a highly emotional client.

Customer service is just that, service to a customer, so in all cases, you need to have a real service attitude, putting others first, and a real desire to assist others to their satisfaction. Anything less will make you less successful in this field. In positions where you are dealing directly with customers, clear and professional communication skills is a must.

It surprises me how many companies these days, for cost reasons I assume, provide less than desirable support services. Most everyone knows the big running joke about the support service lines for most all software and computer related companies are handled by foreign countries with strong accents that many can't understand. Personally I think it shows a real lack of desire to provide true customer service when a company has a support system that is not able to clearly communicate with the buying public. Communication skills are a real must for such verbal service positions, and if you are ever in a position to make decisions in this area, hopefully you will keep your largest target audience in mind when choosing who provides the support.

More and more, technology is bring brought in to make "life easier" in all types of service fields, including the automated services that tend to drive most people crazy, to the use of computers to access company, customer, and service information. So, while most all customer service positions will usually require some knowledge of computer use, if you have the ability to be a quick learner when it comes to new technology and software, your chances of further success and advancement will be improved.

I'd love to hear from you about any customer service experiences, good or bad, that you have had that others could learn from. Share in the comments section below.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Customer Service Jobs blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.