The Uncommon Soft Skills That Make Up the Best Customer Service Representative

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Top Takeaways:

– What’s needed to deliver an excellent customer experience is creativity and problem-solving. It’s right up there at the top of the list. This is a key personality trait. When running your home-based business or working remotely, you don’t have somebody holding your hand every day. You are really in control, and to succeed, you are required to take control and run it as your own business.

– Coordinating with others is important. When you consider the different scenarios that individuals are put in, dealing with different contacts every day, they have a lot of people they have to interact with, whether that’s the customer directly or the supervisor at the company they’re supporting. So, the ability to coordinate across a number of different fronts is critical.

– Cognitive Flexibility is the multiple tasks that an individual encounters as a customer care provider. Their ability to adjust based on the content in an activity is an important requirement. So, to be flexible and adjust quickly is a significant skill that is required to be successful.

– The shift in the remote work mindset has been happening for a while, even before the pandemic. However, the pandemic has accelerated this shift.

Quotes:

“The future of customer service is leveraging flexible workforces to serve our enterprise customers.”

“When you think about creativity and problem solving, it’s right up there at the top of the list of what’s needed to deliver an excellent customer experience.”

“Those who have that discipline and the ability to manage their time and are motivated are the ones who have the most success in a flexible workforce model.”

About:

Greg Hanover was named CEO of Liveops Inc. in 2017 after 10 years with the company in senior leadership roles. Liveops is a leader and pioneer in the virtual call center space, with a distributed workforce of over 20,000 domestic home-based agents.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more: 

1. Why do you need creativity as a soft skill?
2. What is cognitive flexibility?
3. Why is coordinating with others an important soft skill?
4. Why is assessment vital when you hire people?
5. Why is a flexible work schedule beneficial?