Your customer service skills are a key attribute to maintaining and gaining clients. Appearing unpleasant or unprofessional can seriously harm your career, and redeeming that damaged reputation is a long uphill battle. Whether you’re new or experienced, there are a few ways you can improve your customer service skills and be the agent your clients want.
Connect With Experienced Professionals
Networking is a great way to learn valuable lessons from prominent individuals in your industry. Finding a mentor gives you a way to learn from others’ mistakes and gather valuable information about how to improve. This doesn’t always have to be an agent – it could be anyone with years of experience in any form of customer service.
Adopt An Empathetic Approach With An Emphasis On Active Listening
Treat your clients as people, not sales. Place yourself in your client’s shoes and try to see their problems as they see them. This is the difference between waiting for a client to finish talking so you can pitch a new policy or policy rider, and paying attention to their wants, needs, and concerns and the emotions behind them. Actively listening and giving your undivided attention is your chance for your clients to benefit from your expertise – this will help you address the points they’re communicating with more clarity, and come up with solutions to help resolve their specific issues.
Use Actionable Language And Take Responsibility
Your responses are as important as the effort you put into listening. Take responsibility when it’s appropriate and communicate the steps you’ll take to resolve an issue. If you make a mistake, deflecting blame reflects poor character and makes you untrustworthy. Admitting fault may be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s better than losing credibility. Once you apologize, you need to implement actionable language by offering immediate action toward resolving the issue.
Take Advantage Of Learning Materials
Books, online videos, courses, and seminars are some of the ways you can learn more about effective customer service. In this day and age, you don’t have to wait until you get home or connect to a WiFi network. Information is with you everywhere you go, and it’s yours to benefit from anywhere at any time.
Be Conscientious Of Time
Improving customer service skills also entails balancing your personal and professional life. You need to respect your client’s time, but you also need to respect your own. During working hours, you need to take time to listen to clients and deliver prompt responses. However, you need time to yourself, because without it, you could suffer burnout and your customer service skills may suffer as a result.
Become The Best You Can Be
At Western Marketing, we help agents maximize their potential by giving them the tools to market themselves effectively. We also offer apps and other items to make your job easier, allowing you to conduct your services more efficiently at the highest quality. Take the next step toward building your career by calling us today at (800) 852-7152.