Customer Service Rep Survival Guide

Customer Service Representatives have incredibly difficult jobs. They take all the complaints of unhappy customers. But as the public representatives of companies, they have to be polite and patient. CSRs are critical to customer retention and loyalty, but they are often undervalued by their companies. Businesses are willing to devote resources to sales and marketing where direct results are easily measured, but they often see customer service only as a necessary expense.

If you work in customer service, here are some tips to deal with unhappy customers, like your job more, and prove your worth to your company.

People call you with their problems. A lot of times the problems that the customers have with your company aren't the only issues they are experiencing at the moment. Their complaint might be the latest in a long list of things that are going wrong in their lives.

LISTEN PATIENTLY

When people call customer service, they are expecting a fight. There are whole books on how to "beat" customer service to get desired results. Don't give them a fight. Patiently listen to them describe their entire problem, no matter how much you want to interrupt. Even if you know exactly where they are going with their explanation, let them say everything that they want to say.

People want to be heard when they have a problem. Letting a customer vent can go a long way toward calming the situation.

BE CONFIDENT

Customers want solutions to their problems. Even if you don't have the exact answer, be confident in your ability to figure out some solution. When angry customers sense weakness in a CSR, they immediately worry that their problem won't be solved and will have even less patience with you. If you don't know an answer, say you don't know, but reassure them that you will figure it out together.

BE FRIENDLY

If you're working on the phone, smile when you talk. If you're messaging or emailing with a customer, use a conversational tone with friendly, polite words. Help the customer understand that you are working to HELP them find a satisfactory solution to their problem - that you're on their side, not battling them in an effort to simply defend the company.

DON'T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY!

It's hard not to take someone yelling at you personally, but try to keep perspective. You aren't really to blame for an item not being shipped. Her husband might have left her. His dog might be very ill. This might be the 5th company they've used with the same experience.

Instead of getting defensive and demanding the treatment that we all know you deserve, try to ignore the anger and get to the real problem. Kill them with kindness. When you don't react with an argument, they will be disarmed.

If you find that you are taking their words personally, come up with a way to help you divorce yourself from their statements. Focus on how their voice will sound if you make them happy at the end of the conversation. Get a stress ball that you can squeeze. Realize that capital letters aren't REALLY yelling and can't hurt you. Think about your yummy lunch.

Customer Service Reps are usually bombarded with complaints and very rarely get good feedback.

When you DO make someone happy, get a compliment, or receive nice words of thanks, make the most of it!

Print out good feedback. If the compliment happens on the phone or live chat, write down the kind words.

Post them in a place where you can see them every day. Put them at eye level where you can look when you're dealing with a not-so-friendly customer. Display them where your coworkers and supervisors can see them.

It will help you know that you've helped people. It will also help show others that you're good at what you do. Most of all, after a bad call, chat, or email, it helps you realize that while you can't make EVERYONE happy, you HAVE made some people very happy!

Customer service isn't generally a department where a CFO can easily see direct return on investment. Sales and marketing campaigns have measurable numbers. The company spends a certain amount and it's simple to track exactly how many sales came from the efforts. Customer service returns aren't so easily calculated.

When you don't feel appreciated by your boss or company, you have to make an effort to clearly demonstrate the value that you bring to the company.

Asking for more resources to be devoted to customer service (more employees, better technology, etc) can sometimes be achieved by showing the efficacy of the department. There are plenty of consumer polls that show the importance of customer service such as:

66% of consumers said they have switched companies due to poor customer service according to an Accenture survey of over 10,000 global consumers.

70% of Americans are willing to spend 13% more for excellent customer service according to an American Express Customer Service Barometer.

You can also make a department effort to track customer retention and repeat sales of customers who have contacted customer service.

For your individual career, the best way to ask for a raise or promotion is to show exactly how much revenue you bring to the company. If you have access to sales data, track the customers you have helped. If you don't have direct access, work with the sales or marketing team to get the information you need. Don't overlook positive customer service feedback posted on social sites as contributions to social media marketing campaigns. Remember that customers contact you when they are unhappy. Repeat spending by those customers is partly (and in some cases COMPLETELY) due to your efforts. Look for increases in spending following customer service contacts. Presenting the figures of the amount of money your customers continue to spend demonstrates your value to management in dollar signs, which is a very clear language.