What is the most important thing you need to work on to foster customer relationships? If you answer "customer service," then you are correct.

Here's the thing: How you made your customers feel about doing business with you is something that they will remember. So much so that it can encourage brand loyalty and can turn them into advocates. 

Customer Service directly affects the overall Customer Experience and satisfaction. If you work in sales, you must enhance your team's customer service skills. Find out how you can get started when you read the tips below:

1. Encourage active listening

Your customers want to feel understood, heard, and served. That's why active listening is a vital skillset that you need to develop with your team. One should approach every conversation to learn something and focus on the speaker.

After a customer is done speaking, one needs to ask questions so that they understand what you're saying. Then, you can end the conversation with a quick summary to ensure that everyone's on the same page.

2. Practice customer interactions

If your team has the necessary skillset, take advantage of it to reap customer experience benefits.

• Ask reps to identify common ground. This includes finding a common interest between you and your customer. Doing so breaks down the barrier and encourages rapport. As such, customers will be at ease with making transactions with you.
• Practice active listening. For one, doing so will make customers feel heard. Clarify or rephrase if necessary to ensure that you understand them. It's also important to empathize with their feelings by saying things like, "I understand why you feel slighted," or "That must have upset you.
• Readily admit your mistakes. And if possible, find a workaround before your customers find out about the issue. This fosters customer trust and confidence in your brand. It also lets you control the situation and resolve the problem in the long run.
• Do follow-ups even after the problem is solved. Make sure that you fix the issue and that customers are satisfied with your service. You can also send a feedback survey or an email to let your customers know you're on their side.

3. Have proper product or service knowledge

To truly help your customers, you and your team should have deep knowledge of your products and how they work. That's why you need to create a personal development plan tailored for them.

Every customer service agent should spend onboarding time with a seasoned product specialist. That way, they can ask questions and truly understand everything about the product. In addition, doing so can truly help customers when it comes to fixing issues.

They also have product tips and tricks to share with customers to make the product easier to use.

4. Invest in customer service training

If you want to improve your employees' quality of customer service, you need to invest in training.

Customer service training usually refers to the different teaching techniques regarding customer interaction. This process usually involves developing customer service skills and competencies.

CS training also provides your team with the right tools that can help provide customer satisfaction.

5. Practice empathy

Empathy lets you create genuine connections with your customers. It also empowers you to serve them with enthusiasm and dedication.

Empathy is all about treating others the way that you want to be treated. It means placing yourself in your customers' shoes.

It usually involves:

• Understanding where your customers are coming from
• Being sensitive to their desires, as well as worries
• Finding common ground
• Establishing a rapport with them

Empathy is all about listening to your customers with an open mind and an open heart. It also gives them the benefit of the doubt.

6. Learn persuasive speaking

Persuasion is an essential sales skill, and it can be an invaluable tool for customer service as well.

Each day, your reps turn problems into solutions. In addition, they can convert fair-weather customers into loyal brand evangelists. In fact, customers are more likely to spend time with a company that gives them positive service experiences.

Your team should speak confidently and give good arguments that generate better conversions.

7. Measure your team's performance

Having excellent customer service performance to work with is a great way to set your team up for future success. That's why you need to know the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to lay down a solid groundwork to guide you.

You should also choose the right customer service performance management software. That way, you can monitor your team's performance and enhance quality assurance with ease.

Over to You

Enhancing your customer service team's skills prevents stagnation. Plus, skills upgrades will reflect on their performance.

This means that improving your team's customer service skills will enable them to connect with your consumer better. As a result, you will see increased customer satisfaction, awareness, engagement, and revenue.