Qualities to look for in a customer support representative

Empathy level

Handling support tickets and customers of different kinds can be quite challenging. So, one of the most essential qualities to look for in a customer support representative is high level of empathy. Without it, reps can break quickly and it may reflect badly on how a customer conversation is handled. They need to have the ability to handle frustrated customers.

Ability to troubleshoot

Troubleshooting ability doesn’t necessarily mean technical ability, but the ability to take a scientific approach or perform a root cause analysis when they approach an issue. It is also important to look for the customer service representative’s ability to anticipate a customer’s need in advance and go the extra mile in proactively offering the solution.

Internal voice of the customer

Your customer service reps need to be the internal voice of the customer, who will continuously take feedback from the customer and try to push them into the development queue. Of course this comes with their ability to judge what’s mutually beneficial for the company and the customer, and if it’s worth pursuing it.

Creativity

Being a great customer service representative isn’t just about their ability to solve problems for the customer, but being able to find easier and clever ways to do so. And the creativity also extends to how they respond to a situation. The phrasing of a response makes all the difference. For example, “Logging out and logging back in should help resolve this” sounds much better than “Can you log out please?”

Communication skills

The ability to communicate effectively with the customer is key. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you should look for the vocabulary and language skills. Effective communication is all about making sure the communication to the customer is simple and easy to understand. For example, at times, it makes more sense to say that the issue will be resolved in 4 hours than explaining the technical issue at depth.