Customer service can make or break a company. Your staff should have a basic understanding of customer service practices as well as the necessary skills for excelling in the position. Those same skills bear repeating online when using live chat software as well. Below are 10 essential customer service skills that your chat operator should possess and why they are necessary.

1. Patience
   Handling confused or frustrated customers is one of the most challenging positions. It involved a lot of patience and willingness to reach out and support others, despite their attitude towards you. Taking time with clients is highly beneficial rather than rushing them away to get to the next person. People value quality over quantity.
   
   
   
2. Empathy (or ability to act)
   When clients call they want to be understood and empathized with. The last thing they want to do is speak with someone who shows no compassion or care in the world for their problem. If empathy does not come naturally, at least the ability to act empathetic needs to be there.
   
   
   
3. Attentiveness
   Being able to really listen to customers and pay attention to their needs is crucial. Most importantly, being mindful to different clients’ frustrations could lead your employees to discover an overarching problem with you product or service.
   
   
   
4. Willingness to Learn
   Customer service methods are constantly improving and changing. Looking at metrics frequently spurs changes in how client assistance is carried out to reach the best and most efficient methods. Having the willingness to learn can prove highly beneficial when quick changes sweep through your organization. Employees wanting to stick with one method are not adaptable and will not help with future changes. They will get left behind by those wanting to improve or invest in their skills.
   
   
   
5. Knowledge of your Product/Service
   Without knowledge of your product or service how reliable will employees be for helping clients having issues with your company? You need a deep understanding of the ins and outs of what you are offering in order to be able to relate to customers and understand how it all works. This way, they are able to easily and confidently relay information.
   
   
   
6. Persuasion
   Often times customers will inquire about additional products/services and whether they should add them on to their purchase. They could just be inquiring about the main service/product and going through customer service to find out details.
   
   In order to maximize your customer service skills it is important that you have the ability to persuade individuals that your product or service is right for them. Employees should be enthusiastic about what their company offers and able to convince interested clients that your product/service will highly benefit them.
   
   
   
7. Problem Solving
   This skill comes from both the employee and their superiors. Customer service personnel should be equipped with the power to make quick decision and appease situations. It shouldn’t have to go through 3 different channels to get approval to remove fees charged in error, or rectify problems with products/services/returns/exchanges.
   
   Empower your professionals to assuage situations before they blow up bigger than necessary.On the other hand, individuals should be confident and determined enough to make the right decisions regarding customer issues. Given proper training, problem solving should come with ease and follow a basic protocol to help them make future decisions.
   
   
   
8. Communication (clear, positive language, ability to relay info)
   When a position requires speaking with clients all day it is absolutely necessary to have communication skills. The ability to deliver clear and positive language is essential to excelling in customer service. An alteration to the simple way in which typical sentences are said can make a large impact on how messages are perceived.
   
   Think “who’s this?” versus “may I ask who is calling?”. The latter sounds much better and friendlier than the more demand filled “who’s this?” In addition, the ability to make technical terms, intricate company policies, or other confusing details clear and concise is extremely helpful.
   
   
   
9. Time Management
   Customer service is all about knowing the extent of your expertise and boundaries. If someone is being unreasonable and you’re not in the position to resolve their issue the way they would like, or they have a question you are unaware of the answer to, it is important to understand where to send them to get the help they need.
   
   It could also mean understanding when to end their time with customer service if the interaction has gone on for too long. Time is a very important aspect of customer service. As mentioned above, you should be able to have the patience to take the necessary time to work with the client, but understand when it is time to end the assistance and move on to help others.
   
   
   
10. Sense of Accountability
    This is similar to problem-solving in the fact that you should be able to take the actions necessary to resolve issues as they surface. However, it goes beyond that to being able to take responsibility for your actions. You should be able to meet and exceed customer expectations and understand that their happiness is a direct factor of how their situation is handled.
    
    

If you've had experience with using live chat software, we'd like to know your opinion on how it helped (or possibly hurt) your customer service program. Leave us a comment below and let's see if we can offer up success stories or provide solutions.