8 Rules for the Perfect Customer Service That Are Worth Following

First and foremost you need to have the right attitude. It is important to be friendly, courteous and understanding of the customers' needs. This will build trust and rapport with the customer thus increasing the satisfaction and retention rate.

Second, you need to understand the customer’s needs. There is a difference between sympathy and empathy.  Sympathy is when you simply feel sorry for somebody, but empathy is when you put yourself in the person’s shoes. You feel what they are feeling. Empathy is what you want in customer service, not sympathy.

Third, you need to provide the product or service that meets the customer’s needs, not yours. Try finding the solution that best suits the customer not necessarily your own. After all , the customer is paying for this product or service.

Fourth, you need to give the customer options. No one likes to be given ultimatums. If you provide the customer with options and allow them to choose how to best resolve the issue will give the customer a sense of control over the situation and provide them with peace of mind.

Fifth, you need to be prompt. This goes for customer wait times as well as issue resolution. This is good for both you and the customer. You answer more phone calls and reach your quota and the customer gets a speedy resolution. Everybody wins!

Sixth, you need to view your relationships with customers as long-term relationships. You want your existing customers to keep coming back to you again and again, and also help you attract new customers as well. Building long-term relationships equal greater profits for the company.

Seventh, you need to be metrics-driven.  Track all of your tickets, and segment the inbound inquiries by type - are they shipping inquiries? Product quality-related? Billing issues?  Logging in issues?  Knowing this will help you improve your customer journey. Other KPIs will give you core insights as well:  How many open tickets did you start the day with?  How many were closed and resolved?  How many are still pending and waiting for a resolution?  What was the satisfaction level of your end customers?  CSAT scores, or Customer Satisfaction scores, are a key metric to track how happy your customers are with the response that your customer support team has provided to them.  Knowing these metrics (and more) is a critical aspect to tracking the heartbeat of your engagement with your customers.

Finally, be professional. Sometimes customers can get very emotional on the phone and some things are not very nice. You need to remain professional at all times. Show the customer that you care about their problem and that it is important.

By implementing these eight tips, you will be well on your way towards building a rockstar customer service team.