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| A CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT |
Tips That Would Boost Your Customer Service Career
A career in customer service is very one of the most intriguing and rewarding on demand. According to the US bureau of statistics, employment of customer service professionals is projected to grow 10 percent from 2014 to 2024. This is faster than the average growth rate for all other occupations and it indicates a strong demand for customer service professionals. With more companies now focusing on improving their customer service & experience ratings, this is the best time to be in customer service.
Here are 6 simple things you can do to grow rapidly in your career as a customer service professional
#1. Read More
Reading is one of the most rewarding activities you can engage in; it nurtures the mind and gives you more knowledge/insights. Read books about customer service, business networking, or even novels that can stretch your imagination, it doesn’t stop at books - visit blogs and websites about customer service, life hacks etc. The point is...just read. Besides the knowledge you gain from reading, forming it as a habit will improve your vocabulary, analytical skills and memory.“if you read one book per week, 50 books per year, that will make you one of the best educated, smartest, most capable and highest paid people in your field” - Brian Tracy
Good communication skills are key in customer service, one of the most noticeable changes you’ll experience when you start reading books is that you develop a larger vocabulary. Words nurture creativity -- having more words at your disposal make you a great communicator.
Reading gives you leverage, this is something your colleagues cannot duplicate, and compared to them you will be more likely to have those insights that may be helpful to your organization.
#2. Work On Your Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is important not just in customer service, but also in daily living. The concept has evolved over the years, from being called social intelligence in the 1930s to emotional strength in the mid-20th century. Emotional intelligence is simply the ability to:- Recognize and understand your own emotions (self-awareness)
- Manage, control, and adapt your reactions/responses to these emotions (self-management)
- Harness these emotions to motivate ourselves to take appropriate action and work toward the achievement of career goals (motivation)
- Recognize the feelings of others, understand their emotions, and utilize that understanding to relate to them more effectively (empathy)
- Build relationships, relate to others in social situations, be a leader, work as part of a team, as well as resolving complaints & negotiating conflict, (social skills).
#3. Self-Improvement
If you truly seek to excel in your career, you must also learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job, avoid into the trap of getting comfortable with your current role. For you to achieve excellence in your career, you must consistently seek new ways to improve on yourself - get a certification, learn a new skill, or join a professional body, there are plenty of ways to improve on yourself.Engage in activities that will improve self-knowledge, enable you develop talents and build employability. Self-improvement increases your worth and awakens you to enormous potential. It is no secret that the greatest achievers are those who learned how to handle themselves in a variety of circumstances – this ability comes through constant self-improvement.
Self-improvement is a never ending process, and sometimes you might have to make sacrifices, but the rewards you reap are worth every one of them.
#4. Build Your Network
In your career path, a solid network of connections is important in accelerating your rise up the ladder; networking is about making connections and building enduring, mutually beneficial relationships with total strangers. Every big thing you want to accomplish in your career relies on the people around you, thus the need to build good relationships with lots of people. The more good relationships you have, the easier it will be to achieve those things you want to achieve. If you’re yet to build up your own personal connections, it's never too late to start.Attend networking events when you have to opportunity to, you’ll meet like-minded people just like you and often you will learn interesting things or gain new insights in your time making small talk with them. Network on social media also, platforms like LinkedIn are dedicated just for that, get registered, connect and interact with like-minded people in your field.
#5. Learn To Love Your Career
It’s been said that the only way you can do great work is to love what you do. Although customer service can sometimes become very challenging, it also has its rewards, there are a good reasons you should love your career as a customer service professional.In customer service the combination of passion and ambition will help you ascend the career ladder. It’s the passion for the job, which will lead you to take those steps that make you learn and grow faster than your peers.
#6. Be Positive
With a positive attitude you see the good side of things in any situation, and expect the best to happen, it is certainly a state of mind worth developing both in your career and personal life.When you communicate with customers, your attitude shows - a warm and friendly smile, good eye contact and a willingness to be of service, are ways positive attitude manifests in your interaction, it enables you to look and act the part of a confident professional.
A positive attitude enhances communication between you and the customers; it is this attitude that enables you to go above and beyond the basics to deliver excellent customer service, the type that gets recognized.
