10 MINDSET STRATEGIES TO TURN YOU INTO A SALES GUN

One of the most common obstacles I am asked to help with sales amateurs and even professionals, concerns confidence and mindset. The sales process is full of rejections and challenges that constantly tests our inner belief. Sometimes to the point of questioning our abilities, our performance and even our purpose.

These challenges of the mind are inherit not just in sales but in our lives in general. We are conditioned to fear rejection and the unknown. Our inner defence does not want to expose our vulnerabilities and for most it is easier to play it safe.

What we must know is that logically fear, is an irrational response that in most cases has no real place in our mindset, other than the one we create for it. Why should we fear to ask questions? Why should we fear to ask for the sale? Why should we fear to sell?

For many it becomes a burden to impose themselves by selling. For the sales elite, it is about the challenge to achieve their goals and help the prospect make the right buying decision. “Their only fear is the opportunities that will be lost by not helping the customer buy!”

Here are 10 mindset strategies to overcome the anxiety of selling:

   1. Solve Rather than sell

Stop selling or telling and start solving. Work with the client to solve their problem by asking questions that identify their requirements and so you are clear on what they need solving.

   2. Understand the advantage is to your prospect

You are there to solve a problem that is inflicting your prospect. It is costing them pain, money, time and discomfort. You are there to take away their pain and add value to their solution by collaborating with the prospect

   3. Talk back to your limiting beliefs

When it comes to that limiting voice in your head, tell that voice to approach to difficulties as challenges and setbacks as a reflection to personal growth. Every negative or positive has a lesson that drive our personal growth. Everyone has failures and makes mistakes but it is learning from these that strengthens our resolve.

   4. Don’t be afraid to fail

Failure is not trying your best. With risk comes reward. Learn from these failures and it will boost your tenacity, confidence and attitude.

   5. Believe in yourself and your solution

If there is any doubt in yourself or your solution then your prospect will see through this. You need to educate, understand and believe that the solution you are offering is the best.

    6. Discover your motivation

What is the driver for you wanting to succeed? Is it money, recognition, thrill of the chase, to help people and business, to be successful, to be the best at what you do? Tap into your motivator and feed from it.

   7. Be accountable

 Don’t blame yourself for losing a sales but accept that you could have done something different. Revisit the situation and examine what you could have done differently. Use this new found knowledge in your next sale. The attitude of responsibility leads to more control over your life, higher self-esteem, self-confidence, and ultimately more happiness and success.

   8. Plan and Prepare for selling

One of the most important impacts to your sales success is having a plan and being prepared. Having a sales guide or strategy that shows you how to overcome obstacles in the sale will make you more confident and powerful by having the answers you seek.

   9. Surround yourself with Optimism & Drive

Top sales pros have a winning, optimistic mindset. They know that negative, bitter people with victim mindsets do not succeed in sales and tend to struggle through life. They attack each day with enthusiasm – fired up and ready to rock. Surround yourself with people who have an optimistic attitude even if it means getting new friends.

   10. Develop a thirst for self-improvement

You don't go to school once. You are in school all your life. Sales superstars are constantly working to become better. They take courses, training, read books, listen to audiotapes and inhale everything they can to improve. The more you know about what you need to do the more empowering.

Creating the mindset for success in sales and life is about taking risks, actions and embracing change. It is about pushing away the voice on our shoulder that tells us why we can’t and take on the challenge to show just how easy it can be. It takes attitude, actions and effort. Those vital ingredients that differentiate those who say they can and those who really do!

What do you do to create a positive mindset?

Author

Emmanuel Lardis

Logicus Training Solutions

“Daring to be Different”

emmanuel@logicustraining.com.au 

www.logicustraining.com.au

Logicus Training Solutions - Training and business Consultants

Leading the Personal and Business Development Revolution!

POWER ON YOUR TRAINING TO POWER UP YOUR BUSINESS

Knowledge and skills development is vital to the health of organisations.  We live in an information age today, and organisations are routinely valued not just on their physical but on their intellectual capital.  Training is one of the chief methods of maintaining and improving intellectual capital, so the quality of an organisation’s training affects its value. Untrained or poorly trained employees cost significantly more to support than well-trained employees do.  Training affects employee retention and is a valuable commodity that, if viewed as an investment rather than as an expense, can produce high yielding returns.

Training is an organisations effort aimed at helping employees to acquire the basic skills required for the efficient execution of the functions for which they are hired.  Development, on the other hand, deals with activities undertaken to expose employees to perform additional duties and assume positions of importance in the organisational hierarchy.

Training and development are initiated in order to:

1.             Build a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the company’s competitive position and improves employee morale.

2.             Relevantly remain in business.

3.             Create a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in the organisation.

4.             Enhance the company’s ability to adopt and use advances in technology because of a sufficiently knowledgeable staff.

5.             Ensure adequate human resources for expansion into new programs.

6.             Pilot or test the operation of a new performance management system

7.             Benchmark the status of improvement so far in a performance improvement effort.

Training is also initiated:

1.             As part of an overall professional development program

2.             When a performance appraisal indicates performance improvement is needed

3.             When special projects and products are to be embarked upon

The benefits of training and development to employees and organisations alike are numerous:

1.             Workers are helped to focus, and priority is placed on empowering employees.

2.             Productivity is increased, positively affecting the bottom line.

3.             Employee confidence is built, keeping and developing key performers, enabling team development and contributing to better team/organisation morale. 

4.             Employees are kept current on new job-related information, thereby contributing significantly to better customer service.

5.             Employees are updated on new and enhanced skills, with a view to aligning them to business goals and objectives.

6.             After a downsizing, remaining workers are given the technical and management skills to handle increased workloads.

7.             Companies with business problems are given a fresh or unbiased professional opinion or exploration, evaluation, or critique.

8.        Job satisfaction, employee motivation and morale are increased, reducing employee turnover.

9.        Processes increase in efficiency, resulting in financial gain.

10.    Innovation is increased, bringing new strength to strategies, products and the company’s capacity to adopt new technologies and methods.

Typical Topics of Employee Training

1. Communications: The increasing diversity of today's workforce brings a wide variety of languages, customs and platforms
2. Computer skills: Computer skills are a necessity for many company tasks.
3. Customer service: Increased competition in today's global marketplace makes it critical that employees understand and meet the needs of customers.
4. Diversity: Diversity training usually includes explanation about how people have different perspectives and views, and includes techniques to value diversity
5. Ethics: Today's society has increasing expectations about corporate social responsibility.
6. Human relations: The increased stresses of today's workplace can include misunderstandings and conflict. Training can people to get along in the workplace.
7. Safety: Safety training is critical where working with heavy equipment, hazardous chemicals, repetitive activities, and hazards in workplaces.
8. Sales: The focus on sales has never been greater, with opportunities harder to find and where every prospect is lost to a competitor. This means losses are more costly and that the companies who focus on building this strength will emerge financially victorious

Learning and upgrading employee skills makes business sense. It starts from day one, and becomes successive as your employees grow. Granted, it may take some time to see a return on your investment, but the long-term gains associated with employee training make a difference. The short-term expense of a training program ensures you keep qualified and productive workers who will help your company succeed. That’s an investment you can take to the bank.

Emmanuel @ Logicus Training Solutions

Leading the Training and Development Revolution by Daring to be Different!

Multi Award Winning Training and business consultants (www.logicustraining.com.au)

The Evolution of Sales - 5 Change Strategies that Boost Sales in Today's Market

The Evolution of Sales

5 CHANGE STRATEGIES THAT BOOST SALES IN TODAY'S MARKET

We have heard of companies that boom in times of economic hardship by developing new strategies and solutions to generate more sales. Many things have changed even over the last 5 years, such as technology, the economy and people’s perceptions. Companies are still working with strategies that are now outdated, ineffective and do not provide the same return on investment as they did in the past.

5 sales strategies that you would benefit to change:
1)     Solve rather than sell: It is no longer about selling your product or service but about solving the problem or requirement. There are usually many other similar choices that are differentiated by packaging or price.  By solving the issue relevant to your client it becomes something worth paying for.

2)     Building Relationships: Wining and dining is not enough these days as decision makers have become more time poor and impatient. Relationships are now built through the perception of trust, expertise and by understanding the prospects objectives and business needs. Asking relevant and strategic questions that build confidence shows you are there for the interest of your prospect and not your own.

3)     Leverage off Connections: In the past it was about keeping things close to our chest, but today it is about how we can create relationships that give us an edge. By teaming up with other companies who complement each other’s offerings and provide incentives for generating a sale, companies can benefit each other by working together.

4)     Everyone’s a Salesperson:  Every person that has contact with clients has the opportunity to sell. Most clients are lost and won by the relationships and impressions made by non-sales focused staff. This can be the receptionist or even accounts. Leads can be generated, selling seeds can be planted and sales can be closed by training all staff to art of sales.

5)     Fearless Mindset of Change: Fear is an irrational emotion that inhibits our ability to grow and rationalise. For many the fear of change is something that affects our personal comfort and requires extra effort. To choose change is to embrace progress as we evolve into something that gives us an advantage over the past.

It is important to monitor and evolve your sales strategy based on several influences that will affect your ability to sell. Sales strategy needs to evolve as the drivers of change determines your direction.

Join us on  on Tuesday the 31st of March 2015 for our must come event where we teach you Sales, Marketing and Time Management strategies for as little as $49, bring a friend or colleague and save. Generate more leads, close more sales and manage your time smarter. This opportunity is not to be missed. We look forward to seeing you there. Seats are very limited. Click here to find out more: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sales-marketing-and-time-the-trinity-to-business-success-in-2015-tickets-15772484927?aff=LTS

This information is proudly brought to your by The S.A.B.O.R Program - Revolutionising the way we sell!
Find out more: www.logicustrainingsolutions.com.au 

For a FREE no obligation consultation contact Emmanuel @ Logicus Training Solutions on (08) 9307 3771 or Email enquiries@logicustraining.com.au or visit www.logicustraining.com.au

HOW TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS IN TOUGH TIMES

There is no secret that confidence in the current market is lacking which is affecting the financial position of companies across many industries. This has forced many companies to embrace, change. Companies may develop strategies based on cutting costs and waiting for the storm to pass. Emmanuel Lardis from Logicus Training Solutions says “Entrepreneurial decision makers invest in growth strategies to increase productivity and create opportunities designed to increase sales and market share”.

“We have heard of companies that boom in times of economic hardship, how they do it?” said Emmanuel. “These businesses do it the SMART way by developing new strategies and outsourcing solutions to generate more SALES”. “Companies are still working with strategies that are now outdated, ineffective and do not provide the same return on investment as they did in the past” So many things have changed even in the last 5 years, such as technology, the economy and customer perceptions. Shouldn’t sales strategies also change?”

Ashlee Borovina from Impact Panel and Paint in Joondalup said “Many businesses we speak to seem to be struggling.” “We have looked at getting advice from experts such as Emmanuel who has given us the tools required to move forward and continue to grow our business”.

Emmanuel said “While others wait out the uncertainty, the opportunist will capitalise on capturing a larger slice of the market share, strengthening their position as the economy finds its feet.”

Outsourcing reputable sales trainers and coaches that provide current strategies can provide ongoing financial rewards. Sales advisors can provide different angles, markets and direction that can be seen if you know how, where and what to look for.

The market is in a cleansing period that is pushing out businesses reluctant to change and increase market share for those who are willing to adapt and invest in the future.  We have a choice of waiting for the uncertainty to pass us by, or pushing forward by generating more sales and growing your business, the SMART way.

For more information visit www.logicustraining.com.au or call (08) 9307 3771

Logicus Training Solutions - Building Business and People the SMART way!

SELLING THROUGH THE ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY

HOW THE CURRENT MARKET CAN BUILD YOUR BUSINESS

There is no secret that confidence in the current market is lacking which is affecting the financial position of companies across many industries. This historic trend in the economy has placed many businesses and companies in a situation that requires change. Various companies will develop strategies based on cutting costs, downsizing their capital investment, and even retrenching staff. These strategies are designed to consolidate costs, lay low and wait for the storm to pass. Entrepreneurial decision makers invest in growth strategies designed to increase productivity, optimise opportunities and increase sales.

We have all heard of companies that boom in times of economic hardship. How do they do it?

Answer: The SMART way!

One of the most important processes of a business is sales. No sales, no business! No matter how much we save on costs or spend on marketing and advertising, we will not achieve our optimal rewards objective if we do not convert and generate sales.

In the last 5 the changes in technology, society, the economy, and perceptions are staggering. What was extremely relevant 5 years ago is not so relevant now. Unfortunately, many businesses are still working with strategies that are now outdated, ineffective and do not provide the same return on investment as they did in the past.

Sales strategies and techniques are key to this necessity of change. The sales strategies and techniques we used a few years ago are not as effective today. Customers are wiser, more educated and more suspicious of the stereotypical sales person that is perceived as filled with self-interest.

Sales strategies and techniques need to address the current broader factors and evolve to suit today’s environment. Our ability to sell is limited by our experience, our mindset and our knowledge. There are other factors that can affect the selling process, but a true solutions provider (traditionally known as salesperson) can always find the answer. Today’s process should not be so much on focusing to sell but helping our customer to buy!

While others wait out the uncertainty, the opportunist will capitalise on capturing a larger part of the market share, strengthening their position as the economy finds its feet. Outsourcing reputable sales trainers and coaches that provide current strategies can provide an opportunity of expansion in this market. Sales advisors can provide different angles, markets and direction that can be seen if you know how, where and what to look for.

The market is in a cleansing period that is pushing out operators that are reluctant to change and increase market share for those who are willing to adapt and invest in the future. We have a choice of waiting for the uncertainty to pass us by or pushing forward by generating more sales and growing your business, the SMART way.

Logicus Training Solutions - Training and Business Consultants (08) 9307 3771
(Registered Training Organisation 52635 - www.logicustraining.com.au)

10 Trends Shaping Training and Development

10 Trends Shaping 

Training & Development

Friday, April 18, 2014

There are 10 key trends helping to shape the current landscape of
organizational training and development (T&D), according to research
 by AMA Enterprise.

“AMA has tracked a number of developments—some major, some
minor—affecting T&D that must be understood as well as adapted
to current market realities,” said Jennifer Jones, Director at AMA
Enterprise, which provides organizations with assessment,
measurement, and tailored learning solutions. “For instance,
workers are becoming much savvier when it comes to tapping into
company leadership programs and external development opportunities.
There’s also steady globalization, pressure for greater transparency,
 and an expectation by senior management that these efforts pay off in
some measurable way. Every development professional must be
attuned to these trends.”

The key trends identified by AMA Enterprise are:

1. The definition of “leader” is broadening.
A majority of large organizations now consider individuals to be 

leaders based on their impact, not on their authority or position. 

Increasingly, a leader is viewed as “anyone, whether they manage 

others or not, who is a top-performer in their specific role.”

2. Management faces a more risk-averse workforce.
A growing proportion of the workforce has become risk-averse,
probably due to the sluggish economy and weak job market.
Management must assess its own responsibility for this
phenomenon and determine if the organization really encourages
initiative or risk taking.

3. Demand for “big data” skills is growing sharply.
A greater volume of information is now at the disposal of organizations 

today, but employees lack the analytical skills to deal with such
complex data, and management is now pressed to provide the
needed training.

4. More organizations avoid the term “high potential.“
There is a growing reluctance to call candidates for accelerated career 

development “high potential.“ The term may suggest that other
employees do not have much potential, which is not a healthy message
to convey, either to them or to the organization.

5. Selection for high potential programs becoming more impartial. 

Companies now seek to make the application process for such
programs more systematic and impartial. Anticipate greater
transparency on performance criteria, changes in corporate strategy,
more flexible career opportunities, and tighter high potential selection
and management succession processes.

6. Leadership programs are being retooled for globalization. 

Some companies have long had a global dimension to their
development initiatives. But others find they must now play catch-up
or lose ground in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The
top competencies for global leadership development are change
management, ability to influence and build coalitions, and critical
thinking and problem solving.

7. Many organizations are ill-prepared for rising turnover. 

One-third of employers are concerned that employee turnover may rise
as the job market improves, a 2013 AMA survey found. And many
companies admit they are not ready to deal with the challenge and are
seeking suitable solutions.

8. Core skills are a renewed focus. 

Classic programs devoted to basic skills often suffered during the
recession, taking a back seat to specialized modules that met
immediate business challenges. There is now greater demand for
programs that develop communications skills, critical thinking,
collaboration and creativity, all of which aim to improve long-term
employee productivity.

9. More employees seek entry into leadership programs. 

If the selection process for programs once had a low profile, ambitious 

individuals now volunteer themselves for any kind of leadership
development offering. Organizations realize they must find ways to
meet this growing demand.

10. A growing focus on developing individual contributors. 

More than one in three organizations have stepped up efforts to
develop individual contributors. So-called high potential candidates
from the management ranks often get all the attention, while individual
contributors hardly figure in development programs. Yet these are
key constituents within every organization—core players who get
things done despite having no direct management authority.

Change has always been constant in the T&D sector, observed
Jones.“Some change is obvious, but other change is less so.
Development professionals must prepare and be able to respond to
change in all its forms.”

Logicus Training Solutions - Training and business consultants (Registered Training Organisation - www.logicustraining.com.au)

15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs

15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs 

There are certain customer service skills that every employee must master if they are forward-facing with customers.

Without them, you run the risk of finding your business in an embarrassing customer service train-wreck, or simply losing customers as your service continues to let people down.

Luckily, there are a few universal skills that every support member can master that will drastically improve their interactions with customers.

Below I'll go over the 15 most-needed skills that matter to this incredibly important position.

The Customer Service Skills that Matter

When most business publications talk about customer service skills, things like "being a people person" tend to take the spotlight...

It's not that this trait is outright wrong, but it's so vague and generic that it is hardly a help to those looking to get involved in support positions within a company, and certainly doesn't help out entrepreneurs/founders who are looking for the right set of skills when hiring the all-important folks who will be taking care of their customers.

With that said, let's get into some SPECIFIC skills that every support employee can master to "WOW" the customers that they interact with on a daily basis...

1. Patience

If you don't see this near the top of a customer service skills list, you should just stop reading.

Not only is patience important to customers, who often reach out to support when they are confused and frustrated, but it's also important to the business at large: we've shown you before that great service beats fast service every single time.

Yet patience shouldn't be used as an excuse for slothful service either!

Derek Sivers explained his view on "slower" service as being an interaction where the time spent with the customer was used to better understand their problems and needs from the company.

If you deal with customers on a daily basis, be sure to stay patient when they come to you stumped and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want — they'd rather get competent service than be rushed out the door!

2. Attentiveness

I feel like men may need to re-read this one twice, if girlfriends and wives are to be believed... ;)

The ability to really listen to customers is so crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons.

Last week I went over a few customer feedback systems, and long before that I showed you the data on why listening to customer feedback is a must for many businesses who are looking to innovate.

Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customer interactions (watching the language/terms that they use to describe their problems), but it's also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.

For instance, customers may not be saying it outright, but perhaps there is a pervasive feeling that your software's dashboard isn't laid out correctly. Customers aren't likely to say, "Please improve your UX!", but they may say things like, "I can never find the search feature," or, "Where is the _____ function at again?"

What are your customers telling you without saying it?

3. Clear Communication Skills

For all of the "mumblers" and people who love to ramble on (that's me!), you need to listen up!

It's okay to find out more about your customers, but make sure you're getting to the problem at hand quickly; customers don't need your life story or to hear about how your day is going.

More importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of your communication habits translate to customers, and it's best to err on the side of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation.

An example: The last time I went to get work done on my car, I was told by an employee that if I wanted to get an oil change, it would be "included" in my final bill.

I thought that meant I'd be getting it for free, yet as it turns out, that wasn't the case. The employee apologized and I truly believe it was an accident (they just worked there), but I haven't been back to that shop since because of the miscommunication.

When it comes to important points that you need to relay clearly to customers, keep it simple and leave nothing to doubt.

4. Knowledge of the Product

As a non-technical guy, this is one I try to work on every single day.

The best forward-facing employees in your company will work on having a deep knowledge of how your product works.

It's not that every single team member should be able to build your product from scratch, but rather they should know the ins and outs of how your product works, just like a customer who uses it everyday would.

Without knowing your product from front-to-back, you won't know how to help customers when they run into problems.

5. Ability to Use "Positive Language"

Sounds like fluffy nonsense, but your ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in creating happy customers.

Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based off of the language that you use.

Here's an example: Let's say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product, but that product happens to be back ordered until next month.

Small changes that utilize "positive language" can greatly affect how the customer hears your response...

• Without positive language: "I can't get you that product until next month; it is back-ordered and unavailable at this time."
• With positive language: "That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse."

The first example isn't negative by any means, but the tone that it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal, and can be taken the wrong way by customers.

Conversely, the second example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but instead focuses on when/how the customer will get to their resolution rather than focusing on the negative.

6. Acting Skills

Let's get real honest here... sometimes you're going to come across people that you'll never be able to make happy.

Situations outside of your control (they had a terrible day, or they are just a natural-born complainer) will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and you'll be greeted with those "barnacle" customers that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down.

Every great customer service rep will have those basic acting skills necessary to maintain their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may be just plain grumpy.

7. Time Management Skills

Hey, despite my many research-backed rants on why you should spend more time with customers, the bottom line is that there is a limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want in an efficient manner.

The trick here is that this should also be applied when realizing when you simply cannot help a customer. If you don't know the solution to a problem, the best kind of support member will get a customer over to someone who does.

Don't waste time trying to go above and beyond for a customer in an area where you will just end up wasting both of your time!

8. Ability to "Read" Customers

You won't always be able to see customers face-to-face, and in many instances (nowadays) you won't even hear a customer's voice!

That doesn't exempt you from understanding some basic principles of behavioral psychology and being able to "read" the customer's current emotional state.

This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because it takes knowing your customers to create a personal experience for them.

More importantly though, this skill is essential because you don't want to misread a customer and end up losing them due to confusion and miscommunication.

Look and listen for subtle clues about their current mood, patience level, personality, etc., and you'll go far in keeping your customer interactions positive.

9. A Calming Presence

There's a lot of metaphors for this type of personality: "keeps their cool," "staying cool under pressure," etc., but it all represents the same thing... the ability that some people have to stay calm and even influence others when things get a little hectic.

I've had my fair share of hairy hosting situations, and I can tell you in all honesty that the #1 reason I stick with certain hosting companies is due to the ability of their customer support team to keep me from pulling my hair out.

The best customer service reps know that they cannot let a heated customer force them to lose their cool; in fact it is their job to try to be the "rock" for a customer who thinks the world is falling down due to their current problem.

10. Goal Oriented Focus

This may seem like a strange thing to list as a customer service skill, but I assure you that it is vitally important.

In my article on empowering employees, I noted that many customer service experts have shown how giving employees unfettered power to "WOW" customers doesn't always generated the returns that many businesses expect to see.

That's because it leaves employees without goals, and business goals + customer happiness can work hand-in-hand without resulting in poor service.

Relying on frameworks like the Net Promoter Score can help businesses come up with guidelines for their employees that allow plenty of freedom to handle customers on a case-to-case basis, but also leave them priority solutions and "go-to" fixes for common problems.

Read more about this concept here.

11. Ability to Handle Surprises

Despite what I had to say above, sometimes the customer support world is going to throw you a curveball!

Maybe the problem you encounter isn't specifically covered in the company's guidelines, or maybe the customer isn't reacting how you thought they would.

Whatever the case, it's best to be able to think on your feet... but it's even better to create guidelines for yourself in these sorts of situations.

Let's say, for instance, you want to come up with a quick system for when you come across a customer who has a product problem you've never seen before...

• Who? One thing you can decide right off the bat is who you should consider your "go-to" person when you don't know what to do. The CEO might be able to help you, but you can't go to them with every single question! Define a logical chain for yourself to use, then you won't be left wondering who you should forward the problem too.
• What? When the problem is noticeably out of your league, what are you going to send to the people above? The full conversation, just the important parts, or maybe some highlights and an example of a similar ticket?
• How? When it comes time to get someone else involved, how are you going to contact them? For instance, at Help Scout we prefer to solve small dilemmas over chat, and save bigger problems for email, keeping inbox clutter down to a minimum.

12. Persuasion Skills

This is one a lot of people didn't see coming!

Experienced customer support personnel know that oftentimes, you will get messages in your inbox that are more about the curiosity of your company's product, rather than having problems with it.

(Especially true if your email is available on-site, like ours)

To truly take your customer service skills to the next level, you need to have some mastery of persuasion so that you can convince interested customers that your product is right for them (if it truly is).

It's not about making a sales pitch in each email, but it is about not letting potential customers slip away because you couldn't create a compelling message that your company's product is worth purchasing!

13. Tenacity

Call it what you want, but a great work ethic and a willingness to do what needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people talk about.

The many memorable customer service stories out there (many of which had a huge impact on the business) were created by a single employee who refused to just do the "status quo" when it came to helping someone out.

Remembering that your customers are people too, and knowing that putting in the extra effort will come back to you ten-fold should be your driving motivation to never "cheat" your customers with lazy service.

14. Closing Ability

To be clear, this has nothing to do with "closing sales" or other related terms.

Being able to close with a customer means being able to end the conversation with confirmed satisfaction (or as close to it as you can achieve) and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of (or will be).

Getting booted after a customer service call or before all of their problems have been addressed isthe last thing that customers want, so be sure to take the time to confirm with customers that each and every issue they had on deck has been entirely resolved.

Your willingness to do this shows the customer 3 very important things:

• That you care about getting it right
• That you're willing to keep going until you get it right
• That the customer is the one who determines what "right" is.

When you get a customer to, "Yes, I'm all set!" is when you know the conversation is over!

15. Willingness to Learn!

If you came across this article and read all the way to the bottom, you likely already have this skill (nice!).

This is probably the most "general" skill on the list, but it's still necessary.

Those who don't seek to improve what they do, whether it's building products, marketing businesses, or helping customers, will get left behind by the people willing to invest in their skills.

We love how the BufferApp team approaches this skill with their wonderful monthly customer happiness updates. The updates are public, detailed, and go through how the support team (and the team at large) handled incoming emails for the month. What better way can a start up's support team learn as it goes then breaking down their own customer happiness metrics each and every month, for the public to see?

Your Turn...

Now I need to hear from you!

1. Which of the 15 customer service skills addressed above do you feel is most important? Are there any that I missed?

Written by Gregory Ciotti    https://www.helpscout.net/blog/customer-service-skills/