Your CX Soft-Skills Might Be Stale: A Refresh
It’s not news that “soft-skills” have been underestimated for years, that they are a real set of transferable skills that make or break an incredible worker. It’s also not news that they should be looked at very closely and not taken for granted when looking for a great leader, peer, or in this case, support person.
Great support is an unsuspecting revenue driver for SaaS companies. The reality is that people, users of the internet, know about it’s inconsistency. They are not (as) surprised when the internet breaks or when a server goes down. However, if a support agent is slow to respond, gives a bad answer or is unkind, there is no excuse. People expect the internet to run into some issues, but they will not tolerate a poor support experience. And they shouldn’t.
The soft-skills necessary to be great at Customer Support are specific, incredibly important and constantly evolving. While I feel pretty strongly that soft-skills are innate qualities that can’t really be taught, if you’ve got them, you’ve got to keep them sharp. As the customer experience expectations change, so will the “soft-skills” necessary to provide that experience. The key is to continue to refine, improve and develop these skills. So, keep scrolling for a refresh.
Note: Content below is primarily for chat/email support.
Communication styles
It’s no longer just an answer to a phone call, or a response to an email. It’s communicating over Twitter and Facebook, community forums, and embedded support forms from within your Help Center. It’s gifs, and auto-correct and when to use emojis. It’s too many exclamation points, using bullet points and navigating the condescending nature of an italic.
The approach: Read the room and understand the channel.
- Social media: Make sure your answers can apply to anyone who stumbles upon that post. Make it specific enough to answer the question, but general enough to not display a user’s personal confusion with others. Not possible? Address the question in the public response and create a ticket on their behalf.
- Emojis, gifs: Use your EQ to understand the user you’re speaking to. Wait for them to open the door to a light and friendly conversation. Once the door is open, feel free to walk right through it with a gif or smiley face, but don’t open the door yourself. Avoid winky faces at all costs, and make sure your gifs are relevant and not too wacky.
- Formatting: The way in which a user asks their question can sometimes be very telling as to how you should approach troubleshooting steps. If it’s short and sweet, they will want a short and sweet answer. If they’re confused and disoriented and a bit panicked, bullet points or numbered steps may make or break your success in supporting this person.
Customer Learning:
People want to understand the solution you are sharing. Don’t just fix it, they want to know how and why it was broken in the first place. It’s screenshots with arrows, video tutorials, guidelines and walk-throughs. They don’t want to write back pretty much ever again, so teach them to fish, so they don’t have to.
The approach: Structure the response properly by using their question as guidance.
- If a customer writes in and it’s one big paragraph, 6 different questions and a very clear sense of urgency, your response should be just as detailed but organized and calming. Let them know you are breaking down one question at a time to make it easier to absorb. Then, number each question followed by its relative answer or solution. Add links for further detail and even video tutorials when possible.
- Sometimes a user is going to need the instruction/steps right in the body of the email, sometimes they’ll just want a link to an article. Know when to send them both, or all options. If the answer seems simple, but you’re sending a video tutorial anyway, make sure to preface so they don’t think you’re being condescending. “If you want to learn more, check out this video.” There are many different kinds of learners so provide the resources needed for them to be successful, whatever kind of learner they are.
Empathy Practices:
“How may I help you” is no longer enough. You have to acknowledge their situation or confusion, show them in some capacity that you understand and confirm you’re hearing them properly. It’s “does that make sense?” and “let me know if we’re on the right path.” Teach them kindly and show them the ropes to do it themselves, as a favor to them, not because you don’t want to do it for them.
The approach: Empathy, Transparency, Efficiency (sound familiar?)
- Don’t be afraid to “take a step back” with the user. If you feel you’re off track, no longer on the same page or just trapped in a confusing loop of troubleshooting failures, feel free to start over. Tell them that is your intention and start by restating what you know to be true. Allow them to confirm, and assure them you want to fix it.
- “I’m not sure I’m totally understanding, but..” or “I think I might be missing some key information, however..” are all appropriate should they be followed by a smart attempt at troubleshooting. Perhaps you need more information, but you should be able to make an educated guess on where to start, so give them the option to trust your expertise.
Be a hero in your language and your tone.
Language is what you’re saying and tone is how you’re saying it. Pay attention to both and make sure they are coexisting successfully within your response.
- Be human — Confident, knowledgeable, professional — but human.
- Be yourself — people like you, trust that. Let your personality shine.
- Be solution-oriented — make it happen one way or another.
Most of this is for support tickets but it doesn’t have to be. Take these practices into how you interact with others, how you answer questions from your peers or your friends/family, how you conduct yourself in meetings. Any interaction can be considered a support request if you look at it the right way - make it count. #Supported.
