Skip to main content

The Top Customer-Service Skill a Business Owner Should Master

For a business to thrive, it needs customers. Not only that, but companies must retain customers while pursuing new ones to grow. The only way to do that is to provide customer service that is superior to the competition.

As a business owner, it’s your job to make sure your employees have the necessary skills to provide this level of service customers have come to expect. However, the owner also needs to have the same skillsets. They aren’t only for your customer’s benefit but also your employees since many of these traits are good bosses.

You must acquire and perfect a long list of skills as the owner to provide excellent customer service, and we’ll touch on those a bit later. Before we dive into our customer service skills list, we’d like to discuss the most important customer service skill you can have as a business owner.

Customer service agent

Active Listening

Hearing and understanding what your customers are trying to communicate to you is perhaps the most crucial customer service skill a business owner can have. Active listening lies at the root of almost every other customer service skill. When the customer reaches to be heard, for whatever reason, the business must fully process what they’re saying and why. The quickest way to lose a customer is to make them feel like they aren’t being heard.

Communication is the foundation on which business (and any) relationships are built. Listening is the first act in healthy communication. Actively listening means that you let the other person say what’s on their mind, then you restate their issue or concern in a way that they know you heard them. Here’s an example.

Customer: “I bought this widget only two weeks ago, and now it doesn’t do X.”

Customer Service: “I’m so sorry to hear your widget isn’t doing X. Can I ask when you first noticed this issue and if there was anything else out of the ordinary about your widget?”

The above response by the customer service representative lets the customer know they’ve been heard. If you noticed, another customer service skill is being utilized in the above dialogue, empathy.

Women in bakery

Other Essential Customer Service Skills to Master

Empathy

It’s essential to relate to how the customer feels in any scenario where they think they need to express their displeasure (or pleasure) with a company. After all, customer service isn’t just about fielding complaints. Sometimes customers reach out to businesses to thank them. Either way, it’s crucial to understand how the customer feels and respond appropriately.

An excellent way to do this is to try and think about good (or bad) customer service you had personally experienced and remember how it made you feel. Take those feelings into your customer interactions, remember that the customer is probably feeling the same way, and try to give them a better experience than you had. Two other critical customer service skills that go hand-in-hand with empathy are friendliness and patience.

Friendliness and Patience

Let’s be honest. Regularly dealing with customer complaints and concerns can be taxing. It’s vital that throughout your dealings with customers that you maintain a friendly demeanor and be patient, no matter how insignificant the customer’s problem may seem to be. Using positive language and asking customers to elaborate on their concerns, rather than simply trying to end the conversation, are ways to practice and improve friendliness and patience.

Problem Solving

The main goal of customer service is to solve problems. We all know that every customer’s situation is unique in some way. Business owners and customer service agents aren’t always going to be able to solve problems in a scripted manner. Sometimes it involves thinking on your feet and using creative thinking to get the job done.

Clear Communication

As we mentioned, active listening is the first step in communication; however, it’s just one component. Being able to express yourself clearly to the customer and in a way they understand is crucial to being able to solve their problems. This means always speaking in a professional, respectful tone.

Thick Skin

The unfortunate truth is that that, for whatever reason, some customers don’t want their problems resolved, no matter how hard you may try. People often try to take advantage of an issue they experienced with a particular business to try and get things for free. At the end of the day, you’ve got a business to run. You can’t bend to every unreasonable customer demand to make them happy. At some point, you must stand your ground and accept that the customer’s issue cannot be resolved, even if it means losing that particular customer.

Final Thoughts

Excellent customer service is vital to developing a successful business. The first and most essential customer service skill every business owner should possess is active listening. Active listening sets the stage for every other customer service skill like empathy, friendliness, patience, clear communication, and having thick skin.

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Johnson
Steven Johnson is a chef-turned-content strategist. He now helps companies attract and retain more customers through content…
5 best desk organizers for a tidy office
Minimalist desktop organization

If you work at home, in a shared office space, in a private studio, or in a prominent corner office, you likely use a desk. And desks are a vital place for productivity, strategizing, and brainstorming. But if your desk is full of clutter, you may not get anything done.
The usable space impacts your productivity and effectiveness on your desk. Even if you can work in a messy space, your mindset may have a negative impact from the disarray. Crowded desk space can increase stress and anxiety surrounding your sense of accomplishment.
Fortunately, there are desktop organizers to help you sort any mess. You can find a tabletop organizer for documents, devices, portability, and more. Read on the discover the best desktop organizers for your needs.

Best for document organization
Easily the most common thing on any desktop is paperwork, bills, and other documents. And paper takes up a lot of space. Plus, it's a mess that can stack up. The best tabletop organizer for you might be a document tray. The Simple Houseware Stackable Desk File Document Letter Tray Organizer is the key to your paperwork issue.

Read more
7 types of construction site accidents and how to avoid them
Construction worker falling from ladder

Construction site accidents are unavoidable. Hard physical labor mixed with heavy machinery and hazardous materials all combine to dramatically increase workplace risks. However, if you're in the construction industry, you were well aware of these risks when you signed up. Workplace hazards come with skilled trades that you don't have if you sit behind a desk. 

Over the past few decades, accidents in construction have become less frequent thanks to safety regulations and systems put in place by OSHA. Also, construction personal protective equipment has improved as technology has advanced.

Read more
The complete guide for building a roof truss
Roof truss system on new roof

The roof of a building is the most critical part of any structure, as it protects the building from the elements. Furthermore, roof trusses are one of the most essential structural parts of roofs. The roof truss is the framework of the roof and has become one of the most reliable and structurally secure methods to build a roof, given they carry the weight of the frame and walls of a home. 

Additionally, trusses help prevent walls from any structural bending or flexing over time. There are many types of trusses on the market in which the truss can ultimately determine the shape of the roof once built. Therefore, let's explore all the methods of how to build roof trusses.

Read more