Customer service department - recruitment of employees

The customer service department is one of the most important parts of the company. It is often the place where the customer first comes into contact with your business, and as you know, the first impression is the most valuable. Customer satisfaction and high quality of service will have a positive impact on their loyalty to your company. That is why it is so important that this department is staffed with really good professionals. In this text, we will tell you how to recruit employees for the customer service department and what to pay special attention to.

Why is customer service so important?

Customers for any business are the most important step in creating success. If there are a lot of them, they are loyal and willing to use your offer - you are successful. If the opposite is true, your business is almost certainly doomed to failure. Therefore, proper communication of the company with customers is the basis for the efficient functioning of the business. It is mentioned when creating all company strategies - be it a sales strategy or a brand strategy.

That is why it is so important to establish and maintain proper relationships with customers. In companies, this is what the customer service department is responsible for. Its employees have to answer customer questions, solve their problems, encourage them to use the company's offer, inform about new products in the offer, etc.

The customer service department can also be a shop, information office, complaint department, as well as support for the marketing department in promoting products or services. That is why employees of such a department should show a lot of skills. Customer service specialists are one of the most sought-after employees on the market - right next to sales specialists. So how to look for specialists for DOK?

Customer service department - desirable qualities of an employee

As in any profession, customer service requires a specific set of features and predispositions that allow you to select candidates. Currently, you can come across numerous offers of courses educating your participants for a specific job - the same is with working in the customer service department.

Many companies independently establish certain strict rules and standards of communication with clients that the employees of DOK must accept. Regardless of this, psychologists and HR specialists have identified a set of features that characterize a good customer service employee.

1. High personal culture, courtesy - these are the qualities necessary in working with the client. Firstly, a nervous, arrogant employee will make a bad impression on the client and, secondly, will rarely lead a conversation with him to the desired goal.

2. Positive attitude - contact with the client is not always pleasant and consultants are often exposed to attacks from upset and outraged interlocutors. The positive attitude of the employee often allows you to reduce the anger of the client and lead the conversation to a more substantive track. It also has the effect of making customers perceive your company as friendly.

3. Arbitration and Conflict Resolution. A customer service employee will often be faced with a conflict or dispute situation. His task will be to resolve the controversies related to a given case in a calm, composed and substantive manner. Conflicts must be averted, but without prejudice to the image or material resources of the company.

4. Loyalty - a loyal employee will put the good of the company first, and this is very important in dealing with the client. An employee who is loyal in disputes will take care of the resolution of the conflict and at the same time the good name of the company.

5. Conscientiousness and discipline. People with such features evoke positive emotions and a sense of trust in interlocutors. At the same time, they are aware of the important role of interpersonal contacts and try to conduct conversations towards the set goal. In addition, conscientious people more diligently provide the help needed in a given situation to the client.

6. Creativity and unconventional nature. A good customer service employee in many situations has to deviate from the usual template and do something against the tide, if that is what the situation may require. Customers appreciate the ability to solve their problem in an original and unusual way, sometimes above the existing formalities.

7. The ability to persuade. You already know that sometimes a customer service specialist can play the role of a marketer or sales representative. Therefore, his ability to persuade is a prized skill - the better he uses it, the more versatile he can be assigned.

Remember that the forms of work in customer service vary - employees can answer to e-mails, operate live chat, "sit on the phone" or meet customers face to face. Therefore, it is not worth canceling out candidates who are not good at face-to-face communication or, for example, a telephone conversation. It may turn out that they are quite successful in contacting their clients in writing. However, it all depends on the duties of the employee in the position for which you are recruiting.

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Customer service department - tasks

What are the tasks assigned to the employee by the customer service department? We mentioned a few of them earlier, but let's try to collect them as a whole. First of all, it is a comprehensive service, i.e. the need to deal with every matter related to the client. Sometimes the employee will have to solve it himself, but it is also important that he can refer the client to a competent person in a given area, if the scale of the problem requires it.

A customer service representative must be well-versed in the company's offer in order to respond to inquiries on an ongoing basis and without delay. It should be in constant communication with the department dealing with the implementation of orders - often customers contact companies about undelivered shipments or too long waiting for the shipment.

Above all, however, the customer service employee will have the task of building long-term relationships with customers - both new and current. Depending on the ways in which your company communicates with the client, the specialist will have to handle e.g. live chat or e-mail for clients. If necessary, it must be ready to meet the recipient.

Recruitment to the customer service department

At the very beginning of the recruitment process, pay special attention to the advertisement you are making. We have mentioned that there are many job offers for the position of a customer service specialist - so it is worth somehow distinguishing yourself from among thousands of similar advertisements.

Create your offer in an original, unusual way, focused primarily on young people - they are, to a very large extent, your potential candidates for this position. Adapt the content of your advertisement to potential recipients - be unconventional and avoid clichés. Pay special attention to the name of the position - "customer service specialist" is now too much associated with work in a call center.

Try to present the customer service standards that prevail in your company in the job offer. How? You can include a link to your website in your offer, creating a landing page with customers' statements about your company or with photos from an event dedicated to them.

Customer service department - job interview

A properly structured job offer will surely attract many candidates - you can conduct an interview both in person and, for example, via Skype, or partly by e-mail.

You already know the features that should characterize a good customer service employee. Formulate questions that will allow you to verify the candidate's customer service standards. Ask for an example of a company they believe is a role model, as well as what they believe is most important to customer service in your business.

During the interview, you can easily check how the candidate behaves in stressful situations, requiring concentration and sharpness of mind despite considerable tension. Listen to how the candidate talks about his previous employers - this can be an indicator of how loyal he was to the work performed.

Check the conscientiousness of the candidate by entrusting him with a task, preferably one that will also verify his ability to solve controversial and disputed situations. You can send this type of task to the candidate by e-mail, expecting a response within a certain time, but not too long.

In the final part of the interview, you can classically test the candidate's creativity and persuasion, asking for a justification as to why you should hire him for this position.

We have presented you with a small compendium of knowledge about recruiting for the position of a customer service specialist. We have indicated what features an ideal candidate should have, what are the typical duties in this position, how to formulate a job offer and how to conduct an interview.We hope that we have managed to explain why the customer service department requires the employment of top-class specialists and how you can recruit them for your company.