1. Communication skills
Service reps should be pleasant and empathetic while they’re interacting with customers. They must have great listening skills to understand what the customer really wants and should also have the patience to handle conversations effectively irrespective of the customer’s skill level.
2. Competent technical knowledge
It’s always good to have a support agent who’s well versed with your product and is familiar with the latest technologies in customer support. CSRs can use their technical know-how to solve complex customer issues and also help new team members adapt to your company’s support routines quickly.
3. Ability to multitask
As customer support is one of the most chaotic departments within a company, a support rep must be able to multitask seamlessly between tasks like handling high-priority tickets, documenting solution articles, and preparing notes for meetings/events in a way such that their time and energy is divided optimally.
4. Attention to detail
Customer service issues are unpredictable and, therefore, need to be tackled in an organized and detail-oriented way. Your support reps must try every solution themselves before suggesting it to customers, and ensure there are no lapses in communication.
5. Ability to honor deadlines
Being the face of your company, your support reps should be able to honor your company’s SLAs and ensure all assigned tickets are resolved well within the deadline. If a particular ticket is out of their scope, they must follow standard procedures to escalate it to the right team.
6. A proactive approach to support
It’s important that service reps don’t stop talking to customers after a problem is resolved. They can also take the liberty to make outbound calls to customers—proactively reaching out to customer accounts—find out if it’s been a smooth sail for them with the product, and gather customer feedback.