Employees often act as intermediaries between customers and a business. Every time customers interact with a business; they tend to have different issues that need to be handled by employees from different departments within an organization.
Every customer expects to feel comfortable and have a smooth experience when interacting with a company. How customer-facing employees handle these interactions can go a long way in influencing the client’s relationship with the business.
Because of this, businesses should hire individuals who possess excellent customer-facing skills.
Let’s talk about how to improve your company’s interactions with customers and create a favorable impression that lasts.
Customer-facing meaning
Customer-facing refers to direct interaction or communication between a company and its customers.
It includes all points of contact where the customer engages with a company’s products or services.
Customer interactions can be in different forms, such as:
- Physical one-on-one conversations
- Direct messaging using live chat, email, or website
- Customer support provided through phone calls
- Social media engagement
What is a customer-facing role?
Customer-facing roles refer to jobs in which the employees engage with customers directly.
These roles involve employees and their interactions with customers, shaping brand perception.
To excel in these roles, employees need specific skills that enhance their effectiveness in meeting customer needs and conducting interactions professionally at all times.
When customers have a positive experience, they are more likely to become repeat buyers or dedicated customers.
Types of customer-facing roles
In most companies, there are different departments, such as human resources (HR), customer service, and more.
Customer-facing roles are broad and take all forms.
Below is a summary of some typical customer-facing positions commonly found in most industries:
- Sales representatives: These are the people who interact with customers by selling the company’s products or services.
- Customer support representatives: They handle all customers’ inquiries, complaints, or requests.
- Account managers: Individuals in charge of creating strategic plans with well-outlined goals, vision, and mission, ensuring they are in line with both the company and customer’s expectations.
- Customer service supervisor: Their responsibilities include overseeing the customer service team, handling escalated issues, and maintaining high standards of customer satisfaction.
- Customer success manager: Their main focus is to help customers use the company’s products and services to accomplish their objectives.
- Technical support representative: They are in charge of identifying and helping customers with technical problems with a product or service, providing step-by-step solutions to resolve them.
- Front office personnel: These are the employees who are responsible for receiving walk-in clients for businesses with physical establishments.
What are customer-facing skills?
These are the abilities that employees in the customer-facing roles should have in order to easily interact with customers and ensure they have a positive experience.
These skills can be broken down into many categories.
Let us look at some of the skills:
Problem-solving
Every customer-facing employee should be able to recognize, evaluate, and successfully address customer pain points proactively.
This means if they know that an issue is outside of their domain, they should know who to forward the issue to so that it can be handled appropriately.
When customer problems are handled well, they can be transformed from a bad experience to a good one, which encourages clients to stick with the company.
Soft skills
To give customers a satisfying experience, businesses must employ individuals who have soft skills to enable them to interact effectively and harmoniously with customers.
They include the ability to be patient, friendly, empathetic, reliable, and calm, especially in challenging situations.
Communication
No one likes to wait on hold or read long emails that are hard to understand when all they need is a simple explanation.
Customer-facing employees are expected to use good grammar, speak in a friendly or respectful tone, and communicate clearly using simple terms.
This can be done by tailoring communication to the customer’s level of understanding, using positive language, and avoiding jargon.
According to research by Passive Secrets, 68% of respondents are more likely to prefer businesses that offer convenient communication.
It also entails closely listening to the customer, understanding their needs, and providing a thoughtful response.
Product knowledge
Customers might be interested in what you are offering but unsure about which product best suits their needs.
In such cases, they expect customer-facing employees who clearly and deeply understand the products or services to provide accurate information and the best recommendations.
The knowledgeable agents will provide accurate information to customers, effectively address their requests, and offer personalized recommendations where possible.
Furthermore, when customers have complaints, employees with in-depth knowledge of the product can find out what the real issue is and provide effective troubleshooting guides or solutions.
Research skills
Customer needs and expectations change constantly depending on factors such as economic conditions, individual preferences, changes in technology, or even social trends.
Businesses can gather customer feedback by conducting CSAT surveys, interviews and forming focus groups to understand customer pain points, preferences, and expectations.
Interpersonal skills
Even the most patient customer can get frustrated. To minimize tension and build rapport, a customer-facing employee must be composed, courteous, and able to keep a positive outlook.
Attention to detail
Customers are happy when a business delivers high-quality service without overlooking on some aspects of their experience.
To achieve this, customer-facing employees have to:
- Respect and strictly adhere to the regulations and procedures of their company.
- Review and cross-check their work to confirm the accuracy of the final output.
- Personalize customer experiences by using specific details about the customer’s preferences and past interactions.
How to improve your customer-facing skills
Delivering top-notch customer service is a continuous effort, and customer-facing employees need to be dedicated to continuous improvement.
Here are some tips that will improve your ability to interact with customers and excel in providing 24/7 customer service.
Continuous learning
Customer-facing employees should take advantage of any extra training on soft skills offered by their company.
While there will certainly be training to develop product knowledge, you should also attend optional sessions on communication skills or any other customer-facing skills.
Even if you feel confident in your abilities, reviewing best practices can only benefit you.
Develop your soft skills
One of the best ways to develop your soft skills is to practice them, to use them regularly. In any customer interaction, you should practice empathy and patience and carry a positive attitude.
Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes, understand their concerns, and show genuine care. The more you do these things, the easier they will become.
Master the basic concepts
Customers expect you to help whenever they reach out. For this reason, you need to become an expert on the basics of the products and services your company offers.
More knowledge will enable you to respond to inquiries faster, troubleshoot issues, and offer practical advice.
Perhaps most importantly, it will help you recognize when an issue is beyond your domain or skillset so that you can escalate or redirect the issue to the right person.
Time management
Managing your time well involves more than just crossing tasks off a list. Learn to prioritize your duties and effectively use your time to address multiple customer concerns effectively.
When you are a good time manager, you are able to integrate ongoing learning into your daily workload to keep yourself up to date on product knowledge, industry trends, and more.
Positive attitude
A good attitude makes customers feel welcome and respected. Always cultivate a positive mindset and find ways to maintain positivity and motivation even in the face of hardship.
Additionally, you can provide positive encouragement to yourself and your colleagues to create a supportive work environment.
Customer-facing technologies
These are the tools and platforms used by customer-facing employees to have direct interaction between a business and its customers.
The aim of having customer-facing technology is to optimize customer experience and streamline communication.
Here are some key examples of customer-facing technologies:
Help desk software
This software is a centralized hub for managing customer support. All your customer inquiries and requests are managed in one help desk ticketing system, allowing you to provide prompt help to clients.
With help desk software, customers can get help easily through omnichannel support options, track the progress of their issues, and potentially find solutions themselves.
Help desk software often provides the following variety of features:
- Ticket system
- Omnichannel support
- Live chat
- Knowledge base software
- Reports and analytics
Social media engagement platforms
Social media has become one of the most popular channels for business-customer interaction. Most companies benefit from actively engaging on social media to interact with clients and build relationships.
Businesses can actively respond to their customers’ comments and interact using social networking platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and more.
Customer relationship management software
Web FX research states that 74% of companies claim that using CRM software improves their access to client information.
CRM software’s contact management capabilities ensure that all customer information is organized, up-to-date, and easily accessible, enabling businesses to provide personalized and efficient service.
Moreover, CRMs use data and sentiment analysis on past customer interactions to help customer-facing employees get up to speed on the current status of a relationship and guide them toward strengthening it.
Invest in customer-facing skills and staff to improve your business
You can build a loyal customer base and accelerate business growth by equipping your customer-facing staff with the necessary skills and cultivating a culture that puts the needs of the customer first.
Ready to transform your customer connections? Try BoldDesk or schedule a live demo to see how it is a critical tool in enabling your customer-facing staff to succeed.
If you just have questions about what BoldDesk can do, test it with our 15-day free trial or contact us.
Do you have questions or success stories about customer-facing skills or roles? We would be pleased to hear your opinions if you could leave a comment below!
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