Like every July, a new class of freshly minted higher education degree holders are preparing to enter the workforce.  But, many who have completed a post-secondary (or undergraduate as it’s called in the U.S.) education won’t start work in their chosen field of study.

Holding a degree in Political Science, I’m an example of this phenomenon. When I graduated, I didn’t consider a job in political science. Instead, I looked at job openings where I could exercise the analytical and research skills my degree had prepared me for.   

In fact, most of my peers did the same. Philosophy majors don’t typically become philosophers – nor do most history majors become historians.  Your degree may not train you to do anything, but it does prepare you to do many things. 

Similarly, your organization probably doesn’t require a degree in customer service on a frontline rep job application, although you will likely upskill them once they have been hired.  So, what (besides the basic process and technical knowledge) do your reps need to learn to be prepared for customer service, in the absence of a customer support degree?

I listened to an interview recently with a senior support specialist from 37Signals, a popular software developer, which gave one opinion on this matter. She was asked (7:40) “What do we need to teach people if we were starting a customer support school?” She highlighted a few key attributes, paraphrased here:

• It’s critical to know how to respond to upset and confused people.
• You need to be able to talk to them in their own language – clearly and calmly. You can’t be abrasive or technical in your language.
• You’ve got to understand that the customer is not angry with you or your product, but at a series of events that are happening. 

My take on her answer?

I think she’s telling us to remember a fundamental component of customer service: customer support is simply people talking to other people. It’s easy for us to forget that people are not numbers—and these people often have a problem, which is why they are calling us. So, of course they may be frustrated! And we need to respond to them accordingly.

If there were a school for customer service, I believe the curriculum would center on human psychology. Its graduates would understand why people are the way they are, and how to interact with them to have more productive, positive interactions. This would make for better customer-rep conversations. The results would have enormous potential to reduce customer frustration, escalations, and effort.

The good news?  You don’t need to send your frontline back to school or to a series of psych classes—CCC has resources that teach some of these psychology concepts. 

Personality-based soft skills—that is, tailoring your communication style to match the preferences of individual customers—can yield tremendous results.

Using a simple framework, you can divide customers into four basic personality types, each with their own issue resolution preferences. Reps look for cues to quickly identify each personality type in the moment and flex their resolution style accordingly. It’s gotten some great wins, such as reducing callbacks by 40% and leading to a 20% increase in customer loyalty.

So, what do you think?  Is this ‘softer’ side worth looking into or would you rather concentrate on reps’ technical skills?

CCC Members: Check out our Soft-Skills Resource Center where you can learn about each step (from upksilling your staff to tracking your success) in designing a personality-based issue resolution program.

Related posts:

1. Frontline Reps: The Next Great Innovators?
2. Upskilling: Book Smarts or Search Smarts?
3. Good Role Plays Are Hard to Find
4. What Pushes Your Reps to Better Performance?