“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first” – Mark Twain

Essential skills for great customer service

Welcome to Part Three of our Six-Part Series:

Fleet Managers and customer service agents need to use their best customer service skills to effectively communicate in a way that will leave them calmer, satisfied and confident in your brand. Whether a customer simply needs a new pin number for their fleet fuel card, or they have been frustrated to the point of switching providers, quality customer service is key to the success of your company.

Part 3.1 CLEAR COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communicate with concise and relevant information, not just a spiel of technical jargon. When communicating by email, social media, chat or SMS, use good grammar and make sure they understand what you are saying. Keep the content relevant to the customer’s needs and at the same time strive to use a natural, conversational tone whether it be verbal or written.

Be sure to check out Part 1.3 of our series if you missed it. We talk about “Old School Meets Technology” and how using technology like Skype, chat and ZOOM can create that personal touch.

TIP: Listen more than you talk. First listen to what your customer has to say. This will help you provide a more thought out answer.

Speaking clearly with your customers is an important skill. You will need to articulate policies and procedures and other aspects of your company leaving no room for error. Customers want to build lasting relationships with companies that can provide solid customer support to solve issues; therefore, if you do not articulate clearly your customer service will fail.

Speaking politely to your customer shows respect and reflects the quality of your customer service. I’m sure everyone can remember dealing with a rude employee, it doesn’t exactly make you want to return to their place of business anytime soon.

Part 3.2 TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Do you have the skills or power to slow down time? Same here! I wish I did. However, I have several tips to help you “manage time” and maximize every minute of your day.

TIP #1: Spend the last 10 or 15 minutes of your work day organizing your desk and prioritizing your projects for the next morning.

TIP #2: Keep a notebook on your desk or workstation. Every year shortly before school starts I purchase several of the one subject, 70 sheet wide ruled notebooks. Then each day I write the date at the top of the page, and as my day progresses I will take notes from phone calls, prioritize new projects and jot-down any new ideas that may pop into my head. I also write a seperate daily to-do list down the left side of the page, checking them off as I go.

At the end of the day as I mentioned in Tip #1, I will take all my unfinished projects and move them to the next page along with any additional new tasks. I will prioritize them in order of importance and begin the next day tackling the most pressing or important ones first.

TIP #3: Recharge your battery and learn to focus. We all need to take time to recharge and clear our minds. Studies show that most people can only concentrate for a maximum of about 20 continuous minutes before they need a short break. I find that standing, stretching and taking a short 2-5 minute walk will keep me energized through-out the day. To stay on target for the day I plan 30 minute work increments, this is called the Pomodoro Technique. I also like to start each session with background music to help me get focused quicker.

I have been following the Team at Focus@will, a new online music service based on human neuroscience. They are working on a new large-scale trail to determine if they can establish which genres and intensities of music work best for different brain types, and which cognitive mechanisms improve as a result of focus at will exposure.

Part 3.3 FOLLOW THE 80/20 RULE.

The (“Pareto Principle,” n.d.) also known as the 80-20 rule suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of the effort put in. You can also apply this principle when it comes to time management. When scheduling your top most important tasks for the day, keep it to three or less and keeping with the 80-20 rule you will soon learn to scale up your efforts. Using the Pareto Principle will help you determine your most important tasks, allowing the rest to fall to the bottom or you may find yourself completely eliminating them from your list.

“Conclusion”

This concludes part three of our six part series on “How Great Customer Service Skills Impact Fleet Managers. If you enjoyed our article please share and subscribe to get email updates from this discussion as well as future articles. Please check out our blog page for real time fleet tracking, fleet fuel cards and fleet management solutions, along with other industry related articles.