In this guide, we will break down 9 keys to make you become an amazing Customer Service Champion— we will provide you with a step-by-step plan.
By the end of this guide, you will have a better understanding of your unique strengths and limitations, and how to leverage them to achieve your goals. You will also learn problem-solving techniques, gain insights on how to seek customer acknowledgment, celebrate wins, and discover your passion to help others. We will provide you with exercises, templates, actionable tips, and techniques to help you align your skills and interests with your personal and professional goals.
Welcome to the ultimate guide for building the foundation of an Amazing Customer Service Champion In You. As Customer Service or Technical Support personnel, your role is critical in ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining the company's reputation. However, being a “successful” Customer Service or Technical Support Specialist requires more than just technical expertise. You need to possess a combination of soft skills, problem-solving techniques, and a growth mindset. And being an “amazing” one requires even more— the belief that you produce great results and that people come to you for advises. The feeling of being grateful to help others is your legacy. And that makes you shine among the rest.
Whether you are a new Customer Service/Technical Support personnel or an experienced one, this guide will provide you with the tools and knowledge to take your career to the next level. Let's dive in!
Quick Guidelines for best results
This guide for Building the Foundation of an Amazing Customer Service Champion In You, is a series of blogs updated every week, arranged in sequence to deliver the best development as we journey. However, you can go back to the previous blogs to relate the ideas and experiences. We advise you to take your time in absorbing the information, implementing the action plans, and experiencing the journey.
Are you ready?
Key #3: The Basics of Problem-Solving *recently released
Key #1: Self-Awareness, Self-Realization
Being a successful Customer Service or Technical Support specialist begins with self-awareness and self-realization. It is crucial to have a deep understanding of your technical capabilities, soft skills, technical background, strengths, weaknesses, passion, knowledge, and personality traits. It helps you identify your potential and limitations, and helps you adjust your steps to achieve your goals. The common challenge is identifying your strengths and accepting your weaknesses. Here we will help you uncover those areas, and how you can leverage and improve them.
What are the areas to look into?
Besides technical skills, soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking are equally important. Virtues such as patience, humility, and empathy are essential too for becoming a Customer Service Champion. While passion is the fuel that drives success. Having a passion for the work you do will help you stay motivated and focused on your goals.
Why is Self-Awareness and Self-Realization essential in building the foundation as a Customer Service Champion?
It helps one to develop a sense of purpose and meaning in his/her work, which leads to greater job satisfaction and personal fulfillment. When Customer Service Champions are aligned with themselves and the organization, they are more motivated, productive, and satisfied with their work, which leads to better customer experiences.
Self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifestyle, self-awareness is the recognition of that awareness
Self-realization is the act of achieving the full development of your abilities and talents.
What are the common hurdles faced during Self-Awareness and Self-Realization?
The common hurdles include:
- lack of self-awareness,
- fear of change, and
- resistance to feedback.
Many individuals struggle to identify their strengths and weaknesses. While many others are comfortable with their current situation and may be hesitant to take steps toward personal growth and development. And some individuals may be resistant to feedback, which prevents them from improving their performance.
Don't worry. We will help you identify them and develop a plan to leverage your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.
"We have built a go-to tool to better understand yourself, adopt a growth mindset, and accelerate the improvement of your performance. We call it Your Strong Rock."
Activity #1: Self-Awareness, Self-Realization- Your Strong Rock
This activity is a go-to tool to refresh your mind, replenish your energy and guide you through evolving into an amazing professional. You will be guided below with a step-by-step instructions to uncover your capabilities and the areas you can improve. We will use a tool (available for download in .doc and .xls formats, whichever suits you and the device you are using).
Instructions:
1. Use the activity sheet by downloading the file format that suits you:
01_Self-Awareness_Self-Realization_Activity.doc for Word version
or
01_Self-Awareness_Self-Realization_Activity.xls for Excel version
Test which file format you are comfortable using with your laptop or your mobile or you can also print and write from the printed copy.
2. Use the STRENGTHS sheet to write down at least three (3) situations under Actual Situations column a situation or an event in which you felt successful or accomplished in your work. Don't hesitate. Write down anything—whether it was easy, difficult, made a great impact or not, etc. No rules. As long as it is a real situation and based on your experience.
See this example:
3. Reflect on what personal strength represented in each of those situations, and write it down under the Strength/s column.
See this example:
4. Next, think of ways you can leverage each of those strengths in your daily work and write it down under the How to leverage? column. This will be your action plan that will guide you to maintain and enhance further that skill/strength.
See this example:
5. Next, think of what emotion you feel after remembering the Actual Situations you wrote down. Feel the freedom to identify the emotion. Don’t let anyone take it away from you. Write it down at the How did you feel? column.
See this example:
6. Revisit this activity sheet every week and update the How did you feel? column. Observe how you progress.
7. If you see improvement in the way you feel, celebrate this win and keep trusting your skills.
8. Follow the same steps and examples for the WEAKNESSES sheet to write down at least three (3) situations under Actual Situations column a situation or an event in which you felt weak or failure in your work.
In case you need it, here's your First-aid kit:
1. Patience
2. Humility
3. Warning: You may face setbacks while doing this, but DO NOT LOSE FOCUS
4. Trust in yourself
By completing this exercise, you can identify your unique strengths and develop an action plan to leverage them in your daily work. This exercise is an excellent tool for personal growth and can be shared with colleagues and friends to help them discover their strengths and work towards their goals.
Self-Awareness, Self-realization is the foundation of personal growth and development, making it our first key in Building the Foundation of an Amazing Customer Service Champion In You. It is the process of becoming aware of your strengths and weaknesses and understanding how they affect your interactions with others.
Congratulations on reaching this part! Master this exercise. Once you are ready, proceed to the next Key. We are glad to be with you and support you in your journey. Please feel free to share your view and experience with this guide in the comment section. Thank you! If you have specific questions, please send us an email so we can arrange a call: support@quip-solutions.com
Additional tips:
1. Journaling: Writing down your thoughts, feelings, and experiences is an excellent way to reflect on your life. You can write about your goals, your successes, your failures, and your challenges. Set aside some time each day to write in your journal. 2. Mind mapping: Mind mapping is a visual way to organize your thoughts and ideas. Start by writing down a central idea or topic in the middle of a piece of paper. Then, draw branches out from the center and write down related ideas or thoughts. 3. Gratitude practice: Practicing gratitude can help you reflect on the good things in your life. Each day, write down three things you're grateful for. 4. Self-assessment: Take some time to assess your strengths and weaknesses. Write down your strengths and think about how you can use them to achieve your goals. Identify your weaknesses and think about how you can improve them.
Key #2: Aligning with the Organization
Aligning with the organization is crucial in ensuring that your actions align with the company's goals and vision. It is essential to be knowledgeable about the products and services offered and to have a clear understanding of the company's policies and procedures. This forms a crucial part of building your foundation as a successful Customer Service or Technical Support specialist.
When you are aligned with the organization, you are better able to serve customers in a way that is consistent with the company's goals and vision.
How to achieve it?
To achieve alignment with the organization, you must first understand the company's goals and vision. This can be done by reviewing the company's mission statement, attending company meetings, and seeking feedback from superiors. It is also important to have a deep understanding of the company's products and services and to keep up-to-date with any changes or updates.
Jeremiah, a customer service representative attends company meetings and stays up-to-date with any changes or updates. He developed a deep understanding of the company's products and services and was able to provide exceptional customer service that is consistent with the company's goals and vision.
When Maher, an employee in a large retail company, noticed that the company was shifting its focus to e-commerce. He knew he needed to learn new skills to stay relevant in the company, so he took online courses on web design and digital marketing. By aligning with the organization's goals, Maher was able to contribute to the company's success and was recognized with a promotion.
Sarah had been working for a startup for a couple of years and had always been passionate about her job. However, as the company started growing rapidly, Sarah began to feel like she was not aligned with the organization's goals and vision anymore. She started feeling burnt out and unmotivated at work, and her productivity began to suffer.
Sarah then took a step back and evaluated her role in the company. She realized that her technical skills alone were not enough to help the company achieve its goals. She needed to develop a better understanding of the company's customers and their needs.
Sarah took the initiative to attend customer feedback meetings, engage in customer service calls, and even participate in marketing brainstorming sessions. By doing so, she gained a deeper understanding of the company's customers and was able to contribute more effectively to the company's goals and vision.
Over time, Sarah's efforts paid off, and she was recognized as a valuable contributor to the company's success. She was given opportunities to take on new projects that aligned with the company's goals and vision, and her career started to progress at a faster pace.
Studies and statistics tell a story
According to a study by Gallup, employees who are engaged and aligned with their organization are 21% more productive than those who are not. A separate study by Harvard Business Review found that companies with highly engaged employees had a 21% increase in profitability. In a case study by Forbes, a software company increased revenue by 35% by aligning its employees with the organization's goals and values. These statistics highlight the importance of employee alignment in achieving business success.
"...a software company increased revenue by 35% by aligning its employees with the organization's goals and values.."
Tips for employees
To align with the organization, an employee should:
Understand the company's values, goals, and objectives
Attend company meetings and read company literature
Seek feedback from colleagues and supervisors
Develop a growth mindset and be open to learning new skills
Stay informed about industry trends and changes
Activity #2: Aligning with the Organization - Your Beacon
This activity is to bring comfort and confirmation to the direction you are going as a part of the organization. This builds an advantage for you in the talent pool as you will be capable of verifying your tasks, intentions, actions, and reactions to every situation.
You will be guided below with step-by-step instructions to start off your habit of aligning to the bigger goals-- your organizational goals. We will use a tool (available for download in .doc and .xls formats, whichever suits you and the device you are using).
Instructions:
1. Use the activity sheet by downloading the file format that suits you:
02_Aligning_with_the_Organization_Activity.doc for Word version
or
02_Aligning_with_the_Organization_Activity.xls for Excel version
Test which file format you are comfortable using with your laptop or your mobile or you can also print and write from the printed copy.
2. Identify your organizational goals and core values. You can normally find it on your company's website as a mission statement and/or core value statement, else, ask for a copy from your line manager or your HR manager. Make it as simple as possible, as clear as possible into short phrases or into a word (or two) or a list of words.
3. List down all the tasks and activities you are doing. Write one by one in the Activities/Tasks List Column of the Activity #2 Sheet. Also, identify the activity type like a routine task, project activity, internal initiative, etc. You can categorize it as you wish. The idea is for you to identify the initiator or driver of the activity/task.
See this example:
4. Evaluate each activity/task on how it contributes to the organizational goals and identify the goal. Write it in the 3rd column of the sheet.
5. Evaluate each activity/task on how you perform it to contribute to the organizational goals or core values and identify the goal and/or value. Write it in the 3rd column of the sheet.
If you cannot find a relation between the activity/task to the organizational goal, mission, or core values, IT IS FINE.
See this example:
6. For activities/tasks you cannot relate to the goals, mission, and values, sit on it and think of ways (or ask ChatGPT !) how you can perform "your" task to contribute to one or more of the organizational goals, mission, or core values. Write it in the 4th column, "How can you align" column of the sheet.
See this example:
7. Fill in the last column, Your Satisfaction column. This is to know the difference in how you feel before doing the exercise (before knowing the connections of your tasks and the company goals) and after adjusting your way of doing the work to connect and contribute to the company goals, mission, and core values.
8. Revisit, review, and update this sheet every two weeks. Observe how you progress.
9. If you see improvement in the way you feel, celebrate this win and keep trusting your skills.
By completing this exercise, you can assess, verify, and confirm your tasks and activities on how they align with the organizational goals, mission, and core values. It provides you with a unique advantage in the talent pool for being able to adapt, align, and contribute to the organization. By following the framework, you will always be on the right path and direction to becoming not only a successful Customer Service or Technical Support specialist but a future leader of your organization.
Aligning with the Organization is the foundation of professional growth and development, making it our second key in Building the Foundation of an Amazing Customer Service Champion In You. It is the process of becoming aligned with the company's goals, mission, and core values through the tasks and activities you perform.
Congratulations on reaching this part! Master this exercise. Once you are ready, proceed to the next Key. We are glad to be with you and support you in your journey. Please feel free to share your view and experience with this guide in the comment section. Thank you! If you have specific questions, please send us an email so we can arrange a call: support@quip-solutions.com
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