An ideal customer support agent should possess strong emotional intelligence, including resilience, empathy, and patience, to effectively connect with customers and handle their frustrations. Key skills also involve active listening, problem-solving, time management, and a deep understanding of the product to provide clear and proactive solutions. Embracing responsibility and maintaining composure under pressure are essential for ensuring customer satisfaction.

1. Competencies of an ideal customer support agent

2. Emotional Quotient
Make an instant connection with the
customer by mimicking their tone.
But don’t do that if they are angry.
Mirror Customer’s
Emotions
Customer interaction gone wrong?
Being resilient helps you switch
back to being cheerful for your
next customer.
Resilient
It’s not stepping into someone’s
shoes. Empathy means to be more
human in your customer
interactions.
Empathy
Breathe in, breathe out. Dealing
with frustrated and confused
customers needs patience.
A lot of it.
Patience

3. Communication Skills
Customers want their issue resolved
so that they can move on with their
lives. Clarity helps you cut out
the flu .
Clarity
You can’t really answer your
customer if you don’t listen to their
questions. Can you?
Active listening
You’ll need the skill that steers a
bad customer interaction into a
positive customer feedback.
Persuasive

4. Organizational Qualities
Your customer’s happiness depends
entirely on you. Embrace the
responsibility with grace.
Taking Ownership
Customer support might throw a
curveball or drive you into a
support frenzy. You need some
inner calm to handle
all that pressure.
Works Well Under
Pressure
Prioritize your time based on the
urgency of the issue. Don’t know the
solution to a problem? Direct them
to the right person.
Time Management

5. Problem Solving Skills
If you don’t know your product
in-and-out, how will you answer
customer questions about
your product?
Product Knowledge
Ascertain customer queries and be
the first one to reach out to them.
FAQs are a classic example.
Proactive
Pay attention to the right set of
details and check against facts so
that you can close out customer
queries sooner.
Critical Thinking

6. Have you seen any other skills that we’ve missed
out on? Share it with us on love@freshdesk.com,
we’d love to hear from you!
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