This document provides tips for improving customer service communication skills. It recommends focusing on confidence, control, and active listening. Ask questions to understand the customer's perspective and needs before calls or emails. Provide thorough information to demonstrate being one step ahead. Engage customers with thought-provoking questions to build trust. Most importantly, listen to understand the customer's situation and humanize interactions.

1. How
To
Improve
your
Customer
Service
Skills
By
Sco'
Storick

2. Introduction
• Whether
you
are
working
for
a
private
business
or
a
nonprofit
organiza7on,
effec7ve
communica7on
will
always
play
an
integral
role
in
your
overall
success
at
your
company.
•
At
the
end
of
the
day,
it
is
no
secret
that
many
hiring
managers
and
recruiters
are
looking
for
qualified
candidates
that
are
already
equipped
with
strong
verbal
and
nonverbal
communica7on
skills.
• The
reason
why
is
that
during
the
day-­‐to-­‐day
opera7ons
within
the
office,
you
will
be
required
to
constantly
communicate
across
a
wide
range
of
departments.

3. Be
a
Rock
Star
• While
many
companies
will
invest
a
large
amount
of
their
7me,
money,
and
resources
into
strong
and
viable
communica7on,
it
is
impera7ve
that
you
reflect
and
internalize
your
own
personal
strengths
and
weaknesses
with
this
overall
skill.
• This
type
of
reflec7ve
mentality
will
allow
you
to
iden7fy
your
own
personal
and
professional
flaws
that
you
can
alter
to
be
a
more
confident
and
effec7ve
worker
at
your
office.
• Remember,
rock
stars
are
not
born;
they
are
made.
All
you
need
to
do
is
take
that
first
step
and
the
rest
will
come
to
you.

4. Objective
• Now,
for
this
par7cular
presenta7on,
I
would
like
to
speak
more
loudly
on
improving
the
customer
service
communica7on
than
internal
communica7on
within
the
office.
• If
you
would
like
to
learn
more
about
how
to
effec7vely
communicate
as
manager
or
supervisor,
you
can
visit
my
previous
blog
here:
•
ScoK
Storick,
Managerial
Communica7on.

5. Con6idence
&
Control
• When
we
talk
about
client
communica7on
and
customer
services,
we
are
ini7ally
talking
about
confidence
and
control.
• For
this
to
be
translated
appropriately,
you
have
to
of
course
gauge
the
overall
perspec7ve
of
the
client.
• Remember,
good
communica7on
is
about
puOng
yourself
in
the
posi7on
of
your
clients.

6. Con6idence
&
Control
–
Ask
Questions
• Don’t
be
afraid
to
ask
those
overarching
ques7ons
like:
• Why
do
they
want
to
talk?
• What
are
they
interested
in
talking
about?
• Is
this
going
to
be
a
delighSul
experience
or
an
absolute
nightmare?

7. Con6idence
&
Control
• By
evalua7ng
the
overall
situa7on
in
a
holis7c
manner,
you
will
be
able
to
beKer
prepare
your
side
with
the
necessary
informa7on
and
tools
your
client
or
customer
will
want
to
hear.
• The
worst
thing
you
want
to
do
to
yourself
is
find
yourself
blindsided
with
various
ques7ons
about
numbers
and
progress
and
not
having
a
strong
and
sufficient
answer
to
back
up
your
claims.

8. Calls
&
Emails
• Now
during
the
course
of
conference
calls
and
emails,
you
want
to
make
sure
you
are
providing
a
sufficient
amount
of
informa7on
to
the
table.
• Much
of
my
advice
to
clients
is
based
on
being
informed,
and
for
good
reason.
• All
of
us
gravitate
toward
that
one
person
who
always
seems
to
have
the
answer.
• It
is
that
idea
of
being
one
step
ahead
of
the
game
that
gives
the
person
you
are
talking
to
the
necessary
reassurance
and
trust
that
you
are
working
with
them
than
with
their
money.

9. Calls
&
Emails
• One
of
the
things
I
like
to
do
is
of
course
provide
some
engagement
task
with
my
own
personal
clients.
• This
type
of
informa7on
not
only
challenges
your
clients
to
think,
but
also
have
them
explore
new
intellectual
territory.
• By
establishing
that
type
of
conversa7on,
you
will
be
able
to
ul7mately
build
that
much
need
trust
for
your
future
rela7onship
with
that
person.

10. Listen
to
their
Needs
• Now
during
this
process,
as
much
as
you
want
to
take
control
of
the
situa7on,
you
also
want
to
be
aKen7ve
and
observant
to
their
needs.
• For
many
of
these
calls,
your
client
will
contact
you
because
of
a
misunderstanding
within
the
contract
or
a
miscommunica7on
with
the
number
of
products
delivered.
• My
advice
is
simple;
just
listen.

11. Listen
to
their
Needs
• Humanizing
many
of
your
calls
can
help
diminish
any
nega7ve
emo7ons
coming
into
these
customer
service
mee7ngs.
• It
will
also
give
you
a
chance
to
control
the
situa7on
even
if
you
do
not
have
the
answer.
• For
many
of
these
cases,
customers
and
clients
just
want
to
vent
their
frustra7on.
• Once
that
is
all
said
and
done,
you
are
able
to
provide
them
with
the
necessary
informa7on
to
move
forward
into
a
beKer
place.

12. Final
Piece
of
Advice
• The
last
piece
of
advice
is
more
to
do
with
you
than
anything.
Be
confident
in
your
own
personal
abili7es.
• At
the
end
of
the
day,
you
are
the
expert
on
the
call.
• If
you
weren’t,
they
wouldn’t
be
calling
you
for
your
help.

13. Final
Piece
of
Advice
• By
internalizing
that
one
small
piece
of
informa7on,
you
will
be
able
to
remove
those
barriers
and
improve
your
abili7es
with
customer
communica7on.
• Just
think
of
it
like
this.
How
would
you
react
if
you
were
in
their
situa7on?
• In
the
grand
scheme
of
things,
you
would
probably
react
the
same.
• All
you
need
to
do
is
calmly
and
respecSully
control
the
discussion
so
that
you
can
move
it
into
a
more
informa7ve
and
effec7ve
call.

14. Learn
More
• To
learn
more
about
ScoK
Storick,
please
visit
the
following
sites:
• hKp://scoKstorick.net
• hKp://scoKstorick.org/
• hKps://www.crunchbase.com/person/scoK-­‐storick#/en7ty
• hKp://www.slideshare.net/scoK_storick