Whether you interact with your customers in person, on the phone, via email or online chat, it’s important that you be able to relate to others on a human level and that they feel as if they are interacting with someone they can trust and who genuinely is interested and wants to solve their problem.
Soft skills are personal attributes, personality traits, inherent social cues and communication abilities needed for success with your customers. Soft skills characterize how a person interacts in his or her relationships with others.
Soft skills are interpersonal (people) skills. These do not come naturally to all. These are much harder to define and evaluate than hard skills. Soft skills include communication skills, listening skills, and empathy, among others.
Unlike hard skills that are learned, soft skills are similar to emotions or insights that allow people to “read” others. These are much harder to learn, at least in a traditional classroom. They are also much harder to evaluate.
Soft skills include adaptability, attitude, communication, creative thinking, work ethic, teamwork, networking, decision making, positivity, time management, motivation, flexibility, problem-solving, critical thinking and conflict resolution.
These soft skills are important to the success of almost all businesses that require customer service. After all, nearly every business requires engagement with others in some way. Therefore, being able to interact well with others is important in any business.
Another reason to focus on developing these skills is that they are transferable and can be used regardless of the job. It’s not surprising that those people with the most soft skills are sought-after employees and often make for the most successful business owners.
Do you have a customer-focused business? Are you in direct contact with customers? It takes multiple soft skills to be able to listen to a customer and provide that customer with helpful and polite service. Is this the best use of your time? Do you enjoy doing this? Is it your particular strength?
If not, Buying Time can help. If you would like to try our services, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help!
P.S. Virtual Assistant: the backup plan when you are too busy to do it all!
BY: V.A Julie
