Risk & Business Magazine CEO/CFO Business Today Magazine | Page 24

SOFT SKILLS
TOP 7 SOFT SKILLS
YOUR EMPLOYEES
NEED TO BE
TRAINED ON
BY: JOHN DIJULIUS, PRESIDENT OF
THE DIJULIUS GROUP
C
ustomer service and soft skills
are not common sense, they are
not innate, and people are not
born with them. The quality
of your customer service, and
the level of your organization’s customer
service, comes down to one thing and one
thing only: The service aptitude of every
employee you have. The most critical
component in building a world-class
customer experience culture is the service
aptitude of every individual employee in
your company.
SERVICE APTITUDE:
A PERSON’S ABILITY
TO RECOGNIZE
OPPORTUNITIES TO
MEET AND EXCEED
CUSTOMERS’
EXPECTATIONS,
REGARDLESS OF THE
CIRCUMSTANCES.
Service aptitude does not apply to the
technical or operational side of the
experience, which is also a critical part
of a company’s customer service. Service
aptitude represents the hospitality side only,
how an employee makes another person feel.
There are seven key interaction traits that
determine a person’s service
aptitude competency.
1) COMPASSION & EMPATHY
Compassion is the ability to feel for another
living being, which results in your desire to
help. Having strong empathy to a customer’s
situation, seeing and understanding it from
their perspective, and walking in their shoes.
2) ENTHUSIASTICALLY ENGAGING &
WARM
Employee is obviously happy in what they
do and whom they are doing it for. He or she
beats the greet; seeks eye contact and smiles
from long distances. Immediately puts the
customer at ease by being friendly, cheerful,
and caring.
3) DRIVEN BY A PURPOSE TO SERVE
Someone who intentionally focuses on the
experience of the person they are serving
above anything else.
4) OWN IT
Does whatever it takes to ensure the
customer leaves happy with their
experience. Acts with the same care and
thoughtfulness an owner of the
company would.
5) CHARITABLE ASSUMPTION
Acts as if no customer has bad intentions.
Does not want to punish 98 percent of your
customers for what you are afraid that 2
percent might do.
6) MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN
Always 100 percent in the moment of the
person they are interacting with.
7) GO ABOVE & BEYOND
Constantly looking and capitalizing on
ways to surprise and delight customers. +
John R. DiJulius III, best-selling author, consultant, and keynote speaker, is the President of The DiJulius Group, the leading customer experience
consulting firm in the nation. He blogs on customer experience trends and best practices. Learn more about The DiJulius Group or The Secret
Service Summit, America’s #1 Customer Service Conference. In The Customer Service Revolution, DiJulius points out how numerous companies
have made customer service their biggest competitive advantage, are dominating their industries, and have made price irrelevant. As a result of
this customer service revolution, people are being treated differently, better, and in a way like never before. This is a result of how companies and
management are treating their employees and how employees are treating each other and the customer—which ultimately permeates into people’s
personal lives at home and in their communities.
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