5 Customer Service Team Leader Skills You Need Be Hiring

Are you looking to hire a customer service manager for your team?

Although it may be easy to go for the first energetic person you interview, it’s important to go a step further and define the customer service leadership skills your team needs so they can thrive.

Perhaps someone within your organization already has these skills or has the potential to thrive with some mentoring. If so, hiring and promoting within your company is a smart option as it gives you the opportunity to see the candidate in action first hand.

However, you might not always have the skills you need internally and might have to scout outside your team.

It might seem more challenging, as it’s easy for candidates to say what they think you want to hear instead of the truth. Keep in mind that finding the skills you need is about listening not only to the subject’s response but how they answer or approach your questions and case scenarios.

So what customer service leadership skills should you look for? 

Below, we will discuss the 5 you need to be hiring.

1. A Good Coach

A good leader is a good coach. Your customer service manager will most likely have to do plenty of training and continuous formation to keep agents sharp and up-to-date.

Look for a customer service manager with expert coaching skills. This means finding someone who can spot and understand the needs of their individual team member, and provide support in the right format so their agent can thrive. Whether it be a pep talk, mentoring, holding 1-on-1 training, rewarding, and even providing feedback, your customer service manager must be in tune with their agents.

Related: 4 Die-Hard Coaching Tips To Hold Everyone Accountable

 

2. Proactivity

Supervising a team of customer service agents is no easy feat. It’s easy to get caught up in the work and challenges of each agent, especially in such an operational field.

As a result, your customer service leader needs to be constantly a step ahead in order to anticipate the team’s problems and not get tangled up or slow down the whole operation.

Proactivity and anticipating issues can be done by standardizing processes, providing adequate training and onboarding, and even having an active employee forum for reference.

Related: When To Be Proactive When It Comes To Customer Service 

3. Attention to Detail

Another important customer service leader skill to hire for when looking for a customer service manager is their attention to detail. Great customer service is all about the small personal touches. These are what make all the difference.

Look for a customer service manager with a keen eye for detail. Someone that monitors team performance and spot the nuances that made the customer experience extraordinary or avoiding small details that could make the experience even better.

Your customer service leader must be able to catch the details that make all the difference.

4. Good Communicator

True, having good communication skills is an overall important trait to have in any team member, but it’s an especially important skill for your customer service manager to master.

A fantastic team leader manager can build a bond with their team and motivate each individual to outperform themselves.

Communication for a customer service manager is of importance as they are the ones who will be in charge of some more delicate communication roles. They’ll be handling agent performance and feedback sessions, delivered with the utmost care to be productive and not taken as criticism.

Listening also falls under communication skills. Be sure your customer service manager can listen and understand agents’ needs and provide the right training solutions for each member so they can perform at their optimal level. 

5. Analytical Skills

Analytical skills for this position are also vital. Not only will your customer service manager need to keep close attention to detail, but they also must assimilate and process the information to improve their team’s processes.

One of their responsibilities also includes reporting. This means taking all the customer service metrics and transforming into a digestible and actionable format, both for their team and for management.

Good analytical skills will also result in better feedback sessions. With valuable and measurable data, team leader customer service agents will work alongside their manager to pinpoint areas of improvement.

The proof is in the numbers. And when a team does well, they’ll want to know just how well. Being able to communicate this information to your customer service team can let them know just how close they are to their goal or just how much they exceeded expectations. This can serve as a great motivator and productivity booster!

Hiring isn’t easy. But you shouldn’t be looking for a superhero either. With the right blend of skill and software, your future manager should have the customer service leadership skills to take your organization to the next level.

What customer service leader skills do you look for in your hiring?