Looking for the best resources to improve your customer service skills and industry knowledge? Look no further. In this blog post, you’ll find top resources every customer service team should take advantage of to manage customer expectations and customer complaints, provide stellar support, and improve customer experience.
Customer service courses & certifications
Online customer service courses and certificates are very helpful for anyone wanting to become better at customer support, get noticed by their team, and move up in their career. Free customer service training can teach you a lot of things — from customer service basics to more specific tips on how to talk to tough customers, how to communicate well, and how to solve customer issues.
Whether you’re just starting out in customer service or you’ve been doing it for a while and want to stay up-to-date, courses and certificates can give you the knowledge and customer service skills you need to stand out and do well in a job where there’s a lot of competition.
Top 3 customer service training opportunities
- HubSpot Academy’s Delivering Exceptional Customer Support: Aimed at customer service reps, this course focuses on essential customer service skills like analyzing support cases, managing time, and adhering to service level agreements (SLAs).
- Klaus’ Setting Up the Purrfect Customer Service QA Program: Ideal for customer service managers and QA specialists in the making, this course details how to establish a customer service Quality Assurance program from scratch.
- Coursera’s Improving Communication Skills: This 4-week course by the University of Pennsylvania emphasizes communication skills necessary for customer service agents and managers.
Customer support communities
Customer support communities offer a valuable space for customer service professionals to connect, share knowledge, and learn from each other. They are a great place to talk about problems you’re facing, share stories of things that went really well, and keep up with the newest ideas in customer service.
In customer service communities, you can also get help and advice from others, learn about new tools you can use, and maybe even find a mentor. What’s not to like about that?
Top 3 customer service communities
- Support Driven
- Quality Tribe
- The Zendesk Slack community
Customer service statistics
Customer service industry statistics are like a report card showing how the whole field of customer service is doing. These numbers can tell us things like industry benchmarks, customer preferences, new support channels, and more.
These stats are really important because they help you see what’s working well across the industry, and what areas might need some improvement. It’s also a way for businesses to compare themselves to others and find ways to do better. The only issue is: it’s pretty time-consuming to find information that’s both significant and up-to-date. Luckily, we read the most recent reports & studies to compile the most vital customer service statistics, so you don’t have to.
Customer service blogs
Blogs are great customer service resources to learn from. They are regularly updated and cover pretty much anything, from tips on how to improve customer service and stories about great customer service experiences, to the latest news and trends in the industry.
Reading customer service blogs can be a great way for anyone who works in customer service to learn new things, get inspired, and stay in the loop about what’s happening in the field.
Top 3 customer service blogs
Customer service books
You can get a lot of knowledge about customer service from real-life experiences… But getting some tips from the pros can be really helpful, too. Customer service books are like instruction manuals or guides that teach you all about how to give great customer service. The authors of customer service books are often people who know a lot about the industry because they’ve worked in the field for a long time.
Want to pick up some useful customer service tactics from people who’ve been successful in their careers? Take a look at the top customer service books.
Top 3 customer service books
- Ignore Your Customers (and They’ll Go Away): The Simple Playbook for Delivering the Ultimate Customer Service Experience offers a step-by-step guide on how to craft a customer service culture and customer experience so powerful that they’ll transform your organization, boost customer retention, and improve your company’s bottom line.
- In Talking to Humans, Giff Constable provides readers with a practical guide on the qualitative side of customer development. Through his experience in business, Constable can provide consumers with a quick read that provides plenty of real-world examples of how to structure and improve any business when it comes to fostering paw-sitive relationships with potential customers.
- In Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale Into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days, Coleman provides readers with all the tips and tricks he has learned over the years when it comes to fostering premium customer service and building customer loyalty. This is a great read for those looking to improve the front end of their business.
Customer service podcasts
Nowadays, it seems like there’s a podcast for everything you could possibly be interested in. That includes customer service too.
Listening to these stellar customer service podcasts can help people who work with customers learn new things, find different ways to handle situations, and keep making their customers happy. These podcasts might share tips on how to help customers better, tell stories about companies that are really good at customer service, or talk about new ways of thinking about customer service. But, with so many customer service podcasts available, it can be tough to figure out which ones are the best to listen to. Worry no more!
Top 3 customer service podcasts
- Are you keen to listen to an uplifting customer service story that can rekindle your enthusiasm for the field? Or maybe you’re seeking practical tips that could help you enhance your own customer support strategy? If that’s the case, Quality Conversations with Klaus is the purrr-fect podcast for you.
- Customer Service Academy. On this podcast, Tony Johnson, a guru in customer experience, offers vital tips on how to provide top-notch service to your customers while expanding your business. He has conversations with leaders and managers from top-tier companies to understand their customer service beliefs and strategies.
- Customer Service Revolution. This podcast, hosted by renowned customer service specialist and popular author John DiJulius, emphasizes the importance of exceptional customer service and how it can give your business a competitive edge. John’s discussions notably feature business leaders who are transforming their sectors with inventive customer service methods and procedures.
Customer service quotes
Customer service quotes are clever or inspiring sayings about good customer service. They’re usually said by successful business people or experts in customer service, and they can teach you important lessons about how to treat customers. These quotes are like little nuggets of wisdom to guide you in your customer service work.
Check out the best customer service quotes →
Customer service conferences
Customer service conferences are a great place to hear about the latest news in customer service, learn from experts in the field, and do some networking on the side. Customer support professionals, from managers to top-level executives, are gearing up to mingle and network at these events. Are you?
Top 3 customer service conferences
- Support Driven Expo. The Expo brings the Support Driven community together to share how customer support really works and move the industry forward.
- CCW. The meeting place for movers and shakers with ideas that have been shaping customer dialogue for 23 years. At CCW EU, four conference days meet a fully packed trade show, award ceremony, and pitching competition for upcoming CX solutions.
- CX Summit. Head online to learn how recent crises and current challenges are shaping the new world. The Summit focuses on various challenges that CX professionals have to face.
Customer service examples
Customer service examples are real-life situations where companies or people have done a really good job helping customers. These examples show what good (or really bad) customer service looks like and give ideas for how to do a good job in support.
See the best customer service examples first-hand →
Customer service software
Customer service tools are necessary if you want to be able to do your job better and faster. Dedicated solutions can help you keep track of customer questions, respond to them efficiently, review the quality of your answers, and much more. Depending on your needs and budget, you can choose from help desk software, live chat solutions, self-service solutions like knowledge base software, or quality assurance software to keep an eye on support quality.
Top 3 customer service tools
- Zendesk is a renowned customer support solution that offers a suite of tools including ticketing, live chat, and call center solutions, along with a feature-rich knowledge base for self-service.
- Intercom — meant for building better customer relationships through personalized, messenger-based experiences across the customer journey.
- Klaus is a quality management solution that helps companies drive revenue through excellent customer service. With Klaus, you can identify gaps in your customer experience before they become a problem, and quickly fix whatever isn’t working.
Canned responses
Canned responses are like pre-made answers that customer service teams can use whenever needed. These are responses that have already been written out and can be used over and over again, especially for common questions or problems that lots of customers have. For example, if a lot of people ask how to return a product, a canned response could explain the steps they need to take.
Using canned responses can save time because you don’t have to write a new answer every time. But it’s important to make sure these responses still sound friendly and helpful, so customers feel like their questions are being taken seriously. It’s like having a handy shortcut for providing quick, efficient service.
Empathy statements
Empathy in customer service happens when an agent can truly put themselves in the customer’s position. In this case, a customer service representative can genuinely understand the customer’s problem, form a meaningful connection, and provide the best solution. This understanding can help calm down a frustrated customers and assure them that the agent is genuinely committed to resolving their issues.
Empathy statements are like friendly words or phrases that customer service folks use to show they understand and care about a customer’s feelings or problems. These statements might say things like “I understand how frustrating this must be for you” or “I can see why you’re upset.” By using empathy statements, you’re showing the customer that you’re not just there to solve a problem, but also to listen to them and understand how they feel.
Best customer service resources revealed
As a customer service professional, you can always find new ways to get better. The availability of various resources such as courses, communities, statistics, blogs, books, podcasts, and conferences can easily empower you to improve your customer service skills and step up your customer service game.
Embrace these customer service resources for professional growth, enhanced customer satisfaction, and long-term success!
