customer service and problem solving

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10 Tips and Techniques for Customer Service Problem-Solving

October 11, 2023

In the customer service world, challenges arise when you least expect them. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting, mastering the art of problem-solving is essential.

In this article, we’ll share with you 10 simple yet effective tips and techniques that will empower your team to navigate customer service issues like a pro.

From active listening to setting realistic expectations and offering solutions, these strategies will benefit your business by enhancing your team’s problem-solving skills and boosting customer satisfaction.

Why are problem-solving skills important in customer service?

Problem-solving skills are crucial in customer service because they turn frustrating situations into bright opportunities. When you effectively identify and address customer issues, you also show that you genuinely care about their satisfaction.

These skills build trust, improve customer loyalty, and lead to positive word-of-mouth recommendations. Moreover, they help your team handle challenges efficiently, reducing stress and improving overall job satisfaction.

In short, mastering problem-solving in customer service is the key to creating happy customers and a thriving, customer-centric business.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 1 - Active Listening

Active listening is a vital technique in customer service problem-solving. It involves fully focusing on what the customer is saying, not just waiting for your turn to speak.

To practice it effectively, encourage your team to maintain eye contact, nod in acknowledgment, and use phrases like "I understand" to show empathy. Let them practice how to avoid interrupting and give customers the space to express themselves fully.

By truly hearing your customers’ concerns and needs, your team can respond more precisely and find solutions that leave customers feeling valued and satisfied. This successfully turns potentially challenging situations into positive experiences.

Edapp can empower your customer service team's problem-solving skills by offering interactive and customized training courses. These problem solving training courses include EdApp’s Problem Solver course. There’s also a course on Dealing with Difficult Customers .

Through scenario-based simulations, your team members can practice resolving real-life customer issues in a safe learning environment. Edapp's reporting and analytics features allow you to monitor individual progress, identify areas for improvement, and provide targeted feedback.

With the flexibility of mobile learning , your team can also access training anytime, anywhere, making it convenient to sharpen their problem-solving abilities. Plus, Edapp's engaging and adaptive content makes sure that your team stays motivated and develops the critical skills needed to excel in customer service problem-solving.

Sign up to EdApp for free to unlock your customer service team’s best potential.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 2 - Stay Calm and Patient

Staying calm and patient is a superpower in problem-solving. When your team keeps their cool even in tough situations, it sends a reassuring message to the customer that they’re competent and there to help.

Some tips you can give them are to take deep breaths, to remember it's not personal, and to not rush through the conversation. Pausing to collect their thoughts can also lead to better solutions and prevent the situation from escalating.

With this customer service problem-solving skill, your team gains the upper hand in resolving issues effectively, creating happier customers, and making their jobs less stressful in the process.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 3 - Apologize Sincerely

Apologizing sincerely is a golden technique in customer service. When your team members genuinely say, "I'm sorry," they show empathy and take responsibility for any inconvenience the customer has faced, regardless of fault.

This simple act of acknowledging their frustration can go a long way in diffusing tension and starting the path toward resolution when it comes to customer service problem solving. A sincere apology demonstrates that your customer service team cares about their experience and is committed to making it right.

So, don't let your team underestimate the power of a heartfelt "I'm sorry" in turning a customer's problem into an opportunity to leave them feeling valued and satisfied.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 4 - Take Ownership

Taking ownership is a remarkable technique when dealing with customer problems. When your team members accept responsibility for resolving an issue, they send a clear message to the customer that their concerns matter to your business.

It doesn't matter if your product or service caused the problem. By taking ownership, your team demonstrates a commitment to finding a solution and ensuring their satisfaction. This step builds trust and confidence in your customers, showing that your team is there to support them every step of the way.

Encourage your team to say, "I'll take care of this for you." It's a powerful way to transform challenges into opportunities in exceptional customer service problem solving.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 5 - Set Realistic Expectations

Setting realistic expectations is an important step for customer service problem solving. When you communicate clear timelines, you're being honest and transparent with what the customer can expect.

This helps manage their expectations and prevents disappointment down the road. Under-promising and over-delivering is a technique your team can use to make sure that they have the time and resources needed to meet or exceed the commitments they’ve made.

This technique not only prevents misunderstandings but also creates a positive experience by showing that your team is dependable and trustworthy. It ultimately makes customers happier and more satisfied with the service they receive.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 6 - Collaborate with Colleagues

Letting your team members collaborate with their colleagues for problem-solving is like having a superhero team for customer service in your organization. Sometimes, challenges are complex, and it's perfectly okay to call in reinforcements.

They can also involve other team members or departments when needed, ensuring that they have all the expertise and resources at their disposal. Effective internal communication is the key here; so make sure that everyone is on the same page.

This customer service problem solving example helps find more comprehensive solutions and demonstrates a unified commitment to customer satisfaction. So, remind your team that they’re not alone in this mission–collaborate, conquer, and make your customers' day better together.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 7 - Offer Solutions

Offering solutions is not just about acknowledging the issue; it's about actively seeking ways to fix it. Presenting practical solutions to the customer's problem shows that your team is dedicated to making things right and that customer satisfaction is their top priority.

So when faced with examples of problem-solving scenarios, have your team discuss the options, outlining the pros and cons if necessary, to help your customers make an informed decision.

Offering solutions not only resolves the immediate problem but also fosters trust and loyalty, leaving customers feeling heard, valued, and confident in your team’s ability to provide exceptional service.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 8 - Follow-Up

Once the issue is resolved, your customer service team shouldn’t leave your customers hanging. They should take the extra step to check in with them.

Whether it's a quick email or a phone call, asking if everything is going well shows that your team genuinely cares about their satisfaction even after the problem is resolved. It's a fantastic way to ensure their needs are fully met and to gather valuable feedback for continuous improvement.

Following up not only leaves a lasting positive impression but also transforms a simple resolution into a memorable and delightful customer experience . So, remind your team to circle back and make sure that your customers are smiling long after the issue is history.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 9 - Document the Interaction

When your team members keep detailed records of customer issues and the steps taken to resolve them, they’re creating a valuable resource for your customer service team.

These records offer a clear picture of past challenges and solutions, making it easier to spot trends and identify areas for improvement. Plus, they guarantee consistency in your service by allowing any team member to pick up where you left off, providing a seamless customer experience.

Think of documentation as your team’s secret weapon for conquering future customer service adventures, helping them navigate problems with confidence and precision.

Customer Service Problem-Solving # 10 - Learn from Each Case

After resolving an issue, let your team take a moment to reflect on what went well and what could be improved. Have them analyze customer feedback and common issues to identify patterns and trends.

By turning each case into a learning opportunity, your team can continually refine their problem-solving skills and fine-tune your business’s customer service approach.

It's the key to growth, making sure that you and your team are always ready to tackle new challenges with even greater expertise. This ultimately creates happier customers.

Donna is an elearning content writer for EdApp, a mobile-based microlearning platform designed for today's digital training needs. When she's not writing web articles, she writes lines of code or songs or anything food-related.

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10 Common Customer Service Problems and How to Resolve Them

Customer. Vendor. Seller. Buyer.

All of them have been around since the concept of commerce started.

Fast forward to 2020.

Today, it is all about the ‘Age of the Customer’. Businesses have grown more concerned; some may say, even obsessed with how their customers are treated. 

And rightfully so. 

It only takes one bad experience for the customer to swear off your business forever. 

By the same logic, one outstanding customer experience can convert them into loyal brand ambassadors, lifelong. 

So, what is the most natural solution to ensure that your relationship with your customers becomes better? 

Isn’t the answer pretty obvious?

You can have a great product and a very talented staff. But the one thing that the majority of customers will remember in all likelihood is the direct interaction they had with your business. 

And who is at the forefront of this experience? Your customer service team, of course!

Great Customer Service Can Be an Asset to Your Business

The bottom line is that your customer service department is the face of the company for your customers. Any experience that they have is primarily a direct outcome of the quality and skill of the team. 

Hence, any strong business will look to harness the power of customer service to develop positive relationships with the clients. But if you are a proactive company, you will keep asking the questions, “ What is good customer service? ”

The core value of outstanding customer service is centralized around attending to the needs and expectations of your customers through careful listening. Therefore, to prevent the relationship from stagnating, you have to be constantly looking out for newer and innovative opportunities for experience enhancement. 

Improving Customer Service Standards by Addressing  Problems Head-on

Your customers are interacting with your business pretty much every day. It is clear that at some stage, your team will encounter roadblocks and challenges. 

The success of your business will depend on how skillfully you handle your customer service problems .

Remember, if you can resolve these issues successfully, you would have won a customer for their lifetime. They will return to you again and again, thus, boosting revenue and profits. 

On the other hand, if the handling is poor, expect your customers to bolt to your closest competitor. And with it goes your revenue too. 

So, the question remains that in spite of knowing the benefits of a positive customer service experience, why is it so hard to deliver it consistently? 

Everyone knows that customer service jobs are really challenging. And a problematic customer is probably the icing on the cake. 

Problems, queries, and complaints, you never know what’s in store for you next. Some days you could be solving customer problems for one distressed client, whereas other days can feel like a train wreck. And your job is to salvage it all.  And end it all on a high note.

Customer service is no rocket science.  But if it’s that simple, then why do so many businesses do not know how to solve customer service problems? 

Maybe looking and analyzing the reasons behind common customer service problems as reported by consumers can be a step in the right direction. 

Let’s take a closer look at the solutions that can help you get your customer service standards up in the process. 

1. When the Response Times Are Long

When the world moves at break-neck speed, why should the customer be kept on hold, waiting for the agent to respond? 

Customers today expect communication with service departments to be instant. In fact, they want immediate resolution of their concerns too. This is, indisputably, the first in the long list of the common problem with customer service that needs to be addressed by businesses. 

Check out the reasons why this major problem occurs frequently:

• If the company does not establish a standard set of processes and practices to the field, answer and evaluate responses
• If there is no accountability on the part of the agent if response times have been really prolonged
• If agents end up doing a lot of manual work in the absence of adequate automation
• If agents are not trained to handle multiple queries simultaneously

To drive yourself back into the fast lane, you need to do the following:

• Create a process that outlines the workflow of what an agent should do when he or she receives a customer query with the focus of handling it promptly and efficiently
• Ensure that your agents are aware of their roles and responsibilities along with who they are accountable to if and when there are lapses in service
• Make use of technology and automation that helps take care of some of the repetitive tasks through a combination of canned  responses that are framed to expedite the workflow
• Allow your customers to reach you via multiple channels including email, website chat, phone, hosted with  contact center technology , social, text message and allocate resources accordingly
• Start creating a knowledge base to pre-package responses to the most commonly asked questions which also ensures that your service team remains consistent with their levels of service

Customer service issues, if left unattended, can be a frustrating experience for your client. Be proactive and keep your customers informed of how you aim to address their issues quickly.

Read More: Proactive VS Reactive Customer Service: Which One Should You Choose?

2. When Customer Reps Do Not Listen Carefully to What the Client Needs

Your customer service problem-solving starts by diving due importance to listening. This is often overlooked, which may result in catching the customer service agent off guard with questions to which you may not have the appropriate answer.

You may not want to be in a position where you have to listen to customers complaining. Unless you give your full attention to what the customer is saying, it will be difficult to understand what they need or how to service their problem. 

You can land up in this situation due to the following reasons:

• If the customer finds it difficult to explain the issue due to a lack of knowledge of relevant technical terms
• If the customer has been disappointed with the product or service as it did not meet their expectations
• If you simply do not know the answer to the concern because you did not pay attention to what the customer said

To help you deliver the right resolution, you can do the following:

• Ensure that you have understood the issue about what the customer requires and double-check the problem if required
• Follow it up with a genuine apology because many customers are simply looking for an acknowledgment of the mistake made by the business
• If you do not have a solution right away, then admit it to the customer right away
• On the other hand, if a ready solution is available, then share it with the customer immediately

A study published in the Harvard Business Review reported that a complaining customer handled proactively in less than 5 minutes will go on to spend more on purchases in the future.

Y our agents should be quick to understand and analyze customer problems.

Remember that empathy, too, begins with active listening.  Wouldn’t you call this an ideal customer service problem example ?

Read More: Top 20 Issue tracker tools that Help in Issue Identification and Resolution

3. When the Customer Gets Transferred from One Department to Another

When people engage with businesses, and it does not turn out as per their expectations, it is the ultimate death knell to your reputation.

When a customer keeps getting transferred from one agent or department to another, it ensures that a customer will never return to you or your business in the future. Neither will they recommend you to people they know. This brings us to the second most common customer service problem.

Here are some reasons why a customer call may get transferred:

• If the customer agent does not have a ready solution to the query that has been put forward by the client
• If the rep is not the appropriate individual to offer a resolution to the issue
• If the agent feels that a superior will be able to offer a better solution to the problem

To ensure that the customer is not enraged, this is what you can do to pacify the situation before transferring the customer:

• Inform the customer the reason, why you need to transfer the call to another agent, senior manager or department
• Explain the present situation in detail so that the customer understands that sticking with you may take more time to resolve the issue
• Request permission to transfer the call and ask if the customer has any further questions that need answering
• Wait for a confirmation in the affirmative and then initiate the transfer

Remember that the customer may already be on the brink of losing it if the call has already been transferred several times. Try not to push him any further than you need to. You do want the experience to end on a positive tone.

4. When Customer Service Reps Are Rude to Clients

This is possibly the worst-case scenario for a business where the customer service rep has been rude to the client. You can’t deny that this is a tough situation to handle and is best avoided under all circumstances. 

No matter how frustrated or high-pitched a customer might go at the time of conversing with a service agent, it does not give the rep the license to be rude to the customer in any way. Generally, such situations are handled by an experienced manager.

Circumstances that can lead them in the direction of being rude to the customer include:

• If the customer constantly challenges what the agent is trying to communicate to mitigate the situation to the best of their abilities
• If the customer is rude and abusive to the agent without any provocation from the rep’s side
• If the customer service agent has personal issues that he or she could not put aside whilst attending to customer calls

Following these guidelines can help you tackle even a sticky situation such as this:

• You need a team of service personnel with a positive and can-do attitude against hiring people just on the basis of their experience
• Ensure that they are empathetic to customer needs, no matter how badly the customer behaves or speaks
• Invest time and effort to upskill your team, especially in soft skills, through ongoing training and development programs

For now, it may seem like a rather far-fetched strategy to take care of a critical customer service problem and solution. In due course of time, you will see that it was worth the effort.

5. When You Cannot Offer A Solution to The Customer

There will be times when you may not have an instant solution for the customer. Telling that to the customer can be slightly tricky, especially if you notice that the customer is already annoyed. But dealing with an angry customer is part of the job description, and there is really no way of escaping it.

Customer service reps are only human and may not be able to offer a resolution of customer queries on the first contact. When customers have to chat or call the service department multiple times, it can be a hassle for them.

There may be several reasons why agents may not be able to offer immediate solutions. These include:

• If the business has encountered this specific customer query for the very first time in which case the solution guidelines have not been outlined for reference
• If the customer service rep has not received adequate training or information on the company, its goals, products, and services
• If the agent simply does not know the answer to the query because he or she has not proactively kept themselves updated on all relevant information and knowledge

You can go through possible solutions options in a scenario such as this:

• The agent can refer the query to a more experienced colleague or manager in the absence of an outline to the solution 
• The company should pass on all relevant information to their customer service department and follow it up with periodic training sessions
• The agent should also invest time in learning about the company, their products, and services, etc. on their own
• Let the customer know that resolving the issue will take time and promise to get back within a reasonable timeline with the solution the query

Even though this is not the ideal situation to end the conversation, it is a common occurrence in customer service. Just make sure that whenever you get back to the customer, the solution should be able to meet their expectations.

A very important and viable solution here can be an updated knowledge base that the support reps should have access to as and when they need it. This will reduce the chances of inadequate or incorrect information being passed by reps to the customers.  That’s a great customer service problem-solving example that anyone can refer to.

6. When Customers Cannot Get A Live Human Being

Be it  live chat tools or phones, technology has allowed a significant percentage of customer service processes to be automated. While the life of a customer service agent has been simplified to a large extent, most customers find it really annoying to have a real human dealing with their issues.

Customers today want to talk to humans, not machines. This brings us to another key customer service issue that is quite common these days.

The top reasons why businesses are prioritizing automation in their customer service processes are:

• If the business is looking to minimize customer wait times and reduce friction, then automation is the obvious answer
• If the business wants to prioritize and attribute tasks efficiently through workflow automation
• If the business hopes to reduce resource costs in which case automating some of the tasks can be beneficial
• If the business is trying to attract a newer demographic who are not averse to conversing with a chatbot or IVR

Here is how you can avoid some of the pitfalls:

• Pick the right tasks such as repetitive jobs, resources for self-service ,  FAQs , knowledge bases, etc. that can be automated with a knowledge base software which also prevents you from alienating your customers
• Merge your service channels by converting them into an omnichannel strategy to collaborate effectively and efficiently ensuring that information silos do not happen
• Automation should be undertaken to support your human team and not as a substitute for your live agents
• Always request feedback to keep abreast of any change in customer opinion regarding the automation of your processes, either partially or fully

Automation requires a lot of planning to make sure it is successful in offering the right customer experience to your clients. Too much of it can undermine the goals of achieving good customer service. Now, this looks like the perfect customer service problem and solution example. Wouldn’t you agree?

7. When Customer Service Pushes the Wrong Product or Service

This situation can arise if the customer has a specific product or service-related query or maybe needs guidance to decide on, which is a suitable variant or model that will fit best with their needs.

Many times, customer service agents adopt a ‘ one size fits all ’ kind of approach. This may result in them pushing a product or service to the customer, thus, adversely impacting their experience with the business. 

• If there is a serious lack of knowledge on the part of the agent where he or she does not know the USPs of specific products or services
• If the agent is unable to perform a competitive analysis of the buyer’s needs which may result in a guesstimate rather than an accurate evaluation
• If the rep does not take into account the customer’s interaction history , the products or services that interest him or her, what they’ve searched for in the past, and which pages on the site they have been browsing the most 

You need to do the following to get into the customer’s good books:

• Always listen to the customer’s requirements carefully and then carry out a detailed analysis to recommend the right product or service 
• Indulge in some thorough visitor tracking to know what or where the customer has been browsing on your site
• Keep yourself updated with the latest product and service information including features, benefits, prices, and freebies

Your customer is looking up to you for directions. Presenting him or her with a range of helpful suggestions will ensure that you drive the conversation on a positive note. All staff should be trained so that customers receive a consistently delightful, not just satisfactory experience.

Using live chat software that helps you track customer history as soon as the customer says its first word can make things easier for you. Live Chat comes with a plethora of features that help you access customer information in real time  and provide solutions that delight customers.

8. When Customer Service Does Not Follow Through with Promise

If the customer service department is unable to offer an instant solution to the client, they will ideally make a promise to deliver it within a stipulated period. In many instances, it has been observed that service reps are repeatedly missing to live up to what they’ve promised the customer.

This brings us to the next customer service problem of reps not following through with the promise that they have made to the customer. It can be infuriating when the issue remains unsolved due to this.

This customer service problem goes against the very ethos of the profession. However, some reasons why this may still happen are:

• If the processes are not in place to ensure that the agent receives alerts and notifications of an open ticket on time
• If the customer service agent is not proactive in passing the information to all relevant teams who need to be involved in solving the issue
• If the customer support agent is just plain lazy and not bothered about closing the issues with the customer

The following strategies can help fix the above-mentioned issues:

• When the agent follow-up on time, customers feel that they are cared for, which automatically increases customer trust and reliability in the brand
• Do not leave a lot of time gap between your last conversation and the follow-up and the faster you reach out, better are the chances of turning an average experience into a great one
• If the customer has contacted your service department during office hours, be sure to return the call, and email within 24 hours
• Try and avoid ‘Yes’ or ‘NO’ responses when you are following up with the client as opposed to asking more open-ended questions to get more information

No matter what the reason or type of follow-through is, always remember to thank your customers for continuing to be loyal patrons of your brand. A simple ‘Thank You’ will suffice. Streamline processes with the integration of a helpdesk software to ensure that the customer experience is top-notch.

9. When There Is Lack of Customer Centricity

It is easy to lose the culture of customer centricity as the business keeps expanding and growing. When you fail to place the customer at the core of your business, eventually, everything starts falling apart.

Temkin’s State of Voice of the Customer Programs 2017 report cited that 67% of large companies rated themselves as good at soliciting customer feedback , yet only 26% think they are good at acting on it.

This brings us to the next problem with customer service, where it is internal barriers are leading to behaviors that are detracting businesses from promoting a customer-centric culture.

Check these top reasons why customer-centricity issues are not being addressed:

• If the management and top leadership is weak, there will be little or no opportunities to develop the business as a customer-centric organization and this emotion percolates right to the depths of the customer service department too
• If the customer agents are weak and untrained, they will not be able to assess customer needs and expectations effectively
• If there is an overall lack of vision, the customer service department can never excel at their jobs as excellent customer service starts right from the top

Some of these tips can help get you on track:

• Strengthen communication channels between the executive, mid-level, and frontline teams
• Create a more holistic picture of your customers by continually communicating, sharing goals, and linking information and data for arriving at evidence-based decisions
• Empower your service agents to make decisions that also propel customer growth strategies

With a vision that is purpose-driven and a clear path forward will help to draw upon emotional belief systems and team member rationale to walk the talk of a customer-centric organization.

10. When Customer Service Is Not Aligned to Customer Journey

Bad customer experience at any point in the customer journey can absolutely ruin the relationship between the client and the business. Just having a good team in place is not enough. The service team should be aligned with the needs and desires of the customers throughout their lifecycle.  

This brings us to the last problem with customer service, where businesses are not paying adequate attention to getting their customer service workflow in line with the customer’s lifecycle. 

The key reasons are:

• If the business fails to recognize the importance of mapping the customer journey that is aligned with your brand
• If the top leadership is unable to comprehend the worth of mapping customer journeys to help achieve organizational goals
• If the management is not aware of how customer journey mapping can drive growth and offer profitability for the business

Follow these guidelines to succeed:

• Get out of the inside-out perspective of customer journeys because it is grounded with a biased viewpoint
• Focus on how customers and prospects interact with the brand over multiple touchpoints including your website and social channels, outbound marketing , sales team and customer service department
• Do not make the mistake of overlooking all relevant participants in the customer journey or your risk transforming the customer map into a superficial tool with little or no value

Always base your customer mapping on research that will help your service agents to understand the customer experience from the outside-in. Remember to capture the entire journey and always highlight the key moments that push your customers to stay on the course of their purchase path. 

Wrapping Up

Competition is fierce in this global marketplace, and customer service problems are inevitable. And sometimes it can be quite overwhelming to keep up with the ever-evolving innovations that have tremendous control over your customer experience, no matter how good your business is. 

It will always be outstanding customer service that will make them come back for more. People want to feel special. By addressing their customer service problems, you want your customers to walk away from the interaction feeling not only satisfied with the outcome but valued, understood, and prioritized. Try to adopt the solutions mentioned above and wherever required make use of a competent customer support tool  to upgrade your customer service and delight your customers.

Let’s read through some frequently asked questions in the context of customer service problems and how to resolve them:

Why is customer service problem solving important?

It is crucial to solve customer service problems because you want your customers to be happy and satisfied. It also allows the business to identify gaps in their service and figure out a course of action to take corrective measures. 

With a positive image of the brand, your customers will be more than happy to recommend it to their family and friends. 

How do you write a problem statement for a customer?

A problem statement for a customer primarily involves writing out the detailed description of a specific issue raised by a client that needs to be addressed by the team responsible for problem-solving. 

Start by describing the present condition of the customer’s situation and explain the problem from a customer perspective. Outline any possible financial implications that may be incurred as a result of solving the problem. Without evidentiary support, arriving at a final solution will be impossible. Conclude by explaining the obvious advantages of adopting the resolution.

What are the types of dissatisfied customers from customer service?

Generally, dissatisfied customers as a result of poor customer service can be classified into eight types – meek, aggressive, high roller, rip-off, expressive, passive, constructive, and chronic.

What are the problems faced by customers?

There are several common problems that customers face today. 

Topping the list is the lack of authentic information on products and services. Along with that, complex navigation to specific pages, followed by connection issues with digital payments, is also quite a hassle. Poor standards of customer service, after-sales service, and vague return policies also create problems for customers frequently.

How to solve customer service problems?

Handling customer service problems is never an easy job. While it may seem like a challenging process, remember that even the frustrated customer is looking for a solution. 

The best way to tackle such situations is by carefully listening to the issue at hand and without interruption. Acknowledge the issue and ensure that you have understood the concern from the customer’s point of view. Apologize and then offer a solution if it is readily available. 

Alternatively, if the issue needs more investigation or you do not have an instant resolution, communicate the same to the customer. End the call thanking the customer for calling in and asking if he or she needs any further assistance.

Remember that customer service means taking the good with the bad.

About the author

Proprofs editorial team.

The ProProfs Help Desk Editorial Team is a passionate group of customer service experts dedicated to improving your help desk operations with top-notch content. We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you're getting the most reliable resources to enhance your customer support initiatives.

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The Guide to Effective Customer Service Problem Solving

Cases that start as “I don’t know” quickly become “I figured it out!”

“I don’t know” isn’t a good enough answer in customer support. When customers come to you with unique problems and unusual questions, we can’t refuse to answer them. In this guide, we’ll give you the steps to turn that “I don’t know” into something better:

“I don’t know, but I’m going to figure it out.”

With this guide to effective customer service problem solving, we give you a three-step process to follow:

• take stock of the information you’ve been given,
• gather any additional information you need,
• and then work to solve the problem and respond to the customer.

Let’s get started.

Assess the information you have

Information is the most important tool in your tool belt. The first step in solving any problem is to identify all the information you already know. Whether this case was escalated to you for help, or if you’ve just realized that there may be more than meets the eye to this problem, take the time to lay out everything you know.

Customer’s tone

How does your customer feel about the situation? Are they technically minded, or are they struggling to describe technical issues ? Are they calm and cooperative? Or combative and frustrated? Is this a deal-breaker for them? Or is it just a weird bug? The demeanor of your customer will inform how you approach the situation going forward.

Customer’s history

Do a quick review of the customer’s previous support interactions, any purchases they’ve made, what plan type they are on, etc. This context will help you replicate the issue, as well as respond appropriately to the customer.

What’s happening?

Do you know enough about what’s happening? Have they sent through screenshots? Error messages? Console data? What were they trying to accomplish? It doesn’t need to be a technical problem for this step to still be important. Understanding what the customer’s motivation is will help solve a variety of issues.

Has this happened before?

It’s very unlikely that this is a brand new problem. Has the customer reported it happening before? Has any other customer reported it happening before? Help desk search functions are incredibly powerful tools. Search error messages and problem statements to see if other customers have reported similar issues. You can also search the internet to see if it’s a third-party issue. For example, if you’re using a third-party payment system, you might be seeing one of their errors when customers are purchasing on your website.

Gather more information

Okay, we’re partway there! If you didn’t have an epiphany while you were sorting through the information already at your disposal (sometimes that happens!), it’s time to gather more data.

Can you replicate it?

There’s no way to get more information than to get hands-on with the problem. Do you see the same thing happening?

If not, what information do you need to replicate it?

If you can’t replicate the issue, it’s probably because you’re doing something different or in a different environment. What information do you already have about the customer’s environment? What do you need to know in order to do exactly the same thing?

• Environment: browser version, extensions (try it incognito?), other settings.
• Steps: can they record a screengrab? What are they trying to do? What error message do they get?
• Specific settings: what account are they using? What version of your product are they using? If you can try it in their account (using “admin mode” or “god mode” so you can see it without asking for their username or password), does it happen for you as well?

Ask other people

Now’s the time to check in with other people on your team to see if they have any ideas. Have they ever seen something similar?

Depending on your relationship with your product and engineering team, you may also be able to check in with them at this point. However, many teams have a more formal bug reporting process in place to prevent “side of the desk” questions from interfering with their workflow. If that’s the case, you may want to do more research first.

Solve the problem

Now you’ll need to actually solve the problem for the customer. It might require finding a workaround, or reporting a bug to the development team.

Bug or works-as-designed?

Once you’ve replicated the issue, you’ll need to decide whether that is the way it’s supposed to work, or if you’ve found a bug. If it’s a bug, congrats! You can file a bug ticket and ask your engineering team to fix it. If it’s a feature or a design flaw, you may need to make a case for an update. In this case, the complex problem may turn into a feature request.

Is there a workaround?

Can you get to the customer’s desired end result in another way? Whether the issue turns out to be a bug or a feature, if you can find another way to achieve their goal, your customer will be happy!

Write a great response

Once you’ve replicated the issue, solved the problem, found a workable solution, or at least documented the bug for a future fix, you need to get back to the customer. Writing an empathetic, thorough response can make all the difference in a complex situation.

In many cases, your response will follow the same steps as a great customer service apology :

• Offer explanation
• Fix the problem
• Wrap it up and let them know what’s next

Resources for Customer Service Problem Solving

We all need a little help sometimes. If you’re learning how to fix more difficult problems, these resources can help.

Help Scout’s Art of Troubleshooting

On a mission to troubleshoot a bug? This guide is super helpful .

Support Details website

Learn how to use Developer Tools, especially Web Consoles

Be like Sherlock, and look for clues!

Customer support requires communication skills and problem-solving skills. Looking for the clues to solve the puzzle becomes a big part of your job as soon as you start to take on more difficult customers. With this guide to customer service problem solving, you’ll have a systematic way to approach those tough questions. Cases that start as “I don’t know” quickly become “I figured it out!”

How did you like this blog?

Sarah Chambers is a Customer Support Consultant and Content Creator from Vancouver, Canada. When she’s not arguing about customer service, she’s usually outdoors rock climbing or snowboarding. Follow her on Twitter @sarahleeyoga to keep up with her adventures.

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10 Customer Service Problems and Strategies to Resolve Them

• Updated Jan 16, 2024
• Estimated Reading Time: 0

Customer satisfaction is the key metric to measure your customer happiness. Having superior customer satisfaction can create competitive differentiation as well as build your brand image.

Not only that, customers are the best judge for what your company offers. However, businesses go through a constant struggle to handle customer service problems and deliver a great service experience, as it is indisputably better to have satisfied customers than dissatisfied customers. 

79% of consumers who shared complaints about poor customer experience online had their complaints ignored.   And after one negative experience, customers will never do business with that company again.

Hence, identifying customer service issues and proactively solving them is crucial to build long-term relationships with clients and increase customer retention.

Why solving customer service problems is crucial? 

Every company faces problems but what is more important is how effectively they are putting efforts to resolve them. Solving customer service problems is crucial as it impacts other business areas. Businesses need to more customer-focused and align their services that delight customers by solving their problems effectively. 

Delivering an unforgettable experience helps businesses to fulfill key objectives like:

Acquire more customers

When you go the extra mile and deliver great customer service, it improves the satisfaction level of your clients. Happy customers can refer to you more customers through word of mouth which helps increase your customer base and increase sales conversion significantly. This will eventually strengthen the customer retention system of the business. 

Cultivate customer loyalty 

Offering prompt support and acknowledging their customer service problems with effective solutions they are highly impressed. Satisfied customers are more likely to be associated with you that increases customer loyalty.

Reduce customer churn 

If you deliver an unpleasant service experience, customers are likely to deflect to competitors even if your product is of high quality. Offering premium customer service is an investment to your business as it reduces customer churn and increases the lifetime customer value (LTV).

The most common customer service challenges that any business can encounter 

Businesses encounter several difficulties as they work to provide the products and services their customers most need. But customers often remember how a company handles a difficult experience more than what caused the issue in the first place. 

We have compiled some of the most common customer service problems and their solutions respectively. The solutions can help businesses to provide a great service experience as well as turn the negative into positive ones.

• Slow response time
• Rude communication of customer service staff
• Lack of real time engagement
• Being transferred from one agent to another
• Excessive customer service automation
• No unified customer view 
• Incompetent customer service staff 
• Offering a wrong product
• Fail to meet commitments
• No or poor after-sales support

Let us discuss customer service issues, their causes, and solutions.

1. Slow response time

Nobody likes waiting on hold.

76% of respondents said, “Just one unpleasant contact center experience was likely to make them take their business elsewhere”.  

It is clear if, given the opportunity, customers will choose companies that provide better customer service. Furthermore, they will tell their friends and family about their experience.

So, reducing hold times should be a priority.

Many companies view customer service as a function that adds expense without adding revenue; they don’t see the return on investment (RoI) in providing a better experience. But the successful ones know the importance of maximizing every opportunity to interact with customers.

Zappos , legendary known for its customer service, strives to answer 80% of its calls within 20 seconds. They view each conversation as an opportunity to build the “Zappos” brand into being about the very best customer service. 

How to resolve customer service problems?

• Add live chat – Live chat allows handling multiple chats at the same time , which helps agents deliver faster responses. It reduces the queue time significantly and boosts the satisfaction level of the customers .
• Deploy AI chatbots – Leveraging bots allows you easy scalability during peak time and delivers prompt response to customers in real time. You can engage customers 24×7 even when your support agents are busy or not available. 
• Have enough manpower – You can hire sufficient resources to manage conversations at ease without having clients wait for a long time. Having a strong resource back up helps in handling conversations effectively and provides immediate solutions to customer service problems.

Slow response time is always a big concern as it causes customer frustration. Sign up with REVE Chat for the best of customer service tools and boost your response time. 

2. Rude communication of customer service staff

The rude support staff is the worst thing any brand can have.

When customers reach out for support, they are already worried and if the agent is communicating rudely, they have zero tolerance for such behavior. Infuriated customers impact the brand negatively. They switch companies, shout loud across social media and share with friends.

70% of the customer’s journey is dictated by how the customer feels they are being treated .  

Hence, the basic principles of customer service etiquette should be integrated into every facet of your business to deliver top-quality service.

How to handle this customer service issues?

• Train your support team – Conduct training sessions to impart knowledge and enhance the soft communication skills of your staff. Training your staff on two things: using the right words while interacting with different types of customers, and how to how to politely decline a customer request .
• Provide chat scripts  – You can provide live chat scripts and customer service phrases to handle conversations consistently in different circumstances.
• Practice active listening – It is one of the best ways to serve your customers. Actively listening to customers allows you to use the right empathy statements for customer service and deliver a delightful experience.

3. Lack of real time engagement

In many scenarios, customers need instant assistance and at times, live chat is not just enough. There is a need to view the problem or have a face-to-face conversation for getting the right solution.

23% of consumers seek out a face to face interaction for complicated customer service issues like troubleshooting .

It is wise to engage your customers in real time by using live customer engagement tools and improve the first contact resolution (FCR) and deliver a great service experience.

How to solve customer service problems?

• Use video & voice chat – Visual identification with video chat is far more effective than a verbal conversation. Face-to-face live video helps to identify the root cause of the issue in the first go. Further, you can deliver the right solution in the first touchpoint itself and also build trust through personalized chat.
• Collaborate with co-browsing – You can assist your customers in real time by controlling their screen and help them to fill up a complex form or application. Being able to offer real time help boosts customer satisfaction and delivers a great virtual in-person customer experience.

4. Being transferred from one agent to another

A very often customer service problem faced by many on reaching out for support is to have to spend time in being rolled among departments or agents and describing the same issue. Having to repeat the process after being transferred to a different department is so very frustrating.

Such customer support mistakes can occur when business workflows are not properly aligned with the communication channels. 

How to fix the customer service issues effectively?

• Use intelligent routing – The conversations can be routed to the right department or agent having the expertise to resolve the issue effectively and reduce the number of touchpoints. 
• Effective department management – You can effectively distribute the chats across the right departments in order to deliver prompt solutions. It improves customer service response time and increases the agent’s productivity.

5. Excessive customer service automation 

Automation should be used primarily, not as the end goal. Excessive automation can turn you to the wrong side. Use automation to start the conversation and get the ball rolling, not to try to act in place of a person. 

You can automate whatever is predictable like sales or customer service FAQs with chatbots . But the customer service challenges that require elaborative discussion should not be left over to a bot. 

For more complicated interactions, such as payment disputes, 40% of customers prefer talking to a real person.

How to manage customer service problems?

• Provide alternative channels like live chat, email so that your customers can connect with the support team easily and get the right solution.
• There should be a fallback defined while designing the chatbot to connect the human agents when customers want. Balancing conversations smartly with the bot and live chat agents can reduce customer service problems.

6. Lack of unified customer view 

Improper alignment between customer service and the customer journey results in inconsistent service, which frustrates the clients. Eventually, they switch the brand and all efforts in building consumer relationships are ruined. 

Businesses should focus on delivering consistent omnichannel customer service across all the channels like website, social media, phone, in-app, stores, etc. It means the customer satisfied with your social support over Facebook messenger should be equally convinced with your quality of website support. 

Bank of America , the renowned global bank delivers consistent omni channel service to its customers. The bank allows for everything from depositing checks to scheduling an appointment to be handled by the company’s mobile and desktop apps. 

How to solve customer service challenges by going omnichannel?

• Map your customer journey to closely understand their behavior, learn their interests, and needs.
• Streamline all the customer conversations under one platform and provide a cohesive experience.
• Identify the most preferred channels and be 24×7 active across those channels to reduce average response time.
• Make use of engagement tools like live chat, chatbots, visual tools across all customer touchpoints to gain faster details of the issue and deliver first contact resolution.

7. Incompetent customer service staff 

“Transparency is the new normal.” – Forbes

Customers look for transparent information about the products and services when they reach out to a brand. Having a lack of knowledgeable or untrained staff can ruin everything. Such agents act as a hindrance in delivering a good customer experience.

Businesses while implementing training practices must understand from customers’ perspective what they want to know and hear. 

One way to come up with that list is to look at the most common customer problem areas.

How to resolve the customer service issues?

• Conduct product training – Ensure thorough product training sessions regularly to impart the core competencies of your product and services. Explain the product features deeply to provide a transparent understanding of the core positioning.
• Monitor conversation regularly – Evaluate the conversations to understand if the customers are provided the right and updated information. Further, it helps to decide how frequently training sessions should be conducted.
• Create FAQ page – Having a comprehensive page on the commonly asked questions can help the agents refer to that page to deliver authentic information. It can also help customers to choose self-service before they approach the support team.

8. Offering wrong products or services 

Many times the customer service agents are not able to understand what the customer wants and offer the wrong product or service. The reason could be relying on reactive channels like the phone that involve lengthy and unclear conversations of what actually the customer wants. Such teams may fail to create customer value , resulting in negative impact on the bottom line. 

Problem-solving relies on active listening, which is often overlooked. Using proactive channels for customer service communication can help to understand what they are looking for. 

• Proactively guide customers – The live chat agents can proactively guide customers in their buying journey and offer the right product or service they are looking for.
• Gain insights from visitor analytics – You can monitor customer behavior in real time and collect valuable insights on what does the customer want. 

9. Fail to meet commitments 

Usually, the service providers make false commitments to the customers without realizing how acutely it can impact their brand. 

Don’t make a promise to customers that you can’t keep. And if made, keep it.

Over delivering on customer expectations would raise customer satisfaction and be good for business. It develops trust and loyalty in customers and stays associated with your brand for a lifetime. To keep customers highly satisfied, you must continue to deliver more value because their expectations will keep increasing. 

How can you fix the customer service challenges?

• Have a proper follow-up plan – Define a plan of action for the customer service challenges and execute it rightly. Having a specific plan of customer service problem-solving techniques makes handling easy for the agents.
• Communicate next step – There should not be a communication gap between you and the customers. It means when a customer approaches you to report the issue, acknowledge it, and provide a timeline for offering a solution. It makes them feel that their problem is looked into seriously and it will be resolved shortly.
• Go the extra mile – At times you have to put your efforts to go the extra mile for keeping your promise and exceed customer expectations. It delivers a great service experience.
• Send a token of care – You can mend up your relations with your customers by sending an apology note and a gift along with it to show how much you care and value them. 

10. Poor after-sales support

For most businesses, once the sales are closed means over. They hardly bother about the experience of the customer with the product or service, if they are facing any issue with it or not? 

It should not be the case. It causes a serious customer service problem if you leave your customers deserted after-sales.

Make your customers feel special after-sales by reaching out to them and help them out if you find out there is an issue. 

How to handle customer service problems?

• Make regular follow-ups – It is vital to follow up with customers to understand their experience. It also shows how much you care for them and are there for them to help in case of any problem.
• Send a thank-you note – You can send personalized thankyou notes through email or tag over social media channels. It strengthens the connection and customers are happy with the overall brand experience.

Customer service problems are inevitable

Customer service issues are going to be there rather they will keep revolving. They can’t be avoided as customer expectations are shifting very fast. However, you need to have a well-tailored crisis management plan to handle the challenges effectively. 

Your focus should also be on having the best customer support tools so that you can avoid some of the common service-related problems. Sign up with REVE Chat to find top-notch customer service solutions for your business.  

By executing the plan and putting a good system & process in place, you can resolve the customer service challenges to a maximum extent and deliver an excellent consumer support experience.

Start a 14-day free trial, no credit card required!

Snigdha Patel

Snigdha Patel is a customer experience researcher, author, and blogger. As part of REVE Chat, she focuses on helping organizations maximize customer experience using omnichannel messaging and conversational AI.

She creates contextual, insightful, and conversational content for business audiences across a broad range of industries and categories like Customer Service, Customer Experience (CX), Chatbots, and more.

Serving as the lead content strategist, Snigdha helps the customer service teams to leverage the right technology along with AI to deliver exceptional and memorable customer experiences.

Being a customer service adherent, her goal is to show that organizations can use customer experience as a competitive advantage and win customer loyalty.

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Sales | How To

12 Common Customer Service Problems & How to Resolve Them

Published September 4, 2023

Published Sep 4, 2023

WRITTEN BY: Bianca Caballero

This article is part of a larger series on Customer Service .

• 1 Service Not Aligned With Customer Journey
• 2 Difficulty Maintaining Quick Response Times
• 3 Rude Behavior of Support Agent
• 4 Frequent Call Transfers
• 5 Difficulty Accessing Live Human Agent
• 6 Using the Wrong Tools & Software
• 7 Relying on Limited Support Channels
• 8 Inadequate Training for Service Reps
• 9 Pushing the Wrong Product or Service
• 10 Failure to Deliver Promised Solutions
• 11 Treating Customers as Mere Numbers
• 12 Website or Software Outage
• 13 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• 14 Bottom Line

Customer service problems can harm your business, affecting customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty. Some of the most common issues in customer service are slow response time, rude communication by the support staff, and lack of real-time engagement. Continue reading as we discuss the reasons for these issues, give tips on how to solve customer service problems, and share tools that can effectively support your teams.

1. Service Not Aligned With Customer Journey

Over 70% of consumers expect businesses to provide a conversational care experience during their interactions. Unfortunately, you could easily fall into the trap of inconsistent service when customer service is not properly aligned with the customer journey. This could happen to any small business customer service team, especially those growing and expanding quickly.

Solution: Map out your customer journey to understand your clients’ behavior, interests, needs, and most preferred channels. If you are using several support channels, use a tool like Freshdesk that can unify all customer conversations in an omnichannel platform. This way, you can easily monitor all rep engagement and performance with just a single solution.

Visit Freshdesk

Freshdesk omnichannel dashboard with a birds-eye view of the support team’s performance across channels (Source: Freshdesk )

Curious about how this platform can help your business grow? Read our comprehensive Freshdesk review and learn how to solve problems in customer service with the help of this tool.

2. Difficulty Maintaining Quick Response Times

Consumers often expect instant or quick customer service problem-solving. In fact, 70% of customers say the acceptable response should come within the same day the request was sent. Almost half (46%) are willing to wait until the next day, and only 16% would wait up to three days. However, factors such as insufficient manpower and lack of tools like live chat could affect queue time significantly.

Solution: Aside from adding more personnel, integrate a customized live chat widget to your support channels to help your agents respond faster to customer queries. A platform like LiveChat lets you handle multiple conversations at the same time, reduces the queue, and helps increase the customer satisfaction (CSAT) rate.

Visit LiveChat

An example of LiveChat’s customizable chat widget (Source: LiveChat )

3. Rude Behavior of Support Agent

Customer service reps could exhibit rude behavior for several reasons. These could include constant challenges to customer service solutions, a rude customer unprovoked by the rep, and personal issues that the rep could not push aside at the moment. However, no matter how irate the customer becomes, a rep should not be rude to a customer.

Rude communication and behavior from customer support staff is one of the worst things for a business. There are instances where human reps are pushed to their limit and unintentionally lash out at customers. Fortunately, 80% of consumers will forgive a company for a mistake after receiving excellent customer service. This is why it is important to integrate basic customer service etiquette into your business.

Solution: Train your customer service reps on using the right words when interacting with different types of customers and how to politely say no to a customer request. You can also provide live chat scripts to help them deliver consistent responses in different situations.

Want to learn the best practices for customer service communication? Read our article on customer service response templates to learn about the standard replies to customers’ most common complaints and issues. Download these templates for free and customize them to reflect your brand voice in your chat scripts.

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4. frequent call transfers.

Agents sometimes have to transfer a customer to another agent when they don’t have an immediate solution to the query. This also happens when the rep feels like another agent or a superior can offer a better customer resolution. For consumers, it’s frustrating to have to repeat the process of detailing their concerns each time they are transferred.

Solution: Use a customer service tool with intelligent routing capabilities to direct tickets and conversations to the right agent or department. Zoho Desk, for example, allows you to set up skills-based routing so that incoming support tickets go directly to specific agents based on their skills. This way, you can avoid or minimize the transfer of conversations and facilitate quick resolution of customer service issues.

Visit Zoho CRM

Zoho Desk skills-based ticket routing (Source: Zoho )

Interested in learning more about this platform’s features and capabilities? Check out our in-depth Zoho Desk review .

5. Difficulty Accessing Live Human Agent

Studies show that 69% of customers are willing to interact with a chatbot for simple issues and frequently asked questions (FAQs). Automation should be used to start a conversation with a customer and to minimize customer wait time, but you should know when to use chatbots and human live chat . For instance, complicated customer problems like payment disputes require elaborative conversations with a human agent.

Solution: Pick the right tasks to automate based on the type of queries you receive. For instance, self-service and knowledge bases work best for predictable FAQs. Alternative support channels like live chat and email allow your customers to connect with human agents to discuss more complex issues, such as payment disputes. If you primarily use chatbots to connect with customers, choose a chatbot platform like Landbot that offers an option to transfer the conversation to a live human agent.

Visit Landbot

Landbot human takeover of chatbot conversation (Source: Landbot )

6. Using the Wrong Tools & Software

There are several factors that go into selecting software and tools for your business. These include your unique operational requirements, budget, and feature needs. Choosing software that does not fit your business needs could lead to complicated service processes, slow response times, and decreased satisfaction among reps and customers.

Data shows that 60% of high-growth businesses use help desk software to enable their support team. Other top options include a knowledge base, shared email alias, customer relationship manager (CRM), live chat, and support tickets.

Solution: Work with your sales, marketing, and customer service departments to find the right software that fits your unique business needs. You can select from several options, including CRMs, ticketing systems, and help desk software. You can also read our guide on how to choose help desk software and follow the steps in this article to ensure that you pick the right platform.

7. Relying on Limited Support Channels

Online portals and email ticketing are still among the top customer support channels that customers prefer. However, there are situations, such as in troubleshooting, where customers are not satisfied with live chat support and would seek a face-to-face conversation to resolve the issue. Statistics show that almost half (46%) of customers prefer to engage with service reps in person, and 59% want access to phone support.

Solution: Use video and voice chat to quickly identify the root cause of the issue and solve customer problems. You can also collaborate using co-browsing, which allows you to control the customer’s screen, and help them fill out complex forms. A platform like REVE Chat offers both co-browsing and video calls for more efficient troubleshooting.

Visit REVE Chat

REVE Chat co-browsing feature lets an agent jointly navigate a customer’s screen. (Source: REVE Chat )

8. Inadequate Training for Service Reps

More than half (68%) of customers feel that most businesses need better training for their customer service agents. This could be due to several reasons, including the lack of solution guidelines for specific customer queries and inadequate training on proper communication. Businesses should ensure that their agents are well-equipped to deal with different types of issues in their field to maintain good customer experience.

Solution: Conduct regular and thorough product training sessions to build a solid foundation of your reps’ product knowledge. You also have to monitor and evaluate customer engagement to check if your reps are providing the correct information to customers. Read our list of the top customer service training topics and ideas and use it to bring out your team’s full potential.

9. Pushing the Wrong Product or Service

There are times when reps offer the wrong product because they are unable to understand what their customers want or need. Other factors that could contribute to this problem include lengthy and unclear conversations, a one-size-fits-all approach to all customer issues, or the lack of a competitive analysis of customer needs. All these could lead to a rep mistakenly pushing the wrong product or service to a customer.

While better deals and product quality primarily drive brand defection among consumers, 48% of customers switch to another brand in search of better customer service. No matter what the reason is, offering the wrong product to a customer reflects poorly on the company you are working for.

Solution: On top of proper training (mentioned above), it is also wise to gain insights from visitor analytics first before offering customers a product. Use a tool like HubSpot to track customer behavior in real time and gather valuable insights into their activities on your business website. This way, you can gauge their interest in a certain product or recommend another one based on what they need or want.

Visit HubSpot

HubSpot contact website activity tracking (Source: HubSpot )

Want to know more about this platform’s customer service features? Head on to our HubSpot Service Hub review page .

10. Failure to Deliver Promised Solutions

Failure to deliver a promised solution impacts your brand negatively. On the other hand, doing what you promised would help improve customer satisfaction (CSAT) , especially because their expectations of you will continue to rise. Research shows that 68% of customers trust businesses to tell them the truth. That said, don’t make any promises you can’t keep to avoid losing customers’ trust.

For example, if your company promises to respond to support requests within 24 hours, your team should aim to do so on or before the promised deadline. Anything beyond that deadline should be unacceptable because it would lead to a breach of trust.

Solution: As part of your customer service strategy , have a properly defined plan for solving customer service problems. This plan should include setting a timeline for every solution you offer customers—making the customer feel that your team is taking your issue seriously and is working to resolve it shortly. Check out our guide to measuring customer satisfaction to get an overview of your service team’s performance.

11. Treating Customers as Mere Numbers

Lack of after-sales support could make your customers feel deserted, and sadly, 56% of customers feel that companies treat them as mere numbers. Some businesses are done interacting with customers once they close a sale. This should not be the case. Excellent customer service involves making your customers feel appreciated even after they have made a purchase.

Solution: Make regular follow-ups with customers so you’ll know if they encounter issues with your product. You can also send personalized thank-you notes via email or tags on social media. These simple gestures show how much you care for your customers.

Interested in simplifying your customer follow-up communication? Download and customize our free sales and customer service follow up templates to check in with your customers after closing a sale.

FREE Follow-up Templates

12. Website or Software Outage

Service downtime could happen to every business, and one out of five organizations report experiencing severe outages that cause significant financial losses. Such a situation will cause your customers to panic and bombard the customer support line with calls or requests. It is difficult to deal with the influx of support calls and the fact that these occurrences are out of your control.

Solution: Establish a service level agreement (SLA) between your company and your software providers to outline your expected level of performance and set uptime. It should also include the consequences of violating this agreement. In addition, it helps to be transparent with your customers about service outages and the estimated time to resolution.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the types of complaining customers.

Complaining customers generally fall into five categories:

• Meek: Avoids confrontation and only makes their customer complaint known when you actively seek feedback
• Aggressive: Complains loudly and tends to be dismissive of reasons for an unsatisfactory service
• High-roller: Expects the highest level of customer service and is willing to pay for it
• Rip-off: More interested in getting something they are not entitled to receive rather than actually solving customer problems
• Chronic: Never satisfied with any solution and will always find something to complain about

Why is bad customer service a problem?

Bad customer service could lead to lost revenue and lower profits. When you ignore customers’ needs and provide them with bad experiences, you might lose them to your competitors. Aside from losing your current customers, it could also prevent you from acquiring new ones. This is why it is very important to know how to solve customer service problems.

How do you resolve customer service problems?

Problem-solving and troubleshooting customer issues involve the following steps:

• Ask relevant questions to find out what is upsetting the customer.
• Identify the problem and describe it precisely.
• Formulate various solutions and present them to the customer.
• Deliver the promised solution within a reasonable time frame.
• Follow up with customers to assess their satisfaction with the solution.

Bottom Line

Customer service problems are inevitable and will continue to evolve as customer expectations change over time. The important thing to do is to have a well-outlined plan on how to solve customer service problems quickly and effectively. You should also invest in good customer support tools that can help you manage and streamline customer engagement, as well as monitor your team’s performance with ease.

About the Author

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Bianca Caballero

Bianca Caballero is a subject matter expert at Fit Small Business who covers Sales and Customer service topics. Prior to working at FSB, she was in field sales and territory management. When she launched her career as a writer, she worked with companies from the US, Australia, and China. At present, she uses her 12+ years of writing experience to provide FSB readers with the best answers to their questions.

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4 steps to effective customer service problem solving with examples.

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Recently, I came across a fascinating customer service story involving an American Express cardholder. It all began with a seemingly innocent mistake while making a payment involving a decimal point in the wrong spot, resulting in the customer inadvertently paying thousands of dollars instead of hundreds.

Determined to rectify the error and seek guidance, the customer promptly contacted American Express to report the issue. To his relief, a representative assured him that the mistake would have no adverse impact on his account and that all charges would be promptly refunded. Little did he know that this was just the prologue to a series of challenges.

A few days later, the customer was taken aback when he discovered that all his debit cards were unexpectedly suspended. Perplexed and concerned, he went over his account for any indications of suspicious activity or an account block, but to no avail. Thus, he decided to reach out to American Express once more to seek clarification.

To his utter surprise and dismay, the representative he connected with not only questioned why he had not halted the incorrect payment but also accused him of attempting fraud. The customer explained that a previous representative had not advised him to stop the payment and had, in fact, assured him that there would be no negative consequences resulting from his honest mistake.

The response?

That's what customer service does. They tell you what you want to hear.

This quite nasty customer service story inspired me to write about the real purpose of customer service. Which is not “telling customers what they want to hear” but helping customers and resolving their problems.

In this article, you’ll also learn some troubleshooting techniques to make your job easier.

Creating a Good Customer-Centric Culture

A customer-centric culture serves as the bedrock of exceptional problem-solving and sustainable business success. In a world where customers today wield unparalleled power and influence, placing them at the heart of your operations is not just a choice; it is a strategic imperative.

At all levels of the organisation, employees must wholeheartedly prioritise customer happiness, understanding that every interaction is an opportunity to leave a lasting impact. By cultivating such a culture, businesses create a positive and supportive environment that empowers employees to go above and beyond to delight customers.

Nurturing this culture demands a multifaceted approach. One potent strategy is to recognise and reward outstanding customer service efforts. By celebrating employees who embody the customer-centric ethos, businesses reinforce the value they place on exceptional experiences. This recognition motivates individuals to exceed customer expectations continually and sets a powerful example for others to follow.

Encouraging collaboration is another pivotal aspect of fostering a customer-centric culture. In today's interconnected business landscape, problems seldom fit neatly within departmental silos. Emphasising collaboration cultivates a shared sense of responsibility for customer success and enables employees to pool their expertise, collectively devising innovative solutions that surpass individual capabilities. The result is a seamless and consistent experience for customers, who benefit from the collective effort of a united organisation.

To equip employees for the challenges of modern customer service, businesses must invest in skills training. Outstanding problem-solving skills do not materialise by chance; they are honed through intentional development. Equipping employees with the necessary tools and knowledge to navigate diverse customer interactions positions them to respond adeptly and confidently, even in the face of dissatisfied customers.

Customer Service Problem-Solving

Speaking of dissatisfied customers, they hold the key to unlocking greater customer retention. Rather than viewing poor experiences as a liability, businesses must embrace them as opportunities for growth. Each negative interaction presents a chance to introspect, identify pain points, and make tangible improvements. By actively seeking feedback from dissatisfied customers, businesses demonstrate their commitment to listening and learning, earning trust and loyalty in the process.

A customer-centric culture is more than a mere buzzword; it drives superior customer experiences and enhanced customer retention. By prioritising customer satisfaction at every touchpoint, celebrating exceptional service, fostering collaboration, investing in skills training, and actively engaging with dissatisfied customers, businesses can forge a path to sustained success and unmatched customer loyalty. Embrace the customer-centric ethos, and you will unlock the true potential of your organisation in a customer-centric world.

Strategies for Effective Customer Service Problem-Solving

Timely response and resolution are essential components of successful troubleshooting. Customers appreciate swift action, showing that their concerns are taken seriously. Personalisation also plays a significant role, as customers feel valued when their issues are treated individually rather than generically.

Navigating challenging situations with irate customers requires patience and tact. Service reps need to stay calm, acknowledge the customer's feelings, and work towards finding a resolution.

4 Steps for Better Customer Service Problem Solving

As a customer service agent, providing satisfying solutions is essential. Let's explore the path to achieve this.

1. Understanding the Customer's Point of View

Imagine yourself in the customer's shoes. They reach out to you with what seems like an impossible request. For instance, they received a notice that their phone line would be cut due to non-payment, yet they requested credits on their invoices due to financial constraints. Initially, you might question their request, but remember, you're not just an ordinary person; you're a Support Hero tasked with saving the customer's day. Negative thinking won't lead to solutions.

At this stage, it's hard to distinguish if the customer is genuine or potentially fraudulent. However, instead of passing judgment, assume the customer needs assistance and act accordingly. Engage in active listening to comprehend the problem thoroughly and find a way to help.

Exceptional problem-solving hinges on understanding customer needs and concerns. Active listening enables service representatives to connect with customers on a deeper level and empathise effectively. By listening attentively, you can pinpoint the root cause of the problem and tailor solutions to meet their specific needs.

Remember these keywords throughout your journey: fully understand the problem, solve the customer's problem, find a workable solution, and ensure the customer is happy with the resolution.

2. Identifying a Problem

Ensuring that customers are happy with the solutions provided is crucial in customer service. Sometimes, customers simply struggle to articulate their issues, and that's entirely normal. They may not be familiar with your processes or jargon; all they know is that their expectations regarding your product or service have been disappointing.

As a Support Hero, it's your responsibility to restore their faith in your company, but to do that, you must first pinpoint the problem.

To troubleshoot effectively, here are a few questions that can guide you. Sometimes, by asking these simple questions, you can quickly identify an outage or a faulty batch of products sent out by a manufacturer!

Can you describe the problem you're facing precisely? When did this problem start? Has this issue occurred before?

Next, consider the following:

Are all users affected, or is it isolated to just one customer? Has anyone else faced a similar problem in the past?

Once the customer responds, summarise their answers back to them. This gesture demonstrates that you genuinely comprehend their concerns and helps you verify the facts.

If you're unfamiliar with the problem or unsure how to proceed, offer a brief apology and inform the customer that you need to discuss their case with a colleague or supervisor. Maintain a self-assured tone, and don't hesitate to ask the customer to hold on for a moment.

Remember, customers value accuracy even if it takes a bit more time to sort out the issue.

Instead of abruptly transferring a customer to another department, try saying:

"We're committed to resolving this for you. Let me transfer you to a specialist best equipped to address your question."

Customers appreciate the effort you put into understanding their journey and resolving their issues promptly. Poor customer service can lead to bad customer experiences, but by actively listening to their concerns, you can turn their dissatisfaction into a happy customer.

Always focus on solving the problem, no matter how common or complex. As a customer service representative, your role is to provide exceptional support and ensure that customers are satisfied with the resolution.

So, embrace every customer service issue as an opportunity to solve the problem and deliver exceptional customer support. Your dedication and responsiveness will create a positive experience, turning unhappy customers into satisfied ones.

Remember, the help desk is where customer issues are met with efficiency and care. The key to a successful customer service journey lies in how you handle problems and fix them effectively.

3. Find a Solution

Utilise your analytical thinking to devise a solution that best suits your customer's needs. Here are some key questions to help you plan an effective resolution:

Is there enough staff to carry it out?

Who will be involved in implementing the solution?

What is the expected time frame for the solution?

What resources are needed to make it happen?

Who should be informed about the planned solution?

How will the customer be notified about the solution?

Even if you're faced with a case that goes against your company's policy, there is always room for creative suggestions. Take, for example, a customer seeking a refund, which may not align with your policy.

However, consider these alternative solutions:

Inform the customer that you cannot credit the bill, but offer to split the payment into smaller instalments to accommodate their financial situation.

Postpone the account suspension temporarily, allowing the client to continue using the service.

Analyse the customer's account and propose a switch to a more budget-friendly price plan.

Your creativity can turn an unreasonable request into three viable solutions!

But what if you're not the one who can solve the problem?

In such cases, you may need to open a ticket to escalate the issue appropriately. To ensure the ticket doesn't get lost, assign it to yourself and monitor its progress. If the problem remains unresolved after 24 hours, consider contacting the customer to provide an update on your ongoing efforts.

Occasionally, there are situations where the problem cannot be fully sorted. For instance, your company may have stopped selling a particular product, or you may not have a gluten-free option on your menu. However, that doesn't mean you can't offer a helpful solution. If you don't have what the customer needs, guide them to the right source. Let them know where they can find the desired product or suggest alternatives.

Going the extra mile can create customer happiness, even if the solution deviates from their initial expectations.

Here's an example from our experience: My colleague, Justyna, recently chatted with a customer disappointed that our application lacked an in-built screen-sharing and screenshot-making tool. With a composed demeanour, I informed Aline that while LiveChat lacked those features, she could set up an integration for screen-sharing sessions and use a free screenshot tool like Jing. It did the trick! Aline was delighted with the solution, and my mission was accomplished.

Throughout the resolution process, ensure that the customer is at the centre of your focus. Handle customer service issues with attentiveness and empathy, as a positive customer service experience can be transformative. Use a series of questions to fully understand the problem, allowing you to implement the right solution and untangle customer queries effectively.

4. Fix the Problem and Follow Up on the Solution

Finally! The customer has agreed on a solution. You've offered a brief apology for the problem, and now you can fix it and close the case, right?

Unfortunately, it's not always that straightforward.

Sometimes, the solution provided may not address the root cause of the problem. For example, let's say a customer had an issue with the application, and you suggested restarting the device. While this might settle the problem, it's more likely that the customer will return with the same issue, possibly even upset that the initial solution didn't work as expected.

I understand that working in customer service leaves little time for breaks, and now I'm asking you to follow up on your customer's problems. But there are significant benefits to spending a little extra time reaching out to these customers.

Doing so demonstrates genuine care and creates an exceptional customer experience. You ensure that you won't receive calls or chats from furious customers later. You can verify whether your solution worked, giving you confidence for future interactions.

If you find it challenging to make calls or send emails to follow up, don't worry. There are alternative approaches you can take. Some apps allow you to send automatic emails once a ticket is resolved (e.g., LiveChat). You can test and try this feature to save time.

Alternatively, your team can use an automatic survey to gauge customer satisfaction and determine whether the problem was adequately resolved. Platforms like SurveyMonkey and Typeform can be useful in this regard. Alternatively, you can send a simple template asking two questions:

Did we help you solve your problem?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your overall experience?

Customers will undoubtedly appreciate these efforts!

In customer service, increasing customer success is vital. To achieve this, it's essential to understand the issue at hand fully. When a customer allows you to delve into their concerns, you can identify the right product or service to address their needs effectively.

Remember, customers are likely to encounter complex problems, and they depend on you for assistance. Utilise customer service problem-solving techniques to handle their issues competently and ensure they are satisfied with the outcome.

Empowering a Customer Service Representative

To excel in issue resolution, customer service reps must have the right skills and authority. Regular training and development programs ensure that representatives are well-prepared to handle various situations effectively.

Additionally, empowering representatives to take ownership of customer issues instils a sense of responsibility, leading to more proactive and efficient resolutions.

Solve Customer Service Problems With Technology

Technology plays a vital role in modern customer service troubleshooting. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems help consolidate customer data, making it easier for representatives to access relevant information quickly.

AI-powered chatbots can provide instant support, resolving common queries and freeing up human representatives to handle more complex issues. Data analytics tools allow companies to gain insights into customer behaviour and preferences, enabling them to tailor their services accordingly.

Measuring and Monitoring Customer Service Success

To continuously improve the way problems are solved, companies need to track and measure their customer service performance. Key performance indicators (KPIs), such as response time, resolution rate, and satisfaction scores, provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of customer service efforts.

By monitoring these metrics, businesses can identify areas that require attention and implement targeted improvements.

Great Customer Service Requires Resolve

Curious about how the story of the American Express customer ended? Well, after cancelling the payment, he reached out to customer service again, giving the company one last chance. However, he connected with a different representative this time—a night-and-day contrast from the previous encounter.

Unlike before, this representative was willing to listen. She grasped the situation immediately, empathising with the customer's plight. After reviewing his account and consulting with her supervisor, she astonishingly informed him that his card would be reactivated. The customer was both shocked and elated with this positive outcome.

It's remarkable how two representatives working for the same company in the same customer service team can provide vastly different experiences—one great and the other terrible.

The root cause of the poor experience is challenging to pinpoint. Perhaps the first representative was not suited for customer service, or management failed to train and motivate them adequately. Regardless, the bottom line was that the customer sought help but did not receive it.

Often, solving a customer-service problem involves navigating between company policies and customer interests, as was evident in this case. The first representative struggled to handle such a situation, whereas the second possessed the necessary skills to address the issue effectively.

Problem-Solving is not just an Ability -- It's a Mindset

As we explored in my previous post on problem-solving skills , the golden rule of customer service is to create a fantastic customer experience even when the problem may not directly concern your product. Offering a possible solution exemplifies the essence of customer service—solving problems, not merely telling customers what they want to hear.

The key to success lies in persistence, utilising the advice shared here, and maintaining a positive outlook. Armed with these qualities, there will be no problem you cannot conquer.

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Showing top 0 results 0 results found, from patience to problem-solving: 25 customer service skills.

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In today's highly competitive business landscape, delivering exceptional customer service is more important than ever.

With so many options available to consumers, businesses need to ensure they are providing a high level of service to stand out from the competition.

To do this, customer service representatives must possess a range of important customer service skills. From patience and problem-solving to multitasking, I've compiled a list of 25 skills of exceptional customer service .

These skills are the foundation upon which customer satisfaction and loyalty are built.

In this article, we will explore some of the most important customer service skills that every representative should possess to provide excellent service and drive business success.

1. Active listening

Active listening is a crucial component of good customer service. It involves fully concentrating on what the customer is saying, both verbally and non-verbally, and seeking to understand their perspective.

By actively listening, customer service representatives can better identify and address the customer's needs and concerns.

One important technique for active listening is to focus on the speaker and avoid distractions . This means avoiding multitasking while on the phone or in-person with a customer, and making eye contact and nodding to show that you are engaged in the conversation.

Another technique is to ask clarifying questions to ensure that you have a clear understanding of the customer's needs. This not only helps to ensure that you are addressing the customer's concerns effectively but also demonstrates to the customer that you are actively listening and taking their concerns seriously.

Reflecting on what the customer has said is also an effective active listening technique. This involves paraphrasing what the customer has said to show that you understand their perspective and to clarify any misunderstandings.

2. Problem-solving

Customer complaints and issues are inevitable, and how they are handled can significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Effective problem-solving involves a number of steps. The first step is to identify the issue and gather all relevant information. This may involve asking the customer questions or conducting research to better understand the problem.

Once the issue has been identified, it is important to remain calm and professional , even if the customer is upset or frustrated. Using positive language and acknowledging the customer's feelings can help to diffuse the situation and build trust.

The next step is to work collaboratively with the customer to identify potential solutions. This may involve offering alternatives or suggesting compromises. It is important to be flexible and open to different solutions , as this can help to demonstrate that the customer's needs are being taken seriously.

After identifying a solution, it is crucial to honor any commitments made. This can involve taking appropriate action to address the issue or following up with the customer to confirm their satisfaction with the resolution.

3. Communication skills

Clear and concise communication is essential in building trust, managing expectations, and resolving issues.

When communicating with customers, it is important to use language that is easily understood. This may involve avoiding technical jargon or industry-specific terminology and using simple, straightforward language.

Both verbal and written communication skills are important in good customer service. Verbal communication involves speaking clearly and actively listening to the customer. It is important to use a friendly and welcoming tone and to avoid speaking too quickly or too slowly.

Written communication skills are equally important, particularly in the age of digital communication. This includes skills such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation, as well as the ability to convey information in a clear and concise manner.

It is important to take the time to review emails, chat messages, and other forms of written communication to ensure that they are error-free and effectively convey the intended message.

4. Product knowledge

Having a strong understanding and knowledge of the products or services offered is a critical component of good customer service. It helps customer service representatives to effectively assist customers with questions and concerns, and can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Product knowledge involves having a deep understanding of the features, benefits, and limitations of the products or services offered by the company. This includes understanding how the product works, its intended use, and any associated policies or procedures.

When interacting with customers, having a strong customer service skills and a good product knowledge allows customer service representatives to provide accurate information and address questions and concerns more efficiently.

This can help to build trust and increase customer confidence in the company and its products or services.

5. Patience

Patience is an important interpersonal skill that can be developed and improved with practice. It involves the ability to remain calm and composed, even in challenging or frustrating situations.

In customer service, patience is essential in dealing with customers who may be upset or difficult to work with. By maintaining a positive attitude and demonstrating patience, customer service representative can help to de-escalate tense situations and work towards a positive resolution.

Patience can also help to build trust and credibility with customers. By taking the time to listen to their concerns and being patient in finding a solution, customer service team can show that they value their customers and are committed to providing excellent service.

There are a number of techniques that can help to manage frustration and maintain patience in customer service.

These may include:

• taking deep breaths,
• focusing on positive outcomes,
• and practicing active listening.

By staying focused on the customer's needs and remaining patient, customer service professionals can create a more positive experience for both the customer and themselves.

Among the crucial soft skills, empathy is one of the most important. It is the capacity to put oneself in the customer's shoes and understand their situation from their perspective.

Empathy is important in customer service as it can help to build a positive and lasting relationship with customers.

When customers feel that they are being heard and understood, they are more likely to feel valued and satisfied with the service they receive. It can also help to defuse tense or difficult situations and create a more positive outcome for all involved.

In order to demonstrate empathy, customer service agents must actively listen to their customers and try to understand their perspective. This involves being patient, asking questions, and showing genuine concern for their situation.

7. Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability to adjust and respond to different situations and customers. It is the capacity to be flexible and open-minded in finding solutions to customer issues.

In customer service, adaptability is important as it allows customer service representatives to respond effectively to the diverse needs and expectations of customers. By adapting to different situations and customers, customer service representatives can build stronger relationships with their customers and create a more positive and satisfying experience for them.

Adaptability also enables customer service representatives to find creative and innovative solutions to customer problems.

By being flexible and open-minded, customer service reps can develop new approaches and strategies to meet the unique needs and challenges of each customer. This, in turn, results in excellent customer service.

8. Attention to detail

Paying attention to detail is important in customer service as it can help to ensure that customer needs are met effectively and efficiently.

By being detail-oriented, customer service representatives can provide accurate and reliable information to customers, avoid mistakes and misunderstandings, and ensure that customer complaints and issues are resolved thoroughly and promptly.

Techniques for improving attention to detail include:

• taking detailed notes during customer interactions,
• reviewing and double-checking information,
• and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding.

It is also important to develop strong organizational and interpersonal skills to manage multiple tasks and customer interactions effectively.

By paying close attention to details, customer service representatives can provide accurate and reliable information to customers, avoid mistakes and misunderstandings, and ensure that customer needs are met effectively and efficiently.

9. Conflict resolution

Excellent customer service skills must include conflict resolution, which is the ability to navigate difficult situations and find mutually satisfactory solutions that meet the needs of both the customer and the business.

Effective conflict resolution is essential in customer service as it can help to build strong customer relations , increase customer loyalty, and enhance the reputation of the business. Good customer service skills in conflict resolution require customer service representatives to be patient, empathetic, and skilled at communication and problem-solving.

Techniques for resolving conflicts with customers include active listening to understand the customer's perspective, acknowledging and empathizing with their feelings, and working collaboratively with the customer to find a mutually beneficial solution.

It is also important to remain calm and professional during conflict resolution interactions and to follow up with customers to ensure their satisfaction.

10. Time management

The ability to prioritize tasks, organize work schedules, and manage time effectively to ensure that customer needs are met promptly and efficiently is yet another important skill.

Time management skills are essential in customer service as it can help to increase productivity, reduce stress, and improve the quality of customer interactions . By managing time effectively, customer service reps can ensure that customer inquiries are addressed promptly, issues are resolved quickly, and follow-up is provided when necessary.

How to become better at time management? Some ideas to consider include:

• setting clear priorities and goals,
• planning and organizing work schedules,
• eliminating distractions,
• delegating tasks when appropriate,
• using technology to streamline processes,
• and taking breaks to recharge and refocus.

If you think about relevant skills in customer service, then time management should definitely be one of them.

11. Multitasking

Multitasking is a vital customer service skill that involves juggling multiple tasks while providing excellent customer service. It is the ability to manage several tasks and responsibilities simultaneously while maintaining a high level of quality in great customer service interactions.

Effective multitasking skills are essential in customer service as it can help to increase efficiency, reduce wait times, and improve the overall customer experience .

By managing multiple tasks effectively, customer service representatives can ensure that customer inquiries are addressed promptly, issues are resolved quickly, and follow-up is provided when necessary.

Techniques for effective multitasking include setting priorities, using task lists and reminders, and breaking larger tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. It is also important to stay organized and focused, avoid distractions, and seek help when necessary.

12. Positive attitude

Maintaining a positive attitude is crucial in customer service as it can greatly impact the customer service experience.

When agents are positive towards customers, they create a positive first impression and help to put customers at ease. They are more likely to engage in positive interactions, listen actively to customers, and offer appropriate solutions to their problems.

Developing a positive mindset, practicing empathy, and maintaining a sense of humor are a few techniques for maintaining a positive attitude. It is also essential to stay professional, remain calm under pressure, and avoid negative language or attitudes.

This approach can create a welcoming and friendly environment, build trust, and establish a rapport with customers that can greatly impact the customer service experience.

13. Persuasion and influence

Persuasion and influence are critical customer service skills that involve convincing customers to take a specific action or change their perception.

What are the techniques you could try? Active listening, understanding the customer's needs and preferences, and tailoring the message to meet their specific situation are just a few examples. It is also important to use positive language, establish credibility, and provide evidence or examples to support recommendations.

The importance of persuasion and influence in customer service lies in the ability to build trust and loyalty with customers, increase customer satisfaction, and improve overall customer experience.

When customer service team can effectively persuade and influence customers, they can provide solutions that meet their needs, address their concerns, and offer a positive customer service experience.

Effective persuasion and influence skills can help customer service representatives to build trust, establish rapport, and provide solutions that meet customers' needs.

14. De-escalation techniques

When customers become upset, it can be challenging to remain calm and professional. However, by using effective de-escalation techniques, customer service representatives can calm the customer down, address their concerns, and find a solution that meets their needs.

Effective de-escalation techniques include acknowledging the customer's concerns, and remaining calm and professional. It is also important to validate the customer's feelings, and offer alternative solutions if necessary.

Additionally, customer service representatives should avoid using negative language , raising their voice, or becoming defensive, which can further escalate the situation.

The importance of de-escalation in customer service lies in the ability to maintain a positive relationship with customers, reduce conflicts, and prevent negative feedback or reviews.

By using effective de-escalation techniques, customer service representatives can provide a positive customer service experience, even in challenging situations.

15. Teamwork

In many cases, customer service reps work in teams, and effective teamwork is critical to ensure that customers receive prompt and satisfactory assistance.

Effective teamwork in customer service involves sharing knowledge and expertise, communicating effectively, and collaborating to find solutions that meet customers' needs.

It is essential to establish clear roles and responsibilities , establish goals and objectives , and work together to achieve them . Effective teamwork also involves being open to feedback, supporting colleagues, and providing constructive feedback to improve performance.

The ability to provide efficient, effective, and high-quality service to customers relies heavily on this skill. By working collaboratively, customer service representatives can leverage each other's strengths and expertise to provide quick and effective solutions to customers' issues.

Teamwork also promotes a positive work environment, which can lead to increased job satisfaction, productivity, and employee retention.

16. Professionalism

Maintaining a professional demeanor with customers is yet another skill customer service professionals should master.

It involves presenting oneself in a polite, respectful, and courteous manner to customers, irrespective of the situation or circumstances.

The importance of professionalism in customer service cannot be overstated. A professional demeanor helps to build confidence and trust with customers , making them more likely to do business with a company in the future. It also helps to establish the reputation of the company as reliable, trustworthy, and customer-focused.

Professionalism in customer service is especially important in situations where customers are frustrated, angry, or dissatisfied. With this skill, customer service representative can de-escalate tense situations and work towards resolving customer issues.

17. Calm under pressure

When dealing with frustrated or upset customers or facing challenging situations, it is easy to become flustered, anxious, or defensive. However, remaining calm under pressure is essential to provide effective customer service.

Calmness under pressure is one of the soft skills that can be developed and improved with practice. You can try deep breaths, focusing on the present moment, and maintaining a positive mindset. Having a clear understanding of the situation and remaining empathetic towards the customer's concerns is also very important.

If you can manage high-pressure situations, de-escalate tense interactions, and provide customers with a positive experience, you are more likely to win or retain customers.

18. Conflict management

Conflict management involves handling disputes or disagreements between team members in a constructive manner, so that everyone can work together effectively to provide excellent customer service. Effective conflict management helps to prevent long-term negative effects on team morale, customer retention, and business success.

One of the key techniques for managing conflicts within the customer service team is to encourage open communication . All team members should feel comfortable sharing their opinions and concerns, without fear of retribution or retaliation. It's important to establish ground rules for communication, such as listening respectfully, avoiding personal attacks, and sticking to the topic at hand.

Another effective technique is to work collaboratively to find a solution. Team members should be encouraged to approach conflicts with a problem-solving mindset , rather than an adversarial one. This can involve brainstorming ideas, evaluating different options, and coming to a mutually agreeable resolution.

Remember that conflicts can arise from misunderstandings or differences in perspective. Active listening and empathy can help team members understand each other's viewpoints and find common ground. By acknowledging and addressing differences in a respectful and constructive manner, conflicts can often be resolved before they escalate.

19. Follow-up skills

After a customer has made a purchase or interacted with a business, following up with them is a great way to show that their satisfaction is important. It also helps to identify potential issues and areas where improvements can be made.

One of the most important aspects of follow-up skills is timeliness. Customers appreciate prompt follow-up after their interaction with a business. This can be in the form of a phone call, email, or even a message through social media. A timely follow-up shows that the business values the customer's time and wants to ensure that their experience was positive.

Another important aspect of follow-up skills is the ability to ask for feedback. Asking customers about their experience with a business can provide valuable insights into areas where improvements can be made. Customer feedback can be used to improve products, services, and overall customer satisfaction.

Effective follow-up also involves making commitments to customers and following through on them. If a customer has an issue that needs to be resolved, following up with them to ensure that the issue has been resolved to their satisfaction is important.

20. Upselling and cross-selling

Upselling and cross-selling are sales techniques that are often used in customer service to increase revenue and improve customer satisfaction.

Upselling involves suggesting a more expensive or premium version of a product or service that a customer is already interested in, while cross-selling involves recommending complementary or related products or services that the customer may also be interested in.

For the customer, these techniques can provide them with a better overall experience by offering them additional options and providing more value for their purchase. For the business, upselling and cross-selling can increase sales revenue and customer loyalty.

Upselling and cross-selling should always be done in a way that is respectful of the customer's budget and preferences. Being too pushy or aggressive can lead to negative customer feedback and hurt the business's reputation.

You should always focus on providing excellent service and meeting the customer's needs, while also offering additional products or services as appropriate.

21. Cultural awareness

In today's global marketplace, cultural awareness is an essential aspect of providing strong customer service.

Customers come from diverse backgrounds, and it's important to recognize and respect cultural differences to provide exceptional service. Cultural awareness involves understanding and appreciating different customs, traditions, and behaviors. This can include being mindful of differences in communication styles, personal space, and religious practices, among others.

By being culturally aware, customer service representatives can avoid misunderstandings and miscommunications , and create positive interactions with customers.

For instance, being aware of cultural differences in communication styles, such as directness and indirectness, can help representatives tailor their approach to meet the needs of customers from different backgrounds.

Similarly, being respectful of personal space and avoiding physical contact can make customers feel more comfortable.

22. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. It is one of the most important soft customer service skills.

Having emotional intelligence helps service providers to empathize with customers and understand their needs and concerns . This, in turn, allows them to provide better support and solutions to the customer's problems.

When a customer is upset or frustrated, an emotionally intelligent agent can respond in a calm and supportive manner, which can help to diffuse the situation and resolve the issue more effectively.

Moreover, emotional intelligence allows support reps to manage their own emotions, such as anger or frustration, which can arise in difficult or challenging customer interactions.

By keeping their emotions in check and responding to customers with positivity and empathy, they can maintain professionalism and ensure that the customer's needs are met.

23. Critical thinking

The ability to analyze complex situations, identify potential solutions, and make informed decisions that benefit both the customer and the company is also a very important skill.

In customer service, critical thinking skills allow representatives to solve problems effectively and efficiently. When dealing with a customer issue, critical thinking enables representatives to identify the root cause of the problem and determine the best course of action to resolve it.

This often involves asking probing questions to better understand the customer's needs and concerns, and using sound judgment to make decisions that align with company policies and procedures.

Another important aspect of critical thinking in customer service is the ability to anticipate potential problems and proactively address them before they become larger issues. This could involve identifying trends in customer feedback or product performance and making recommendations to management for improvement.

24. Decision-making

Decision-making is an important customer service skill because it allows service providers to make informed choices that can positively impact the customer's experience.

Effective decision-making involves analyzing a situation, identifying the best course of action, and taking the necessary steps to implement that action. Customers often rely on customer service representatives to make decisions that can resolve their issues, and a well-informed and timely decision can lead to a positive outcome.

On the other hand, poor decision-making can lead to customer dissatisfaction, negative reviews, and even loss of business. Therefore, honing decision-making skills is crucial for providing excellent customer service.

25. Resourcefulness

Finding creative solutions to customers' problems is the last - but definitely not least - item on this list of great customer service skills.

When customers encounter a problem, they expect the customer service representative to be able to solve the issue quickly and efficiently. However, sometimes the solution to a customer's problem is not immediately apparent. This is where resourcefulness comes in .

Resourcefulness involves thinking outside of the box and finding unconventional solutions to problems. It requires customer service representatives to be flexible and adaptable, and to have a deep understanding of the products or services they are supporting.

Being resourceful also involves being able to leverage the resources available to you, whether it's utilizing online tools like customer service software or collaborating with team members to find a solution.

Implement These Important Customer Service Skills

Throughout this article, we have explored various key customer service skills that are essential for delivering excellent service and building strong customer relationships.

These skills include soft skills like active listening, empathy, adaptability, and patience, and some practical skills like conflict resolution, time management, and multitasking.

Mastering these skills is crucial for businesses to succeed and retain customers in today's competitive market.

By prioritizing customer service skills and providing ongoing training and support, businesses can create a positive customer service experience that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations.

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21 Key Customer Service Skills (and How to Develop Them)

It doesn’t matter how great your product is: If your customer service is poor, people will complain about it, and you’ll lose customers.

The good news: It’s not impossible to turn things around. Transforming your customer service from mediocre to great won't happen overnight, though. It requires a serious commitment to meaningful change, a team of rockstar support professionals, and work across the entire organization.

What is customer service?

Customer service is the act of providing support to both prospective and existing customers. Customer service professionals commonly answer customer questions through in-person, phone, email, chat, and social media interactions and may also be responsible for creating documentation for self-service support.

Organizations can also create their own definitions of customer service depending on their vaues and the type of support they want to provide. For example, at Help Scout, we define customer service as the act of providing timely, empathetic help that keeps customers’ needs at the forefront of every interaction.

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Why is customer service important?

When 86% of customers quit doing business with a company due to a bad experience, it means that businesses must approach every support interaction as an opportunity to acquire, retain, or up-sell.

Good customer service is a revenue generator. It gives customers a complete, cohesive experience that aligns with an organization’s purpose.

According to a variety of studies , U.S. companies lose more than $62 billion annually due to poor customer service management , and seven out of 10 consumers say they’ve spent more money to do business with a company that delivers great service.

Understanding that customer service is the cornerstone of your customer experience helps you leverage it as an opportunity to delight customers and engage them in new, exciting ways.

What are the principles of good customer service?

There are four key principles of good customer service: It's personalized, competent, convenient, and proactive. These factors have the biggest influence on the customer experience.

Personalized: Good customer service always starts with a human touch. Personalized interactions greatly improve customer service and let customers know that your company cares about them and their problems. Instead of thinking of service as a cost, consider it an opportunity to earn your customer’s business all over again.

Competent: Consumers have identified competency as the element that plays the biggest role in a good customer experience. To be competent, a customer support professional must have a strong knowledge of the company and its products, as well as the power to fix the customer’s problems. The more knowledge they have, the more competent they become.

Convenient: Customers want to be able to get in touch with a customer service representative through whichever channel is the most convenient for them. Offer support through the channels of communication your customers rely on most, and make it easy for customers to figure out how to contact you.

Proactive: Customers want companies to be proactive in reaching out to them. If one of your products is backordered or your website is going to experience downtime, proactively reach out to your customers and explain the problem. They may not be happy about the situation, but they will be thankful that you kept them in the loop.

By building your customer service strategy around these four main principles, you'll create a positive, hassle-free customer experience for everyone who deals with your company.

Customer service tips by business type and industry

B2B customer service

B2C customer service

SaaS support

Customer service in healthcare

Startup customer service

Customer service in education

Financial services customer service

Small business customer service

Customer service in nonprofit organizations

Ecommerce customer service

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21 key customer service skills

While delivering consistently good customer service requires work and alignment across your entire organization, a good place to start is your customer service team . It's important to hire people who genuinely want to help your customers succeed — and to pay rates that are attractive to skilled professionals.

Finding the perfect hire for a support team can be challenging. No particular checklist of job experiences and college diplomas adds up to the perfect candidate. Instead, you’re looking for qualities that can’t necessarily be taught.

These folks thrive on one-on-one interactions within their community. They love problem solving. They’re warm, approachable, and great at teaching other people how things work.

Here are the 21 customer service skills that every support professional should seek to develop and every leader should look for when hiring new team members.

Foundations of Great Service

Discover the tools and techniques used by high-performing customer service organizations in our free, six-part video course.

1. Problem solving skills

Customers do not always self-diagnose their issues correctly. Often, it’s up to the support rep to take the initiative to reproduce the trouble at hand before navigating a solution. That means they need to intuit not just what went wrong, but also what action the customer was ultimately after.

A great example? If somebody writes in because they’re having trouble resetting their password, that’s ultimately because they want to log into their account.

A good customer service interaction will anticipate that need and might even go the extra mile to manually perform the reset and provide new login details, all while educating the customer on how they can do it for themselves in the future.

In other situations, a problem-solving pro may simply understand how to offer preemptive advice or a solution that the customer doesn’t even realize is an option.

2. Patience

Patience is crucial for customer service professionals. After all, customers who reach out to support are often confused and frustrated. Being listened to and handled with patience goes a long way in helping customers feel like you’re going to alleviate their current frustrations.

It’s not enough to close out interactions with customers as quickly as possible. Your team has to be willing to take the time to listen to and fully understand each customer’s problems and needs.

3. Attentiveness

The ability to truly listen to customers is crucial to providing great service for a number of reasons. Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customers’ experiences, but it’s also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.

For instance, customers may not be saying it outright, but perhaps there is a pervasive feeling that your software’s dashboard isn’t laid out correctly. Customers aren’t likely to say, “Please improve your UX,” but they may say things like, “I can never find the search feature” or “Where is (specific function), again?”

You have to be attentive to pick up on what customers are telling you without directly saying it.

4. Emotional intelligence

A great customer support representative knows how to relate to anybody, but they’re especially good with frustrated people. Instead of taking things personally, they intuitively understand where the other person is coming from and they know to both prioritize and swiftly communicate that empathy.

Think about it: How often have you felt better about a potential grievance simply because you felt immediately heard by the other person involved?

When a support rep is able to demonstrate sincere empathy for a frustrated customer, even just by reiterating the problem at hand, it can help to both placate (the customer feels heard) and actively please (the customer feel validated in their frustration).

5. Clear communication skills

Your customer support team is on the front lines of problem solving for the product itself, and serves as a kind of two-pronged bullhorn.

On one side, they’ll be the voice of your company to your customers. That means they have to have a practiced grasp on how to reduce complex concepts into highly digestible, easily understood terms.

On the other, they’ll represent the needs and thoughts of customers to your company. For example, it doesn’t behoove the customer to receive a long- winded explanation on the ins-and-outs of solving a particular bug.

The ability to communicate clearly when working with customers is a key skill because miscommunications can result in disappointment and frustration. The best customer service professionals know how to keep their communications with customers simple and leave nothing to doubt.

6. Writing skills

Good writing means getting as close to reality as words will allow. Without an ounce of exaggeration, being a good writer is the most overlooked, yet most necessary, skill to look for when it comes to hiring for customer support.

Unlike face-to-face (or even voice-to-voice) interactions, writing requires a unique ability to convey nuance. How a sentence is phrased can make the difference between sounding kind of like a jerk (“You have to log out first”) and sounding like you care (“Logging out should help solve that problem quickly!”).

Good writers also tend to use complete sentences and proper grammar — qualities that subtly gesture toward the security and trustworthiness of your company.

Even if your company offers support primarily over the phone, writing skills are still important. Not only will they enable your team to craft coherent internal documentation, they signify a person who thinks and communicates clearly.

7. Creativity and resourcefulness

Solving the problem is good, but finding clever and fun ways to go the extra mile — and wanting to do so in the first place — is even better.

It takes panache to infuse a typical customer service exchange with memorable warmth and personality, and finding a customer service rep who possesses that natural zeal will take your customer service out of “good enough” territory and straight into “tell all your friends about it” land.

Chase Clemons at Basecamp advises the following:

“You want to have somebody who you don’t have to give a lot of rules and regulations to. You want to have somebody who is talking to a customer and understands ‘Their boss is really yelling at them today. This person is having a really bad day. You know what? I’m going to send them some flowers to brighten things up.’ That’s not really something you can teach. They have to go the extra mile naturally.”

8. Persuasion skills

Oftentimes, support teams get messages from people who aren’t looking for support — they’re considering purchasing your company’s product.

In these situations, it helps to have a team of people with some mastery of persuasion so they can convince interested prospects that your product is right for them (if it truly is).

It’s not about making a sales pitch in each email, but it is about not letting potential customers slip away because you couldn’t create a compelling message that your company’s product is worth purchasing!

9. Ability to use positive language

Effective customer service means having the ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns. This can truly go a long way in creating happy customers.

Language is a crucial part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based on the language that you use.

For example, let’s say a customer contacts your team with an interest in a particular product, but that product happens to be back-ordered until next month.

Responding to questions with positive language can greatly affect how the customer hears the response:

Without positive language: “I can’t get you that product until next month; it is back-ordered and unavailable at this time.”

With positive language: “That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse.”

The first example isn’t negative per se, but the tone it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal and could be taken the wrong way by customers — especially in email support when the perception of written language can skew negative .

Conversely, the second example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but it focuses on when and how the issue will be resolved instead of focusing on the negative.

10. Product knowledge

The best customer service professionals have a deep knowledge of how their companies’ products work. After all, without knowing your product from front to back, they won’t know how to help when customers run into problems.

All new Help Scout employees, for example, are trained on customer support during their first or second week on the job; it’s a critical component of our employee onboarding process.

According to Help Scout's Elyse Roach, “Having that solid product foundation not only ensures you’ve got the best tricks up your sleeve to help customers navigate even the most complex situations, it also helps you build an understanding of their experience so that you can become their strongest advocate.”

Mitigating gaps in product knowledge

It takes time for team members to build up their product knowledge. And if you have a very complex product, it may take your team members years to learn every one of its ins and outs. However, the right customer support tool can help you mitigate those gaps in product knowledge.

For example, with  Help Scout , you can:

Create a database of saved replies that support agents can use to answer frequently asked how-to questions about your product.

Search your help center articles and insert links to them in responses without ever leaving the conversation view.

Set up automated workflows that attach helpful internal notes to conversations with instructions on how to reply.

Search all previously sent responses by keyword, tag, and more to see if someone else on the team has already answered the question.

Whether you're using Help Scout or one of its alternatives , make sure you browse the features available to help your teams deliver exceptional customer service.

11. Acting skills

Sometimes your team is going to come across people who you’ll never be able to make happy.

Situations outside of your control (such as a customer who's having a terrible day) will sometimes creep into your team's usual support routine.

Every great customer service professional needs basic acting skills to maintain their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who are just plain grumpy.

12. Time management skills

On the one hand, it’s good to be patient and spend a little extra time with customers to understand their problems and needs. On the other hand, there is a limit to the amount of time you can dedicate to each customer, so your team needs to be concerned with getting customers what they want in an efficient manner.

The best customer service professionals are quick to recognize when they can't help a customer so they can quickly get that customer to someone who can help.

13. Ability to read customers

It's important that your team understands some basic principles of behavioral psychology in order to read customers' current emotional states. As Emily Triplett Lentz writes:

“I rarely use a smiley face in a support email when the customer’s signature includes ‘PhD,’ for example. Not that academics are humorless, it's just that :) isn’t likely to get you taken seriously by someone who spent five years deconstructing utopian undertones in nineteenth-century autobiographical fiction.”

The best support pros know how to watch and listen for subtle clues about a customer's current mood, patience level, personality, etc., which goes a long way in keeping customer interactions positive.

14. Unflappability

There are a lot of metaphors for this type of personality — “keeps their cool,” “staying cool under pressure,” and so on — but it all represents the same thing: The ability some people have to stay calm and even influence others when things get a little hectic.

The best customer service reps know that they can’t let a heated customer force them to lose their cool. In fact, it is their job to try to be the “rock” for customers who think the world is falling apart as a result of their current problems.

15. Goal-oriented focus

Many customer service experts have shown how giving employees unfettered power to “wow” customers doesn’t always generate the returns many businesses expect to see. That’s because it leaves employees without goals, and business goals and customer happiness can work hand-in-hand without resulting in poor service.

Relying on frameworks like the Net Promoter Score can help businesses come up with guidelines for their employees that allow plenty of freedom to handle customers on a case-to-case basis, but also leave them priority solutions and “go-to” fixes for common problems.

16. Ability to handle surprises

Sometimes, customers are going to throw your team curveballs. They'll make a request that isn't covered in your company guidelines or react in a way that no one could have expected.

In these situations, it's good to have a team of people who can think on their feet. Even better, look for people who will take the initiative to create guidelines for everyone to use in these situations moving forward.

17. Tenacity

Call it what you want, but a great work ethic and a willingness to do what needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people talk (positively) about.

The most memorable customer service stories out there — many of which had a huge impact on the business — were created by a single employee who refused to just follow the standard process when it came to helping someone out.

18. Closing ability

Being able to close with a customer as a customer service professional means being able to end the conversation with confirmed customer satisfaction (or as close to it as you can achieve) and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of (or will be).

Getting booted before all of their problems have been addressed is the last thing that customers want, so be sure your team knows to take the time to confirm with customers that each and every issue they had was entirely resolved.

19. Empathy

Perhaps empathy — the ability to understand and share the feelings of another — is more of a character trait than a skill. But since empathy can be learned and improved upon , we’d be remiss not to include it here.

In fact, if your organization tests job applicants for customer service aptitude, you’d be hard pressed to look for a more critical skill than empathy.

That’s because even when you can’t tell the customer exactly what they want to hear, a dose of care, concern, and understanding will go a long way. A support rep’s ability to empathize with a customer and craft a message that steers things toward a better outcome can often make all the difference.

20. A methodical approach

In customer service, haste makes waste. Hiring deliberate, detail-oriented people will go a long way in meeting the needs of your customers.

One, they’ll be sure to get to the real heart of a problem before firing off a reply. There’s nothing worse than attempting a “solution,” only to have it miss the mark entirely on solving the actual issue.

Two, they’ll proofread. A thoughtfully written response can lose a lot of its problem-solving luster if it’s riddled with typos.

Three, and this one may be the most important, it means they’ll regularly follow up. There’s nothing more impressive than getting a note from a customer service rep saying, “Hey! Remember that bug you found that I said we were looking into? Well, we fixed it.” That’s a loyal, lifetime customer you’ve just earned.

An important side note: The best hires are able to maintain their methodical grace under regular fire.

Since the support team is often tasked with the tough work of cleaning up other people’s messes, it’s especially important they understand how not to internalize the urgency — and potential ire — of frustrated customers. Instead, they know how to keep a cool head and a steady, guiding hand.

21. Willingness to learn

While this is probably the most general skill on this list, it’s also one of the most important. After all, willingness to learn is the basis for growing skills as a customer service professional.

Your team members have to be willing to learn your product inside and out, willing to learn how to communicate better (and when they're communicating poorly), willing to learn when it’s okay to follow a process — and when it’s more appropriate to choose their own adventures.

Those who don’t seek to improve what they do — whether it’s building products, marketing businesses, or helping customers — will get left behind by the people who are willing to invest in their own skills.

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What if someone on your team is lacking these skills?

What if you're leading a team of support professionals who aren't open to improving their approach to customer service? What if they lack the skills above and don't seem to be interested in developing them? Help Scout's Mathew Patterson has a solution:

Often, the root cause of what could be perceived as a lack of skill or unwillingness to learn is the result of a work environment (current or prior) that didn't reward going above and beyond to provide excellent service.

Try providing your team with some clear guidelines for what you expect and some examples of what great customer service looks like at your company in a way that brings to bear all of these skills, and as you do it, make sure that you're celebrating those small wins as you see people starting to use these skills.

Once your team starts to see that their efforts are being acknowledged and rewarded, you'll have people start to get more engaged, and you'll have a clearer picture of whether or not there are actually people on your team who have real skill gaps that you need to work on.

The evolution of customer service

As Seth Godin wrote , customer service means different things to different organizations, but things aren’t going to end well for the companies who simply see customer service as a “cost-cutting race to the bottom.”

The bottom line: Great customer service is a growth center, not a cost center. It’s really that simple.

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6 Customer Service Recovery Strategies to Add to your Toolbox [+ Examples]

Published: July 28, 2021

Let's face it. All businesses run into problems with their service at some point, which can result in angry or upset customers. It's up to you to turn every situation around and earn back these customers who are at risk of churning.

In a perfect world, customer support reps would always know exactly what to say and do for customers – but that's not the reality. Issues are unavoidable in any business. The system goes down and eats the customer's data. A storm prevents you from delivering the customer's new TV on time. The waiter brings out the wrong order for the customer.

All of these situations require your business to right a wrong that has been done to the customer and turn a bad situation into a positive one.

In this post, we'll learn about customer service recovery strategies that you can add to your toolbox.

What is service recovery?

Service recovery refers to the ability of a company to solve a dissatisfied customer's problem through good customer service. Service recovery doesn't occur naturally in the business – you have to design systems that enable your service reps to deliver the best possible resolution for your customers.

You can think about service recovery as a positive approach to complaint handling. Complaint handling is negative, involves placating angry customers and minimizing a bad situation. Service recovery unlocks the value in a customer and is part of fostering an ongoing relationship with them.

Have you heard about the service recovery paradox?

The service recovery paradox is a common phenomenon in business that can result in increased customer loyalty to your brand.

Consider this graph. This shows that customers who have experienced service failure and a successful recovery are more loyal over time than those who haven't experienced a service failure.

"I get it. I would be upset too."

"I'm going to make this right for you."

Listen closely to the customer's problem and tailor your apology to their unique circumstances. This is no time for a boilerplate message that obviously feels copy and pasted.

The customer wants to feel like you are taking their side and listening closely to what they are saying. They want to feel like they are your top priority and that their problem is being taken seriously.

2. Take ownership of the problem.

You need to empower your employees to take ownership of the problem and take steps to correct it. No customer wants to feel passed around to different team members or feel like your service rep is blaming the situation on someone else.

Allow your employees to take control and use their time and effort to solve customer problems. Enable them to use the company's resources to help customers recover from service breakdowns instead of passing the buck to a senior manager.

Structure your support team so reps are empowered to solve problems quickly and efficiently, without having to ask permission from managers. Ensure the service they provide is speedy and efficient.

3. Get to the root of the issue.

You've apologized to the customer and taken ownership of the problem. Now is the time to ask follow-up questions and do some digging to get to the root of the issue and find out if you can fix the problem.

When working on service recovery, it's important to do as much of the investigative work as you can, rather than relying on the customer to tell you what happened or troubleshoot with you. Frustrated customers don't want to answer additional questions and they don't want to repeat themselves. Instead, read through past conversations, walk through the customer's experience and figure out as much as you can yourself.

Only when you feel like you have the full context of the issue should you return to the customer to ask any additional questions. Because you've already offered them an apology and aligned yourself as an advocate, they'll be much more amenable to working with you on a solution.

4. Solve the problem.

Once you've discovered the cause of the problem, it's time to go about fixing it. You might have to replace a substandard service or product, which is key to meeting customer expectations.

Don't let the conversation with the customer end until you've managed to fix the problem. This requires service reps with excellent problem-solving skills and you need to make sure you train them in service recovery.

Solving the problem means that the customer is satisfied with the resolution. Remember to ask follow-up questions to check that the customer feels the problem has been fixed and don't make assumptions.

5. Offer something extra.

A customer may have been thoroughly inconvenienced by your service lapse and it's not enough to offer exactly what they should have received in the first place. You may need to offer something extra, like free shipping or a free month's subscription, in order to make up for the customer's sense of injustice.

Come up with creative ways to restore customer happiness with your products and brand. Remember that your customer has been stressed out and inconvenienced by the service issue, and you need to go that extra mile to make up for the hassle.

6. Follow up with the customer.

Once you've closed the conversation with the customer, don't forget to follow up with them to check they are satisfied with the resolution. Show your concern for the customer by sending a follow-up email or making a follow-up phone call, which means you can also catch any further issues the customer may be experiencing.

Make sure you let your coworkers know that the customer was the victim of a service failure. Any further interactions with the customer should be made with this in mind so your staff can communicate appropriately without the customer having to explain their issue over again.

Consider sending a handwritten note to the customer to show how much you appreciate their business.

Service Recovery Examples

1. zingerman's.

A customer ordered a big basket of baked goods from Zingerman's Deli . Unfortunately, the delivery was damaged en route and the cookies were crumbled and the brownies squashed. The customer and their family still managed to eat the goods but when Zingerman's sent a follow-up customer satisfaction email, they expressed their disappointment with the shipment.

Zingerman's responded immediately to the less than satisfied response and offered to send a replacement basket, a gift card, or a refund.

2. Club Med-Cancun

Club Med-Cancun recovered from a service disaster and won the loyalty of a group of vacationers.

The vacationers had endless nightmares traveling from New York to their Mexican destination. The flight was six hours late in taking off, made two unscheduled stops, and circled for thirty minutes before it could land in Mexico.

Because of the unexpected delays, the flight was en route for ten hours more than expected and ran out of food and drinks. Eventually, it arrived at two in the morning, which was such a rough landing that oxygen masks were released. When the plane eventually arrived at the gate, the passengers were hungry and believed their vacation was ruined before it had even begun.

Luckily, the general manager of the Cancun resort heard about the terrible flight and quickly created a balm for the wound. He took his staff to the airport where they arranged a table of snacks and drinks and set up a stereo to play music. Guests shuffling through the gate received a personal greeting, assistance with their bags, a sympathetic ear, and a ride to the resort.

Waiting for them at Club Med was a banquet, mariachi band, and champagne. Staff had encouraged other guests to wait up and greet the vacationers, and they partied until dawn. In the end, the guests had a better experience with Club Med than if their flight had gone as planned.

Jay was the best man at his friend's wedding and had ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos to arrive in time for the big day. Unfortunately, the package was sent to the wrong location and wouldn't arrive in time for the wedding.

Jay called Zappos, hoping to get a solution to his problem. The company not only gave him a refund, but they also overnighted him a new pair of shoes at no extra charge and upgraded him to a VIP account.

He was so amazed by Zappos's customer service that Jay said, "Zappos has earned a customer for life."

Free Service Recovery Email Template

Here's a template of a service recovery email you can use to apologize effectively and turn the situation around. Remember, even the most perfectly written email won't turn your unhappy customer into a loyal one if you don't also take action to resolve their problem.

As you know, [outline specific customer problem]. [Explain desired outcome and the real outcome.]

It is not acceptable for this [problem] to have happened to you. You rely on us to [aim of your product] and we let you down yesterday.

I'd like to sincerely apologize for [specific problem and/or the impact] and also to apologize for our failure to communicate the problem to you.

Part of our company's mission is to [insert company mission statement], and we fell far short of that mark yesterday. We are taking this issue very seriously and making plans to ensure that it will never happen again. [Outline any steps you're taking]

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With customer service recovery, you can turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied and loyal one. Customer service failure doesn't have to be the end of the road with your customer – now you know what you can do to turn it around and salvage a negative situation.

Make sure you apologize sincerely, take ownership of the problem and get to the root of the issue. Next, solve the problem and offer the customer something extra for their troubles. Finally, follow up with the customer to check they are satisfied.

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Table of contents

The complete guide to customer service troubleshooting.

“Houston, we have a problem!”

“Never mind, John – there’s nothing great troubleshooting can’t fix!”

If you’re in customer support , solving customer issues is something you’re expected to be good at. After all, you spend much of your time helping “fix” things for customers.

And while you may be great at fixing customer issues, are you equally great at troubleshooting them?

Those are two very different things.

In this post, we’ll help you understand what customer service troubleshooting entails, and how you can become a great troubleshooter yourself.

Table of Contents

What is troubleshooting.

Quite simply, troubleshooting refers to the process of identifying the root cause of an issue and implementing the best possible solution to fix it. Oftentimes the terms troubleshooting and problem-solving are used interchangeably, but the former specifically pertains to technical support, while the latter is a broader, more general term.

Effective customer support troubleshooting isn’t about finding quick fixes – it follows a more methodical and careful approach to issue resolution. It requires a mix of ingenuity as well as experience; meticulousness and speed.

Implementing a temporary fix can seem like a swift and simple way to close a customer issue, but chances are, sooner or later, you’ll have to bear the brunt of that hasty fix – whether it’s in the form of time or money (or both!). 

Think about this in terms of how several people mismanage their finances. When they’re short on cash, they use their credit cards to “solve” the problem. When it’s time to pay their credit card bill, they try to find a “quick fix” to the issue by taking a cash advance from a different bank account. The result? They get stuck in an almost inescapable debt loop!

Poor troubleshooting is quite like that. Often succumbing to the pressure of resolving customer issues quickly, support professionals tend to rely on short-term fixes rather than spending time and effort in diagnosing why the issue occurred in the first place. This results in nothing but hastily-implemented stopgap solutions that are sure to cause significant long-term damage and loss to your business. 

That’s surely not what you want, do you? 

Well, that’s exactly why effective troubleshooting is crucial.

Why is troubleshooting such an important customer support skill?

Troubleshooting is one of the most critical aspects of a customer support job. Your customers have invested in your product with the hope and trust that it’ll consistently help them achieve their personal as well as their professional goals. If they experience an issue with your product, and if that issue isn’t handled to the best of their expectations, you’re jeopardizing their trust, and that’s bound to affect your customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

Following are the key reasons why great customer support troubleshooting is so essential for business’ success:  

1. It reduces customer churn

Research suggests that most customers will avoid reaching out to customer support agents for help unless absolutely necessary. It’s probably only after they’ve tried everything possible from their end, and haven’t succeeded, that they’ll get in touch with you. At this point, bear in mind that their patience is wearing thin, and their frustration is at an all-time high.

But that’s not entirely a bad thing.

When you go out of your way to fix a really complex customer issue quickly – one they’ve themselves been struggling to resolve, you’re helping earn back their trust and increase customer retention.

One survey found that resolving customer issues at the first engagement can prevent 67% of customer churn. This just goes to prove how important great troubleshooting skills are for service recovery .

2. It improves the customer experience

Imagine a scenario where a customer is under a tight deadline, and their work is stuck because they’re unable to login to your product. At such a time, all that the customer is truly hoping for is that their issue gets resolved quickly, and with minimum effort.

When you’re great at troubleshooting, you’ll empathize with the customer’s plight, know exactly the right questions to ask of them, and not put them under the pressure of inspecting and resolving the issue. 

Your customers will always value and remember these instances where you didn’t just resolve their issues on time but also made the process extremely convenient for them.

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3. It saves you and your customers a lot of time

As a customer service representative, your to-do list is ever-expanding, and working efficiently is the only way you can keep up with the tasks at hand. That’s where your stellar troubleshooting skills come in handy. 

Good troubleshooting is not just about finding the best possible solution to a customer’s problem but is also about finding one quickly. Evaluating similar issues customers have faced in the past, having great knowledge of the product, and regularly documenting the troubleshooting process for unique customer issues are a few ways you can speed up issue resolution. Doing this can save both you as well your customers a lot of time.

The key qualities of a great troubleshooter

Great troubleshooting is an acquired skill. Sure, some people are gifted problem-solvers, but troubleshooting goes beyond the realms of mere problem-solving – it aims at understanding the nature of the problem, why it exists, what’s the best solution to it, and ensuring it doesn’t occur again. To do all of this successfully, customer service agents require the following qualities:

1. Communicating with empathy and patience

The most important quality of a troubleshooter is their ability to patiently listen to customers’ needs while showing genuine empathy for their problems.

It’s important that you pay attention to the smallest of cues and details that customers share with you. At the same time, it’s also essential that you don’t overwhelm them with too many unnecessary questions loaded with jargon. Remember – not all your customers are going to be tech-savvy, so simplify your communication as much as possible. 

Carefully listening to customer issues will help you troubleshoot quickly while also giving you ideas to constantly provide excellent customer service.

2. Researching well

While handling support for a product or service, you’ll have similar customer service issues come up multiple times. Chances are that a lot of these issues are fairly easy to resolve, and will have answers somewhere within your knowledge base , FAQ sections, or your issue logs. In such cases, walking customers through the issue resolution process isn’t much of a challenge.

The true test of your troubleshooting prowess happens when you encounter a unique customer issue that hasn’t been documented before. That’s when you need to know how to research the cause of the issue as well as its possible solutions by scouring through reliable resources across the internet and by discussing the problem with more experienced colleagues. Great research skills are indispensable for great troubleshooting.

3. Thinking out-of-the-box

Some customer issues can be handled in a pretty straightforward manner – you diagnose the issue, identify the main area(s) of concern(s) and find the best way to fix the problem for good. The customer is happy and so are you!

But, being in the tough job that customer support is, you’re well aware that not all days are as rosy and not all customer issues, as simple. 

Approaching complex customer problems requires a mix of critical, logical and creative thinking. You sometimes have to break free from the formulaic approach to resolving issues. 

Creating mind maps, having brainstorming sessions with your team and constantly updating your skills by the way of research and training are some great ways to enhance your creative troubleshooting abilities . 

4. Being a team player

No matter how skilled a problem solver you may be, collaborating with your team on various customer issues is a vital troubleshooting practice. 

Why? Because your support team will have individuals with diverse skill sets, experience, and varied perspectives. This will help you develop a holistic customer service problem-solving approach.

Ensure that you regularly bounce ideas off each other, hold daily discussions about unique customer issues and work together to resolve them. 

5. Being decisive

Customers hate waiting – no secrets there. When they reach out to you with support issues, they expect you to resolve them quickly. 

But as a dedicated service rep, you have to perform your due diligence. Providing them with a quick fix is not the right way to go about it.

How do you then give your customers what they want, without compromising on your support quality?

By being decisive when you need to. 

Once you’ve successfully identified an issue and the possible solutions to fix it, you must be quick in evaluating every solution, choosing the most appropriate one, and helping customers implement it. 

Decisiveness isn’t just about rushing to make a choice when you’re presented with a plethora of options – it’s about making the right one.

Steps involved in the troubleshooting process

Now that we’ve gone over the importance of customer support troubleshooting along with the key skills needed to troubleshoot effectively, let’s unpack what the entire process looks like.

Here’s the step by step guide you’ll need to troubleshoot customer support issues effectively:

1. Understand the problem

The first step in troubleshooting a support issue is to understand the problem. Here’s where the effective communication skills we earlier spoke of come in handy. To understand an issue comprehensively, you must do the following three important things:

a) Ask the customer the right questions 

Perhaps the most important first step in troubleshooting an issue (besides apologizing for it, of course) is  asking the customer the right questions . 

More often than not, customers won’t be able to give you a clear picture of their issue unless you guide them well. Start by asking the most basic question – “Can you please explain the problem you’re experiencing?”. Follow up with more specific questions like, “When did this problem first occur?”, “Can you please send me a screenshot of the error you see?”, “Are you seeing the error message only when you perform a particular action?”, etc.

Your questions should help you get clarity and context about what the issue is and how it’s impacting the customer.

b) Dig deeper into the issue

Once you’ve collected all the necessary information from the customer, the next step is to dig deeper into the issue – check if a similar issue has been documented in the past (in your knowledge base or issue logs). If it has, you know the drill, but if it hasn’t, you’ll have to collect more information to successfully diagnose the issue. 

Ask the customer if they can do a screen share with you. This way, you can use your expertise to gauge the problem better and make note of the important details the customer may have missed sharing with you. 

c) Define the issue 

Once you’ve clearly understood the problem, you should be able to define it – what the issue actually is, what the customer is intending to do vis-à-vis what is happening instead.

At this stage, it is important that you clearly communicate your understanding of the issue to the customer so you’re both on the same page.

2. Break it down

After understanding and defining the issue properly, you’ll have to further break it down to find out at which exact point things went wrong – in other words, identify the “root cause” of the issue. You’ll need to do the following:

a) Test out the basics first (one at a time)

Oftentimes, a customer issue isn’t as complex as it appears to be at the first glance. Changing simple things like clearing the cache and cookies, logging out and logging back in, removing browser extensions, restarting the device and using a different browser can help fix the issue. 

Make sure to try each of the above things one at a time though. Doing this will help you understand which one of your tests exactly resolved the issue. Use your discretion and knowledge to decide the order in which you want to run the tests.

b) Do a before vs. after comparison

A great way to narrow down a tech issue is to compare it with a normal, working version of it. Create a checklist of the differences if you like – it’ll just make it a lot clearer for you to understand where the issue lies and how you should approach it.

3. Identify possible solutions

At this point, you’re well on your way to find a fix or a workaround for the issue your customer is facing.  Brainstorm possible solutions with your team . This is the stage where you’ll also need to see if other departments (for example, engineering) need to step in. Create a list of all possible solutions you’ve come up with. Here are the next steps you should follow:

a) Evaluate alternative solutions

There’s almost always going to be more than one way to fix a customer issue. Your job is to evaluate each one of these alternatives and propose the best one – one that’s the most fool-proof, the fastest and the most convenient to implement. Again, it’s a great practice that you get inputs from your more experienced colleagues here.

b) T est out the chosen solution 

Before getting the customer onboard with the solution, make sure you thoroughly test it out yourself and iron out any issues that might crop up.  You don’t want the customer getting excited for nothing!

If things look good, which they’re most likely to, wonderful! If not, don’t worry – try going back to the earlier steps and see if you’ve missed something and make the required changes.

c) Propose the solution to the customer

After you’ve tested out the solution, it’s time to let the customer know you have a fix for their issue. Try to be as descriptive and clear as possible while sharing details about the proposed solution. If required, fix a call with the customer and walk them through the entire process.

4. Implement the solution

You’ve found the right solution to the issue and your customer’s onboard with it. Great! Now, it’s time to implement it. Considering that you’ve been thorough with all your testing, implementing the fix should be fairly simple.

The following are two important steps to follow after you’ve implemented the fix:

a) Try to find a permanent fix 

Try to analyze if this issue can be fixed permanently so that other customers don’t have to experience the same problem. For example, if while troubleshooting you found that using a particular browser causes your app to crash, let your development team know so they can fix the issue for good.

b) Document the issue

This is a very important step that shouldn’t be missed. Make sure you document all the details about this issue and the resolution process for the benefit of other members in your team as well as other customers. This will help them both save a lot of time if they were to encounter a similar issue in the future. 

Make it a practice to update your knowledge base and issue logs each time you troubleshoot a unique issue.

Most importantly – help your customers help themselves

Following the above structure is a great way to resolve most complex support issues, but a lot of times, simple tweaks can do what a long-drawn-out troubleshooting process doesn’t have to. 

Encourage your customers to perform the basic troubleshooting checks (as mentioned above in step 2) like rebooting their system, clearing their cache and cookies, etc. themselves. Guide them with the information in your knowledge base that’s relevant to their issue. Instead of sending them a direct link to the article, summarize the resolution process in an email and add the article link towards the end. 

Effective troubleshooting is as much about being efficient as it is about being systematic. It’s something both your team and your customers will appreciate.

Now go – be the troubleshooting hero you’re meant to be!

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8 Key Customer Service Problems (and How to Resolve Them)

Your customers are your purest form of quality control. Without their approval, your business doesn’t grow and succeed. So, when customer complaints roll in, it’s important to hear them out because these are opportunities to improve the customer experience and prevent potential churn. No matter which industry you’re in, you’re going to deal with customer complaints. Even if your business doesn’t make a mistake, one of your customers will eventually hit a roadblock that leads them to your customer service team. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most common customer service issues and how to resolve them. 

Why Great Customer Service Can Be an Asset to Your Business

Great customer service can be a great asset for your business. For example, it can help you increase customer loyalty. According to Salesforce,   91% of customers   say a positive customer service experience makes them more likely to make a further purchase. Also, investing in new customers is   five times more expensive   than retaining existing ones. Therefore, you definitely want to prevent a customer service issue from affecting the purchasing behavior of your customers. 

Now that we see how important it is to address customers’ issues, let’s take a look at why it’s important to address customer problems head-on. 

Improve Your Customer Service Standards by Addressing Problems Head-on

Customer complaints are often a sign that there’s a disconnect between what customers expected and what you delivered. However, problem-solving in customer service should be done head-on. Try digging deeper into the issue by asking the right questions. Complaints — even angry ones — can contain insights, and it’s your job to seek out the point of friction. Socratic questioning can help you get to the source of the issue. Also, try to identify the type of customer you are dealing with. For example, there are customers who pay well and demand premium support for it. Therefore, when responding, avoid excuses and just get to the solution. Consider creating a VIP folder and workflow to make it easy to identify and respond to their complaints.

Now that we know you should tackle customer problems head-on, let’s move on to the most common customer service issue you will encounter. 

8 Main Customer Service Problems and How to Resolve Them

Studies on the state of contact centers today show poor customer service costs businesses   more than $75 billion   every year. Therefore, you want to resolve customer issues as soon as possible. Here are the eight most common customer issues you will encounter: 

• Customer service associates are having too many conversations at once   – A lot of times, there are not enough agents for one person to focus on one customer issue, and they will try to resolve many at once. This results in none of those customers being happy. You need to make sure that you have enough people to focus on one customer at all times. 
• Lack of accessible customer history – A big part of effective customer service problem-solving is looking at the customer history and understanding the issues they had in the past. Without this, agents will try to repeat the same steps that did not work in the past. Try implementing some kind of knowledge base employees can access so they can see the customer’s previous interactions with the company. 
• It takes too long to find an answer – Effective problem-solving customer service requires agents to resolve issues as quickly as possible. Otherwise, even the smallest issue can snowball into huge problems. The problem is that you usually don’t have enough agents to cover the call volume. Try setting up an offshore team to help you deal with an influx of customer service tickets. 
• No process for escalation   – Most customer service problems are identified by tier-one support, but what happens if they cannot resolve the issue? There needs to be tiers two and three so that complex problems can be resolved quickly. 
• Backlog of tickets   – Companies with customer service problems have a big backlog of customer support tickets. This gets customers even more frustrated because they are already dealing with issues with your product or service and now have to wait for your agents to dig through their backlog to find their tickets and resolve the issue. Try looking into how long it takes an agent to resolve a customer issue, more specifically, the first call resolution rate. Increasing the FCR can help you reduce your backlog. 
• Time zone issues   – If your support team is available only during regular business hours, this will be a problem if your customers are located in other time zones all over the world. Needless to say, their business hours will not align with yours. 
• Poor workflow and/or software   – Sometimes, the issue could be with the workflow in your team and the software they are using. Try to do an audit of your daily operations and tools to see if things can be improved. 
• No after-sales support   – The sale doesn’t end simply when money has exchanged hands. You need to stick by your product or service to make sure everything is working correctly, and the customer is getting their money’s worth. Discuss what customer problem the products or services solve and make sure your agents are proactive in asking the customers if their needs have been met. 

Why is customer service problem-solving important?

Customers have more power than ever. If customers have a positive experience with your company, they will share this experience with friends, family, and connections – which in turn can lead to new business. However, if the customers do not get the right level of service, they will complain. A customer complaint highlights a problem, whether that’s a problem with your product, employees, or internal processes, and by hearing these problems directly from your customers, you can investigate and improve to prevent further complaints in the future.

How to Solve Customer Service Problems? 

Customers want a great experience, and part of that experience means not losing time, money, and patience. Brands similarly value their time and money, but they must always have the patience to deliver their customers a great experience. Even with the best efforts, however, difficult customer situations are sure to arise, and how companies handle these situations can mean the difference between customer churn and long-term loyalty. Therefore, be sure to show a lot of empathy. Regardless of the channel on which they contact a business, an agent must patiently welcome a full explanation of the issue and then show genuine empathy for the customer’s frustration. It’s critical to show customers that a brand values its customers as people, not just buyers.

Trust Pexly With All of Your Customer Service Needs

If you are experiencing customer support issues or would simply like to increase your key performance indicators, consider hiring Pexly to improve the level of customer service. We have extensive experience actualizing projects of all sizes and complexity and can provide you with a custom solution that will fit your needs.   Contact us   today to learn more about how we can help you. 

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Do You Understand the Problem You’re Trying to Solve?

To solve tough problems at work, first ask these questions.

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Problem solving skills are invaluable in any job. But all too often, we jump to find solutions to a problem without taking time to really understand the dilemma we face, according to Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg , an expert in innovation and the author of the book, What’s Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve .

In this episode, you’ll learn how to reframe tough problems by asking questions that reveal all the factors and assumptions that contribute to the situation. You’ll also learn why searching for just one root cause can be misleading.

Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, power and influence, business management.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: The Secret to Better Problem Solving (2016)
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• Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org .

HANNAH BATES: Welcome to HBR on Leadership , case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, hand-selected to help you unlock the best in those around you.

Problem solving skills are invaluable in any job. But even the most experienced among us can fall into the trap of solving the wrong problem.

Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg says that all too often, we jump to find solutions to a problem – without taking time to really understand what we’re facing.

He’s an expert in innovation, and he’s the author of the book, What’s Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve .

  In this episode, you’ll learn how to reframe tough problems, by asking questions that reveal all the factors and assumptions that contribute to the situation. You’ll also learn why searching for one root cause can be misleading. And you’ll learn how to use experimentation and rapid prototyping as problem-solving tools.

This episode originally aired on HBR IdeaCast in December 2016. Here it is.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Sarah Green Carmichael.

Problem solving is popular. People put it on their resumes. Managers believe they excel at it. Companies count it as a key proficiency. We solve customers’ problems.

The problem is we often solve the wrong problems. Albert Einstein and Peter Drucker alike have discussed the difficulty of effective diagnosis. There are great frameworks for getting teams to attack true problems, but they’re often hard to do daily and on the fly. That’s where our guest comes in.

Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg is a consultant who helps companies and managers reframe their problems so they can come up with an effective solution faster. He asks the question “Are You Solving The Right Problems?” in the January-February 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review. Thomas, thank you so much for coming on the HBR IdeaCast .

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Thanks for inviting me.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, I thought maybe we could start by talking about the problem of talking about problem reframing. What is that exactly?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Basically, when people face a problem, they tend to jump into solution mode to rapidly, and very often that means that they don’t really understand, necessarily, the problem they’re trying to solve. And so, reframing is really a– at heart, it’s a method that helps you avoid that by taking a second to go in and ask two questions, basically saying, first of all, wait. What is the problem we’re trying to solve? And then crucially asking, is there a different way to think about what the problem actually is?

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, I feel like so often when this comes up in meetings, you know, someone says that, and maybe they throw out the Einstein quote about you spend an hour of problem solving, you spend 55 minutes to find the problem. And then everyone else in the room kind of gets irritated. So, maybe just give us an example of maybe how this would work in practice in a way that would not, sort of, set people’s teeth on edge, like oh, here Sarah goes again, reframing the whole problem instead of just solving it.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: I mean, you’re bringing up something that’s, I think is crucial, which is to create legitimacy for the method. So, one of the reasons why I put out the article is to give people a tool to say actually, this thing is still important, and we need to do it. But I think the really critical thing in order to make this work in a meeting is actually to learn how to do it fast, because if you have the idea that you need to spend 30 minutes in a meeting delving deeply into the problem, I mean, that’s going to be uphill for most problems. So, the critical thing here is really to try to make it a practice you can implement very, very rapidly.

There’s an example that I would suggest memorizing. This is the example that I use to explain very rapidly what it is. And it’s basically, I call it the slow elevator problem. You imagine that you are the owner of an office building, and that your tenants are complaining that the elevator’s slow.

Now, if you take that problem framing for granted, you’re going to start thinking creatively around how do we make the elevator faster. Do we install a new motor? Do we have to buy a new lift somewhere?

The thing is, though, if you ask people who actually work with facilities management, well, they’re going to have a different solution for you, which is put up a mirror next to the elevator. That’s what happens is, of course, that people go oh, I’m busy. I’m busy. I’m– oh, a mirror. Oh, that’s beautiful.

And then they forget time. What’s interesting about that example is that the idea with a mirror is actually a solution to a different problem than the one you first proposed. And so, the whole idea here is once you get good at using reframing, you can quickly identify other aspects of the problem that might be much better to try to solve than the original one you found. It’s not necessarily that the first one is wrong. It’s just that there might be better problems out there to attack that we can, means we can do things much faster, cheaper, or better.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, in that example, I can understand how A, it’s probably expensive to make the elevator faster, so it’s much cheaper just to put up a mirror. And B, maybe the real problem people are actually feeling, even though they’re not articulating it right, is like, I hate waiting for the elevator. But if you let them sort of fix their hair or check their teeth, they’re suddenly distracted and don’t notice.

But if you have, this is sort of a pedestrian example, but say you have a roommate or a spouse who doesn’t clean up the kitchen. Facing that problem and not having your elegant solution already there to highlight the contrast between the perceived problem and the real problem, how would you take a problem like that and attack it using this method so that you can see what some of the other options might be?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Right. So, I mean, let’s say it’s you who have that problem. I would go in and say, first of all, what would you say the problem is? Like, if you were to describe your view of the problem, what would that be?

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: I hate cleaning the kitchen, and I want someone else to clean it up.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: OK. So, my first observation, you know, that somebody else might not necessarily be your spouse. So, already there, there’s an inbuilt assumption in your question around oh, it has to be my husband who does the cleaning. So, it might actually be worth, already there to say, is that really the only problem you have? That you hate cleaning the kitchen, and you want to avoid it? Or might there be something around, as well, getting a better relationship in terms of how you solve problems in general or establishing a better way to handle small problems when dealing with your spouse?

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Or maybe, now that I’m thinking that, maybe the problem is that you just can’t find the stuff in the kitchen when you need to find it.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Right, and so that’s an example of a reframing, that actually why is it a problem that the kitchen is not clean? Is it only because you hate the act of cleaning, or does it actually mean that it just takes you a lot longer and gets a lot messier to actually use the kitchen, which is a different problem. The way you describe this problem now, is there anything that’s missing from that description?

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: That is a really good question.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Other, basically asking other factors that we are not talking about right now, and I say those because people tend to, when given a problem, they tend to delve deeper into the detail. What often is missing is actually an element outside of the initial description of the problem that might be really relevant to what’s going on. Like, why does the kitchen get messy in the first place? Is it something about the way you use it or your cooking habits? Is it because the neighbor’s kids, kind of, use it all the time?

There might, very often, there might be issues that you’re not really thinking about when you first describe the problem that actually has a big effect on it.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: I think at this point it would be helpful to maybe get another business example, and I’m wondering if you could tell us the story of the dog adoption problem.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Yeah. This is a big problem in the US. If you work in the shelter industry, basically because dogs are so popular, more than 3 million dogs every year enter a shelter, and currently only about half of those actually find a new home and get adopted. And so, this is a problem that has persisted. It’s been, like, a structural problem for decades in this space. In the last three years, where people found new ways to address it.

So a woman called Lori Weise who runs a rescue organization in South LA, and she actually went in and challenged the very idea of what we were trying to do. She said, no, no. The problem we’re trying to solve is not about how to get more people to adopt dogs. It is about keeping the dogs with their first family so they never enter the shelter system in the first place.

In 2013, she started what’s called a Shelter Intervention Program that basically works like this. If a family comes and wants to hand over their dog, these are called owner surrenders. It’s about 30% of all dogs that come into a shelter. All they would do is go up and ask, if you could, would you like to keep your animal? And if they said yes, they would try to fix whatever helped them fix the problem, but that made them turn over this.

And sometimes that might be that they moved into a new building. The landlord required a deposit, and they simply didn’t have the money to put down a deposit. Or the dog might need a $10 rabies shot, but they didn’t know how to get access to a vet.

And so, by instigating that program, just in the first year, she took her, basically the amount of dollars they spent per animal they helped went from something like $85 down to around $60. Just an immediate impact, and her program now is being rolled out, is being supported by the ASPCA, which is one of the big animal welfare stations, and it’s being rolled out to various other places.

And I think what really struck me with that example was this was not dependent on having the internet. This was not, oh, we needed to have everybody mobile before we could come up with this. This, conceivably, we could have done 20 years ago. Only, it only happened when somebody, like in this case Lori, went in and actually rethought what the problem they were trying to solve was in the first place.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, what I also think is so interesting about that example is that when you talk about it, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that would have been thought of through other kinds of problem solving methods. There wasn’t necessarily an After Action Review or a 5 Whys exercise or a Six Sigma type intervention. I don’t want to throw those other methods under the bus, but how can you get such powerful results with such a very simple way of thinking about something?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: That was something that struck me as well. This, in a way, reframing and the idea of the problem diagnosis is important is something we’ve known for a long, long time. And we’ve actually have built some tools to help out. If you worked with us professionally, you are familiar with, like, Six Sigma, TRIZ, and so on. You mentioned 5 Whys. A root cause analysis is another one that a lot of people are familiar with.

Those are our good tools, and they’re definitely better than nothing. But what I notice when I work with the companies applying those was those tools tend to make you dig deeper into the first understanding of the problem we have. If it’s the elevator example, people start asking, well, is that the cable strength, or is the capacity of the elevator? That they kind of get caught by the details.

That, in a way, is a bad way to work on problems because it really assumes that there’s like a, you can almost hear it, a root cause. That you have to dig down and find the one true problem, and everything else was just symptoms. That’s a bad way to think about problems because problems tend to be multicausal.

There tend to be lots of causes or levers you can potentially press to address a problem. And if you think there’s only one, if that’s the right problem, that’s actually a dangerous way. And so I think that’s why, that this is a method I’ve worked with over the last five years, trying to basically refine how to make people better at this, and the key tends to be this thing about shifting out and saying, is there a totally different way of thinking about the problem versus getting too caught up in the mechanistic details of what happens.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: What about experimentation? Because that’s another method that’s become really popular with the rise of Lean Startup and lots of other innovation methodologies. Why wouldn’t it have worked to, say, experiment with many different types of fixing the dog adoption problem, and then just pick the one that works the best?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: You could say in the dog space, that’s what’s been going on. I mean, there is, in this industry and a lot of, it’s largely volunteer driven. People have experimented, and they found different ways of trying to cope. And that has definitely made the problem better. So, I wouldn’t say that experimentation is bad, quite the contrary. Rapid prototyping, quickly putting something out into the world and learning from it, that’s a fantastic way to learn more and to move forward.

My point is, though, that I feel we’ve come to rely too much on that. There’s like, if you look at the start up space, the wisdom is now just to put something quickly into the market, and then if it doesn’t work, pivot and just do more stuff. What reframing really is, I think of it as the cognitive counterpoint to prototyping. So, this is really a way of seeing very quickly, like not just working on the solution, but also working on our understanding of the problem and trying to see is there a different way to think about that.

If you only stick with experimentation, again, you tend to sometimes stay too much in the same space trying minute variations of something instead of taking a step back and saying, wait a minute. What is this telling us about what the real issue is?

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, to go back to something that we touched on earlier, when we were talking about the completely hypothetical example of a spouse who does not clean the kitchen–

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Completely, completely hypothetical.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Yes. For the record, my husband is a great kitchen cleaner.

You started asking me some questions that I could see immediately were helping me rethink that problem. Is that kind of the key, just having a checklist of questions to ask yourself? How do you really start to put this into practice?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: I think there are two steps in that. The first one is just to make yourself better at the method. Yes, you should kind of work with a checklist. In the article, I kind of outlined seven practices that you can use to do this.

But importantly, I would say you have to consider that as, basically, a set of training wheels. I think there’s a big, big danger in getting caught in a checklist. This is something I work with.

My co-author Paddy Miller, it’s one of his insights. That if you start giving people a checklist for things like this, they start following it. And that’s actually a problem, because what you really want them to do is start challenging their thinking.

So the way to handle this is to get some practice using it. Do use the checklist initially, but then try to step away from it and try to see if you can organically make– it’s almost a habit of mind. When you run into a colleague in the hallway and she has a problem and you have five minutes, like, delving in and just starting asking some of those questions and using your intuition to say, wait, how is she talking about this problem? And is there a question or two I can ask her about the problem that can help her rethink it?

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Well, that is also just a very different approach, because I think in that situation, most of us can’t go 30 seconds without jumping in and offering solutions.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Very true. The drive toward solutions is very strong. And to be clear, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that if the solutions work. So, many problems are just solved by oh, you know, oh, here’s the way to do that. Great.

But this is really a powerful method for those problems where either it’s something we’ve been banging our heads against tons of times without making progress, or when you need to come up with a really creative solution. When you’re facing a competitor with a much bigger budget, and you know, if you solve the same problem later, you’re not going to win. So, that basic idea of taking that approach to problems can often help you move forward in a different way than just like, oh, I have a solution.

I would say there’s also, there’s some interesting psychological stuff going on, right? Where you may have tried this, but if somebody tries to serve up a solution to a problem I have, I’m often resistant towards them. Kind if like, no, no, no, no, no, no. That solution is not going to work in my world. Whereas if you get them to discuss and analyze what the problem really is, you might actually dig something up.

Let’s go back to the kitchen example. One powerful question is just to say, what’s your own part in creating this problem? It’s very often, like, people, they describe problems as if it’s something that’s inflicted upon them from the external world, and they are innocent bystanders in that.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Right, or crazy customers with unreasonable demands.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Exactly, right. I don’t think I’ve ever met an agency or consultancy that didn’t, like, gossip about their customers. Oh, my god, they’re horrible. That, you know, classic thing, why don’t they want to take more risk? Well, risk is bad.

It’s their business that’s on the line, not the consultancy’s, right? So, absolutely, that’s one of the things when you step into a different mindset and kind of, wait. Oh yeah, maybe I actually am part of creating this problem in a sense, as well. That tends to open some new doors for you to move forward, in a way, with stuff that you may have been struggling with for years.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, we’ve surfaced a couple of questions that are useful. I’m curious to know, what are some of the other questions that you find yourself asking in these situations, given that you have made this sort of mental habit that you do? What are the questions that people seem to find really useful?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: One easy one is just to ask if there are any positive exceptions to the problem. So, was there day where your kitchen was actually spotlessly clean? And then asking, what was different about that day? Like, what happened there that didn’t happen the other days? That can very often point people towards a factor that they hadn’t considered previously.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: We got take-out.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: S,o that is your solution. Take-out from [INAUDIBLE]. That might have other problems.

Another good question, and this is a little bit more high level. It’s actually more making an observation about labeling how that person thinks about the problem. And what I mean with that is, we have problem categories in our head. So, if I say, let’s say that you describe a problem to me and say, well, we have a really great product and are, it’s much better than our previous product, but people aren’t buying it. I think we need to put more marketing dollars into this.

Now you can go in and say, that’s interesting. This sounds like you’re thinking of this as a communications problem. Is there a different way of thinking about that? Because you can almost tell how, when the second you say communications, there are some ideas about how do you solve a communications problem. Typically with more communication.

And what you might do is go in and suggest, well, have you considered that it might be, say, an incentive problem? Are there incentives on behalf of the purchasing manager at your clients that are obstructing you? Might there be incentive issues with your own sales force that makes them want to sell the old product instead of the new one?

So literally, just identifying what type of problem does this person think about, and is there different potential way of thinking about it? Might it be an emotional problem, a timing problem, an expectations management problem? Thinking about what label of what type of problem that person is kind of thinking as it of.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: That’s really interesting, too, because I think so many of us get requests for advice that we’re really not qualified to give. So, maybe the next time that happens, instead of muddying my way through, I will just ask some of those questions that we talked about instead.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: That sounds like a good idea.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: So, Thomas, this has really helped me reframe the way I think about a couple of problems in my own life, and I’m just wondering. I know you do this professionally, but is there a problem in your life that thinking this way has helped you solve?

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: I’ve, of course, I’ve been swallowing my own medicine on this, too, and I think I have, well, maybe two different examples, and in one case somebody else did the reframing for me. But in one case, when I was younger, I often kind of struggled a little bit. I mean, this is my teenage years, kind of hanging out with my parents. I thought they were pretty annoying people. That’s not really fair, because they’re quite wonderful, but that’s what life is when you’re a teenager.

And one of the things that struck me, suddenly, and this was kind of the positive exception was, there was actually an evening where we really had a good time, and there wasn’t a conflict. And the core thing was, I wasn’t just seeing them in their old house where I grew up. It was, actually, we were at a restaurant. And it suddenly struck me that so much of the sometimes, kind of, a little bit, you love them but they’re annoying kind of dynamic, is tied to the place, is tied to the setting you are in.

And of course, if– you know, I live abroad now, if I visit my parents and I stay in my old bedroom, you know, my mother comes in and wants to wake me up in the morning. Stuff like that, right? And it just struck me so, so clearly that it’s– when I change this setting, if I go out and have dinner with them at a different place, that the dynamic, just that dynamic disappears.

SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Well, Thomas, this has been really, really helpful. Thank you for talking with me today.

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG: Thank you, Sarah.  

HANNAH BATES: That was Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg in conversation with Sarah Green Carmichael on the HBR IdeaCast. He’s an expert in problem solving and innovation, and he’s the author of the book, What’s Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve .

We’ll be back next Wednesday with another hand-picked conversation about leadership from the Harvard Business Review. If you found this episode helpful, share it with your friends and colleagues, and follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re there, be sure to leave us a review.

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This episode was produced by Anne Saini, and me, Hannah Bates. Ian Fox is our editor. Music by Coma Media. Special thanks to Maureen Hoch, Adi Ignatius, Karen Player, Ramsey Khabbaz, Nicole Smith, Anne Bartholomew, and you – our listener.

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