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What Are Customer Service Skills?

Customer service skills are the abilities and characteristics that enable someone to interact effectively with customers in various situations. These skills are crucial for anyone working in roles where they have direct contact with clients, customers or guests.

Top customer service skills typically include:

  • Communication: From writing skills and spoken communication to accurately reading physical body language, these skills help you actively engage with customers and coworkers. 
  • Empathy: The interpersonal skill to understand and adapt to customers’ feelings and needs to provide practical solutions and assistance. 
  • Problem-solving: This soft skill includes critical thinking to analyze issues, rank potential solutions, effectively propose them to customers, and execute them to ensure customer satisfaction.  
  • Patience: Customer service can include confrontational situations. Your ability to remain calm and effective will help you navigate these challenging scenarios.

Why are customer service skills important?

Customer service skills are invaluable assets to highlight on a resume as they demonstrate the ability to communicate and build positive relationships with clients effectively. Employers highly value candidates who can provide exceptional service, as it directly impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

These skills indicate a strong foundation in interpersonal communication and problem-solving, valuable qualities across various industries.

Top 20 Customer Service Skills Examples

This customer service skills for resumes list includes the most popularly requested skills. Visit our helpful resume skills article to list the most requested soft, hard and technical skills.

  1. Active listening: Paying full attention to customers, understanding their concerns and responding appropriately.
  2. Accountability: Customers appreciate when they can rely on the promises made by customer service representatives. Following through on commitments, whether providing updates, callbacks or resolutions, builds trust and shows accountability.
  3. Adaptability: Flexibility in adjusting to different customer needs, preferences and changing situations.
  4. Attention to detail: Small details can make a big difference in customer service. Double-checking information, orders, or requests ensures accuracy and customer satisfaction.
  5. Communication: Clear, concise and effective communication with customers to understand their needs and convey information.
  6. Conflict resolution: The interpersonal skills to help resolve customer conflicts or disagreements. 
  7. Critical thinking: Analyze problems and suggest solutions using accessible tools and resources. 
  8. Cross-cultural competence: In our increasingly globalized world, customer service professionals often interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds. 
  9. Data analysis: Analyzing customer data and feedback to identify trends, improve processes and improve the customer experience.
  10. Emotional intelligence: The ability to recognize and manage your emotions and recognize and respond appropriately to the feelings of others. 
  11. Language proficiency: The optional fluency in multiple languages to cater to diverse customer bases and provide multilingual support.
  12. Multitasking: Juggle multiple customer interactions or tasks simultaneously without compromising quality or attention.
  13. Patience and tolerance: Dealing with frustrated or upset customers requires patience. It’s essential to remain calm, even in challenging situations.
  14. POS knowledge: The technical computer skills needed to navigate a digital point of sale system. 
  15. Positivity: The ability to stay calm and maintain a positive attitude and demeanor, even when dealing with demanding customers. 
  16. Problem-Solving: The ability to think quickly on your feet to find solutions to customers’ issues is invaluable. This often involves creative thinking and resourcefulness.
  17. Product knowledge: Deep understanding of the company’s products or services to provide accurate information and recommendations.
  18. Sales skills: Strong presentation skills to upsell or cross-sell products and services to meet sales targets.
  19. Teamwork:  The social skills needed to effectively collaborate and task delegate with coworkers and related departments to ensure a seamless customer experience. 
  20. Time management: Ability to monitor the time needed to handle customer requests and related work tasks.

How to Add Customer Service Skills to Applications

You can highlight customer service skills throughout your application materials, including your resume, cover letter and interview prep. Read on to learn how to effectively showcase your good customer service skills throughout your job search. 

Skills for customer service resume

Tailor your resume to highlight your relevant customer service experience or related volunteer, academic or personal skills related to the job advertisement’s needs.

  • Summary statement: Make the most of the first six seconds spent on your resume by emphasizing customer interactions or problem-solving. Use quantifiable metrics like customer service satisfaction to help illustrate your abilities. 
  • Work history: Describe your past jobs and responsibilities, emphasizing particular abilities related to the requirements of the jobs. This includes social needs like communication and conflict resolution or technical skills like translating, shipping, and handling.
  • Skills: Create a dedicated skills section listing relevant soft and hard customer service skills. Make the most of this section by adding unique skills you haven’t mentioned in previous resume sections.

Highlighting customer service skills in cover letters

Your cover letter acts like supplemental information to your resume. How you write your cover letter can help you elaborate on a core achievement and make a professional connection to the hiring manager. To highlight your customer service skills, try the following tips:

  • Describe when your communication, empathy or problem-solving skills lead to positive customer experiences. 
  • Focus on just one or two key examples. Tailor your samples to align with the marketed requirements of the job opening.
  • Use lively action verbs and power words to help make your message sound dynamic.

Good customer service skills for interviews

To describe your customer service skills during an interview, practice answers that focus on specific instances related to addressing issues, improving customer experience or building positive client relationships. 

Highlight communication, empathy or problem solving in your answers. Common interview questions where you mention skills for customer service: 

  • Can you describe a time when you successfully handled a challenging customer situation?
  • How do you prioritize and manage multiple customer inquiries simultaneously?
  • Give an example of when you went above and beyond to exceed a customer’s expectations.
  • How do you approach a problem between customers or colleagues?
  • Can you share a situation where you implemented feedback from a customer to improve a product or service?
Pro Tip

PRO TIP:

Unlock additional cover letter templates and descriptive cover letter drafts to help you describe your experiences with our Cover Letter Builder.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

Try these techniques to help develop and improve your customer service skills.

  1. Learn from feedback: Review customer feedback regularly to identify areas for improvement and gain insights into their needs and preferences. This will allow you to tailor your approach accordingly.
  2. Set up mock scenarios: Practice makes perfect. Set up practice scenarios or techniques with coworkers whenever you’re servicing friends, family, or coworkers. Practicing with people you know will make you feel more comfortable than trying a new sales technique on a stranger. 
  3. Shadow others: Watch how your coworkers interact with customers. Identify different techniques, try them yourself and adapt them to your personality. You can also observe salespeople and customer service representatives whenever you’re running errands.

Key Takeaways

Remember, customer service skills are related to soft, hard and technical skills that help you interact with customers professionally.

  • Customer service skills include communication, empathy, conflict resolution, patience, product knowledge and sales techniques. 
  • Carefully read job descriptions so that you can add relevant customer service skills to your resume and cover letter. 
  • If you’re changing careers or entering customer service, prioritize transferable customer service skills like interpersonal or presentational skills.

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Last edited by: Ami Icanberry, CPRW, Manager, Content Editing, - November 5, 2024

Gabriela Barcenas

Gabriela Barcenas

CPRW, Content Writer II

Gabriela is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and career adviser. With 10 years of digital media experience and five years of resume writing expertise, her publication history includes fashion, education, travel, social justice, equitable design and career advice.

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