It happens nearly every day in retail mortgage sales operations—a loan officer, underwriter, processor, closer and/or assistant gets what they feel is "the phone call from the customer from hell."
Yet handle this call wrong, the entire deal could blow up in your face. And it is not only this deal, but future deals as well.
A Montreal-based provider of psychological assessment products and services to human resource, PsychTests AIM has found that those who succeed in customer service have certain personality traits which help them survive and thrive.
"Poor customer service is what prevents customers from coming back. If you manage to enrage your customers they will make it their mission to badmouth your company with friends and family. They will invest the time and effort to warn others about your company on social networks—and this will get around," points out Ilona Jerabek, president of PsychTests.
"Great customer service is about the underlying attitudes and focus on getting the customers to want to come back because they were treated well and their problem was handled properly. With every product or service, there are some problems, bugs or malfunctions. Of course we all try to limit how often it happens, but it still does.
"And the way problems are handled is more important to customers than the fact that they came up in the first place. That's why people working in customer service are so important. They need to be properly trained, that's true, but they also need to have the right psychological make-up and the right instincts."
PsychTests has found those who are successful in customer service positions have better communication skills; are more skilled at resolving conflict; have a higher level of patience; maintain better control over their emotions; cope better with stress; have a more positive and upbeat attitude and are more self-motivated; are more conscientious and have a much thicker skin.
Possibly the most important skill is they possess the crucial ability to maintain perspective, that is to step back from a situation (or person), and look at it objectively, the company said.
