Hi, everybody.
My name is Richard McMunn from the career guidance company How2become.com, and in this
video, I'm gonna give you seven brilliant customer service interview questions, and
I'm also gonna give you the answers too.
So, it's a fantastic video.
Just a couple of points before we get going.
There's me on the right-hand side.
A very, very warm welcome to this video.
My aim is to make sure you pass your customer service interview.
I've been helping literally thousands of people over the last 14 years to pass their interview
and I'm very confident you're gonna find these questions, answers, and tips really, really
useful.
So please do take notes, as this is gonna help you.
If you need to pause the video as you go through it, or revisit it, then please feel free to
do so.
Please, I'd strongly recommend you watch the video from beginning to end, because I'm gonna
give you some really useful and important tips to help you beat the competition, so
when you go to the interview, you are gonna be better prepared than all the other candidates.
I also have a free training video that I want to give you, so stick on the video from beginning
to end, and I'll tell you where you can get access to over 50 sample customer service
interview questions and answers for free.
Also, I'd very much appreciate it if you do like this video, please give it a thumbs up
and that will motivate me to do more videos.
Also, don't forget to subscribe to the channel by clicking the red Subscribe button below,
and then you get an email as soon as I create more training videos.
Okay, let's get straight into it.
Question number one.
So, customer service question number one, "Describe what customer service means to you."
So, any job that you're going for, any customer service role, they are more than likely gonna
say to you, "So, what does customer service mean to you?"
This means that you've looked into customer service and you understand what it means and
how important it is from a customer perspective.
So, here's my answer, "Describe what customer service means to you."
"Customer service can literally make or break a business.
Therefore, I fully understand how important it is for your business to not only flourish,
but to stay at the top of its field.
To me, customer service means four things.
These four things are outstanding service, superior products, making the customer feel
valued, and also, rapid response times.
What do I mean by these?
"Well, outstanding service means as soon as a customer walks through the door, they are
looked after until they leave.
This does not mean putting undue pressure on them to make a purchase, but instead, it
means looking after them, listening to them if required, and assisting them through the
buying process.
"Now, superior products means making sure the products we're selling are the best they
can be, and also resolving any issues quickly if things do go wrong.
"Making the customer feel valued is not just about offering them the best prices or deals.
It's also about paying attention to what they want, listening to their concerns, answering
any questions, and also following up after the purchase has been made to make sure everything
is as expected.
"Now, rapid response times means responding to queries or complaints as fast as possible.
There are too many businesses out there who take too long to respond to customer queries
or complaints, and this often ends up leading to negative reviews or comments.
So, overall, customer service to me is absolutely vital to making sure a business not only survives,
but also thrives and stays ahead of the competition.
Now, if a customer is valued and looked after, they will not only come back time and time
again, but they will also tell their friends and family about their positive experience
with your company."
So, that response, what I recommend you do is you take those four things and you just
learn them.
So if they say to you, "Describe what customer service means to you," just say, "Okay, four
things: outstanding service, superior products, making the customer feel valued and rapid
response times," and then you can just elaborate on each of those.
So, like I say, if you need to go back to this video, pause it and take notes, please
feel free to do so.
Before I come on to question number two - don't forget, we've got seven questions to get through
- a really important tip.
Now, this is golden.
This is really gonna help you stand out above all of the competition.
So, get yourself a copy of the person specification or the job description for the role you're
being interviewed for.
So, whatever customer service role you're applying for, there should be a person specification
or job description.
You can then predict the interview questions.
What do I mean by this?
Okay, this is an example customer service role person specification.
So you'll see on the left here, it says "Skills & Attributes," and then the "I" here means
that it's gonna be assessed at interview, and all of the ones, the person specs have
this on them.
So you can see here, it says, for example, that you must have "Confidence to work alone,
and during busy periods."
Now, if that's gonna be assessed at interview, you're going to get asked the question, "Can
you tell me a time when you had to work alone whilst under pressure?"
So make sure you've got a response ready for that.
Another one here, an "ability to work well within a team and support colleagues," well,
you're gonna get asked the question at interview, "Can you tell me a situation where you had
to carry out a task whilst working as part of a team?"
It's really simple.
Next one, "flexible approach to working hours," "Can you give me an example when you have
demonstrated flexible working within a customer service environment?"
So, honestly, get yourself a copy of this, because you will be able to predict the interview
questions.
Okay.
Customer service interview question number two.
"Tell me about a time when you turned an unhappy customer into a happy one," virtually a guaranteed
question, or it might be posed in this way: "What's the best level of customer service
you've ever witnessed?"
Okay, but this one is, "Tell me about a time when you turned an unhappy customer into a
happy one."
Here's my response.
"Okay, I was working as a customer service assistant in a well-known store.
One day, a customer came storming over to the customer service desk, slammed down a
box containing one of our products, and began shouting quite loudly how unhappy he was.
"I immediately started listening to him intently without saying a word, with the intention
of allowing him to vent off and effectively say how he felt.
As soon as an opening appeared, I explained to him how sorry I was for the issues he had
been experiencing and that I would put right the problem immediately.
As soon as I said these things, he began to calm down.
"I explained to him that, if it was me in his situation, I would feel exactly the same,
and therefore, I could fully appreciate his concerns.
This had the further effect of making him feel valued and listened to.
I then went on to explain to him that I could immediately replace the product he had bought,
and I would just need a few minutes to go into our storeroom to find the replacement
product.
Before I went off, I asked him if I could get him a drink whilst he was waiting.
"Once I returned with the new product, I decided to open it in front of him to make sure the
replacement was not damaged like the initial product he had received.
Everything was fine, and the customer appeared happy.
"I then decided to go the extra mile, one step further, and I gave him a £20 credit
voucher that could be redeemed against any other product in store.
I told the customer I wanted to do this for him as he had had the trouble of having to
spend time and fuel coming back into the store to get a replacement.
I then apologized once more for the inconvenience, and he appeared more than happy with the resolution.
"Whenever I come across an upset, dissatisfied or angry customer, I always go that extra
mile to resolve the problem, as I think it's really important to keep a customer for as
long as possible."
So, that's a great response that you can use, you can tweak and change, you can amend.
By the way, what I'm going to do is tell you where you can get a copy of the slide so you
can copy and paste all of the questions and answers and use them to prepare for your own
interview.
Okay, customer service question number three.
"What are the top three qualities everyone who works in customer service must have to
succeed?"
Great question.
"What are the top three qualities?"
Or they might say, "What are the qualities needed to work in customer service?"
Okay, here's my answer.
"Wow, that's a great question.
I believe the top three qualities are commitment, patience and effective communication skills.
Now, commitment is essential, as you need to be committed to the customer, committed
to delivering outstanding service, and committed to working hard to improve and resolve problems
as and when they occur, and also, commitment to being a positive role model for the company.
"Now, patience is needed because working within a customer service role can be challenging,
especially if you're dealing with a difficult or unhappy customer.
Patience is also required because you have to continually look for ways to improve and
develop the customer service experience.
"Now, effective communication skills are absolutely key when working within a customer service
role.
This means both listening and speaking.
How and what you say to a customer, whether in person or via email, can have a significant
impact on the customer service experience.
"You also have to be a great listener when working in a customer service role and you
also have to use appropriate body language when required.
"There are also many other qualities needed, such as having a caring nature, flexible,
an ability to work under pressure, and also being open to continually improving and developing
as a customer service representative."
So, another really strong response there for you to use for the customer service interview
question, "What are the top three qualities everyone who works in customer service must
have to succeed?"
Okay, moving on.
I hope you enjoyed the video.
If you are so far, please, like I say, don't forget, give it a thumbs up.
I'd really appreciate that.
Question four.
"What steps would you follow when dealing with a customer complaint?"
Now, most of us think we know how to deal with a complaint but there is a set way to
do it, okay?
And this is it.
"I have had to deal with a few customer complaints in my career today and I believe I am very
effective at it.
The steps I would follow include: Step one, I'd listen intently to the customer and their
complaint.
This involves using effective listening skills such as demonstrating empathy and nodding
to show the customer that I'm taking on board their comments and concerns.
"The next step, I would then apologize if the situation dictates the need to.
So if we are in the wrong, I'll always express how sorry I am for the issue and that I will
do my utmost to resolve the issue for them as soon as possible.
"Now, step three is about taking positive and immediate steps to resolve the issue whilst
keeping the customer informed and updated on my progress.
"The next one, step four.
Once I've resolved the issue, I then check to see if they were happy with my resolution
and what I had done.
If they were not, I would then go the extra mile to resolve it.
"Now, step five.
Once the complaint had been resolved, I would apologize once again and then contact the
customer a few days later to check that everything was still to their satisfaction.
"Finally, if the complaint was a result of an issue or an error within the business,
I would take steps to rectify it so that it does not happen again."
So again, another really strong response for you to use.
Question five.
"Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure in a busy customer service
environment."
So, what you have to do here when responding to this - and again, I
can virtually guarantee you will get asked this question - is come up with a specific
situation, and you can use a STAR technique when responding to this.
And that is situation, tell them what the situation was.
Task - so, ST - what was the task that had to be done?
A for action, what action did you take?
And then, R, the result.
What was the result following your action?
So it's situation, task, action, result.
Here's my response.
"Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure in a busy customer service
environment."
"So, one Saturday morning in the build-up to Christmas, I received a phone call from
my manager asking me if I'd come in at short notice to help out as a store had become unexpectedly
busy.
I immediately said yes and made my way to the store.
"Once I arrived there, I could not believe how busy it was.
The store was absolutely packed, so I set to work straight away, serving and helping
customers at the customer service desk.
At one point during the day, our card payment system began to play up and customer payments
were taking longer to go through.
This then resulted in the queues becoming increasingly longer.
"I decided to come up with an innovative way to reduce the customer waiting times and relieve
some of the pressure on the team.
I went along the queue and I asked all customers who wanted to pay by cash to follow me to
a different checkout desk.
This immediately halved the size of the queue and my manager thanked me for thinking on
my feet and coming up with a resolution to the problem.
"Once the store had closed at the end of the day, we got together as a team to see if there
was a way we could improve the payment system to prevent it from slowing up in the future.
That meeting resulted in us making some improvements to the customer service experience within
the store."
That's another great response.
Now, what that demonstrates, if you look at the beginning, it says that, "one Saturday
morning, in the build-up, I received a phone call.
I immediately said yes and went in."
That shows flexibility, and then you're also working under pressure, but you're thinking
on your feet and you're coming up with a resolution to the problem.
So, another great response for you to use.
Question six.
"Why do you want to work in customer service?"
I mean, let's face it.
Customer service requires a certain talent and level of skill because you have to be
patient and it's not easy working in a customer service role.
So, they're gonna want to know why do you want to work in it, because they don't want
people that just come along, they're there for the money; they want somebody who's gonna
stay.
So, let's have a look at my response for you guys, "Why do you want to work in customer
service?"
"I'm very much a people person who loves going out of their way to make people happy.
I would not like to be sat in an office working behind a computer, and having already experienced
a customer service role, it is one I very much want to work within.
I thrive and feel happiest in an environment where delivering outstanding customer service
is key.
I understand that customer service work can be difficult at times, but I love the challenge
this type of role presents and I would not want to work in any other environment.
"I particularly enjoy it when the pressure's on to deliver great customer service; for
example, when a customer is not happy and it's down to me to resolve their complaint
or if it is unexpectedly busy and the team has to work exceptionally hard to deliver
great service.
"I am a conscientious, caring and flexible person who simply enjoys working with people,
and I believe I could make a positive impact within this role."
Question seven.
"What have you done to be a better customer service representative?"
So, they want to see what you've done to improve yourself, and here's a great response to that.
Don't forget I'm going to be giving you a gift very soon: 50 free training videos, so
stay on.
Okay.
"I'm always looking for ways to improve from a professional perspective.
To begin with, following the annual appraisals with my line manager, I will always reflect
upon my work and performance and look for ways to improve.
For example, following my last appraisal, I wanted to improve my written communication
skills so I embarked upon a three-month distance learning course.
If there is ever a quiet period at work, I always carry out some personal development
by reading self-development books and reviewing my work performance from the previous week
to make sure I'm continually improving and meeting my targets.
Finally, to make sure I am a positive role model for the company, I will often revisit
the company's customer service charter to make sure what I'm doing at work is in line
with this important statement."
Okay, seven great responses to customer service interview questions.
Now, if you click the link below the video, you can get more free training videos.
I've created 50 interview training videos with sample questions, answers, some real
insider tips and tricks on how to pass an interview, and also the scoring criteria.
So if you click the link below the video or just go to the website passmyinterview.com.
Like I say, the link's in the video and it'll also be tagged on the first comment below.
You can get access to this free training course.
Guys, really love teaching you to pass your interviews.
I hope you like them.
Give us a comment in the comment section below, say hi, let me know what you think of the
video or if you'd like me to do any other videos for you.
Please do let me know.
Thank you very much for watching.
I genuinely wish you all the very best in your pursuit for passing your customer service
interview.