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.
