Customer Service Rep Profile:
Compare High Performers to Low Producers

Predictive Skills: Five characteristics will predict customer service rep success in this sales position. Review below how top sales performers will differ from lower performers.

WILLINGNESS TO SERVE ALL TYPES OF CUSTOMERS

Shows and fosters respect and appreciation for a variety of backgrounds, cultures, values, and perspectives; seeks to understand the views of others; is comfortable accepting the fact that others may not share his personal values; prefers to cooperate in working on mutual goals rather than judge or criticize those who see things differently

HIGHS

• Tolerant of individual views, opinions, and attitudes
• Tends to accept people at face value without filtering their words or actions through personal biases
• Can embrace his own personal values without imposing them on others
• Tries to find common ground with others rather than focus on dissimilarities

LOWS

• Imposes on others the same standards by which he judges himself
• Tends to respond more favorably to those individuals who share his views, background, or values
• Can become locked into his own viewpoint and resistant to efforts to change or alter his opinion
• Can fail to distinguish how people differ from each other; sees only that they differ from him
• May attempt to change others to fit his image

USES CUSTOMER CONTACT TO BUILD BUSINESS

Establishes and implements a customer contact process that maximizes opportunities to increase business; commits to telephone contact at the level of frequency needed to sustain customer interest and promote additional product or service opportunities; is comfortable taking the lead in a customer contact and maintaining a high profile role that gets the customer’s attention

HIGHS

• Takes the initiative in a customer contact process to identify and follow through on opportunities for additional business
• Maximizes time spent expanding business opportunities by making customer contact a priority over more administrative or noncontact activities
• Keeps a high profile that gives him a natural entry into opportunities to satisfy customer requirements
• Is comfortable taking charge of the contact and leading customers through the steps to a purchase decision

LOWS

• Prefers to respond to customer requests about additional products or services than to actively solicit new or increased business from them
• May lack persistence in sustaining a customer contact process if noncontact activities are more appealing or more pressing
• May be timid about taking the lead in customer contacts with the intent to interest them in additional product or service offerings
• Counts on a standard process being in place to identify new business opportunities with the customer base

MAXIMIZES RESULTS BY PARTNERING AS A CUSTOMER ADVOCATE

Consistently achieves above-average results by understanding the customer’s business, empathizing with their problems and setting a plan to meet their needs; tirelessly focuses on building strong relationships with customers by acting on their behalf to work the seller’s internal systems to meet their requirements; sees partnering with customers as the efficient method to reach personal career goals

HIGHS

• Is driven to achieve or exceed targeted results and uses sales as a means to get there; hungry to be a top producer
• Holds results achievement to a high personal standard
• Believes in taking personal responsibility for the level of success achieved
• Is unwilling to have his goal achievement derailed by internal politics or bureaucratic procedures
• Promotes a sense of partnering with customers
• Takes the first step to establish a trusting relationship that assures customers of his commitment
• Is genuinely interested in understanding customer needs and works the company’s internal systems to satisfy those needs
• Collaborates with a network of support resources to satisfy customer requirements

LOWS

• May adopt a casual or relaxed approach that fails to project personal dedication to achieving or surpassing sales targets
• Can be content with marginal success or lowers goals to reach a level of success that is easier to accomplish
• May not sustain the intensity needed to consistently meet or exceed sales objectives
• Wants to be successful on his own terms without tying his efforts or results to effectively fulfilling customer requirements
• Achieves results that will support his career progression more so than strengthen his partnerships with customers
• Can be impersonal or detached in his approach to the sales process, minimizing the opportunity to build a customer alliance

DRIVEN TO PRODUCE BY CREATING AN ENJOYABLE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Maintains a positive mental attitude and uses enthusiasm and genuine concern to encourage customers to buy; attempts to make each call an enjoyable experience for the contact; builds long-term relationships which foster repeat business

HIGHS

• Genuinely positive and upbeat in his attitude
• Looks for the best in others and does not expect to find a hidden agenda
• Focuses externally on how he can help others rather than focus on himself
• Enjoys working with other people and tries to make the interaction pleasing or gratifying to them
• Presents an enthusiastic and agreeable attitude that draws a positive response from others
• Communicates openly and easily with people

LOWS

• Tends to let obstacles or barriers dictate his mood
• Becomes frustrated or discouraged when things do not work out as planned
• Skepticism and wariness in sizing people up may result in selective or limited interaction
• Tends to prefer the more solitary aspects of his work
• Can leave people with a neutral reaction to what tends to be a rather functional contact

PRACTICAL INTELLIGENCE

Absorbs new information quickly and is comfortable dealing with abstract concepts and relationships; relates new information to previously acquired knowledge to expand and refine his frame of reference; enjoys learning and expanding the breadth and depth of his understanding on a variety of subjects

HIGHS

• Enjoys learning and broadening his depth of learning and insight in a wide array of topics
• Absorbs, stores and recalls new information quickly
• Deals comfortably with abstract concepts and relationships
• Pursues academic, theoretical or research-based information

LOWS

• Needs repetition to process new information and requires additional time to integrate it into his repertoire
• Prefers concrete tasks
• Learns best through one-on-one instruction and improves his base skill level through experience and hard work
• Uses practice opportunities or trial runs to become completely knowledgeable of and comfortable with methods or techniques he needs to use

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