Emotional intelligence (EQ) isn’t just a soft skill, it’s a business superpower. Studies show that 90% of top-performing employees have high emotional intelligence. But how does it impact customer service and leadership?
What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) refers to a person’s ability to process both their own emotions and the emotions of other people. It benefits relationships between people, but is also applicable for business life. The top 5 elements of EQ include:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation
- Empathy
- Social Skills
Taking emotions into account is a valuable customer service skill. Customer service is one of the most important things that people value when browsing store websites. If you want to build long-term improvement, you need to consider the role of EQ.
Emotional Intelligence In Business
In customer service, emotional intelligence plays a key role in delivering positive experiences. A call center isn’t just about answering queries, it’s about connecting with customers emotionally to build trust and loyalty. An efficient call center structure mostly defines customer service. Having the right emotional approach to the people you work with is essential to being a good leader. Therefore, the first step is to shape an EQ culture. This has to do with how people see and feel things. It is difficult to take over the emotions of other people’s lives, but you can try to influence them by structuring the basics of emotional intelligence in a positive way. To achieve this, people should apply certain behaviors in the following six areas.
How to Build Emotionally Intelligent Team
To improve the efficiency of the call center, it is important to choose the right people to form a good team. In the recruitment process, you should apply specific strategies that focus on hiring people who are already emotionally developed. This means they should be able to understand what customers want and feel. These emotionally intelligent advisors should treat clients to remind them of the service they received when the call has ended positively. Where do we find these right people to hire? It would help if you were looking for some useful guidelines for implementing a successful recruitment strategy to help you in the recruitment process.
People’s Ideals
What makes a call center valuable to customers asking for help is also the values that guide the people you hire. These ideals reflect the attitudes and actions your team forms with customers. These aspects are very different between people because they depend on personal experiences and life. The goal is to match the values that the customers find important with the values of the consultants. But you can build a strong and respected value system by digging deep into people’s lives in the hiring process.
Training Emotional Intelligence in Your Team
Once you hire the right people, you need to put strategies in place to manage it well. Leading a team means giving orders or instructions to the people who make up the team and most importantly motivating and leading them. Companies don’t hire them either because they already know how to do their job. To Become an Emotionally Intelligent Counselor Practice becoming a good, emotionally intelligent leader. Fortunately, there is plenty of information and advice on how to be a good leader of your team. Still, in a nutshell, you should inspire their behavior with positive attitudes that would produce positive results. Additionally, setting ambitious standards to challenge the team makes them strive to maximize their results.
Resilience
An EQ culture must be built on flexibility, this is the ability to handle and face failures and negative events positively. Advisors must:
- Handle failures with a positive mindset
- Reassure clients that their issues will be resolved
- Stay calm and empathetic in difficult situations
Emotional Intelligence Viewpoint
When dealing with clients who claim to have been mistreated when seeking help, counselors should focus on the main goal: helping the client and being an emotionally intelligent counselor. Advisors need to have the right perspective when supporting clients to get them to agree with you. So, in the end, they are grateful for the care they receive.
Emotional Intelligence Culture
The emotional intelligence culture of your contact center is the culture of your advisors. Customers need to feel that someone understands them. Kindness, intelligence, and a willingness to help people are all aspects of advisor culture, so you should do everything you can to incorporate this culture into your contact center culture.
Want to build a high-EQ customer service team? Start by training your employees in emotional intelligence. Need help? Contact us today!
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