Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service- How To Answer Interview Questions?

Getting a job, making a livelihood is a dream we all saw in our childhood days. Little did the kid in us know how difficult it is to find a job. Especially in this job market, with thousands of people competing over one vacant position, it becomes even harder. Let’s learn about ‘Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service’.

Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service- How To Answer Interview Questions?

Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service- How To Answer Interview Questions?

In the process of getting a job, going through the selection processes can be proved much harder. One such process is the interview. Going through an interview can be a very handful to take in, even if it lasts for not more than 30 minutes to 45 minutes. It holds the future of your professional life in its hands. You can be asked many questions to test yourself, your presence of mind, reveal your personality, and so on. Let’s read more about Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service.

The situation becomes even tenser when you are to join a job for “customer service”. In such a job, knowledge sure is important, but even more important than that is your personality, your capability to put theory into action, and your ability to remain collected all the time.

For such a profession, a mere question like “give an example of a time, you provided great customer service?” can put you on edge. But worry not! Take a deep breath, we are here to assist you. 

What Does The Question Imply?

A question where you are asked to share an experience reveals that the interviewees wish to see your overall personality by knowing your understanding of “customer services” and how you ought to provide the same. 

Sharing of an incident where you think you provided great customer services highlight how you manage the situations around you and take care of the customers at the same time. It also highlights how responsible you can be to own your actions. 

Moreover, providing an example of the same could put in a trustable position since not everybody can be collected all the time and only the ones who are mindful of their actions. 

How To Answer Such A Question?

While answering the above question, try to revolve your answer around the following points or make sure you mention these in your answers :

What does ‘customer services’ mean to you?

Present your opinions on what customer services mean to you. While elaborating that, remember to keep it professional. 

These could include how you wish to treat the customers such as always with respect and a smile, and how you understand the customers might have troubles so you wish to help them feel comfortable and get their queries solved. 

Through this, the interviewers will get to know how overall your personality is by how you ought to treat people. 

Being responsible 

Remember that however you behave while providing customer services will have consequences, both good and bad. Showing that you take responsibility for the consequences of your behaviors and actions can present you as a responsible person.  

This shows that you are somebody on whom somebody can rely since you will be vigilant about your actions. Hence, it puts you in a trustable position. 

Highlight your skills

While explaining all these, keep in mind that you are being interviewed. Highlights all the necessary skills that are required for the post. It could be that you were calm and collected, you were actively listening to the customers and their queries. It could also include how you made the customer feel comfortable despite the situation. 

The skills might vary from one institution to the other, however, the following points remain the same for all institutions so put extra emphasis on them:

Communication skills

The most important of all is your communication skills. Since it is that one thing that holds the power in customer services. 

Your communication skills in the interview can present if you can put your theory of what customer service is in action. It shows how efficiently you could communicate with the customers, and give a glimpse of whether you are capable of managing unexpected situations or not. 

Present yourself confidently, and do not hesitate before answering. Maintain your body language, in a defensive but respectable way. Whenever given feedback, show that the feedbacks are appreciated and you will take them into consideration. All these play an important role in presenting your personality in front of the interviewers. How you behave, speak, and react to opinions.  

The three “p”s

Highlight that you possess the three  “p”s that are required for customer services. These are professionalism, patience, and a people-first attitude. These are somewhat basic so try to entail your answers in and around them.

Revolve your past experiences around these factors, along with the earlier skill. 

Positive language

Having a positive language, both in communication and during action goes a long way. As mentioned earlier, maintain your body language and your communication skills. As long as those work fine, you are good to go!

Your language presents how you would treat a customer, a stranger. While giving an example of a past experience, you can also explain how you held a positive language despite the situation at hand. 

Moving on, below we have presented some sample answers for how to answer such interview questions:

Example 1:

“Once around midnight, I got a call from an old lady asking for a replacement for her old television. It was very late at night so I told her that she will have to call us the next day, during work hours to have it replaced. However, she misunderstood and cried out of despair. I was flustered for a moment. But, I collected myself and helped her calm down. Later I repeated my earlier statement in a more subtle way. In the end, she thanked me for not misunderstanding her and going over the said thing again and again. It felt good by helping her and getting praised for the same.”

This example shows how the service provider acted patiently and helped the customer feel comfortable. Not only did the service provider help the lady get her worries sorted, but the service provider also made sure no misunderstandings were left. In addition, the example shows the great communication skills of the service provider. 

Example 2:

“During my part-time job I was working in a cafe and it was unusually crowded that evening. We were understaffed that day and the manager thought of closing the cafe. But I, along with the help of my co-workers, decided against it. We divided the customers on the basis of “take away” or “to go” as against “dine-in”. I suggested giving priority to the “take away” customers. I took the order and served the people in the same order without any skips. I was tired with my whole body aching, yet I kept my smile and did not hurry any customer. Many customers appreciated the way we managed the crowd without delaying any orders. They tipped us generously too!”

In this example, the service provider proved how their composing thoughts in an unexpected situation helped them manage the situation more effectively. Not only did it benefit the restaurant, people appreciated the services too! The overall example and event highlight the presence of the three required “p”s in the service provider, i.e. professionalism, patience, and people’s first attitude along with positive body language. 

Example 3:

“I was helping my aunt at her restaurant and I was in charge of everything while she was away. One time, a drunk old man entered the restaurant. While I greeted him, I noticed he was very drunk, to the point he was not able to standstill. He sat down at a corner seat and shouted the order at the top of his lungs. I prepared his order, with that I also gave him a lemon juice and two extra lemons, to help him sober up a little. He ate the food he had ordered and drank the lemon juice and then put his head down on the table. Later when he woke up, he thanked me for not throwing him away on the streets and helping him sober up. Listening to him, I felt great.”

The above example highlights the warm personality of the service provider. It also showcase how they attentively judged the situation around them and offered the customer lemon juice. This puts light on their “people’s first” attitude and their positive language. 

Example 4:

“As an intern part of my work was to get in touch with the clients and customers and to solve their queries. Due to the pandemic, all the process was shifted online. So now I had to cater to the needs of customers for 8 hours through electronic devices. The customers poured in with constant queries, usually unable to explain their problems and with time, I started losing my patience. However, I collected myself and I would tell the customers that they can use other means to explain their queries. My superiors noticed my efforts. They were happy with my performance. They gave me a week off. This made me feel great and I felt like I was getting rewarded for my actions.”

The above example presents how with human emotion, a service provider almost got into control of their emotions but chose otherwise. This highlights their strong will. In addition, the service provider effectively managed to communicate with the customers while offering them to share their queries through the medium of their comfort. 

Example 5:

“One time during busy hours two customers at the restaurant I used to work at got into an argument and sooner it turned into a fight. It created huge chaos inside the restaurant itself and the other customers and waiting orders were getting affected too. I had to interfere in the matter and calm down the customers involved. I gave them the chance to explain their views, and after a lot of disputes we found out it was nothing but a mere misunderstanding. Later, both the parties thanked me for resolving the issue and not behaving rudely to them. I felt good to have helped.”

In the example above, the service provider very bravely took matters into their hands and helped in solving the misunderstanding right then and there, which possibly could have gone worse. This highlights their bravery, communication skills, and also sort of confident position for making the customers calm down and sort things between them. 

Example 6:

“I used to work as a part-timer in the phone call services at a firm. Once I received a call from a child. He appeared to be a special child, who was facing difficulty in explaining his troubles. Initially, I felt confused, however, I tried to meet the child at his level and communicate. Soon he felt relaxed and explained his troubles with more ease. In the end, his mother took the phone and explained that she was guiding him to practice dealing with his troubles and that she was thankful that I patiently waited for him to feel comfortable. Listening to her, I felt great and happy that I helped, even though without realizing.”

In the example above, the customer service provider very efficiently managed to communicate with the child at his level and made him feel comfortable and relaxed. This shows the positive language of the service provider, their communication skills, and also, the presence of the three “p”s mentioned above. 

Conclusion:

Now we’ve learnt about ‘Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service’, To sum up, while presenting an answer, remember to put your skills and your professionalism on the table. Revolve your experience around the three points mentioned above and you are good to go!

Give An Example Of A Time You Provided Great Customer Service- How To Answer Interview Questions?

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