Client Service Support

This question is especially important if you are applying for a management position.

An ideal answer will demonstrate that you are capable of assessing a situation and implementing improvements.

For example:

I started to notice that a lot of customers were complaining about feeling patronized by my agents. In response to this, I listened to the calls these complaints stemmed from and realized that words such as ‘wonderful’ were being over used.

I then had a meeting with the worst offenders in my team and suggested changes that they could make to correct this behaviour. After this meeting, customer complaints reduced and sales increased.

This question is asked to determine whether or not you are going to bring something to the team.

In an ideal answer you will confirm that you are creative in your job role, and markedly so compared to some of your colleagues. You should then proceed to give examples which demonstrate this.

This question gives you the opportunity to tell the interviewer about how you developed a Monday-morning prize-giving incentive to get your team fired up for the week. Or how you introduced daily staff meetings to keep your team engaged with the goals of the organisation. Or implemented a buddy-up training programme to help your new recruits settle in faster.

Here your interviewer wants proof that you will tackle problems head on and not just bury your head in the sand.

A strong answer will clearly demonstrate a problem, an action and a solution.

For example:

Problem: When I was first promoted to team leader, I consistently struggled to ensure that my team achieved their sales targets on a Friday.

Action: I sought the advice of more experienced team leaders to find out how they motivated their teams through the Friday slog.

Solution: Acting on the advice of the other team leaders, I implemented a combination of incentives over the next few weeks and successfully boosted my team’s sales figures.

Repeat customers are the lifeblood of any business. Turning down a request from a regular client can be touchy, but it’s going to happen.

Over time, repeat customers may feel like they’re entitled to certain privileges for their loyalty – ones that might go against your company’s policies or break internal rules. Where will this rep side? Do they identify too much with the customer, look for a balanced solution, or answer too harshly (potentially endangering the client relationship)?

Consider roleplaying this situation and a few other tricky scenarios to get a good feel for how the potential hire responds.

These questions will more often than not be based around the role competencies. Preparation and rehearsal are key to answering these effectively.

You will need two or three instances of how you may have: delivered change, managed conflict, improved performance, reduced absence, increased customer satisfaction, etc. You also need to be able to clearly and concisely communicate the problem, solution and outcome.

This is a bit of a tricky question to answer, as how you answer can determine whether your interviewer thinks you are too strong-minded or, worse, too sheep-like in your approach to work. An ideal answer will show a degree of balance.

For example:

Throughout my term of employment, I keep a constant note of any areas that I feel can be improved. But I only present these concerns to my boss when I have developed in-depth and realistic solutions.

The frequency of these meetings is determined by how stable the company is. If the company implements several changes throughout the course of the year, I am more inclined to provide regular feedback to my boss.

Ideally, you should already know what to say here. Remember, your weaknesses must always be used to your advantage - nobody has any true weaknesses in interviews. Your strengths could be that you are good at listening and always patient. A weakness should ideally be related to the role, such as sometimes being too helpful and providing more advice than a customer actually requested. Go on to say that you are careful to ensure that you concisely answer their questions.

This is always a challenge to answer well. The interviewer wishes to see that you have done some research about the company. Mention the company’s values and mission as being in line with your personal attitudes and goals in life.

This is often an opening question, as it allows you to use one of your strongest examples and may help you relax. For the interviewer, it is also an indication of where your natural focus or achievements may be – people development, process, cost reduction, change etc.

You can relate success stories and any interesting interactions you had with clients, especially if it portrays good customer service skills. Explain how you have solved problems and created positive relationships with customers.

Fundamentally, if you look under the skin of the best teams and call centres, they do have certain things in common: clear communication, consistency, fun, performance management, leadership, engagement, incentives, etc.

Think what made up the best team or company you have been a part of or have seen. Have examples to back up any statements for how you would play a part in, or create, this team or environment yourself.

This question isn’t necessarily about how the interviewee helped the customer. It’s about who they are.

Is the answer ego-centric? Does it sound like they’re trying too hard to please you? Or does it sound like a genuine response told from a mature and self-analytical perspective? Look for the applicant who is authentic and reflective in their response. Watch out for respondents who overuse the words “I” and “me”, as well as anyone who broke rules to help customers. Neither is a good sign.

Try to think about how you would describe yourself if someone asked you for your strengths, then relate these to what people say about you; peers, agents, managers and stakeholders. Have three or four at the ready, ideally in line with the role you are being interviewed for. Have examples or situations ready, in case your interviewer wants to drill down as to why you think or believe these are your key strengths.

This is an opportunity for you to show off your research on the role and company.

Talk about the benefits the company has to offer and how they suit you at this point in your career. For example, if you are joining the company as a graduate, discuss how you plan to utilise their highly-structured training scheme.

Also comment on the company’s reputation and try to make reference to a recent success you have seen on their website.