Customer service is the core of any thriving business. The customer service representatives become the companies’ voice and face. The moment interaction between customers and representatives happen, companies and businesses cease existing as just that, entities. With customer service representatives, a business selling novelties become someone that is breathing and talking. It becomes a person who can empathize and listen and suggest solutions that is best for the customer.

Businesses and companies provide customer service in various ways. They go the either the voice or the non-voice route. Voice usually means customer representatives over the phones answering calls all day. Non-voice, on the other hand, often refers to a more laidback form of communication – either email or chat. Lately, chat service has been gaining popularity among business owners.

Live chat is being favored more and more recently because it is convenient and cost-effective. Convenience on the customer’s part because it saves him time dialing numbers and going through an endless maze of automated recording. He can get connected to live chat by simply selecting the chat option of the website that he’s already on. He can also multitask while engaged in a chat conversation.

Chat service is, on the other hand, cost efficient for the business owners. With chat, there is less average interaction costs compared to phone interaction. It also enables live chat agents to handle multiple sessions, therefore minimizing wait times for the customers. If agents are able to handle more customers, the likelihood for closing sales is bigger. Chat option also gives prospective customers the opportunity to answer their questions about a certain product or service that they are interested in. This helps speeds up the decision-making process of a buyer.

Armed with the knowledge that customer service representatives are the frontliners of any business or company, it is important to invest in the quality of the agents that will soon interact with the customers. Before considering live chat for business, know first the traits to look for when hiring future live chat agents:

• Willingness to help.

Customer service is all about helping the customer overcome challenges, answering their questions and providing appropriate solutions. It requires patience and perseverance. A person must have an innate ability to help for him or her to be able to execute this duty flawlessly and without fail.

Look for candidates who have in-depth knowledge of the business. If they don’t and training will be provided, be sure to look for those who can learn the business quickly, are independent, resourceful and have sound judgment.

• Effective communicator.

Knowledge will be of no use if the person is unable to relay that to his customers. It is important to look for candidates who have excellent communication skills, both written and oral. Good speakers are often good writers and good writers are often good at speaking. These agents should know how to translate and simplify jargons into words that customers can easily understand. They should be articulate enough to express what they mean in words. Live chat for business will only work if the chat agents are effective enough when communicating to their customers.

Customer representatives must be confident when dealing with customers. Customers trust the agents to resolve their issues and problems. They should therefore evoke that characteristic at all times.

• Expert multi-tasker.

One of the main reasons why live chat is popular is the live chat agents’ ability to handle multiple customers. Therefore candidates should have a presence of mind at all times. He must be someone who knows when to take charge of the situation and be able to manage complications when the situation calls for it.

A good chat service begins with the quality of its live chat agents or representatives who are tasked to do the job. These agents must have the right attitude and disposition towards helping the customers. These are behaviors that cannot be masked and will always show through no matter what.