Many hiring managers have found that soft skills alone can’t keep a customer service team running smoothly. A warm tone and patience may leave a great impression, but without the technical know-how to resolve issues quickly, customers still walk away frustrated.
That’s where hard skills come in. From navigating support software to applying in-depth product knowledge, these capabilities turn good service into consistent, efficient support that scales. Dive in as we break down nine customer service hard skills every hiring manager should prioritize to build stronger, high-performing teams.
What are hard skills in customer service?
Hard skills are the specific technical abilities an employee must possess in order to perform a given job effectively. They are tangible, measurable skills that determine whether someone can carry out the technical or specialized aspects of a role.
Customer service representatives often acquire these skills through vendor certifications, in-house training, or hands-on experience. Additionally, they can be tested through mock support tasks and measured with metrics like speed, accuracy, first-contact resolution, and customer satisfaction.
When comparing hard vs soft skills, there’s a difference; hard skills are technical and job-specific, whereas soft skills are interpersonal and more transferable. The best hires must have both sets of skills, combining technical ability with the relational strengths that keep customers loyal.
Why are hard skills in customer service important?
Hard skills in customer service are necessary because they enable customer service professionals to engage in the technical aspects of their jobs. These skills allow them to resolve issues quickly and accurately, which not only improves customer satisfaction but also strengthens retention and overall business performance.
Simply put, hard skills form the backbone of effective customer service, enabling professionals to handle the core responsibilities of their roles with confidence.
9 top hard skills in customer service to look for
Staying ahead in customer service means equipping your team with technical skills that match rapidly changing customer needs and digital tools.
These nine hard skills stand out as the most valuable for representatives to deliver efficient, accurate, and consistent support:
1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
Proficiency with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zendesk, helps customer service representatives maintain a centralized workflow. With these tools, they can keep accurate customer records, automate follow-ups, and get insights for strategic decision-making.
In fact, recent CRM stats show that 94% of tech companies and 71% of small businesses use CRM systems to manage customer relationships and drive sales. Salesforce also reports up to a 29% increase in sales revenue after effective CRM deployment, along with a 34% boost in productivity and improved forecast accuracy of up to 42%.
Generally, CRM tools improve efficiency, reliability, performance, and scalability in your organization, making them a valuable asset for any customer service rep.
2. Point of Sale (POS)
POS systems help businesses transact and accept payments, and they come in many forms. Depending on your setup, your team may need to handle more than one type. According to Fit Small Business, the seven most common types of POS systems include:
- POS Apps
- Mobile POS Systems
- Touch-Screen POS Systems
- Cloud POS Systems
- Open Source POS Systems
- Multichannel POS Systems
- Self-service Kiosk POS Systems
Representatives with POS expertise can manage transactions, refunds, and loyalty programs seamlessly and without errors. This speeds up service delivery and ensures compliance with financial protocols, especially for high-volume retail and hospitality operations.
Note that with technology evolving quickly, the skills your team needs may shift in response, so also check for adaptability with emerging features and tools.
3. Accurate data entry, analysis, and reporting
According to Amazon, 65% of highly data-driven small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) financially outperform their less data-savvy peers. These numbers show that strong data entry, reporting, and management skills are instrumental to any company’s success, especially in data-heavy industries like customer service.
This is because reliable raw data translates into clean, meaningful insights, which support better forecasting, prevent costly errors, and ensure compliance with data accuracy standards.
Prioritize skills like data entry, reports and analytics, and interpreting service metrics such as CSAT or NPS, taking care to assess precision to avoid errors.
4. Technical problem-solving and troubleshooting
How your customer representative diagnoses, resolves, and escalates technical customer issues demonstrates their problem-solving skills. Whether the issue is software bugs or total product malfunctions, customers typically expect fast, seamless solutions.
Strong troubleshooters must be able to reduce escalations to IT teams, raising first-contact resolution rates, which improves customer satisfaction. This requires understanding how to use knowledge bases, diagnostic scripts, and remote tools. They should go beyond merely fixing issues and aim to protect customer trust, lower costs, and drive loyalty.
5. Sales floor
In organizations where sales and service overlap, like retail, hospitality, automotive, and tech, sales floor operations boost revenue and keep operations running smoothly. Candidates with this hard skill understand inventory systems, merchandising, and how to cross-sell or upsell effectively.
Also, the impact is measurable, as companies that implement this technique properly are up to 30% more profitable than their peers.
Prior experience in fast-paced, customer-facing roles is a major asset because it builds confidence in multitasking and real-time problem-solving. Ultimately, a qualified representative should be able to manage customers on the sales floor, from product demonstrations to handling sales queries.
6. Effective outbound calling technique
Research shows that 41.2% of sales professionals say the phone is their most effective sales tool. Candidates or employees with strong outbound calling techniques are able to build relationships, recover churned accounts, and drive measurable growth over phone calls.
Additionally, they should understand how to navigate regulations like Do Not Call (DNC) lists and GDPR compliance, and follow scripts, but remain adaptable to customers’ needs. Some relevant qualities to consider include evidence of structured outreach, objection-handling skills, and meeting or exceeding call targets.
7. Customer information
Customer information is a powerful resource for your customer service team to leverage because they must understand your client base to deliver premium service. To this end, you should ensure they can verify, enter, process, and research customer information on your company’s customer service systems.
They also need to be aware of and follow any privacy regulations, whether internal company rules or general standards, to avoid fines or other penalties.
8. Deep product and industry knowledge
Organisations that train customer representatives with product knowledge on real use cases, features, and common problems see faster resolutions and higher customer satisfaction.
This is particularly important in fast-paced or technical sectors such as SaaS or medical devices, to reduce mistakes caused by misinformation or uncertainty. Here’s proof—46% of consumers appreciate competence and doubt uninformed representatives.
Ask questions that assess how they explain features, fix product-related issues, compare alternatives, and stay updated on releases and industry trends. Candidates who keep learning will reduce errors, improve customer satisfaction, and grow with your business.
9. Digital literacy and omnichannel support
Today’s customers expect the same quality of service whether they reach out by email, chat, social media, or self-service portals. Customer representatives with strong digital literacy keep interactions consistent across all channels, reducing friction and improving the customer journey.
Moreover, companies with strong omnichannel engagement strategies retain an average of 91% of their customers, according to Aberdeen Group. For organizations, this means fewer missed opportunities, improved service KPIs, and stronger brand loyalty.
Is customer service a hard or soft skill?
Some experts argue that customer service is a soft skill, as customer service encompasses a number of intangible skills. Others disagree, emphasizing that it can be readily defined, observed, and measured, so it doesn’t fit in with the typical definition of a soft skill.
Mostly, customer service is considered a combination of both hard and soft skills, and doesn’t fit neatly into a single category. Here’s a breakdown:
| Soft skill side | Hard skill side |
| It relies heavily on communication, empathy, active listening, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence, which are core soft skills. These determine how well someone can connect with and support customers. | Modern customer service also requires technical abilities, such as using CRM software, handling POS systems, troubleshooting, reporting, and managing omnichannel platforms. These are measurable, teachable, hard skills. |
So, customer service as a whole is not a single skill but a discipline that blends both. Many recruiters treat it as a competency built from a foundation of soft skills, reinforced by job-specific hard skills.
Emerging trends in customer service hard skills
Customer expectations are changing quickly, so customer service teams need stronger hard skills to evolve. Recent developments show that the next generation of service talent must be good with new technology and flexible with formats. They also need to serve customers from many different backgrounds.
Here are three emerging hard skills that hiring managers should watch closely:
AI literacy and collaboration with AI-powered tools
From chatbots to sentiment analysis and workflow automation, representatives need to know how to work alongside AI to deliver faster and more personalized support.
McKinsey reports that companies using AI in customer operations have seen a 20–30% improvement in efficiency. So, hiring candidates who can interpret AI recommendations, refine outputs, and use these tools responsibly gives your team a competitive edge.
Video-based customer support and real-time problem solving
With the rise of remote interactions, video support is becoming a powerful differentiator, allowing faster resolution with accompanying visual demonstration. This skill improves problem-solving rates, builds trust, and deepens personal connections. In addition, customers respond more eagerly and understand better when representatives utilize video-based troubleshooting.
Multilingual skills for a diverse customer base
In a globalized business world, companies serve increasingly diverse markets. Multilingual support representatives can bridge gaps, reduce misunderstandings, and encourage stronger customer relationships.
According to CSA Research, 76% of consumers prefer buying products in their native language, and 40% will not purchase at all if support is only available in another language. This means that multilingualism is no longer “nice to have,” as it directly impacts conversion and retention.
7 tips to measure the impact of hard skills on customer service success
To prove value and measure impact, hiring teams and managers need clear ways to evaluate the ROI of hard skills. Here are 7 practical tips to track how hard skills drive customer service success:
1. Track first-contact resolution (FCR): High FCR rates are a strong indicator of effective troubleshooting and deep product knowledge. When customer representatives resolve issues on the first attempt, it saves time for customers and the business, while boosting loyalty by reducing repeat contacts.
2. Monitor average handling time (AHT): Shorter handling times often reflect proficiency with CRM systems and digital tools. When agents can quickly navigate platforms and access accurate information, they deliver faster resolutions without compromising quality.
3. Evaluate customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores: CSAT is a direct measure of how customers feel after interacting with your team. Higher scores often point to technical skills being applied effectively to resolve issues, creating positive and lasting impressions.
4. Analyze error and escalation rates: Low error rates and fewer escalations suggest strong technical accuracy and problem-solving ability. This shows that employees can handle complex cases independently, reducing the burden on IT or senior staff.
5. Review knowledge base usage: Regular updates and correct entries in the knowledge base indicate strong data entry and reporting skills. This ensures information remains current, allowing the entire team to benefit from reliable resources.
6. Measure sales or upsell conversion rates: High conversion rates signal that customer representatives are skilled in sales floor operations and POS systems. If they can recommend the right products or services, it translates into direct revenue growth and stronger customer relationships.
7. Assess compliance and data accuracy: Accurate record-keeping shows attention to detail and mastery of reporting tools. This ensures regulatory compliance and also provides leadership with reliable data for decision-making.
How does Vervoe help you assess customer service hard skills?
Vervoe lets candidates prove their customer service skills by showing what they can do in real-world situations instead of relying on resumes or generic interviews. Our customer service recruitment software lets you create or use ready-made assessments that test skills like problem-solving, product knowledge, writing clear responses, or handling live chat scenarios.
Rather than relying only on resumes, Vervoe uses role-play questions and multiple-format assessments to see how candidates would actually perform on the job. Our transparent AI algorithm automatically grades answers, saving you valuable hiring time while showing you the best performers.
These features work together to help you confidently hire people who are both capable and ready to deliver great customer service. Here’s a breakdown of how Vervoe accurately measures customer service skills:
- Role-specific templates and library: Vervoe includes ready-made tests for customer service roles like Contact Centre Rep, Customer Service Agent, and Manager. These measure skills such as active listening, conflict resolution, product knowledge, and case triage.
- Task-based questions: Vervoe supports practical tasks like scenario replies, multi-step workflows, and short answers. These reveal abilities such as accurate data entry, writing effective replies, and documenting solutions.
- Sales and cross-sell tests: Vervoe’s assessment library includes sales-focused assessments for outbound calls, upselling, and objection handling. Using these tests, you can evaluate how persuasive candidates are in recommending products.
- Multilingual support: Vervoe’s assessments can be delivered in different languages, making it useful for international hiring or testing language-specific skills.
Simplify customer service hiring with Vervoe
Customer service teams without strong hard skills often risk slow response times, frequent errors, and poor customer experiences. Without technical skills, agents may struggle with CRM tools, make product errors, or escalate simple issues. These gaps cause frustration, lost sales, and higher costs, which can hurt brand reputation and leave customers dissatisfied.
Thankfully, Vervoe makes it easy to assess these hard skills upfront. With comprehensive customer service skills assessments, automated scoring, and detailed analytics, you don’t need to guess who has the hard skills for the job. Instead, you can see what potential employees are capable of before they join your team.Give your team the tools to succeed. Schedule a demo and start hiring with confidence today.
[Read More: Skill Test]
