Good listening skills is the top customer service skill every employee needs today.
Good listening isn't just looking at the person doing the talking, and certainly not just looking at the person you're talking to, but it's really listening to what people are saying. Has it happened to you? When you introduce yourself to someone and they tell you their name, and immediately you forget their name? It happens to me also.
Napolean Bonaparte, the great French general of the 19th Century, was known to write down the names of the people he met and use their names several times in a conversation until he felt comfortable with remembering it.
"The sweetest sound in a person's ear is the sound of their own name." Dale Carnegie, "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
Along with actively listening is to repeat back to the customer what you think you heard them say. This keeps the matter clarified and helps to bring resolution without further agitating the customer because the customer service representative misunderstood the customer.
I look at the customer service representative, or CSR, more than just a liaison to the company on behalf of the customer. I see him or her as a "pinch hitter" who stands in for someone or takes over running the bases for the hitter. The CSR must go to bat for the customer and, in essence, become the customer to best address the issue(s) and bring a complete resolution.
Imagine how many marriages could be saved if both parties learned and practiced this one skill every day. How many jobs would be saved and promotions would be achieved with this same skill? Do you hear what I'm saying? My point, exactly!