Empathy Skills…Even the Best Organizations Will Benefit
Welcome to Walk in Their Shoes, the new blog from EmpathyIQ. This, our inaugural post, is one of many to be published several times a month. Our goal is simple. Impart knowledge on the many benefits of empathy in providing service excellence to customers. Enjoy a free subscription, compliments of EmpathyIQ.
Resident service, customer service or customer care are all words that should lead to customer satisfaction. But, often these words actually lead to conflict and even anger. Company or organizational procedure and rules are, many times, the first thought of the service person. That practice, of course, is always driven by policy. And, we all know that policy and procedure is a necessary plan in any organization. Customers, however, are not interested in policy. Stating policy is frustrating to them. They’re simply interested in you listening, understanding their dilemma and helping to solve the problem…they want satisfaction. Consider this. Americans tell an average of 9 people about good experiences, and tell 16 (nearly two times more) people about poor experiences. Now consider, unlike several years ago, the advent of customer reviews. Customer experiences are more transparent than ever and they play heavy on an organizations reputation, good or bad.
What can you do? How can your organization ensure excellent service? The answer may be simpler than you imagine and by now you must be thinking empathy has to play a role. You’re right. Let’s examine what the majority of people want when it comes to customer service. First, they want the process to be easy. Second, they want their issue and their feelings understood. They want you to listen…they want you to “Walk in Their Shoes”. It’s that simple. Be empathic when you deal with their problem. Engage, feel and understand their emotions and then provide an agreeable solution. Do the right thing. Do this and you elevate your organization to a higher level of service excellence. The customer service bar is lower than ever before. You can become a star by employing empathic behavior in your customer’s experience.