It’s About The Customer, Not You

When you talk you’re only repeating things you already know, but when you listen you learn things you don’t know and that’s the best path to great service excellence.  Listening is all about the customer’s best interest.  Here, we touch the edge of empathy and how using empathy can help elevate an organization’s customer care.  Empathy can create a powerful connection between customer service personnel and the customer.  That engagement and the reason for the strong link between people occurs because of a deep understanding of feeling and emotion.  Think for a minute how you feel during a discussion when you know your counterpart is seriously listening to you.  Think what it means when you’re sure they understand you.  What happens when they feel what you feel?  Your relationship is immediately stronger.  It’s more meaningful than it was just minutes earlier.  You and your customer can have that same relationship.  One of deep mutual trust.  That’s the affect empathy has between company and customer.  Imagine how a customer feels and responds when you have their best interest in mind.  Consider their thoughts when you exhibit a deep understanding of their issue.  Your genuine understanding makes the customer feel pretty special.  They move from a level of discomfort to a level comfort.  Their stress lessens.  In the mind of the customer your company’s reputation is stellar.  You made the process easy, but even more important you took the necessary time to understand their feelings, their emotions and their dilemma.  They feel extraordinary and given the reversed circumstance, you would feel the same.

Empathy can be a powerful tool in customer care.  It’s a skill and like any skill it can be learned and developed.  When used, it will change culture and inspire your team.  Empathy improves customer service and even the best organizations will benefit from its use in customer care.