The more empathy you have with your customers, the more they will value their relationship with you – and your products.
Great communication is, at its core, a two-way street. One person is speaking, while the other is listening. But in the age of modernized distraction, our world is rife with poor and underdeveloped listening skills. Most of us can relate to the feeling of speaking to someone who gives off the impression that they’re “hearing” what we’re saying, but not understanding with any real depth. At best, this is a frustrating experience for the person who is expressing themselves.
This is why at QCSS, we think it’s absolutely critical that CSRs maintain a composure of active listening when on customer calls. Active listening is defined by complete focus on what the speaker is saying, remembering what they say, and asking appropriate questions instead of making assumptions about what they truly mean.
Active listening is a paramount skill to exhibit with customers because it fosters a sense of empathy. When a customer calls a customer service line, oftentimes it is because they are frustrated by an issue they’re having with a product. This means that they seek to be heard by someone who can help resolve their issue—And when this frustrated customer feels heard, usually this means that their feelings of frustration have been validated, which can often lead to the customer calming down, cooling off, and being far easier to work with! Ultimately, active listening results in empathy, and empathy results in your customer having trust in you, your products, service, and company as a whole!
But what does a trusting customer result in? Well, a trusting customer is a satisfied customer—Which is at the core of any thriving business! We all seek “brand evangelists”, or customers that are head-over-heels in love with the things we do for them. And the truth is, each time an angry or frustrated customer calls, we are given another opportunity to create a customer who is beaming with satisfaction. This is the perfect demonstration of exactly why active listening is the BEST customer service skill to exhibit—It is the catalyst for your next wave of brand evangelist customers.
