The number one customer service skill is listening. However, just listening is not enough. You need to engage in active listening: asking questions, processing the information. Before you formulate a response or a course of action, you must listen to your customers. What do they want? What do they really want?
Dealing with irate customers/venting
Sometimes, a customer just wants to vent. He or she knows that there is little you can do to resolve the situation, but still wants you to understand the gravity of it. In this case, a customer service representative will do best by just listening. Not interrupting and not minimizing. Just listening. Once the customer is finished, the customer service rep may say something like: Thank you for sharing your concerns. Is there something that we can do to make it better?
Obtaining (and acting on) feedback
We’ve spoken about it before on this blog: improving customer service relies on obtaining feedback. But getting the feedback is not enough. Your organization must listen to what the feedback says, and choose to act on it. As the article on BNet.com “The Tragic Effect of Not Listening to Your Customers,” you can really upset your customer base if you don’t listen to their concerns. Author Jay Steinfeld writes about his company’s acquisition of another, and some missteps that happened because as he put it:
Our company talks a lot about how we listen to our customers. Your company probably does, too. But are you really listening? We didn’t, and paid the price for it.
I’m embarrassed to admit that over the last month our customers have been talking to us, but we haven’t been hearing them.
Getting feedback involves active listening. You must process what is being said, so that you can act upon it.
Getting to the heart of the matter
If you don’t listen to your customer, you aren’t going to know what he or she REALLY wants. Perhaps he/she needs a price adjustment or a paying schedule, or a modified delivery.
Improving your listening skills will vastly improve your customer service, guaranteed!
