The ability to listen is a dying art! People are bombarded with information in this day and age and are often on overload. Think about it – there are very few places that you find silence anymore. Try it – switch of your TV, your computer and listen. Is there silence?? Probably not…there is the sound of your refrigerator, the car passing in the street, children playing, your water heater switching on etc, etc etc.
Have you noticed that when you overhear a conversation that its often a competition to see who can put their thoughts and ideas across first. So rather than listening and responding participants don’t listen they just speak, and when they are not speaking they are tuned out and thinking about what they are going to say next.
When customer service staff are being trained one of the hardest lessons to teach is how to listen. How to listen and empathize – not just to speak. Try it the next time you are a participant in a conversation try to listen to what is being said. Observe more than the words – observe the body language and tone of voice. That is how you learn. And a major rule of customer service is to know your customers. Treat them with courtesy and respect. Tip brought to you by the leaders in customer service software.