Donna
Siegel

Listening To The Customer

Everyone knows that listening to customers -- really listening -- is  an important part of customer service. The question is how customer service reps can listen more effectively. Let's analyze a recent customer service call to see what can go wrong with listening and how one rep could be more effective at Listening To The Customer.

From The Customer's Perspective

Customer: I've been trying to load your software on my system, and I'm having a problem.

Customer Service Rep: Well, let me see if I can help you. Tell me what's happening.

Customer: I followed the directions to install the software on my system. I answered all the questions and then waited while the software loaded. At the end, the message appeared "installation completed successfully." But when I went to use the product, I couldn't open it up. I did what I was supposed to do, but I was unsure of one of the messages . . . "

Customer Service Rep: Many people have problems loading software for the first time. All you have to do is reload it following the directions exactly, and I'm sure you won't have any problems. Thank you for calling.

I don't know why this happens to me so often. Sometimes, I hesitate to call customer service departments, even when I need help. I hate being treated like I don't know anything at all. When I placed this call, I had a very specific question in mind, but I found the rep lumped me in with all his other calls about installation. If only he had taken another couple of seconds to listen to me and really hear my question. Why don't customer service people take the time to listen?

From The Rep's Perspective

"As a customer service rep, I know my job is to help as many people as I can. It's my job to find out what their problem is, and then see how I can help." Ask any customer service rep about their job, and you'll get a similar statement. Clearly, most customer service people understand how important it is to listen to their customers. Motivation is not the issue. Yet, many people find it difficult to get the information or help they need. Since it's not motivation, there must be some other factor at work.

Listening is inexact
Although all parties in a conversation intend to listen, they usually hear only a portion of the information that is transmitted. There are many reasons why this happens. Here are a few:

• The customer has a hard time organizing the question, so the rep has to sort through a lot of unnecessary data looking for the important facts.
• The customer's words trigger something in the rep's mind -- another point that needs to be covered or some misconception on the part of the customer that needs to be straightened out.
• This is the tenth time today the rep has heard this story, so the rep assumes he or she already knows what the bottom-line question is.

As a result of all this interference, the customer service rep will end up capturing only a small portion of the customer's information -- usually the main themes plus some supporting details. Maybe someone who is really trying to listen will capture about 20% of the total information. The rest is permanently lost. The problem is the 20% that is retained. Did the rep capture the most important 20%? And what is important anyway?

Why We Miss Details

There are three primary reasons why people miss information, even though they are trying to listen carefully:

• Organization
• Assumption
• Association

Organization
Before we can remember details, we need an organizational structure to put them into. Unless the speaker gives us a clear impression of the information flow, we spend the first few seconds of the conversation trying to figure out where the call fits in. Unfortunately, during the time we're trying to organize, we may have missed important details.

Assumption
Because our minds work faster than the rate of speech, we all use the shorthand of assumption. We listen for similarities to previous experiences, and if this conversation seems to be going in the direction we think it is, we react. We assume that we already know the details, and that we can apply what we already know from similar situations. Unfortunately, this method is not foolproof, because sometimes we guess wrong.

Association
All words have related associations. For example, try this test. Think of a simple word like tree or door. Ask your associates to describe what they think of when they hear the word you selected. Then, compare the descriptions. You'll be surprised at the variations from a single word.

Even when we try to listen, this type of association is taking place constantly. We start by listening to the speaker's words. We hear something -- a word, or even an impression of a word, and it triggers a reaction in our minds. It conjures up a similar experience. It reminds us of something entirely different, but related. And we are distracted by our own thoughts. Then, we realize we stopped listening, and we return to that task. While our goal is to listen, we can't help but be distracted. In fact, when studies have measured the number of distractions, the results have shown that we are distracted many times per minute.

How To Listen More Effectively

The type of listening described thus far is called passive listening. We use our minds to remember the details of the conversation long enough to respond effectively. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Active listening is a more effective listening technique.

There are two tools for active listening -- ears and hands. We use our ears to pick up the details of what the customer is saying. We use our hands to record exactly what we hear. Another term for "record exactly what we hear" is note taking.

Most customer service reps already take some notes while listening to customers. Usually, these notes have to do with "the solution" to the customer's problem -- a product to recommend, a feature to describe, a step that was missed. This type of note taking is only minimally helpful. The focus is on the wrong information. Rather than focusing on our next recommendation or action, we need to focus on the customer. What is the customer's agenda? What is important to the customer? What makes the customer unique?

Our notes on a conversation with a customer need to contain:

• Words the customer emphasizes.
• Questions the customer asks.
• Words and phrases the customer repeats.

Why This Type Of Note Taking Works

Active listening combined with note taking works, because it helps remove distractions from our minds. We don't have to worry about losing major points while we come up with a structure in which to understand the conversation. We just record key points the customer says right from the beginning. Now, we have not only the main themes, but also the details.

By focusing so much on the customer's words, we slow down the formulation of assumptions. We don't have time to concentrate on them; we're busy capturing the customer's words. And we control trigger words. By writing down these words, we effectively stop them from distracting us further. Then, we can get back to the task of listening.

SeaBird Associates Inc
3011 NE 7th Drive
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-750-9233
E-mail: Donna Siegel

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