5 steps to become a better listener

Let's get down to some really basic customer skills- communication. When you think about it, exceptional customer care really means exceptional communication skills- effective listening and clearly articulating your message.

In customer care, the need for effective listening is even more important than  in many other lines of work. It is very difficult to provide assistance to customers until you know what they need or want. Below are the 5 steps:

1. Be ready to listen: requires total focus on the customer at hand, whether in person or on the phone. You need to block out both internal and external noise before starting. This may mean having the computer screen cleared of the last transaction and ready in front of you, or clearing your head and focusing on the person in front of you or on the other end of the phone line. The key is to focus.
2. Ask the right questions: Time is valuable, to both you and your customer. It is important that you do everything possible to ask the right questions and get information needed quickly and accurately. In general, there are 2 types of questions- open-ended and closed-ended. Open-ended questions are phrased in such a way to bring out free-flowing responses revealing wide range of information. They encourage the customer to explain, describe, explore or even elaborate. Closed-ended questions should be used to narrow the discussion and bring out specific, detailed information.
3. Take notes: Taking notes helps you to listen better because you are concentrating more. Listen for key words and phrases and jot them down. Customers tend to be more confident when you start to take notes, it shows them that you will take actin on that situation, moreover, it will also keep irate customers from repeating themselves over and over again.
4. Show you are listening: One of the quickest ways to kill a good conversation is for one of the speakers to lose interest. Eye contact is only one method of showing someone you are listening. It's part of what we call "attentive silence". Head nods, attentive body position, eye contact are all things you can do with face-to-face customers to show interest and encourage them to give you more information. Use attentive words while you are researching information for the customer. By doing this, you keep the customer from talking and bringing up unrelated issues, which may happen if he or she is uncomfortable with the silence. Sound personal and not programmed.  
5. Restate: In order to be an active listener you must be involved in the conversation and make sure you understand, or heard correctly, what the customer was saying. Restating or rephrasing what the customer say in your own words is a kind of human psychology. It will also help you avoid missing information that you may not have heard and allows you and the customer to at least agree on the facts of the situation.