Listen and listen carefully

- Listening sounds a lot easier than it is. Recently, I was using the live chat customer support function from a business that I actually really like. We were having a good discussion when the guy finally said Okay, Doug, let me see if this is your problem. I thought for a minute, Doug, who's Doug? I'm not Doug, I'm Noah. So I asked him, Who's Doug? And he said, I'm sorry. I'm talking to about a half a dozen people at the same time and I used the wrong name. This is not just the wrong answer, it's a bad answer. This is poor customer service at its finest because he's passively listening to me all the while trying to multitask and deal with dozens of other customers. I was really disappointed with this company but at least he had the guts to tell me that he was speaking to multiple people at the same time. Now, you think he wouldn't have made this mistake again but just a few moments later he said something else to me that made zero sense. I said I was confused with what he was saying and he apologized again, and he said he was looking at comments from another discussion with another customer. Again, this was a company that I really enjoy working with but this one experience tarnished my view of them in a really negative way. I had always felt important and special to them but this one simple blunder really impacted my feelings for this company. If you want to provide really great customer service you need to actively listen and focus on the customer at hand and not be talking to half a dozen people at the same time. Listening is one of those skills that almost everybody takes for granted. Companies believe that the people they hire should know how to listen but for those in customer service, listening is a priority one skill that needs to be developed on a regular basis. Here's three simple tips you can use to make sure you're actively listening when the customer is talking. The first is to stop what you're doing and actively listen to what the customer is saying. Close down all other distractions and just focus on the customer at hand. Next, you want to display a kind of empathetic demeanor to the customer. Use eye contact and don't stare at the ground and don't have your face buried into the computer. Look the customer in the eyes, and finally use the technique of repeating back what the customer has already said so you can clarify what they need. So focus your attention on the customer. Stop doing what you're doing. Stop playing with your computer and focus on the customer at hand. If you're with the customer face to face or on a video call, make eye contact. Smile at the customer and nod when they say things that are important. Take notes if you need to, and repeat back the things that they say to show them that you're actually listening. This is simple stuff. Just listen up and pay attention. Oh, and don't mistake Mary for Bob.