Why listening to your customers can help you have a better life!

If you don’t survey your customers or collect feedback, if you are too busy to monitor your customers reviews online, or simply interrupt customers while they are talking instead of letting them finish (because you might know what they are about to tell you, or you already know the solution), you are losing customers every day, building up a bad reputation, and getting way behind your competitors!

Listening is key when dealing with your customers. Here are my top 4 reasons why:

Receive precious feedback:

If you listen carefully to customers giving you real time feedback (especially those who are not happy with your service or product) you have the chance to make things right immediately, and flip your customers negative experience into a positive one before is too late (and they leave you a bad review on TripAdvisor, or they tell everyone about it). Feedback in general is a brilliant tool to improve and innovate your business, so find a way to obtain it: either through surveys, or simply get your representatives to ask significant questions when interacting with customers. 

Create the delight factor:

By engaging in a genuine conversation with customers, and deeply listening to what they are saying, you will find out relevant info about them:

-What products they prefer - so you can anticipate your customers needs on future purchases, and retain more customers;

-If they are celebrating a special occasion - so you can go beyond your customers expectations with a personalised card, and create a bigger wow factor. 

Obviously, customers will be delighted only if you act on what you ‘hear’ from them.

Have less complains:

When having a negative experience, most customers will not voice their issues in a direct and straightforward way "I have this problem and I want you to do this or that to resolve it". In most cases they will express their frustration in a more polite way, by making a veiled comment: 

“Our hotel bedroom is so cosy compared to the one we had last time”

“We have somewhere to be soon. Could you check on our order?

Look past their comments, and understand what they are really telling you; listen attentively and uncover what the actual problem is:

“We were expecting a bigger bedroom”

“The service is taking way too long, we are getting impatient and hungry”

Acknowledging issues on the spot, and acting on them quickly, will avoid comments turning into complaints later on, and your customers will be more forgiving of your mistake.

Add value: 

When you let your customers speak, and remain silent until they have finished with the explanation, they will feel valued and important. When you listen attentively to them without interrupting them mid sentence, because you want to say something, your customers will perceive that you are there to truly help them. They will feel heard and understood. Customers will trust you more, will be devoted to your business, and are likely to refer your products or services to others.

If you want your team to develop active listening skills, and deliver outstanding customer service in every interaction check out my courses here.