Customer service training typically concentrates on a list of do’s and don’ts that are supposed to guide you through any given situation, focuses on leaning sales skills or champions the teachings of the latest training book the boss has read.  Oddly enough in most of these training sessions the customer’s point of view is not the focus or sometimes is even forgotten all together.

Think about the last time you were the customer. What are the top 3 things you wanted from the person you were working with? Most people will say things like, friendliness, courtesy, listening to my needs, helpful information and quick service. The easiest way to understand how your interaction affects your customer is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You want a service professional that gets where you are coming from.

A true customer service professional does the following:

• Takes the time to read the customer’s personality type and adapts themselves to their style.
• Asks relevant questions to quickly discover the customer’s goals and objectives.
• Empathizes with the customer to understand why they want what they do.
• Clearly communicates with the customer in an easy to understand way that avoids sales pitches or technical jargon that the customer may not understand (or care about)
• Keep it real. Customers are not stupid; they can easily tell if you are faking empathy. It will feel patronizing and no one likes to be manipulated like that.
• Remember that your customers just want you to understand them.