Translated into English, this means:
“Listen to him or her carefully, and you will get to know him or her.”
How did I come across a proverb that speaks so powerfully to the heart of customer service?
It is Customer Service Week, and perhaps this is a good time to pause and ask ourselves a simple but important question:
Are we really listening to our customers, or are we simply hearing them?
Consider Karen.
“Thank you for calling XYZ Associates. My name is Karen. How may I assist you?”
The Customer begins to explain the issue. But before the Customer has finished, Karen has already started processing the conversation through the customer service script in her mind. Based on what she has heard so far, she thinks she already knows what the Customer needs.
As the Customer continues explaining, Karen is no longer fully attentive to what is actually being said. Somewhere in the explanation, the Customer mentions an important detail, but Karen misses it.
The issue eventually has to be escalated to the Manager.
Karen heard the Customer.
But did she really listen?
Hearing or Listening?
There is a difference.
Hearing happens naturally. We perceive sound through our ears. It can happen without concentration. We may hear words without really understanding their meaning. Hearing is passive.
Listening requires intention. We pay attention not only to the words, but also to the person speaking. We concentrate. We seek to understand. Listening is active.
One of the challenges we face at the first point of customer contact is that we can easily process a customer’s words through the lens of our routines, previous experiences and assumptions about what the customer is likely to say.
We hear the words, but we can miss the message.
Could this be part of the wisdom behind what our elders said?
“Msikilize kwa makini, utamjua.”
Listen to him or her carefully, and you will get to know him or her.
There is something profound about this proverb when we apply it to customer service.
Listening is often our first point of contact with our customers, and how we listen can determine how the relationship unfolds.
We listen to understand so that we can act.
When we listen carefully, we get to hear the customer’s stated need. But beyond what the customer says they want; careful listening can help us discover what they actually need to resolve the situation.
The stated need is what the customer tells us they want.
The underlying need is what may actually be needed to resolve the situation.
And sometimes, the two are not the same.
That is why listening matters.
Discovering what a customer really needs can be the beginning of a meaningful relationship. When we listen well, we are better able to ask the right questions, understand the situation and personalise our response.
This is where good customer service becomes more than simply responding to a request.
It becomes about understanding the person behind the request.
For us to identify the real issue, we need to listen carefully enough to know what questions to ask and even how to ask them. Open ended questions can create conversations that allow us to explore further.
What happened?
What is happening now?
What have you already tried?
What would a good resolution look like for you?
These questions can help us move beyond the first explanation and discover what the customer really needs.
And as we do this, there is something else we need to remember.
Discovery is not interrogation.
We do not listen so that we can catch the customer out. We listen because we genuinely want to understand.
We do not have to rush into a solution simply because we have heard a familiar problem before.
We do not have to assume that the customer’s first explanation tells us the whole story.
Sometimes, the best thing we can do for a customer is to slow down, stay present and listen a little longer.
Because we want to know our customers and build long term relationships with them.
We want our customers to trust us.
We want them to come back to us.
We want them to tell others about the experience they had with us.
We want to have great conversations with our customers.
Because OUR CUSTOMERS MATTER.
So, this Customer Service Week, perhaps we can practise:
“Kusikiliza Kwa Makini, Ili Tuweze Kuwajua Wateja Wetu.”
Let us listen carefully so that we can get to know our Customers.
Because sometimes, the difference between simply responding to a customer and truly serving them begins with one simple choice:
Listening.
Perhaps this Customer Service Week, we could pause and reflect:
Have we truly been listening, or have we simply been hearing?
Why not make it a Listening Week?
You might be surprised by what you hear when you truly listen.
Pause. Pay attention. Listen carefully.
Our Customers Are Speaking.
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