Adam Kirk Smith

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Close Listening & Other Customer Service Strategies

This is a guest post from Daniel Matthews. He is a writer and musician from Boise, Idaho, who specializes in entrepreneurship, business, tech, and writing on just about any idea that captivates him. You can find him on Twitter.

Information is flowing to businesses all the time. Customers are constantly telling businesses what they think about them either directly or indirectly. Conversations on social media, comments, reviews, and communication via helplines all enable brands to gather customer feedback. 

However, that’s only the first step to customer service improvements and, ultimately, growth. Businesses have to take what they learn one step further to actually improve the customer service experience. Here’s how companies can keep customers happy.

Gather Feedback as Early as Possible

You can start gathering feedback about your brand, product or service in the early stages before you’ve officially released anything to the public. Ask a small group of current customers, potential customers, industry experts, or influencers to test the product and provide you with honest feedback. You may not like what you hear, and it may require major changes before moving forward, but it’s better to find out now instead of later.

Practice Close Listening

Close listening means that you listen to what the customer is saying, understand it, and then clarify that you understand what they’ve said. Agents should ask questions to get to the root of customer queries and issues. 

When customers are angry, they are generally upset for a reason, and that reason may not be obvious in the heat of the moment. Close listening goes beyond that to understand the core problem and take action, whether than be to change things like company policies or product design. 

Your response shows that you truly hear and care about what customers say. Close listening is particularly important if a customer has been injured or hurt by a product. Even one instance involving an injury should raise an alarm about potential issues to prevent as soon as possible.

Direct the Narrative Through Your Responses

Businesses can’t control what customers say about them, but they don’t have to be at the whim of those comments and reviews, either. When a customer leaves a negative review, it’s important to respond to them as soon as possible and in a public way. That way, other customers can see that your company faces issues head-on. 

Customers don’t want to feel like they’re alone, and they want to know that their problems will be given attention. They don’t expect perfection from businesses, but they do expect to be treated well as customers.

Provide the Same Level of Support Online and Offline

Businesses that only pay attention to customers when they make public complaints can get a reputation for poor customer service. Customers want to feel like they’re important no matter where they are — whether that be in a store, talking with a support agent on the phone, or posting a review on social media. Businesses should communicate in the same way no matter who is (or is not) going to see it. Companies have to be consistent in their customer service in order to be trustworthy.

Give Certain Customers a Point Person

Customers who are having a complex issue may have to call customer service several times. If they have to wait through a menu and explain their situation to a new agent every single time, they’ll quickly get upset with the company. At that point, you risk having an unhappy customer or losing them completely. 

These customers should have a point person who they can easily contact through a direct line. Even better is if that point person contacts the customer — so long as they do so when they say they will. For customer issues that have been escalated, it’s best if the point person is a manager or supervisor instead of a regular agent.

Provide Technical and Product Support

Customers can’t be satisfied or pleased with products they’re unable to use. One role of customer success managers and the customer support department overall is to provide technical and product support so that the customer can actually reap the benefits of what they’ve purchased. 

That means that support agents have to be experts in the products or services you sell — if they can’t teach your customers how to use them, who can? Take the time to provide agents with the training necessary for them to answer customer questions accurately and thoroughly. 

Build a Knowledge Base

The more you work with and listen to customers, the more you’ll realize that many of them have the same issues. Maybe they have trouble navigating part of your website, or they seem to run into trouble with a particular product. 

If you find that you’re answering the same questions and solving the same problems over and over, build a knowledge base that customers can use on their own. You’ll empower customers to solve issues through self-service. This is more convenient for them, and you’ll alleviate the pressure put on your customer service department. Your agents can then be free to handle more in-depth issues or to work directly with VIP clients.

A customer service department is only as strong as its agents. Without happy agents who are willing to provide stellar support, your customers won’t be treated the way they should. Clarify your expectations and empower agents to go above and beyond for the sake of the customer experience. Your customers will thank you through positive reviews and brand loyalty.

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3 Essential Strategies for Business Communication

This is a guest post from Paul Bates. He is an editor at SwiftPapers and EssayTask, and also works as a business consultant at BeeStudent.

The 21st century has been lauded as the Information Age, an age driven by intense competition and a rapidly evolving business environment. In such an environment, business requires essential strategies for communication to stay ahead of the competition. Here are three strategies that can be employed to improve business communication, all designed to improve the ability to negotiate:

1. The Use of Questions 

Negotiation entails a discussion of points of views between one or more parties. As such, asking questions is an integral aspect of the negotiation process. However, asking the right questions can be a challenge for most negotiators. “The type of question asked can determine how the recipients perceive the other party involved in the negotiation,” says Rachael Maxwell, Senior Business Writer. As such, it is important that a negotiator asks effective and useful questions. 

Open-ended questions require a detailed answer. These types of questions require the respondent to provide some detail, a vital aspect of a successful negotiation. These types of questions help one gather intelligence about the other party involved in the negotiation. Open opportunity questions invite a respondent to offer their views in participation. These are useful in ensuring inclusion in the negotiation process. A leading question attempts to guide the respondent to one’s point of view in a manner that is persuasive in nature. A low-key question aims at inquiring information about something without instigating emotion in the response.

However, there are other types of questions that are considered to pose a threat to the sustainability of the negotiation process. Such questions are counterproductive and tend to instigate negative emotional responses. Such questions are usually manipulative in nature and tend to threaten the negotiation process. Aggressive questions result from one being pushy with an agenda while loaded questions tend to place the respondent in an uncomfortable and defensive position. Other questions trigger emotions based on how they are framed while others are impulsive in nature and come out as inappropriate. 

2. Listening

“Listening is a central concept in two aspects of communication and negotiation, i.e., avoiding fatal mistakes and achieving closure,” explains Brian Qualman, Communications Director at ConfidentWriters. Being a good listener is a vital part of avoiding mistakes surrendering information needlessly. Additionally, it also helps avoid making ‘dumb remarks’ that may otherwise drive away the counterpart(s) involved in the negotiation. According to Lindsay Anderson, Communications Officer at Example Papers, having a keen ear for discerning faux pas and dumb remarks by the other party(s) involved in the negotiation is vital to developing a better understanding of these individuals or entities. As such, listening is a characteristic that underpins successful negotiations.

The decision-making process in achieving closure is defined by four key elements: framing, gathering intelligence, coming to conclusions, and learning from feedback. Learning feedback is considered one of the most challenging aspects of this process, a component that is largely a communication-based issue. Listening, which requires an open-minded approach, when conducting analysis and evaluation, can significantly augment this process, making achieving closure expedient.

Active listening together with reading nonverbal cues is prerequisite skills for successful negotiators. Active listening has positive impacts on the perceptions of the other parties involved in the negotiation. Active listening is perceived as a way of showing appreciation and shows that the opinions, input, and time are valued. Listening is the key to negotiation effectiveness. Through listening, an individual is able to identify the levels of emphasis of the various parties, cultural context, verbal language, hidden meanings, and ensure inclusion in the negotiation process. 

3. Role Reversal

One of the most effective ways to guarantee successful negotiations is the use of role reversal. Role reversal entails one party arguing and perceiving the situation from the point of view of the counterparts in the negotiation. When a negotiator expects a role reversal, they are likely to make decisions that are more conscious and will expediently arrive at an agreement compared to when role reversal is not expected. This takes place since negotiators have the expectation of reciprocation from the other party involved in the negotiation. 

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Communication Strategies from Spiderman – Jed Jurchenko

Ever since I was a child, Spiderman has been my favorite superhero. Of course, this isn’t unusual. What six-year-old boy doesn’t want to scale walls, swing from buildings, and shoot webbing from his wrists? During a recent visit to my parents, my daughters discovered my childhood fascination with this web-slinging defender of justice and have insisted that we watch Spiderman cartoons together ever since. So, over the past few months, I’ve been waking up early on Saturday mornings, brewing a cup of coffee, and planting myself on the couch with my three girls to watch episodes of The Ultimate Spiderman on Netflix. To be honest, it’s become one of the highlights of my week. I have also been reminded of some Spiderman facts that I had long forgotten.

spiderman communication strategies
Xenomurphy via Compfight cc 

For example, although Spiderman is affectionately referred to as “web head” by his friends, he is actually quite smart, and there are at least three brilliant communication strategies that we can learn from him. These strategies are as follows:

1. It’s perfectly OK to share our imperfections with others—especially if we’ve learned from them.

Likely, you will remember that Peter Parker acquired his super-spidey powers during a class fieldtrip where he was bitten on the hand by a radioactive arachnid. But, what’s often forgotten is that after acquiring his enhanced abilities, Peter didn’t immediately transform into the hero known as Spiderman. Initially, he had no clue what to do with his powers and for a time, sought money and fame by putting his newfound abilities to work in the wrestling arena. Following one of these money making stints, Peter passively watched as a thief hurried past him carrying an armful of stolen goods. Although he could have easily used his superhuman abilities to prevent the theft, he chose not to get involved. Unfortunately, this same thief went on to rob and kill Peter’s beloved uncle. Although Spiderman’s beginnings were less than glorious, Peter Parker learned from his mistakes and vowed to never passively allow evil to prevail again. His painful past is what directed him to become the life-saving superhero and what led him to become one of the more popular comic book heroes of all times. People everywhere can relate to Spiderman’s less than perfect history.

Similarly, when leaders share their blunders and missteps tactfully and at appropriate times, they provide a connection point that others can latch on to. Mistakes are a normal part of the human experience, and people are most strongly influenced by leaders with whom they can relate. Since none of us can associate with perfection, when leaders hide all of their flaws it hinders positive communication from taking place. Alternatively, leaders who tactfully share stories of their own failures humanize themselves and pave the way for honest discussion within the organization.

2. Don’t let fear hold you back.

The thing I love most about Spiderman is that in spite of ongoing blunders, he doesn’t let fear hold him back. As Spiderman swings from building to building, it’s inevitable that at some point his web-shooters are going to malfunction, placing him in the awkward situation of having to devise a plan to prevent himself from plummeting to the ground. Yet in spite of these frequent mishaps, Spiderman keeps swinging anyways. As you and I connect with others, it’s an inescapable fact that our communication skills will let us down. It’s both normal and natural to occasionally:

  • Become flustered and tongue tied while giving a speech
  • Get embarrassed in the middle of a conversation, sweat profusely, and turn flush
  • Stumble over words
  • Not know what to say next

This fear of embarrassment is so common that not only has The Book of Lists, placed public speaking as the number one dread, those surveyed ranked it five levels higher than the fear of death. If we are going to communicate well, like Spiderman, we must learn to lay aside our fears and communicate anyway.

3. It’s important to know how to recover well.

Finally, with all of the mistakes that Spiderman makes, he has become an expert at recovery. If one web-shooter fails, it’s not a problem, because he has a second ready to go. If that one fails too, he might grab on to a nearby pole or tree to stop his fall. Spiderman is a quick thinker who uses his quirky sense of humor to brush off mistakes and always has a backup plan available. Since communication mishaps are inevitable, it’s imperative for us to become well versed in the art of recovery too. One simple way of doing this is by verbally acknowledging that an error has taken place.

When caught off guard, flustered, or unsure of what to say next, one helpful strategy is to freely admit what is happening. This is far better than trying to hide something that is plainly evident to everyone else in the room. Making a statement such as, “I’m flustered right now and really don’t know what to say,” or “I don’t feel well prepared to answer that, but am willing to give it my best shot,” not only provides us with the opportunity to catch our breath, but it also helps put those around us at ease. When openly acknowledged, awkward situations become less uncomfortable for everyone, which allows us to speedily regain our composure.

As you can see, in addition to being incredible entertaining, there is a lot that can be learned from Spiderman. In fact, while writing this post, I realized that I’m continuing to use and learn these skills myself. As a marriage and family therapist, one of my strengths is recovering well. My job requires that I be OK with talking about issues that are uncomfortable, and I’m quite good at both recovering and helping others regain their poise. On the other hand, openly sharing past mistakes is more difficult for me and is a skill that I am gradually learning to put into practice. Just last month, I was asked by my wife why I didn’t reveal more of my past during a church membership class we attended. She encouraged me to speak up by reminding me that it would have added value to the conversation and that likely, there were other members in the group who would have benefited from what I had to say. Of course, I’m fortunate to be married to an amazing woman who is cheering me on in my journey of becoming a better communicator and leader.

I share this because I want you to know that while writing these posts, I’m continuing to travel down the path of learning and growing myself.

Now that I’ve shared part of my story, I’d love to hear from you. Which of these skills come easy for you and which ones are more difficult? Also, I’d love to know how I can best support you in becoming a better communicator. Are there any topics of special interest that you’d like addressed in the future? I look forward to continuing our discussion in the comments below.