Listening Skills

 

Active Listening Skills Training

 

“WE WERE GIVEN TWO EARS - BUT ONLY ONE MOUTH FOR A REASON”

 

“FAIL TO LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THEY MAY JUST TAKE THEIR CUSTOM ELSEWHERE!”

 

Bad Listeners

• Interrupt mid sentence
• Finish sentences for people
• Switch off from listening
• Get distracted easily
• Speak over people
• Show a lack of empathy and sympathy
• Use aggressive statements and bully customers
• Are unaware of their own body language

 

Active Listeners

The ultimate goal of the Active listener is not just to hear the words spoken, but to understand the message being sent.

 

Great Communicators Use Active Listening Skills To:

• Obtain information
• Understand the needs of customers
• Show genuine interest and respect for customer thoughts
• Improve customer relationships

 

ACTIVE LISTENERS WILL

 

Pay Attention

• Avoid distractions (Visual distractions) and other conversations
• Observe body language and facial expressions
• Keep an open mind so they don’t start to judge people - This can lead to mentally questioning the person and reduce the ability to listen actively.

 

Show They Are Listening By

• Nodding their head in acknowledgement
• Using a variety of listening phrases i.e. "I see", "I understand", "yes", "certainly", "right"
• Leaning towards the customer
• Making eye contact
• Using facial expressions (which can also effect the sound of their voice)

 

Provide Feedback

• Paraphrases the customers comments
• Summarise events
• Show understanding

 

Be Polite

• Wait for people to finish their sentence
• Acknowledge the thoughts and opinions of the customer
• Judge content and skip over delivery errors i.e. wrong use of phrases or terminology
• Don’t pre-empt what the person is going to say

 

Make Notes Of

• Key points made by the customer
• Questions you want to ask
• Refer back to these notes - This will help you to spend more time listening, opposed to thinking about the questions you want to ask

 

Respond Appropriately

• Show understanding
• Acknowledge issues
• Ask Questions

 

 

Customer Service Courses Customer Service Training

Related Articles Customer Service Exceptional Customer Service Listening Skills Questioning Skills Techniques Positive and Negative Attitudes Handling Difficult Situations

 

 

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Listening Skills Training