Ways To Promote Active Listening by Ruby Newell-Legner

By Ruby Newell-Legner, CSP

In celebration of Customer Service Week October 4-10, Spruce up your listening skills!

Good customer service starts with listening. Every customer wants to feel heard in everything they have to share. If we listen, they can tell us how to meet their needs and avoid their complaints.

Apply this strategy to improve internal customer service in your organization too. Successful leaders know that one of the most important secrets to success is to listen more than talk!

Your customers will love you for it and your staff will too!

Ways To Promote Active Listening:

Look at the person and give them your undivided attention. Avoid letting your eyes wander away from the person you are conversing with. If you allow yourself to get distracted they will think they lost your attention.

Exhibit active listening through positive body language. Make sure you stand with open posture to demonstrate that you are open-minded. Crossing your arms can create a barrier between you and other people in a conversation. It may send the subliminal message that you aren't listening even though you are.

Repeat key words as you follow along. This will help keep you focused on what the speaker is saying. It also reassures the speaker that you are listening.

Nod your head to acknowledge that you hear what the customer is saying. As a listener, this is a subtle way to remind yourself that it isn't your turn to talk yet. Close your lips and nod your head to show that you are following the conversation and taking in every word. Sometimes a simple "uh, huh" shows you are paying attention too.

Write the information down as they speak. Demonstrate your desire to help by taking note of their comments. Writing down brief annotations reinforces that you feel what they have to say is important.

Don't interrupt. A customer who has something to say will not listen to you until you have listened to them. If you interrupt - even if you are trying to save time or you think you know where they are going with the conversation - they will just pick up where they left off when you are finished interrupting. They aren't ready to listen yet. Let them finish their story before you respond!

Use the Two-Second Rule - after the speaker has finished talking, count to two before you speak. This assures the speaker is finished. Two seconds of silence also gives you a chance to prepare what you are going to say instead of thinking about that while they are talking.

Repeat back what you heard. This affirms you got the information correct. It develops a psychological truth with your customers. If you listen to them, they will be more apt to listen to you.

After a person finishes talking say, "So what I am hearing you say is …" or "Let me see if I understand you correctly …" Then share some highlights of what they said to confirm you got all the information and you have a complete understanding of their message.

Use their name in the conversation if you can. This makes the conversation personable and shows that you were listening when they introduced themselves. (Bonus tip, if you introduce yourself at the beginning of the conversation, they will probably do the same. Take note of their name and use it later.)

To schedule training or to see when Ruby will be presenting in your area, visit www.RubySpeaks.com or call Ruby's office in Littleton, Colorado at 303-933-9291.

Ruby Newell-Legner, Certified Speaking Professional, is considered a pre-eminent Customer Satisfaction Expert. For over two decades Ruby has been helping organizations make exceptional customer service a way of life.