Listening…
It’s a skill. Some are better than others at it.
Then thing is… it is a critical and necessary business and professional skill. You need it. Success depends on it.
Recently, I chatted with another business professional who was looking for a specific service and wanted to find a contractor to do the work. She reached out to someone we both know and told me her experience.
She explained in a phone call, in detail, what she needed, she also explained her budget. She was clear. I know this because she is exceptionally detail-oriented.
The contractor came back with an estimate double the budget and included all kinds of things in the proposal that were not in alignment with the requested work.
“What?” I asked. “How can that be?”
I was really surprised.
Then my colleague said, “She didn’t listen… At.All.”
Yup. She didn’t listen.
Result… no contract.
So I suggested someone I knew that might be able to help. I gave her the name and website. She looked up this person and reached out.
Her reach out email was generic. No details, no budget.
This second person replied with a proposal.
“What?” I asked. “How can that be?”
I was shocked. How can someone give a proposal without even asking for details of the work? Never mind the budget part because this person fell within the budget.
Result… no contract.
If the person wasn’t even willing to have a conversation to find out what was required, then my colleague wasn’t interested.
Now, that might sound harsh. Why not give her another chance since she came in under budget?
Well, actually, I might have done the same thing. I mean with all of the choices out there why settle for someone who doesn’t listen? Or someone who doesn’t do customer relations?
These contractors aren’t bad people and I would argue that there’s a customer for everyone… in this case everyone did not include those first two choices for my colleague.
I was disappointed. I had referred one of them and I knew the other.
Of all the things we are teaching in business why aren’t we teaching this?
Customer service isn’t just about treating people well or going above and beyond. It isn’t about “the customer is always right”.
It’s about trust.
Before a customer cares about whether or not you can do the job, whether or not you are qualified, whether or not your product fits their criteria, whether or not you are capable… the customer requires trust.
Trust doesn’t come from capability, qualifications, or price.
Trust comes from listening, from actually hearing what they want, from making time for them, from providing a proposal that aligns with what they asked for NOT what you think they need. Trust comes from genuinely caring about each prospect even when you know it might not work out.
Last night a student asked me about customer service, they asked if I thought the customer was always right.
My response… “Hell no the customer isn’t always right! BUT that does not mean that they don’t each deserve our respect or that we shouldn’t work as hard as we can to make things right.”
Great customer service, the kind that builds trust, the kind that builds reputation, isn’t really about the customer at all.
Great customer service is about us, the business owner and professional. It’s about our willingness to care even when caring is hard.
And caring, oftentimes, means simply listening…
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