Build Brand Loyalty with Active Listening

It’s been said time and time again that effective communication is key to any successful relationship. While applicable to the conversations between you and your children, significant other, and coworkers – one of the most important places for this principle to occur is within your contact center.

So, how can something so vital to success get lost in the daily shuffle for your agents? It’s instilled in call center representatives to follow their script when attempting to extinguish customer service fires, yet, words spelled out in a script don’t always convey the proper empathy that your valued customers are yearning – rather, they sound quite robotic.

Empathy and active listening are a duo that go hand in hand – think peanut butter and jelly… You don’t split up combination like that, and if you do, the end results aren’t as great.

For an agent to properly empathize with their customer, said agent must be actively listening to the customer’s frustrations and complaints. Exhibiting active listening in a call center entails asking follow-up questions to fully catch the fine points, not interrupting or cutting off the customer while they express their concerns, and occasionally repeating back what the customer has stated . While active listening may require a bit more time conversing between agent and customer, the customer will always appreciate the extra mile your agent has taken – building brand loyalty and cultivating future conversations.

Coach your agents on the importance of active listening and watch the results come back in a tenfold.