How to Serve with

Good Cheer and EmpathyImproving Customer Service Through Listening

By Kayci Barnett

PCCLD Staff Development Day 2-15-2015

Your Library Experience:

Do customers yell at you out of frustration?

Is it hard to enforce policies without upsetting

the customer?

Do you feel stress and pressure when the line

builds up at the desk?

Do you feel angry and irritated with difficult

customers?

What is the most important skill all employees

could utilize to deal with those situations?

Listening

Goals of this presentation to understand

how attentive listening can help:

: Connect with customers

Find common ground

Give customers full attention

Make adjustments to

communication style

The Importance of Attentive ListeningWhy it’s worth the effort it takes to change.

The higher your position the more important

your interpersonal skills become.

Listening is a transferable skill

Listening improves the quality of all

your relationships.

Attentive listening improves your

customer service.

Attentive listening reduces stress.

If listening has so many great

benefits, why is it so hard?Roadblocks to listening

Noisy atmosphere

Prejudice

Our own agenda.

Multi tasking/Distractions

Speaking more prestigious.

Bad habits

Think faster than people speak.

How we communicate Infographic by Kristin Piombino facts:

We listen to people at a rate of 125-250 words per minute, but think at

1,000-3,000 words per minute.

Less than 2 percent of people have had any formal education on how to

listen.

Images go into your long term memory, whereas words live in your short

term memory.

Steps to better listeningBy a reformed pathetic listener

Stop whatever you are doing

Prepare to listen by taking a deep

breath

Give the speaker your full attention.

Listen carefully to what they are saying,

and body language if possible.

When they’ve finished paraphrase to ensure

you’ve heard them correctly.

Pin your interruptions.

Don’t give advice, unless paid or asked.

Practice

Steps to Attentive Listening

Listening and Customer ServiceHow to say no by saying yes.

Customers want 3 things:

The thing I

came for

Respect

Empathy

Empathy

Paraphrasing what the customer said will

give you a chance to say YES to at least

one thing – their feelings.

Respect

Stopping what you are doing and giving them your full

attention, makes the speaker feel respected.

The thing they came for…

Respond with I statements:

I’m going to…

I wish I could, but I can…

I’d be thrilled to…

Listening in tough conditions

Experience didn’t match their

expectation

Listen for their message not their

delivery

Is their anything else?

Create a tally board for customers that

came in angry, but left happy.

Redirecting Ramblers

Role Playing – Customer Service

A colleague rings for help, and you come out to see a long line of

customers.

A customer asks if you will type up their resume for them.

A customer owes late fees, and wants you to waive the charges.

Your ideas…

Steps to Attentive Listening

For Further Study

Great books to improve your listening

and customer service

Nonviolent Communicationby Marshall Rosenberg, PhD

Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Lifeby Thich Nhat Hanh

Great Customer Connections by Richard Gallagher

The Zen of Listening

by Rebecca Shafir, M.A. CCC

Thank you for listening!!!Questions or Comments?

The End