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About this lesson
You will discover how to trade places with your customer in making decisions that will impact the quality of your interaction with them.
Exercise files
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Put Yourself In Your Customer’s Shoes.docx54.7 KB Put Yourself In Your Customer’s Shoes - Solution.docx
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Quick reference
Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes
You will discover how to trade places with your customer in making decisions that will impact the quality of your interaction with them.
When to use
Always use empathy with your customer’s to make sure your customer feels cared for.
Instructions
How do you use empathy in Customer Service? Empathy is putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. To put yourself in the customer’s shoes you can say things like:
- “I understand...”
- “I would feel the same way...”
- “I can imagine how that would be frustrating...”
Think about a time when you have been in a similar situation. Be human!
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- 00:04 In this video we're going to talk about how to use empathy in customer service.
- 00:11 So what is empathy?
- 00:13 Empathy is really putting yourself in the customer's shoes.
- 00:18 And gosh, years ago, I had an issue with my phone company, right.
- 00:23 So with my cellular company.
- 00:25 And what ended up happening was,
- 00:26 I had this crazy bill to Australia while I was giving a seminar.
- 00:32 Supposing I was on the phone to Australia.
- 00:34 And the only Australians I know live here in the States.
- 00:37 So it wasn't me, right.
- 00:39 There was a mistake something happened, something went wrong.
- 00:42 So clearly, it's going to be easy to get through, isn't it?
- 00:47 No, no no no.
- 00:48 I call up the company and as soon as I call this company,
- 00:52 there was something up, right.
- 00:54 They were ready to go to battle.
- 00:55 They were looking at my account, doing whatever and
- 00:58 this guy, he just sounded almost like a robot.
- 01:02 He's like no, ma, ma, ma.
- 01:07 And I was just this kind of conversation that wasn't going anywhere.
- 01:11 So I decided to change it up.
- 01:13 I wanted to step out of where we were and
- 01:15 step into just being human having a conversation.
- 01:19 So I asked her hey, can we just be human for a second, just be human.
- 01:24 And I asked him straight up, I said hey,
- 01:26 has anything like this ever happened to you before?
- 01:29 His response was, yes and I said okay, good.
- 01:34 How did that make you feel?
- 01:37 Bad.
- 01:38 Okay, so what did you end up doing?
- 01:41 I paid it.
- 01:44 What?
- 01:45 There was no empathy in this guy at all.
- 01:48 So, I hang up the phone.
- 01:50 And I'm getting ready to switch, right.
- 01:52 I'm like, I want somebody else.
- 01:54 So but one thing I do get and this is funny,
- 01:56 I get a customer service text, right.
- 01:59 How would you rate that call?
- 02:00 I'd be like zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, right.
- 02:04 I'm fuming, I'm like, zero.
- 02:06 And what happens, lo and behold, my phone rings.
- 02:09 I get a phone call from the phone company.
- 02:12 This is gonna be great.
- 02:14 So now I've got somebody elevated from robot man
- 02:17 who's really gonna make me feel good and take care of my problem.
- 02:21 Wouldn't that have been nice?
- 02:23 Instead, I get somebody else, some elevated person,
- 02:27 who just came to the phone with a helmet on.
- 02:30 With the shield and the sword just ready to fight, just come into battle with me.
- 02:36 It was worse than talking to robot guy.
- 02:39 So I hang up, and I had a speaking engagement, I had to go to Arizona.
- 02:43 When I get back, I'm switching companies.
- 02:46 So I'm in Arizona and I'm going to dinner and
- 02:49 my phone rings 800 number, pick it up and it's a guy from this company.
- 02:55 I said, wow man, I'm switching.
- 02:57 I'm outta here, I'm gone.
- 02:59 As soon as I get back to San Diego, I'm outta here and I'm switching companies.
- 03:03 And he says, listen, I understand, I would feel the same way.
- 03:08 I can only imagine how that would be frustrating.
- 03:11 And I looked at the phone and said what?
- 03:14 This guy's absolutely amazing!
- 03:16 And I said well, listen, I'm going to dinner right now, can I just hang up and
- 03:19 call you back?
- 03:20 He says, gosh, I wish I could, but if you call back you might get somebody else.
- 03:26 I said that's it buddy, you're going to dinner with me.
- 03:28 I took the phone with me, we talked through it through dinner and
- 03:31 he resolved it and got me my refund.
- 03:34 Now, how cool was that?
- 03:36 And they could have, by the way, done the exact same thing on the first phone call.
- 03:40 They could have done the same thing on the second phone call, right.
- 03:44 And with keeping me a little bit more mellow, okay.
- 03:48 So what is empathy in customer service?
- 03:50 Put yourself in the customer's shoes.
- 03:53 Okay, think about a time maybe when you were in something similar.
- 03:57 So, what do you say to put yourself in somebody else's shoes?
- 04:01 I understand, again, your customers want to be understood.
- 04:06 Okay, I understand.
- 04:08 Number two, I would feel the same way, wouldn't you?
- 04:13 If you were actually being empathetic and
- 04:15 you're listening intently, would you feel the same way?
- 04:18 Would you be upset if x, y or z happened?
- 04:21 Okay, if you would tell them, what I would feel the same way.
- 04:26 And number three, I can imagine how that would be frustrating.
- 04:32 Super simple and just by doing that your customer will feel heard and
- 04:37 they'll feel understood.
- 04:39 Okay, now you just need to provide that remedy, so that they feel cared for, okay.
- 04:44 And this is sending you down that track to them feeling cared for isn't it, okay.
- 04:50 So put yourself in the customer shoes.
- 04:52 That's empathy.
- 04:53 I understand, I would feel the same way, I can imagine that would be frustrating.
- 04:57 In the next video, we're going to talk about some more ways,
- 05:00 that you can really show empathy in your customer service
- 05:04 to better overcome your customer's challenges.
- 05:06 We'll see you in the video.
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