Empathizing with customers

- Empathy allows you to understand how a customer is feeling and use that insight to find ways to make them feel better. In this video, I'm going to share a technique you can use to empathize with customers even if you've never experienced exactly what they're going through. Let's start by looking at a scene where empathy is important. - I can't believe there are so many forms required. - Yep, there's a lot. Please take a seat and we'll call your name shortly. - That employee gave his customer a pretty cold reception. He may have just been doing his job but he didn't make the customer feel good. Here's what the same scene might look like with a little empathy. - I can't believe there are so many forms required. - I know, it seems like there's a new law every week that requires something new to be signed. Let's see. Oh, you did a good job with these. Thank you for being so thorough. - Thanks, I've had a lot of practice. - Well, you got 'em all. Please take a seat and we'll call your name shortly. - This time, a little bit of empathy instantly made the customer feel a lot better. Your ability to empathize with a customer comes from having a similar or relatable experience, so the key is to draw upon your own experiences when serving customers. Now, that's easy to do if you've recently had a similar experience. Other times, empathy is a bit more difficult. For example, a technical support rep may find it hard to relate to the frustration a customer feels because they can fix their own computer. Or a medical lab technician may have a hard time empathizing with a patient's nervousness if they've never had blood drawn to test for a potentially fatal disease. Here's an exercise to help you empathize with your customers if you've never been in their shoes. Start by thinking of a situation where a customer was upset. Why were they upset? For example, the customer handing the paperwork to the receptionist was mildly upset that there were so many forms to fill out. The next step is to think of a situation where you had a similar feeling. Think about how you felt in that situation. The receptionist might think about a time when he had to fill out a lot of paperwork himself. Perhaps it was a rental application, a car loan, or at a new doctor's office. Recollecting that experience could help him understand that filling out a lot of paperwork is tedious and sometimes confusing. The final step is to think of ways you can demonstrate empathy to your customer. Showing a customer you understand how they feel can validate their feelings and make them believe you're there to help. The receptionist empathized by listening to the upset customer, acknowledging the mild annoyance caused by the paperwork and then commending the customer on his thoroughness to help the customer feel better. I encourage you to try this exercise so you can be ready to empathize the next time you serve a customer who isn't feeling great. You can download the Empathizing with Customers worksheet to guide you, or just take notes on a piece of paper.