6 ideas to have good listening skills

Have you ever heard the expression “to be all ears”? . If you work in customer service, maybe you should get familiar with it. Because, although you may not have rationalized it in this way, it is likely that your job is essentially to be a good listener.

But listening is not easy. It’s hard to listen. And this is where you will start paying.

But don’t worry, you won’t pay much to learn to listen either. You don’t have to dance, do pirouettes or do sit-ups. In fact, you will only need to spend a few minutes reading this article. In the end, it’ll be a lot easier than you might think. Now, before you open your ears, open your eyes properly….

Why is it so important to have good listening skills?

As we were saying, a very important part of a person’s job in customer service is to be a good listener. Because how else do you intend to solve a client’s problems, unless you listen carefully and understand what is happening to them?

Good listening provides us with an essential part of the information we need to help our users, and it also gives them the great feeling of being in front of a person who is really willing to help them.

However, as we have already mentioned, it is not always easy to listen. Many different factors, such as fatigue, our ego or certain poorly learned habits, among others, can prevent something as simple as the act of listening from happening.

Some ideas to have good listening skills

But once again, the Pandora ITSM blog comes to the rescue. Let’s look at some ideas to get a better listening ear from our users.

– No distractions

Do you intend to listen to your clients while playing the last video of the dancing parrot? That’s impossible! Nobody can refuse the dancing parrot!

A desk full of objects, a noisy environment or, of course, a computer full of entertainment, cannot be compatible with good listening. So, as a first step, remember to remove all distractions and save those fun videos for your leisure time.

– Keep your mouth shut

And it’s just that sometimes it’s hard for us, isn’t it? Either because we have a certain verbal incontinence, or because we think we know in advance our own client’s needs, sometimes the biggest obstacle when listening to our users will come from our own mouth, in the form of annoying and unnecessary sounds. So when you feel you’re talking too much, remember to close your mouth and let your customers express what they need.

But you don’t have to be as quiet as a grave either. From time to time, make reinforcement expressions (such as “yes” or “I’m listening”), so that your customers know that you didn’t die while you were listening…

– Remember that the customer comes first

It’s an issue that we can sometimes forget about, but when a user contacts a customer service department, the conversation you establish is not about yourself, but between the user and you.

So don’t think about stepping in like they do. On the other hand, your client will usually talk more than you do. Adopt this attitude from the beginning and it will be easier for you to listen carefully.

– If you don’t understand something, then you should ask

Sometimes we will not understand the message of our interlocutor because it is expressed as a closed book. Sometimes, because we are tired or having a bad day. Other times, the telephone connection may not be good and may be difficult to understand. You are not hearing anything, and are you going to be left with the doubt?

Ask whatever you need. He or she is more likely to be pleased to see that your query is important enough for you to ask the necessary questions to understand it. This way you will not only understand the whole message, but you will also make a good impression.

– Give your client time to respond

In many cases, by clarifying the query or asking your client the necessary questions to understand and resolve the problem, it will be necessary for the user to take part on several occasions, as well as in the initial presentation, establishing a dialogue. If so, keep an eye on the ideas outlined above!

Because starting a conversation doesn’t mean that you have to take it over. It is not a question of adopting the attitude of’I have heard enough and now it is my turn to speak’. During the conversation, keep listening carefully, keep putting the customer first and allow him or her to express themselves without being harassed.

– Don’t forget about nonverbal communication

Do you assist your clients in person? Then remember that a very important part of communication is the nonverbal part.

The way you look, the posture, a good smile…. There are many factors that will transmit to your clients that you are listening carefully and not thinking about anything else while they tell you their queries.

Here are some ideas to have good listening skills. And since you’ve come this far, what if you get to know something else? What if you discover Pandora ITSM?

Pandora ITSM is software that has, among other features, an incident management system (help desk software) based on tickets (ticketing) that can be very helpful in the customer service management in companies and organizations.

Would you like to see what the Pandora ITSM ticketing tool can do for you? click here: https://pandorafms.com/en/itsm/help-desk-software/

Or you can also send us any queries you may have about Pandora ITSM. You can easily do this by using the contact form at the following address: https://pandorafms.com/en/contact/

Don’t forget to leave a comment at the bottom of this page, we will be happy to read your comments; do you have any questions about these good listening skills? Let us know! And don’t forget to take a look at the other articles that have been posted on this blog, we’re sure you’ll love them!

The Pandora ITSM team will be happy to help you!