Chapter 05 – Listening to the Customer
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Chapter 5
Listening to the Customer
Table of Contents
Teaching Tools …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Instructor Teaching Tools ……………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Student Learning Tools ………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Brief Chapter Outline …………………………..…………………………………………………………….. 3
Chapter Outline and Lecture Notes ……………………………………………………………………… 5
Class Activities and Sample Assignments …………………………………………………………… 17
Discussion Opportunities ………………………………………………………………………………….. 19
In the Real World Notes ……………………………………………………….………………………….. 20
Transportation—Southwest Airlines ……………………………………………………………….. 20
Work It Out Notes ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 21
Work It Out 5.1—Implied Messages ………………………………………………………………. 21
Work It Out 5.2—Personal Listening Expereinces ……………………………………………. 21
Work It Out 5.3—Personal Habits ………………………………………………………………….. 21
Work It Out 5.4—Dealing with Interruptions …………………………………………………….. 21
Work It Out 5.5—Inattentive Listening Behaviour …………………………………………….. 21
Work It Out 5.6—Correction Common Listening Problem ………………………………….. 22
Work it Out 5.7—Active Listening Strategies …………………………………………………… 22
End-of-Chapter Material Notes ………………………………………………………………………….. 23
Key Terms ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 23
Review Questions ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 23
Collaborative Learning Activity ………………………………………………………………………. 25
Face to Face—Handling an Irate Customer at Regal Florists …………………………….. 25
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Teaching Tools
This book has several tools for both students and instructors to assist in the learning
and development on the topic of customer service. Those tools are listed below:
Instructor Teaching Tools
▪ Instructor’s Manual
▪ PowerPoint Presentations
▪ Asset Map
▪ Test Bank
▪ Customer Service Videos
▪ Sample Syllabi
Student Learning Tools
▪ Customer Service Interactions
▪ Customer Service Videos
▪ Chapter Objectives
▪ Flashcards
▪ Online Quizzes
▪ Practice Tests
▪ Glossary
▪ Spanish Glossary
▪ Worksheets
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Brief Chapter Outline
Learning Outcomes
➢ 5-1: Describe why listening is important to customer service.
➢ 5-2: Define the four steps in the listening process.
➢ 5-3: List the characteristics of a good listener.
➢ 5-4: Recognize the causes of listening breakdown.
➢ 5-5: Develop strategies to improve your listening ability.
➢ 5-6: Use information-gathering techniques learned to better serve customers.
➢ 5-7: Apply concepts discussed to generate meaningful responses to your questions
from customers.
I. Why is Listening So Important?
II. What is Listening?
A. Hearing and Receiving the Message
B. Attending
C. Comprehending or Assigning Meaning
D. Responding
III. Characteristics of a Good Listener
IV. Causes of Listening Breakdown
A. Personal Obstacles
Biases
Psychological Distracters
Physical Condition
Circadian Rhythm
Preoccupation
Hearing Loss
B. Listening Skill Level
Thought Speed
Faulty Assumptions
C. External Obstacles
Information Overload
Other People Talking
Ringing Phones
Office and Maintenance Equipment
Speakerphones
Physical Barriers
Additional Obstacles to Effective Listening
V. Strategies for Improved Listening
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A. Stop Talking!
B. Prepare Yourself
C. Listen Actively
D. Show a Willingness to Listen
E. Show Empathy
F. Listen for Concepts
G. Listen Openly
H. Send Positive Nonverbal Cues
I. Don’t Argue
J Take Notes, if Necessary
VI. Information-Gathering Techniques
A. Open-End Questions
Identify Customer Needs
Gather a Lot of Information
Uncover Background Data
Uncover Objections during a Sale
Give the Customer an Opportunity to Speak
Examples of Open-End Questions
B. Closed-End Questions
Verifying Information
Closing an Order
Gaining Agreement
Clarifying Information
Examples of Closed-End Questions
VII. Additional Question Guidelines
A. Avoid Criticism
B. Ask Only Positively Phrased Questions
C. Ask Direct Questions
D. Ask Customers How You Can Better Serve
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Chapter Outline and Lecture Notes
I. Why is Listening So Important?
• Listening effectively is the primary means that many customer service
professionals use to determine the needs of their customers.
• These needs need not be communicated directly but through inferences, indirect
comments, or nonverbal signals.
II. What is Listening?
• True listening is an active learned process, as opposed to hearing, which is the
physical action of gathering sound waves through the ear canal.
• When people listen actively, they go through a process consisting of various
phases—receiving or hearing the message, attending, comprehending or
assigning meaning, and responding.
A. Hearing and receiving the message
• Hearing is a passive physiological process of receiving sound waves and
transmitting them to the brain, where they are analyzed.
• Because of external noises and internal distracters (psychological and
physical), a customer’s message(s) may be lost or distorted.
B. Attending
• Once people’s ears pick up sound saves, their brain goes to work focusing
on, or attending to, what was heard.
• The effort involves deciding what’s important so that people can focus
attention on the proper sound.
C. Comprehending or Assigning Meaning
• Once service providers have decided to which message or customer they will
listen, their brain begins a process of comprehending or assigning
meaning to what they have heard or “decodes it.”
• Memory is the ability to gain, store, retain, and recall information in the brain
for later application.
• Recognition is a process that occurs in thinking when a previously
experienced pattern, event, process, image, or object that is stored in
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memory is encountered again.
D. Responding
• The last phase of the listening process is responding—a process that
occurs in thinking when a previously experienced pattern, event, process,
image, or object that is stored in memory is encountered again.
• Selecting an appropriate response is crucial to the success of customer
interactions.
III. Characteristics of a Good Listener
• The following are some common characteristics possessed by most effective
listeners:
o Empathy—by putting oneself in the customer’s place and trying to relate to
the customer’s needs, wants, and concerns, one can often reduce the risk
of poor service.
o Understanding—the ability to listen as customers verbalize their needs and
to ensure that they are understood, is essential in properly servicing the
customer.
o Patience—each customer has different needs and expectations based on
age, gender, behavioral style, preference, background, and other factors.
▪ That is why service providers should take the time to ask questions and
actively listen to their responses before choosing a course of action.
o Attentiveness—by focusing one’s attention on the customer, one can better
interpret his or her message and satisfy his or her needs.
▪ It is often displayed through nonverbal cues.
o Objectivity—in dealing with customers, subjective opinions or judgments
should be avoided.
IV. Causes of Listening Breakdown
• Many factors contribute to ineffective listening.
o Some are internal or in people’s brain, but others are external and people
cannot control them.
A. Personal Obstacles
• As a listener, people may have individual characteristics or qualities that get
in the way of listening effectively to the customer.
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o Some of these personal obstacles are biases, psychological distracters,
physical condition, circadian rhythm, preoccupation, and hearing loss.
Biases
• Biases are beliefs or opinions that a person has about an individual or
group.
o These biases may result in preconceived and sometimes incorrect
assumptions.
Psychological Distracters
• One’s psychological state can impede effectively listening.
• Psychological distracters, such as being angry or upset, or simply not
wanting to deal with a particular person or situation, may negatively affect
one’s listening.
Physical Condition
• Another internal factor that can contribute to or detract from effective
listening is a person’s state of wellness and fitness.
• When a person is ill, fatigued, in poor physical condition, or just not
feeling well, listening can suffer.
Circadian Rhythm
• Circadian rhythm is the natural physiological 24-hour biological pattern
by which people function.
o This “clock” often establishes the body’s peak performance.
Preoccupation
• People may become distracted from work due to personal factors that
override their efforts to do a good job each day.
• Many companies offer programs to assist employees in dealing with their
personal and performance issues.
o Through employee assistance programs (EAPs), organizations
are providing counseling in such areas as finance, mental hygiene
(health), and workplace performance problems.
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Hearing Loss
• Many people suffer from hearing loss caused by physiological problems
or extended exposure to loud noises.
• If people find themselves regularly straining to hear someone, having to
turn an ear toward the speaker, or asking people to repeat what they said
because they didn’t get the entire message, they may have a hearing
loss.
B. Listening Skill Level
• People communicate on different levels, depending on their knowledge and
experiences in the area of communication.
• Adults are influenced by the experiences they had as children; that is they
are likely to repeat behaviour they learned during childhood.
Thought Speed
• Thought speed is the rate at which the human brain processes
information.
o In the United States, this rate is approximately 125 to 150 words per
minute (wpm), while in other countries or cultures this rate might
vary.
o The difference between the two rates can be referred to as a lag
time or listening gap during which the mind is actually momentarily
idle or focused on another activity.
Faulty Assumptions
• Because of past experiences or encounters with others, service providers
may be tempted to make faulty assumptions about their customer’s
message(s).
• Each customer and each situation is different and should be regarded as
such.
C. External Obstacles
• Service providers cannot remove all barriers to effective listening, but they
should still try to reduce them when dealing with customers.
• Some typical examples of external obstacles include information overload,
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other people talking, ringing phones, office and maintenance equipment,
speakerphones, and physical barriers.
Information Overload
• Each day people are bombarded with information from many sources.
o Such information overload can result in stress, inadequate time to
deal with individual situations, and reduced levels of customer
service.
Other People Talking
• It is not possible for service providers to give their full attention to two
speakers simultaneously.
• In order to serve customers effectively, service providers deal with only
one person at a time.
Ringing Phones
• Ringing telephones can be annoying, but service providers shouldn’t stop
helping one customer to get into a discussion with or try to serve another
customer over the phone.
o This creates a dilemma, for service providers cannot ignore
customers or others who depend on them to serve their needs over
the telephone.
• Several options are available in such instances.
o Service providers might arrange with their supervisor or co-workers
to have someone else take the calls.
o Another option is the use of a voice mail system or answering
service for message collection.
Office and Maintenance Equipment
• Noisy printers, computers, photocopying machines, electric staplers,
vacuum cleaners, etc. can be distractions.
o When servicing customers, service providers should eliminate or
minimize the use of these types of items.
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Speakerphones
• Speakerphones allow for hands-free telephone conversations.
o They are great because service providers can continue their
conversation while searching for something the customer has
requested.
o Unfortunately, many people put callers on the loudspeaker while
continuing to do work not related to the caller.
o This not only is rude, but it results in ineffective communication.
Physical Barriers
• Desk, counters, furniture, or other items separating service providers
from their customer can stifle communication.
• Side-by-side (facing the customer at an angle) seating next to a table is
preferable to sitting across from a customer in most situations.
o An exception to this approach would be appropriate if service
providers provide service to customers who might become agitated
or violent.
Additional Obstacles to Effective Listening
• Customers themselves can negatively affect communication through their
inability to communicate a message to the service provider.
• Although it is not specifically a listening issue, if customers are unable to
deliver their message effectively, service providers may be unable to
receive and properly analyze their meaning.
V. Strategies for Improved Listening
A. Stop Talking
• When the customer starts talking, the first thing service providers should do
is to stop talking and listen carefully.
• Some people—people who speak a different language, have certain
behavioral styles, are elderly, or have certain disabilities—take a bit more
time to analyze and respond to messages they receive.
o If service providers interrupt with additional information or questions,
they may interfere with their thought patterns and cause them to
become frustrated or forget what they were going to say.
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B. Prepare Yourself
• Service providers should focus on their customer by not reading, writing,
talking to others, thinking about other things, working on their computer, or
doing anything else that might distract them.
• Other things to do in order to be ready to listen include having within easy
access all the administrative supplies, forms, reference materials, and other
information that might be needed to answer a question or serve the
customer.
C. Listen Actively
• Service providers should use the basics of sound communication when a
customer is speaking.
• Service providers could use the following strategies to send an “I care”
message:
o They could smile.
o They shouldn’t interrupt to interject their ideas or make comments
unless they are designed to clarify a point made by the customer.
o They could sit or stand up straight and make eye contact with the
customer.
o They could lean forward or turn an ear toward the customer, if
appropriate and necessary.
o They could paraphrase the customer’s statement occasionally.
D. Show a Willingness to Listen
• By eliminating distractions, sending positive verbal and nonverbal responses,
and actively focusing on what is being said, service providers can help the
customer relax and have a more meaningful dialogue.
• For example, when dealing with customers, service providers should make
sure that they take some positive approaches.
E. Show Empathy
• Service providers should put themselves in the customer’s place by
empathizing, especially when the customer is complaining about what he or
she perceives to be poor service or inferior products.
Chapter 05 – Listening to the Customer
o This is sometimes referred to as “walking a mile in the customer’s
shoes.”
• Service recovery—the process of righting a wrong or correcting something
that has not gone as promised involving provision of a product or service to a
customer—is a crucial step in delivering quality service and remaining
competitive into the twenty-first century.
F. Listen for Concepts
• Instead of focusing on one or two details, service providers should listen to
the entire message before analyzing it and responding.
• Instead of trying to respond to one portion of a message, service providers
should wait for the customer to provide all the details.
G. Listen Openly
• Service providers should avoid biases.
• Service providers should remember that they don’t have to like everyone
their encounter, but they do have to respect and treat customers fairly and
impartially if they want to maintain a positive business relationship.
H. Send Positive Nonverbal Cues
• Service providers should be conscious of the nonverbal messages they are
sending.
• When sending a message, service providers should make sure that their
verbal cues and nonverbal cues are in congruence.
I. Don’t Argue
• Service providers should learn to phrase responses or questions positively.
• Some people seem to enjoy conflict.
o In such situations, service providers should maintain their composure,
listen, and attempt to satisfy needs.
J. Take Notes, if Necessary
• If information is complicated, or if names, dates, numbers, or numerous
details are involved in a customer encounter, service providers may want to
take notes for future reference to ensure accuracy.