Active listening

When client is talking for more than 7 seconds without any feedback from us he is entitled to think that we are either not listening or that we have no clue what he is talking about or just maybe we went out for coffee. Also, when we talk for more than 10 seconds without hearing any feedback from the client we dont know whether he is listening, he is confused, completely lost or fell asleep on the phone.

To make sure that we communicate, not just talking, we need to: - Make sure that we understand the client - Make sure the client understands us

Making sure we understand the client: Active listening (difference between hearing and listening):
Verbal nods: Any verbal cue in a conversation. This could be used to: - acknowledge to the client that we are still on the line (whenever we are working on SAP or trying to locate information for the client) and - we are recording what he is saying. EX: Yes, aha, I understand, I see, etc. ***The only request is to vary the use so that it doesnt become an irritator. Questioning: Open questions (requires from the client a broad answer): Please tell me what is going on with your product/ Please describe how is the product acting?/ Closed questions (requires from client a specific, few words answer): What does the message read? What are the symptoms? Is _____ happening/appearing? Dont interrogate the client: Even if we require information from client and we need to ask for that information is not necessarily to ask a question. This way we avoid sending the message of interrogating the client: You can phrase questions as requests. First you ask a question and for next question you phrase a request: Could you please give me the serial number? Please give me also the product model. If you ask a question make sure that you acknowledge to the client you are listening to the answer he is providing by demonstrating understanding. Demonstrate understanding: Rephrasing or repeating what the client said (this also helps us to make sure that we understand what the client is trying to communicate to us) ensures that the client knows and feels that we heard and understood the request.

Let me see if I understand, you were saying Rephrase what the client said. Is that correct? Be careful not to use this too much as it can become an irritator also, making the client believe that you are not able to understand. When you rephrase make sure you dont repeat what the client said but you say it using different words.

Understanding the client:

When we are talking with the client and we dont see the client is very hard to see if the client understands what we are saying or following us. In order to make sure that we dont lose the client on the way we need to apply the same techniques we use for active listening, but reversed. Verbal nods: If the client isnt using verbal nods during our talk we could require this from him. In order to do this polite we only need to pause after each step provided to the client or piece of information given to give him the chance to confirm that he is listening, or subtle suggest him to confirm. Check understanding: At the end of each cluster (set of steps) we can ask the client whether he understood. You could also check understanding by asking the client if there are any questions regarding the solution you provided. Ex: Is this clear, do you need me to repeat? Is everything/all clear? Is the information provided logic/clear/? Are there any questions I could answer regarding this? Did you understand? You have any questions? In order not to insult the client we need to ask this question showing that we care. We show care if we emphasizing the high pitch at the end of the sentence and give time to the client to think if he understood. Summarizing: Considering that for most clients the information we provide is new and unfamiliar we cannot expect them to be able to process the information at the same speed level that we can. Also because when people only hear (without seeing) information they forget 70% of it we need to summarize what was discussed: For summarizing repeat each step briefly (dont use the explanations or details used previously) and after each step give client a moment to confirm that he listened and understood.