Why is speaking a language harder than listening?

Yes, you read it right; Listening is more difficult than speaking. We were given two ears to perform only one task but only one mouth to carry out multiple activities, because listening is twice as hard as talking. Now just look back and see how often we have neglected this fact. Ensuring customer satisfaction can start with one of the simplest tasks you can master. Just listening. Too often we jump to judge or assume what a customer is going to say. Why? Because we think weve already experienced a situation just like the one thats currently in front of us and we interrupt the customer before they can finish their thought because we think that we already know what theyre going to say.

What happens from there can quickly accelerate into a big misunderstanding. By not listening with both ears we miss the important details. The clues well need to solve that individual customers concern.

Jumping ahead like this happens when we feel pressed for time, or when we think the customer is giving us too much information. Sometimes the customer just has a slower speech rate and were just dying to finish their sentences.

Pay attention. Do not interrupt. Let them finish completely. Otherwise they will keep repeating themselves until they feel theyve been fully heard.

Follow these five steps to ensure a quick resolution to a customers concern

• Greet the customer
• Listen effectively and understand
• Review the situation
• Solve and gain agreement
• Close the interaction

Deepak Sahoo, Head Customer Experience (TaxiForSure)