Being empathetic in business with both your teammates and your customers is the third powerful Personalization Principle.
Remember, all seven Personalization Principles work in synchronicity and harmony together. To see the first two principles click here (Principle 1 Authenticity, Principle 2 Hospitality).
Showing empathy is a powerful principle in every moment of every day. Being empathetic when a colleague or a customer is having an issue or a challenge is critically important.
I see companies and individuals make the same mistake repeatedly when trying to recover with a customer service issue. They usually make the customer jump through hoops or they try to move to a recovery solution before making the customer feel listened to, heard and most importantly, to understand what it is that they truly desire.
Being empathetic is not treating the other person how you want to be treated! The golden rule is outdated! Demonstrating empathy is the ability to understand and create the type of experience that your customer desires.
Believe me, demonstrating empathy requires different approaches from customer to customer. Even the same customer may have different wants, desires and expectations from one moment or one day to the next. To create positively differentiated customer experiences, the type that create fast, fun and hassle free interactions, empathy plays an important and integral role.
So, do you have the ability to understand and share the feelings of another human being? Sure you do! However, are you?
In your daily actions if you are not being empathetic with every customer and colleague, then I have lots of empathy for you.