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Do clients have any idea?


It seems hard to believe that anybody would enter the service industry without the strong desire to help other people. A surefire way to exceed your customer's expectations is to fine-tune the art of listening. However, "listening is not relating", just because we hear the words coming out of someone's mouth does not mean that we are actually relating to the situation they may be experiencing. Something happens and I can't quite explain it, a disconnect occurs between the ears and the brain. In my humble opinion it has a lot to do with attitude and how a worker sees any given situation.


So do our clients have any idea what they're talking about?  Over the years I've come to realize that the answer to that question is really yes and no. It boils down to that old saying "you know what you know" and the skilled worker will take the perspective from the end-user and read between the lines. Depending upon the circumstances, whether it's an emergency or just the normal routine of things, the end-users viewpoints will vary significantly. In my lifetime I've tried it both ways, listening and not listening, or shall I say hearing but not listening. In almost all instances our ability to interpret the client's mindset, whether they really know what they're talking about or not, always has provided keen and valuable insight into my ability to provide exceptional service.  What is it with you?  … do you listen, can you hear, can you interpret and relate, does a trigger exist that causes your ears to disconnect?


Next post:  are schedulers/dispatchers creating any value for the service organization?


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