10 Ways to Be a Better Listener from the IT Customer Service Pros

Your ability to listen well is crucial to providing good customer service. When you listen well, your customer or coworker feels heard and respected. They will have confidence that you understand their issue. When you listen well, you’re more likely to correctly identify the solution to their issue. That saves you and the other person both time and frustration. I published my first video on 10 ways to be a better listener nine years ago. I’ve updated it several times since then, based on listening to what the really successful people in IT customer service tell me. Here’s my 2022 list of 10 ways to be a better listener from the IT customer service pros.

Top 10 Ways to Be a Better Listener

10. Lose distractions. Be present, in the moment with the other person. That means you focus entirely on the other person. You’re not thinking of that firewall you need to set up, that update you need to apply, or that report you need to finish. You’re not thinking about lunch, your upcoming vacation, or anything other than the other person. Don’t look around the room, don’t let your mind wander. Focus. Focus on the other person. Think about how much you appreciate it when a customer service provider does that for you.

9. Be patient. Don’t finish thoughts or sentences for the other person. Sometimes people need time to organize their thoughts, to be sure they’re communicating their needs accurately. Be patient. Let them finish. Avoid the temptation to jump in or talk over the other person. Remember how frustrated you felt the last time someone did that to you.

8. Don’t get defensive. Defensiveness leads to closed-mindedness. When you feel yourself starting to get defensive, pause and take a breath. Remind yourself that you might not agree with what the other person is saying, but you need to hear it. The other person wants to believe that you’re hearing what they have to say. They’ll notice if you become defensive. Resist the temptation to respond defensively. Just listen and acknowledge. If a response is required, you can do that later after you’ve gathered your thoughts. You can’t provide good customer service when you’re being defensive.

7. Paraphrase what you just heard. This is to ensure you and the other person understand the issue the same way. You can say something similar to, “Let me just summarize my understanding of your issue to make sure I’m not overlooking anything.” Use discretion with this. Be sensitive to the other person and their time. If the call is about a simple issue, don’t make it seem bigger than it is.

6. Listen to understand and remember. Remember Stephen Covey’s Habit Number Five: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” That means you listen to understand and remember what the other person is saying. Instead of focusing on your response, concentrate on gaining a thorough understanding of what you’re being told. Sometimes, it helps you remember the conversation if you pretend there will be a test on what was said.

5. Be thoughtful about eye contact. I always debate about whether to keep this tip, because the desirability of eye contact varies by culture and from individual to individual. Still, as a customer service provider, you need to know that there are people in some cultures, including the United States, who believe you’re being dishonest if you won’t look them in the eye. It’s not true and it’s not fair, but that myth persists. There are people in other cultures who believe that looking someone in the eye is a sign of aggression. Some neurodivergent people are uncomfortable looking others directly in the eye. If you are a neurodivergent person, be aware that others may misunderstand your lack of eye contact. If you’re dealing with someone who won’t make eye contact or who seems uncomfortable with it, remember that there may be cultural or individual reasons why someone would avoid eye contact that have nothing to do with dishonesty or some form of guilt.

4. Allow natural pauses in the conversation. We live in a media-centric world in which there can be no dead air. Unfortunately, that can make conversations feel rushed. Just because there’s a pause in the conversation, don’t feel obligated to jump in with a comment. It’s even okay to say something like, “Give me a moment to let that sink in.”

3. Be an active listener. Active listening means that you’re engaged with the speaker. You listen closely to understand what they’re saying, you give signs that you’re listening such as nodding your head, and you ask relevant questions to gain a deeper understanding of what is being said.

2. Keep an open mind. In IT customer service, it’s understandable that you would feel like you’ve heard many problems before. The problem with that is that sometimes your customer or coworker will be dealing with an issue that’s slightly different from what you expect. Keep an open mind. Make sure to hear and understand the entire issue before making decisions about how to deal with it.

1. Stop talking. I was trying to explain a problem to someone at a hobby shop, but he wouldn’t stop talking long enough to understand the problem. He kept jumping in and talking over me. I finally had to say, “Just let me finish!” When you’re talking, you only hear what you already know. To understand your customer or coworker, stop talking and listen. When you do talk, ask questions to gain a deeper understanding.

Listening in IT Customer Service

Being a good listener is one of the greatest gifts we can give other people. It’s a way to make sure the other person feels understood and respected. Listen well and you’ll gain new knowledge, along with the respect and appreciation of your customers and coworkers.

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