In the growing AI powered world of service, when a customer still prefers human assistance to virtual assistance, it’s for empathy. Wanting someone to really appreciate their point of view. Sense their mood. Put in that extra effort so they feel properly looked after. Quickly trust they’re in capable hands.
Empathy is a skill. And along with the mindset that goes with it, it is part of how you can design and deliver memorable experiences. We live in times when the challenges of daily life are increasingly tough and the human touch can make all the difference at the right moment.
Empathy is trainable, but not scriptable. At least not in the version being taught in this workshop. It needs to show up as part of one person’s instinct for another person’s need. That does not mean it cannot be explored and practiced as a set of behaviours. Just that without the right mindset, it can sound as hollow as in-queue messaging about the importance of your call after waiting far too long!
Empathy starts with a willingness to connect, listen and respond. Tuning into needs and expectations has higher stakes these days. Customers are less loyal, their needs are more complex, and research shows they are far less willing to forgive mistakes or bad service. As a result, empathy upskilling you and your team makes plenty of commercial sense.
This course starts you on that journey.
Course Description
An introduction to customer empathy, why it matters, how it works and what you can do to upskill yourself every day.
Learning outcomes
- Greater awareness of current customer behaviour and mood
- Deeper insight into the challenges and psychology of a customer service interaction
- Clear understanding what empathy is and how it works.
- Greater awareness of your own empathetic style and range
- Increased capacity to recognise the diversity of customer sensitivities.
- Creating your own empathy upskilling action plan for immediate use.
Benefits to your business
Strategically, contact centres that see themselves as a CX touchpoint are motivated to deliver consistent, positive memories to customers. While this capability requires more than empathy, a lack of it can certainly result in customer loss and negative online criticism. Therefore meeting customers’ emotive needs helps build deeper relationships that shuts out competition.
Tactically, research shows empathy-driven interactions are shorter, less likely to transfer and more likely to be resolved first time. In other words, empathy enables lower ‘cost to serve’ and higher productivity.
Course content
This 3.5-hour virtual training course will give you the understanding and skills to improve the outcome of conversations by delivering a more empathetic approach. It is designed as four sessions over three and a half hours of learning covering:
- New customer behaviours
- Brains, emotion and customer experience
- Empathy as a mindset and skill
- The playbook for memorable outcomes
About the trainer
Martin Hill-Wilson has been delivering innovative learning programmes to customer facing teams for over four decades. He blends his expertise in chairing, facilitation, thought leadership and mentoring with an early career immersion in experiential training to design effective and fulfilling learning journeys. They are also great fun to be part of and you are guaranteed to leave a Martin session with a whole new perspective.
What delegates say
“Martin was very knowledgeable and engaging, and I really enjoyed the course. The training raised so many important considerations for my company and the way we approach our own training and quality standards. It’s given me a lot to think about!”
Book your place(s)
Format
3.5 hour online session using Zoom or Teams.
Who is it for?
Contact Centre Managers, Team Managers, Team Leaders and Coaches looking to support their teams to develop their understanding of customer behaviour and develop their empathy skills.
Why should you go?
To learn techniques to help you to understand your customers better, that you can then apply to improve the outcome of conversations by delivering a more empathetic approach.
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