Welcome to Customer Success Matters, the podcast where we delve into the importance of ensuring customer success is at the heart of your business and the effect it can have on your growth. I'm your host, Jo Rogers, and every couple of weeks, I'll be providing short, concise, thought -provoking insights to help you transform your retention and growth of clients. Here at Customer Success Matters, we bring you over 20 years of client management, both from an agency and client perspective, pulling on our own real -life examples, as well as interviewing relevant subject matter experts.

or to provide you with the tools and knowledge on how to service your clients at a premium standard, build an exceptional client services team and ultimately grow your business. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on any episodes and follow us on LinkedIn for more updates and behind the scenes content. Now let's jump into today's topic.

In today's episode, I'll be discussing the importance of being able to communicate effectively with your client, as well as being able to interpret their communication, especially in a remote world where body language is much harder to read. Today, I'll cover off six communication skills that you need to develop to ensure your clients feel truly understood. These are active listening, paraphrasing, asking open -ended questions, mirroring, validating, and empathy. So let's start with active listening.

I talk about this a lot so you may have heard this term quite a few times but what does it actually mean in real terms? So when you're actively listening you're giving your full attention to the other person whilst they're speaking. That means not only hearing their words but also paying attention to their body language and their facial expressions. You should actually be avoiding thinking about your response whilst they're talking. You may have already heard the term listen to hear not listen to respond.

which basically means you're giving your full attention to the other person and you're not trying to formulate a response in your head whilst they're speaking. Now there's one more part of active listening which is also important and that is non -verbal cues. This means using your body language to show that you're paying attention. This can include things like nodding your head, smiling and making eye contact. You can also use mirroring to show that you're paying attention which we'll cover shortly. In short,

Active listening is where you are giving your full attention to your client, listening to what is being said rather than listening to respond. The next skill I'm going to cover is called paraphrasing. This is when you repeat back what the other person has said in your own words. This helps to confirm that you've understood what they're saying and it also gives them a chance to correct you if you've misunderstood something. It might sound like this. Just to make sure I understand correctly, you're saying that...

This is particularly important when you're taking a breath or collating feedback or any form of important information collecting scenario. Paraphrasing is a really simple skill, but can have a very big impact. It shows the other person that you're really trying to understand them and it helps to keep the conversation on track. You can use this in conjunction with active listening by avoiding interrupting the other person whilst they're talking. Let them finish their thought before you jump in. Don't forget to make eye contact

and use body language that shows you're paying attention, which I'll cover off later. Summarising is similar to paraphrasing and useful at the end of the conversation when you want to briefly summarise the key points that have been discussed in the conversation. Both are important in the right context and time. So in short, paraphrasing is where you repeat back what you've just heard to ensure that you've understood correctly. The next skill is called using open -ended questions. These are questions that can't be answered with a simple yes or no.

They encourage the other person to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings. For example, instead of asking, are you happy with the results of the programme? You could ask, what did you find the most interesting aspect of the results? Or if we run this programme again, is there anything that you would like to do differently? These type of questions can really help you learn more about the authentic emotions towards the programme or issue you are asking about, which can provide you invaluable feedback, which you can respond to accordingly.

Open -ended questions can also really help you provide a more personalised experience for each person you work with. So rather than asking, did you have a good weekend, for example, simply change it to, what did you get up to this weekend? Or rather than saying, did you enjoy your holiday, change it to, what are the best things you did on your holiday? These simple changes help to build a connection with the other person, which can make them more likely to continue doing business with you when they've formed a relationship.

So in short, open -ended questions provide you with the opportunity to learn more about your client's true emotions. So one more skill you can use is called mirroring. It's when you reflect the other person's body language and tone of voice. For example, if they're speaking slowly and calmly, you can mirror them by speaking slowly and calmly as well. Mirroring can make the other person feel understood and heard as long as it is in conjunction with everything I've spoken about already.

which is so important in any customer service interaction. It also makes you appear more trustworthy and likable, which can be really beneficial in the long run. But ensure you are not changing your whole personality to do this, as that may come across as inauthentic. In short, mirroring your client's body language and tone, but ensure you are doing it authentically. Another valuable skill is the ability to validate the person's feeling. This is a great skill to just have in all areas of your life.

It means letting the person you are speaking to know that you understand their feelings and that those feelings are valid. For example, you might say something like, I understand why you feel that way, or I can see how you would be frustrated. This can be really reassuring to the person that they're being listened to, understood, and that those feelings and thoughts are being taken into consideration, which in turn helps to build trust and rapport. Validating the other person's feelings can be very powerful when they feel heard and understood

they're more likely to trust you and feel comfortable working with you. This is even more so relevant when your client isn't particularly happy. If you can validate their feelings rather than being defensive, you will show your client that you are able to take feedback in the appropriate way and will find a resolution which will help their feelings. In short, validating another person's feelings will build trust and ensure that even in difficult conversations, the client still maintains their trust with you, that you will handle the situation.

So let's talk about the last part of providing excellent customer service, empathy. Now empathy is not sympathy. Simply put, sympathy is when you feel sad for the person stuck down a hole. Empathy is getting into the hole with that person and experiencing the feelings with them. This means truly understanding what they're going through and putting yourself in their shoes. It's similar to validating their feelings, but goes a step further. When you empathize with someone,

It's not just about saying, I understand. It's about showing that you really truly understand by saying something like, if I were in your shoes, I would feel the same way. Or I can imagine how frustrating that might be. You must also ask follow -up questions like, how are you feeling about this? Or what can I do to help? In short, empathy shows that you genuinely care about the other person and it can go a long way to building a good relationship.

If you are able to use all six of these skills when communicating with your clients, you are going to build a very strong relationship with them, built on trust. You will just need to ensure you follow through on what you're saying and put action behind the words. If you can show people that you care about them, they're much more likely to trust you and work with you. And that can lead to all kinds of benefits in both your professional and personal life.