Our credit card tends to take a bit of a hit over the festive holidays, but I’m always grateful for the shopping experiences that tend to give me blog fodder!
A common theme popped up during last year’s holiday shopping, and that was the link between trust and listening. I experienced both sides along with the delight and frustration that accompanies it.
The good listening experience: buying a new pair of sunglasses that came with a cool new feature – a clip on the frame that stops the glasses falling when you hook them to your cap or t-shirt. This feature was borne from feedback from the company’s skating customers, who kept damaging their glasses when they skated because they weren’t securely attached.
The bad listening experience: ordering coffee online and the subsequent delivery. Despite having signed an authority to leave, the courier company refused to do so, and it consequently took a week of calls and missed deliveries to get our beans. Not good for caffeine dependant customers!
Three considerations to gain trust became blatantly clear:
Listen to what the person wants, and actually process it
Believe that they know what they want and need, and don’t decide for them
Have their best interests at heart, and not yours. It’s about them and not about you.
A profession that does this very well is hairdressers. A great hairdresser will listen to the cut you want, they’ll believe that you know what you want, and they’ll have your best interests at heart, so will tend to give you the cut you want. And if you’ve ever had a bad cut, you’ll remember the indignation well!
Are you unintentionally creating similar indignation with customers, clients or colleagues? It may be worth checking in and seeing if you’re actioning these three considerations.