The ability to listen is a seriously underrated quality and it’s a skill that not all businesses have mastered. Despite the many channels, tools, and technology available to enable us to really hear what our customers are telling us, we still often just skim the surface.

The ability to listen can be the catalyst for cultivating satisfied and loyal customers or for creating a level of frustration that can only be relieved by customers walking away.

A headshot of Katie Stabler

Katie Stabler

So why, when listening to our customers is so incredibly invaluable, do organizations still fall short?

Here, Katie Stabler explores some of the lesser-discussed reasons that a business might be unable to hear what its customers have to say.

Customer Experience has been a hot topic for years (and rightly so), yet despite us knowing how valuable an expertly designed, delivered and cultivated Customer Experience is, so few companies weave the assurance of that experience delivery into their regular practice. 93% of customers are likely to make a repeat purchase with a company that offers excellent customer service (HubSpot), but how do we know if we are delivering excellent customer service? It’s not by ticking a box when an agent completes a data protection check or when they shared the T&C’s (despite how important that may be, that isn’t why a customer would refer you to a friend!).

It's been a tough start to 2020, but as the world starts to regain some form of normality and our much-missed businesses begin to emerge out of a forced hibernation, the prospect of picking up where we left of is enticing!

If only it were that straight forward. The truth is, our environment, our social ability and our economic circumstances have altered so much that our customers are no longer the customers we once knew, their needs, their wants and their expectations have changed.