Customer Service Empathy

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True empathy is a very powerful skill. Many people think that customer service is all about trying to act like you're concerned about the client. But acting like you care never really works: it's almost always clear to the other person, even if not on a conscious level, that you aren't really making a connection with them. There's no substitute for actually being concerned; and the only way to do this is to put yourself in the other person's shoes - what is known as the "Empathy Shift:" the transition from your position, as the person giving help, to that of the person who needs the help, and to really feel how it feels to have the problem they are dealing with. Being able to do this is a skill you can learn; and it's a skill you can use in all areas of your life. It helps you to connect with and relate to the other person - which in turn helps you to solve their problems and to gain more satisfaction from doing so as well. Conversely, if you are not able to make the empathy shift and solve your customers' problems, and you get one unhappy person after another whose experience you are not able to improve, what inevitably happens is that, by the time your shift is over, you find that you have just had a bad day.