Secret to Marketing Success: Empathy

No matter your business, connecting with your customers is critical. This doesn’t mean selling or upselling to everyone you meet; instead it requires mutual perspective, willingness to listen, and empathy.

The Apple example

Last week Apple’s “Genius” training manual (or a version of it) went public. The manual details the 14-day training course every Apple Genius—those folks in blue in the Apple store who fix your Mac or iPhone—must attend before they’re allowed to assist customers.

The training covers pretty much what you’d expect: how to use the tools that diagnose computer issues, policies and behavior guidelines, etc. But there’s a couple of surprises, including multiple charts that describe human body language and an entire section called “The Power of Empathy.”

These more abstruse lessons are meant to help Geniuses connect to their customers. “Everyone in the Apple Store is in the business of selling,” states the manual, and the result of empathetic and helpful staff is customers who are “satisfied enough to buy products in the future."

Write this down

Troubleshooting a product or service challenge or even getting an answer to a question from a brand can be difficult. Many people end up circling through never-ending phone trees or tweeting to company representatives who never get back to them.

Having empathetic and responsive Customer Services representatives, both offline and on social media, can mean the difference between a resolved and unresolved issue, a happy or unhappy experience, and a return customer or one who moves to your competitor.

[Image: internetsense]