It’s Empathy!

One of the most important words in our world today is empathy which is defined as the ability to understand the thoughts, feelings or emotions of someone else. In business it is a term that will help you determine if your employees are a good fit and can connect with your customers in every interaction. Key questions that will provide insight into their ability include: Do they care about people? Do they have a desire to help others? Do they connect with the customer on a personal level? There is lots of data gathered today to help you understand business from a big picture perspective. That information is being used to understand consumers. As Stanley Marcus, former Chairman of the Board and President of Neiman Marcus said, “Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.” The data provides information about the consumer as an aggregate. It fails to talk about a customer on an individual level. That is why one on one relationships are so important.

You have to appreciate the customer. Look at them as an asset. See their emotions and try to understand why they feel the way they do. Listen to what they say, and just as importantly how they say it. Then use their emotions to shape how you interact with them. Make them feel you understand them. Try to provide them with what they deisre. Leaders in this type of behavior are Nordstroms, Ritz Carlton and Zappos. They use empathy as their guiding principle. Their reward is a team that feels good about themselves as they can use their caring ability to make others feel better.

Empathy is good for people and your business!