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Empathy is key to customer service, enabling professionals to effectively support and understand customers' needs.
Every company has some sort of customer service department who are there to assist with solving problems and to respond to inquiries. And ideally, there is also a focus on adding value and strengthening the overall relationship with their customers. Surprisingly, not many companies are successful in this regard. One look at the annual survey produced by J.D. Power & Associates tells the story.
In fairness, it’s not an easy job. The department I run is tasked with helping a wide variety of different kinds of mortgage lenders to achieve their goals with our software without telling them how they must use it.
This isn’t possible unless you set the expectation and coach your team to be empathetic listeners. That’s the only way you’re going to know exactly what your customer is trying to accomplish.
For decades, software developers in the mortgage industry have blamed stringent compliance requirements for forcing lenders to use the tools they developed in certain ways. Some companies even go so far as to tell lenders what third-party service providers they should work with.
Only the customer can determine what success looks like for their company. It’s up to the customer success team to listen for that definition and then help them achieve it. The key to that is empathy.
Empathy is the bedrock upon which successful customer interactions are built, ensuring not just satisfaction but fostering lasting loyalty and trust. Being able to place oneself in the customer's shoes, and understanding their needs, concerns, and feelings, transforms ordinary service into an extraordinary experience.
Empathy goes beyond mere sympathy; it involves a deeper, more intuitive understanding and sharing of another's emotional state.
In the context of customer service, empathy is about more than just resolving a ticket or addressing a complaint—it's about acknowledging the customer's feelings, validating their concerns, and demonstrating a genuine commitment to their well-being.
If it’s not authentic, it will backfire and degrade the relationship. When the success team is made up of professionals who understand the importance of empathy, both partners receive significant benefits. They include:
Trust and Loyalty
Customers feel valued and understood when service representatives show genuine empathy. This emotional connection fosters trust, turning occasional customers into loyal advocates for the brand.
Easier Problem-Solving
Empathy allows representatives to understand the root cause of issues more deeply, often leading to more effective and personalized solutions.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
An empathetic approach often leads to higher satisfaction rates, as customers feel truly heard and cared for, rather than just being another ticket number.
For organizations looking to improve their customer service, fostering a culture of empathy is essential. This involves training representatives not just on the technical aspects of their roles but on emotional intelligence and communication skills.
Encouraging a mindset that views customer interactions as opportunities to make a positive impact on someone's day can transform the quality of service provided. It’s the difference between a company with a helpdesk and a true partner.
For lenders looking for a partner that understands this, call Mortgage Cadence today and find out more about the new MCP 4.0 loan origination software and the customer success department that stands with you to make it the platform you’ve been looking for.
By Ryan Varner, Head of Client Success at Mortgage Cadence
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Mortgage Cadence:
Alison Flaig
Head of Marketing
(919) 906-9738