Choose Empathy Over Efficiency

Did you know that doctors are much less likely to be sued for malpractice when they spend a few extra SECONDS with patients? That’s seconds!

Because the extra time they invest in getting to know their patients and building a relationship makes things less transactional and more personal.

When you speak with clients, customers, or prospects, do you focus more on empathy or efficiency?

Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Efficiency: the ability to accomplish something with the least waste of time and effort.

When you focus on empathy, you can’t be as efficient.

When you seek efficiency, empathy must be kept to a minimum.

One area that I address when working with clients on their communication skills is the need to demonstrate more empathy in their messaging.

Too often, they seek to move from call to call, to make as many sales or put out as many fires as possible.

They forget, however, that sales often happen because of our relationships, not the actual product or service quality.

And fires are best put out through empathy, not expediency.

Here are 3 ways to display empathy:

1. Show care and concern – Ask, “How are you feeling?” to show concern. “Is there anything I can do for you?” is a great way to show support.

2. Acknowledge the person’s feelings – Acknowledging means to recognize the importance of something. For example, when someone says “I feel so frustrated with X.” Acknowledging this feeling by asking, “Why are you frustrated?” or “I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?”

3. Mirror – Mirroring means to imitate someone’s nonverbal signals – gesture, speech pattern, or attitude – to build rapport.

To succeed in sales, customer service and many other areas, remember to be empathic and make sure that the other person knows you care.