Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
It’s about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and seeing the world from their perspective. Empathy is often confused with sympathy. But there’s a key distinction between the two.
Sympathy is feeling bad for someone else because of their circumstances. Empathy is feeling with someone else—it’s an emotional connection.
Be empathetic to connect with people. Your relationship with your client is everything. When you are speaking with clients, are you making the effort to see through their eyes? This is known as being socially aware or having empathy, and it is vital to understanding your clients’ buying decisions and to building strong client relationships. Prominent researcher and speaker Brené Brown, PhD once said: “Empathy doesn’t require that we have the exact same experiences as the person sharing their story with us.… Empathy is connecting with the emotion that someone is experiencing, not the event or the circumstances.”
So, connecting with your clients means you do your best to understand their emotions, share their feelings and respond to them with sensitivity and compassion. This empathy then leads to trust. But this won’t happen unless you have a strong reputation for being credible and worthy of trust. Clients who do not perceive you as trustworthy and credible are not likely to buy your services…at least, not more than once.
How do you build that bedrock of trust with each client? Here are some practical tips on constructing that foundation, one brick at a time:
1. Understand that the process begins with your first interaction with customers—in person, on the phone, or on social media—because you often make an impression within the first 30 seconds.
2. Practice interpersonal communication skills, which will create an image of you as competent, confident, and credible. These skills involve verbal, written, and nonverbal behaviors, such as sincerely greeting customers, being enthusiastic and interested,
listening actively, and responding to customers clearly, completely, and correctly.
3. Continually educate yourself. Be sure you constantly are researching current travel trends, destinations, and best practices in serving your clients.
4. Commit and deliver. Know your inventory and then customize the trip to the best of your ability. Be sure to follow through and do what you said you were going to do. Don’t cut corners because the customers you lose through this tactic—and the hundreds or thousands of dollars they take with them—can cripple your business.
5. Always be your clients’ strongest advocate. Have your clients’ best interests at heart. This doesn’t mean you should look for the cheapest options. Rather, it means you continually are searching for the most added value for each client by exceeding your clients’ expectations EVERY time. When you have made the effort to empathize with your clients and built their trust, you will be more effective in understanding their motivations to travel and, as a result, be able to help them make responsible and appropriate buying decisions.
