Wherever you are right now stop what you’re doing and listen to the people and the conversations going on all around you. I’ve been working in public places a lot recently and here’s what I’ve found. Nobody is listening to anybody—not really. They’re pretending to listen while they wait for their turn to speak, but mostly their words are forgotten before the reach the ears of the listener. It’s hard to be heard in a world where people have never wanted to matter more as individuals.

One of the kindest things you can do for your customers is to take time to really see them.
Here are two tools to help you.

Download and use the Empathy Map PDF to help you understand your customer’s perspective.

Download and use the Empathy Audit PDF to help you evaluate your practice.

It turns out that practicing empathy and understanding your customer’s perspective is not just good for customers, it’s good for business too.

Image by William George.