Body Language In Customer Service.

As the saying goes the customer is always right. Knowing how to read body language in customer service is a great way to communicate with customers and make them feel comfortable.

Learning to read body language in customer service roles can help you build rapport, build trust, listen with a critical ear, deliver your message, and understand if there are any objections without the customer ever uttering a single word.

When you see an objection like an eye block or pursed lips, you know internally that there is something wrong.

Depending on the conversation, you can address the shift to build a more harmonious relationship deepening connections and making sure you have a client base that is loyal and devoted because you made them feel understood.

Why Body Language In Customer Service Is So Important

Staff who understand the importance of body language in customer service can do a much better job at explaining things to customers. They can also decode customer reactions and know how to handle them better.

Body language tells us, either consciously or unconsciously, how the person is feeling and what they want us to know about it. It can be used as an intangible asset in customer service.

Did you know that 60% of all communication is non-verbal? This statistic puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of body language is.

Customer service is the lifeblood of any business. If we can make our customers’ onboarding process easier and they get to know, like, and trust us, then learning body language is important. You can literally talk the customer’s language as soon as you start interacting with them.

The reason it’s so important is that it enables people to become better communicators.

How Understanding Non Verbals Help You Deliver The Correct Message

Non-verbal communication is a great way to learn a person’s motives and intentions. You can decode a person’s body language to understand their emotions and thoughts.

There are many social cues that you can use from someone’s nonverbal cues, such as how they smile, how they look at you, their posture, the distance between them, and much more. These cues can help you deliver the message without words.

How To Improve Body Language In Customer Service

Body language is a powerful tool when dealing with customers. Gestures, facial expressions, and postures can help to convey emotion, empathy, and understanding. This will help build rapport between the customer and the business.

Body language is key to not only knowing how the other person feels but also how we feel about ourselves.

A simple improvement in our body language is to smile more, this does one of two things

The next time you need to reach out to a customer service representative, reach out to them with a smile.

Examples Of Customer Service With Good Body Language

It is important to have good body language when working with customers. It can be difficult to get the right balance of enthusiasm, empathy, and calmness when dealing with customer service.

Here are some examples of excellent customer service:

An airline representative who does not get frustrated with an angry customer who is unhappy about flight delays.

A financial advisor who provides more information on a sticking point for a potential customer.

A restaurant hostess greets customers enthusiastically at the door while they are holding coats for them.

A bartender notices trouble before it starts and informs security before it escalates.

A car salesperson who is going through car financing options and notices objections

You can quickly start to see where learning to read body language can be beneficial in customer service. Check out this post on how to read the body language correctly.

What Are The Pros To Learning Body Language

There are many pros for understanding body language in customer service; it can make people feel more comfortable, help establish rapport with customers, and even help build trust. You will be able to move a conversation forward and connect with your client on a deeper level.

Reading body language also has its benefits such as avoiding conflict and enhancing your social skills by paying more attention to the non-verbal cues that people give off,

What Are The Cons Of Not Understanding How To Read Body Language

You will never know what you are missing out on in your everyday interactions with people if you don’t learn to read them.

The inability to read body language can lead to misunderstandings and awkward encounters. It can be frustrating when someone is trying to tell you something but you don’t understand the message they are trying to convey.

People might think that you are being rude or dismissive when in reality, they are just trying to communicate something important with you.

This is not limited only to personal relationships but also professional ones. You might miss out on a lot of things happening around the office if body language is not understood properly.

Customer Service Body Language Tips

It’s important to understand that you’ll never be able to disconnect body language from verbal language when interacting with clients. The way you cross your arms, smile, or use your head gestures will all make up for what you say. It may seem like physical interactions aren’t important in gaining success, but these small actions can make or break your customer relationships. 

Always welcome customers with a genuine smile, smile with your eyes (not your mouth), and let it fade from your face, if the customer notices a fake smile, this could be detrimental to any relationship.

Mirror their body language, for example, if they scratch their head, you should scratch your head a few moments after. You don’t need to scratch the same part of your head they scratched, but you should scratch it closely.

Use an eye-brow flash when you first notice them. This acknowledges you’ve seen them and recognize them, this is the real magic when it comes to building a subconscious connection.

Tilt your head to the side when listening to them, expose one of your ears, let them know you’re listening.

Use open, honest body language gestures, and keep your hands out when discussing something

Avoid domineering body language and taking up more space than necessary.

At the end of the day, you need to build rapport and the best way to do that is to get them comfortable and let them feel in control.

Summary

Body Language in customer service is a powerful skill to learn. You can build good relationships with clients that will last a lifetime and that’s what it’s all about. If you would like to learn more about body language, check out other blogs here.

Understanding how your body communicates could help you be better at customer service.