By Franklin Workman

“Empathy is your ability to actually show TRUE EMOTION to what another person is experiencing” ◦ Amanda Sweeden

“Empathy is expressing to the customer that YOU are putting yourself in THEIR SHOES and letting them know that you are more than willing to help” ◦ Mike Washington

“With Empathy, you are finding ANY WAY POSSIBLE to relate the customer’s problem to something you have experienced so you can understand how they feel” ◦ Misty Workman

“Empathy is truly UNDERSTANDING and RELATING to the issues of others, and the ‘WANT to help’ the individual” ◦ Ryan Jones

“Empathy means EXPRESSING that you understand how the customer views their problems”◦ Jessica Hannah

“Simply put, empathy is an expression of EMOTIONAL UNDERSTANDING that is obvious and apparent to the recipient that they are understood and that we care to help in whatever way we can” – David Penrod“I equate empathy with the idea that you care that someone is in a bad situation and you GENUINELY CARE enough to TAKE ACTION to help them out of it.”◦ Matt Czech

“The biggest deficit we have in our society, and in the world right now, is an empathy deficit. We are in great need of people being able to stand in somebody else's shoes and see the world through their eyes.” – Barack Obama“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision.” -Helen Keller“No one CARES how much you KNOW until they KNOW how much you CARE” – Theodore Roosevelt“The opposite of anger is not calmness, it’s empathy” – Mehmet Oz

Now that we have an idea of what empathy is to others….

What is empathy to YOU??◦ Lets hear some examples

Lets play a little with the concept of empathy.

Lets explore the potential that expressing REAL Empathy can accomplish◦ R = Relate

◦ E = Emotional Connection

◦ A = Action

◦ L = Lead On!

Relating should always start with usOur goal here isn’t to change another’s perspective, but rather to change our own.“Identification Please?”◦ Just WHO are these people we call customers?

Lets figure that one out, shall we…..

RapportWhat about “Reverse Empathy”??This aspect of Empathy (RELATING) is where establishing common ground can actually be fun! ◦ “Did you see that sky today? Talk about Blue!!” – Kronk

LISTEN to what the other person is saying BEFORE you come up with what to say or do next! Pay attention! FOCUS on them!!◦ It may actually save your life!◦ If you can’t get this one down, your conversation is gonna crash and burn!

Take Jonas Miller, for example!

So, what about Sympathy?◦ How can displaying real, sincere sympathy be a

benefit in establishing an emotional connection?

Lets take a look at this letter:

Executive Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864

Mrs. Brixby, Boston Massachusetts:

Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the war department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only with the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,

Abraham Lincoln

The difference between Sympathy and Empathy…◦ You can feel sympathy for someone without feeling their

sorrow yourself. Empathy requires imagination or experience to take the concern for others beyond mere sympathy.

Empathy implies action. ◦ If you can understand how a person might feel sad or

bereft, then that is sympathy. ◦ If you then feel what they are feeling based on thought

or experience or affection for that person, then you are being empathetic.

◦ If you have the ability to do something about that other person’s sadness, without necessarily changing your own course, that is empathetic action.

KaChaaauu!

Now that you’ve been able to relate, establish an emotional connection and you’ve taken the appropriate action, look at what you’ve gained! ◦ This magic word is called TRUST

Through sincere trust, the offers you make will be based on the integrity you’ve shown through REAL Empathy.

The choice is ALWAYS yours!!

Take a chance! ◦ What do you REALLY have to lose??

Make REAL Empathy a real part of every interaction you have with the people around you

Lets Keep Talking about it!◦ If we’re all about CARES!, then we need to ALWAYS

ensure our empathy that we show is REAL!

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not

refuse to do something that I can do.”

Edward Everett Hale often quoted by Helen Keller.

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