Customer Service: The Cycle of Negativity

You’re late for work.

You spilled your coffee.

There’s construction causing a traffic jam.

We all have bad days, but we are supposed to be able to leave our problems at the door. However, most of us have trouble doing this, and it can severely affect our work. Who wants to deal with angry customers when you just had to deal with an angry spouse or kids? No one, but bringing those problems into the office is not going to help anyone. So, how do we drop our problems to help others with theirs?

1.Be aware of your stress and your emotions.

If you are aware of and acknowledge your problems, then you have made a positive step towards directing and controlling any ill feelings towards the proper issue instead of harboring and/or misplacing your stress in customer interactions.

2. Visualize a good day and believe it.

If you think positive, then your attitude will become positive. I know what you are thinking “easier said than done,” everyone is guilty of being a negative Nelly, myself included…but always try to remember to be positive about the things going well in your life.

3. "Customer service is not a department, it's an attitude."

Break the cycle…if you project a negative attitude when dealing with customers you will receive negativity, thus the cycle continues. If you have a positive attitude with your customers you can ultimately expect positivity in return.

4. Be the Hero

When you are having a less than stellar day the last thing you want to do is deal with customer’s problems, Right?...WRONG! Don’t look at customers’ problems as adding to your bad day but take these instances as an opportunity to ease the stress in someone else life.

As a manager, you can enforce any sort of customer service training that teaches employees how to handle their own emotions during the workday. Remember that customer relationship management is extremely important to the overall success of a company... 

So, don't let your bad day become a great day for your competition.

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