There’s much that managers can do to alleviate stress in the workplace — Service expert Genella MacIntyre recommends that managers help their teams by monitoring stress levels, providing back up, offering praise, and setting up a quiet room. These resources provide additional insights:
• Tips and techniques for setting up a quiet room
• Five steps to help managers reduce stress, a leadership article from Genella MacIntyre.
The “Little Tramp” reminds us to smile — Humor can be useful during interactions with customers because it helps to diffuse anger and initiate problem solving. But, be sure to avoid the Four Nots of humor.
Keep a positive attitude! — A positive attitude helps to reduce stress and to build customer relationships. Here are some ways to keep that positive energy going.
Train your reps to handle customers online and via social media — Online service skills are a growing necessity for reps in today’s digital communication age. Managers need to make sure their reps are prepared. Here are some resources:
A brief excerpt covering online and social media service from Renée Evenson’s Customer Service Training 101, Third Edition.
Help your reps understand and appreciate generational differences — This month author Meagan Johnson discussed generational differences in the workplace. Below she shares additional resources.
Set goals for yourself — By setting clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you’ll see forward progress in your career. Here are goal setting strategies and suggestions from frontline reps.
What resolutions will you and your reps be making for the New Year? — Following are resources with suggestions on important areas for improvement in the New Year:
Try your hand at mentoring — Whether mentoring in your organization is a formal or an informal process, it is a great way to build connections on your team and to get new reps up to speed quickly. Here are tips on making the most of the mentoring experience.
Make sure your reps are prepared to deal with angry and irate customers — Here’s more advice from Nancy Friedman on important topics covered in this month’s issue of Customer Communicator.
Don’t let the holidays stress you out — Use these time management tips to keep yourself on track during the holidays.
Manage your time this holiday season — Take this quick quiz to assess your time-management skills and to see where you might need improvement.
Adding the human element to customer service — This month author Jeff Toister recommends two resources from his website.
