How to handle customer service stress

Is working in customer services getting too stressful?

Do you find it hard to stay calm and keep a smile on your face?

Customer relations isn't always stressful. There are plenty of reasonable people who appreciate the efforts of the customer service team to deal with their questions and problems. But even with 'good' customers, it can wear you down to have to deal with the same questions, the same problems, day after day. Add a few unreasonable people to the mix and you're stress levels are on a rolling boil.

Where customer service stress comes from

Some people seem to take every occasion when things don't turn out just as they like, or expect, as some kind of personal affront. It's as if the faulty product, or the inadequate service, or whatever the problem may be, is an insult and they are going to make you pay for it. Nothing you can do seems to satisfy them.

Others can try your patience through their impatience, or their inability to understand how company regulations constrain what you can and can't do, or because they get angry and become abusive. Or because there's just too many people to deal with today and you're only human.

You can probably take this in your stride, after all, it's what you've been trained to do and you know the 'script' for dealing with these types of people.  But if you've got troubles at home, money worries, an alarming medical diagnosis, or simply a hangover, it's not easy sorting out other people's problems and ignoring your own.

The rub is, it's your job, and you have to do it.  No matter how much you wish they would change, there will continue to be tricky customers.  What you can do is learn to protect yourself from the more stressful aspects of your job, with  regular relaxation and mind tricks to shield you from the rudest, most abusive customers. (Anyone who's dealt with a toddler tantrum and remained calm and emotionally intact will know it's possible to detach yourself from a torrent of emotion!)

Hypnosis can help you protect yourself from stress

Customer service stress is an audio hypnosis session developed by psychologists experienced in stress management that will give you some powerful tools for making a difference.

As you relax and listen repeatedly to your download, you'll quickly notice that you

• begin to feel much more relaxed and calm generally
• manage your own moods better and enjoy your work more
• are less influenced by other people's emotional states
• find yourself responding more creatively to challenges
• accept with equanimity that some problems just can't be solved and this is no reflection on you

Download Customer service stress and make life smoother for yourself as well as others.