Customer Service, When to Take a Break
Another piece of my personal life, but then again, when you work at home, its all personal. I was having a particularly rough day, but had shut the computer for now to go pick up my daughter from school. She got in the car, and I started the now regular routine of drilling her with questions to try and get any piece of information about her day besides what lunch and snack consisted of.
Finally on my third question, my ridiculously perceptive 5 year old said “Mama, can we please talk about this a little bit later, I am a little tired and do not want to talk until my head has been able to rest for a bit” …..WHAT?! of course after picking my chin up off the floor of my van, I said “of course honey” What I was thinking was “holy crap, what a smart kid! ”
Really, she knew enough that she wasn’t in the state of mind to talk to me, or answer my questions, so she took a break. This is the same philosophy I have to use, and remind myself of regularly when dealing with people, or clients, or vendors etc. Smile, and take a break. Whenever there is an issue occurring anywhere, or if someone is being nasty, I have learned to stop and take a break before responding. Doing this allows me to calm myself and think clearly. I can craft a well manicured response that isn’t rude and without bringing in unnecessary and unproductive emotions.
Doing this usually accomplishes two things:
1. The issue is resolved much faster. The client or whoever the person on the other end is, sees you are working on a solution even if they were rude and they tend to calm down.
2. You will start gaining a reputation for your amazing customer service and people skills. This will result in more referrals and recommendations and more opportunities to share your knowledge and practice your skills!
The other lessons to take from this, we can learn great things from our children, and they from us. And yes…later that night, while eating dinner, I got to hear all about Kindergarten that day.
Sometimes we have to take a step back, walk away, take a deep breath, or take a mental break. You will find that you are much more productive, realistic and positive if you do so.
Ashley Nialetz
Ashley Nialetz is a Social Media Consultant and Virtual Assistant through her company www.FatPugTech.com and recently www.Shuteit.com. She is also a wife, mom of two, caffeine addict, customer service pro and superhero by night. She loves working with other women looking to start their own businesses and offers private mentoring programs. Prior to working in the in the virtual assistant world, she had 10+ years of experience in customer service and administrative management roles.
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Great words of wisdom…from a 5 year old !
She is absolutely right, as you stated: smile and take a break. So many conflicts and arguments can be averted if we try to resolve any issues after putting a bit of clear thought into it instead of responding hastily.
Very much agree…smart little girl I have who frequently reminds me to sit back and take a breath 🙂