“Are you getting more calls lately from customers who are desperate? Angry? At their wits end? If you are, raise your hand.” I asked 100 customer service reps that question the other day during a presentation. It’s no surprise that every hand in the room went up.

If your job involves serving customers you know that dealing with cranky people can be a challenge even on the best of days.  As the economy worsens, lay offs multiply. As a result, even the best customers are struggling to pay their bills. Many are desperate.

Reggie, a customer associate who works for a utility wrote me to say, “I really feel for these people because I can’t do anything besides tell them to pay their bill. I can give them the number for Energy Assistance but they probably won’t qualify. Even if they did, that program is about out of money. What’s scary to me is that I’m losing my patience and it shows.”

My advice to Reggie and anyone feeling overwhelmed and stressed: Unplug for a few minutes each day. That’s right, remove your headset and unplug from the chaos. Unplugging is the technique that helped Olivia, a service rep and the main character in The Napkin, the Melon & the Monkey deal with the many challenges of her job. It literally transformed her life. You don’t have to take my word for it. This simple technique for quieting the mind has been around for thousands of years and is used by millions of people every day.

I guarantee that if you make a habit of quieting your mind for even 5 minutes a day it will change your life for the better.  You’ll be more relaxed, less stressed, more creative and more productive.  If you want an easy read that tells you how this idea works, buy the book. There is no better time.

The fact that she was left to sink or swim didn’t stop her. “I started my first customer service job after one hour of training at Boise Cascade Office Products in 1982. The person training me stepped away from his desk and when his phone started ringing I swallowed the lump in my throat and answered the call. While I was talking to the customer the fellow returned. He mumbled something about me being okay, gathered up his paperwork and that was the end of my training.” That is how Ruth Dorner, a supervisor at Boise Paper described her new hire training 27 years ago.

Ruth reminds me a lot Isabel, the wise woman in The Napkin, the Melon & the Monkey. In true Isabel fashion Ruth figured out how to do her job without much help. Ruth and the other “Isabels” I know are resilient. When life throws them a curve, they don’t take it personally. They not only adjust; they look at change as an opportunity.

Last Friday was Ruth’s last day at Boise. I spoke with her a few weeks ago after she got the news about the lay off. She told me  she was sad about leaving the company and would really miss the “great reps” on her team. She was not at all angry about her situation. In fact, she was genuinely excited about finding a new opportunity. I would have expected nothing less of an Isabel. You go girl!

Looking for 3 call centers who want to go from good to great

Are you searching for an innovative, cost-effective way to improve both employee engagement and crucial KPIs?

As many of you know, last year I partnered with two of Vertex BPO‘s call centers on a very successful Employee Engagement Intervention Project. I am in the process of selecting three more call centers to work with later this year and early 2010. Each project will use the successful training template and my book to improve supervisors efficacy and by doing so improve overall employee engagement. If you are interested in being considered please be in touch.