Importance of a Positive Attitude in Customer Service

“Customer Service is not a department. It is an Attitude.” – Unknown

1. It is no secret that customer service can have a profound and lasting effect on the customer’s
experience of a company. Given that customer service as a role is demanding, annoyances and
irritation are part of the everyday operations for the service staff, and it becomes even more
imperative to remain positive while dealing with customers. A positive attitude in customer service
is all about remaining calm during interactions, making every effort to build robust relationships
with customers, and ensuring that customers view the company as authentic through their
demeanour. Customers expect high standards of service and top class experiences with a company
– every time and through every touch-point. Creating such positive experiences for customers is
possible only by maintaining a positive attitude in customer service, which sometimes can be hard
to cultivate and display. It is important for a company to provide training and coaching to help the
service staff understand the important of offering the most positive service as possible.

2. The reason for positive attitude in customer service (and in every aspect of life) is that such an
attitude spreads and has a profound positive effect on people. By remaining positive, the service
teams would be able to mould customer behaviour and influence them a lot more easily. It is
necessary for the service staff to focus on the good things and positive interactions they have with
customers, rather than on only some of the negative ones that may occur. By maintaining a
positive attitude in customer service, the service staff would set the tone for all their interactions
with their customers, which would ‘rub off’ on the customers too. The fact is that when service staff
focuses on the irritated, annoyed, and screaming customers only they encountered during a
workday, the result is a feeling of dread and lethargy that will spill over to the next day, making
them hate coming to work. These negative attitudes then snowball, and the service staff would
possibly become rude and defiant.

3. Maintaining a positive attitude in customer service is about putting oneself in the customer’s
position and viewing the problem from their eyes. This would make the service staff feels less
threatened and anxious, since they would know how to deal with different emotions of different
customers. By beginning each interaction with a positive attitude, the service staff would be in
control of their mood, and in turn positively influence the customer’s attitude and response. The
first part of positive attitude in customer service would be positive language. This would mean
showing the customer a ready and willing demeanour that would display the willingness to see
every interaction from the customer’s point of view. It would also mean being proactive towards the
needs of customers, asking the customer what the company can do for them, rather than telling
them what cannot be done. The idea is to make every experience more pleasant and efficient for
them.

4. Customers love to stay with companies that provide them with as many positive messages and
experiences as possible. It would be necessary for a company to revamp and reorganize its
processes to allow for things that customers would want – free shipping, easy returns, swift and
varied payment methods, and other such needs. In addition, customers expect to receive service
and responses when they want and, as they want. For companies this would mean ensuring round
the clock service, with speedy efficient responses. All these aspects would reflect the positive
attitude in customer service, on the part of the company as a whole. The positive attitude must
reflect through at every touch-point – that means whichever channel a customer contacts the
company through they must have a positive experience. To display a positive attitude in customer
service, the customer facing staff must refrain from negative words, and behaviours.
 5. It is important from a customer retention point of view, to keep customers interested and engaged.
The company must show its appreciation for the customer’s patronage by offering timely incentives
and other ‘lures’. The idea is to ensure customers want to come back for more and offering them
some such offers will make them. Even through intelligent content, companies can keep customers
interested and entertained even outside the confines of the business relationship and ensure that
customers keep providing repeat business. Creating and maintaining a positive attitude in customer
service is beyond just offering satisfactory service in every customer transaction. It is about serving
with a smile and with unfeigned interest. A positive attitude in customer service will ensure that
customers have positive experiences each time, and would leave feeling good about themselves
and the company, which in turn would mean wanting to do business with the company repeatedly.

6. When a positive attitude in customer service exists, the service staff will appear more amenable,
amicable, responsive, and attuned to the needs and expectations of customers. This in turn would
reflect in their behaviour towards customers, who would feel heard, respected, and cared for by the
company. When service staff remains open-minded and positive, they would be able to ‘hear’ more
than just the spoken words and requests of customers. They would be able to convey empathy and
care by making a concerted effort to understand the thoughts and feelings of customers, which is
what customers expect under every situation. Positive service staff will always appear happy and
ready to help. Their style and manner of communicating would reflect their attitude, and if it is
positive, existing customers would remain and the company would be able to attract more
customers, translating to higher sales and revenue. A warm friendly smile, courteous mannerism, a
willingness to serve, and an empathetic demeanour – are all part of a positive attitude in customer
service.

7. A positive attitude in customer service means happy customers, which in turn means success for
the company. Everyone wants to work and remain associated with a successful company – the
overall work environment would be a lot happier, energized, and everyone would want to contribute
to make it even better. A positive attitude in customer service would resonate with the whole
organization, encouraging a spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and a constant endeavour to
ensure customer satisfaction at any cost. In addition, there would be better communication and
cooperation between the employees, each team would understand the challenges involved in
interacting with customers and hence would be more likely to provide timely help and support.
Customers remember when they are treated well but may not talk about it. However, if they were
not treated well they would be very likely to spread the negativity and tell a number of people of
their poor experiences. It makes sense for a company therefore, to ensure that their employees
treat each other and customers with courtesy and kindness.

8. Through a positive attitude in customer service everyone would feel more accountable, everyone
would be more resourceful in searching for solutions, ensure regular follow-up to show customers
that everyone in the company cares. The quality of products and services would become better, as
everyone would strive for excellence and fairness while dealing with customers. Everyone would be
more mindful of their manners towards customers and would put the customer’s interest in mind.
When everyone keeps a positive attitude in customer service (service to customer), customers will
be happier and as a result would work towards making the company successful.

7 Tips for Maintaining A Positive Attitude in Customer Service

There’s no surprise that customer service is among occupations that commonly involve quite a high
number of stressful experiences. This job-related stress might gradually influence our reactions and
behaviors, and invisibly cause the outcomes that are not really in our best interests. Exhaustion, anxiety,
lack of motivation, uncertainty and frustration are reported as most common issues resulting in overall
burnout and occupational hazard in customer service professionals. Have you ever asked yourself what
you can do to relieve the stress and avoid the undesirable effects?

In my previous blog post I outlined 5 reasons why you should embrace a positive attitude in customer
service. Today, I would like to extend on it and offer a few stress relief tips that you can easily put into
your customer service job routine immediately.

1. Cultivate Self-Awareness

One of the most important factors in developing a positive attitude is starting recognizing and analyzing
your emotions. Once you can identify negative emotions in relation to your job, you can take control of
your feelings. Ask yourself how exactly you are feeling at each particular moment, why, and what can be
done about it. Try to describe your feelings using verbal subtleties like “annoyed”, “upset”, “anxious” or
“downtrodden”, rather than just “bad” or “unhappy”. By practicing this exercise you can determine what
happens in each micro-situation, find a way to respond more meaningfully and prevent negative
experiences from gathering like a snowball.

2. Overcome Problems with Creativity

A flexible and creative approach helps turn your can’ts into cans and beat unhelpful thinking. Whenever
you find yourself in a difficult situation, remind yourself gently that it’s up to you whether to perceive it as
a disaster or the notorious last straw. In fact, you always have the power of seeing any problem as an
opportunity to creatively find a way to fix the failure or draw a useful lesson from the situation. Start with
asking yourself what you should do to solve the problem, then come up with a list of options (and there’s
always a few) and pick the best one.

3. Say Cheese

Smile or make someone else smile. This may sound trivial, but a simple smile can work wonders. It helps
you create the welcoming and friendly frame of mind that is so important in customer service. Let a smile
recharge your batteries after each conversation and take away the emotions you have experienced while
handling a previous customer request.

4. Tame the Voice in Your Head

When you start to notice a negative thought arising, always acknowledge it and use a pattern to interrupt
it. Just like Jack Nicholson used the goos fraba mantra in the “Anger Management” movie, get a habit of
practicing something that would help you smile and stop negative thoughts in their tracks. It does work
perfectly for me! Whenever I find my self-talk is negative, I start humming “You’d better stop before” by
Sam Brown, and I find myself feeling far better pretty soon.

5. Surround Yourself with Positive Anchors

While working on this blog post, I was delighted to discover another wonderful tip in my email inbox. Jeff
Toister’s Customer Service Tip of the Week turned up just at the right moment to let me include it into this
article. Jeff suggests focusing on something positive that “anchors” your attitude where it needs to be to
deliver outstanding service. You can surround yourself with things like pictures of family or friends,
motivational or funny quote posters, upbeat music and many other sorts of goodies to keep your negative
feelings neutralized when dealing with a difficult customer or handling a challenging situation.

6. Dream. Wisely

Your dreams can work as positive anchors, too. When you focus on what you want to achieve and start
imagining yourself with the goal already achieved, the visualization technique helps hit the target. The
trick is not only to drift from reality to a relaxing beach vacation or layout of your dream home. To make
the dream come true, you need to make a plan and put in the necessary effort.

There’s another interesting exercise that involves dreaming about the future introduced by psychology
professor Gabriele Oettingen in “Rethinking Positive Thinking” called mental contrasting. Based on her
large-scale scientific studies, Oettingen suggests focusing in rotation on your dreams and the obstacles
that stand in their way. The exercise helps you face the reality and address your fears, make concrete
plans, and gain energy to take action while working on achieving your goals. In case you are interested in
finding out more about the mental contrasting technique, check out this article.

7. Create Slice-of-Joy Moments

Life is always full of pleasant moments. You can easily treat yourself and reward for the job you do by
simply recognizing and enjoying the smallest, often unremarkable, but still delightful moments in your
daily life. This is what Google’s former happiness guru Chade-Meng Tan describes in his book “Joy on
Demand” as an effective three-second brain exercise for finding joy and relieving stress. Developing the
habit of consciously savoring your pleasant moments does more than hours of therapy. “Thin slices of joy
occur in life everywhere… and once you start noticing it, something happens, you find it’s always there.
Joy becomes something you can count on.”

CALL CENTER MOCK CALLS SCRIPT SAMPLE 2 - RETENTION / SERVICE CANCELLATION

Situation: A customer is calling about her Internet Service. The Customer is very upset because, Technical
Support can't replace her modem. Her DSL Modem/Router is already out of warranty. And, claims he can't
afford modem and he'll just change to a different Internet Service Provider.

Customer's Profile: Female, Age is 75 years old, and very irate.

Goal: Pacify the irate caller, and save the customer from cancelling her Internet Service.

Agent: Thank you for choosing, Rocket Speed Internet. My name is TAYLOR. How can I make you a Very
Satisfied Customer today?!

Customer: I was speaking a while ago with Jerry, and he says that my modem is malfunctioning.
Unfortunately, I'm a retired teacher, and I can't really afford paying for a new modem. So, I would rather
just cancel my Internet Service, and try my luck with a different Internet Service Provider!

Agent: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about that Ma'm. Don't worry, I'm here to help you out. Let me see what I
could do for you, let's start first by verifying your account number, is that OK with you?!

Customer: I already gave my number to the previous agent, but, here it is again, for the nth time. 860-995-
****, my name is Deborah Brown.
Agent: Thank you Ms. Brown, so, that is 860-995-****, is that correct?

Customer: Yes. And, if you will ask, that's also my call back number.

Agent: May I please verify the last four number of your Social Security Number?

Customer: It is ****.

Agent: Got it, thanks! I believe that you've been with Rocket Speed Internet for quite a while now. And,
honestly, we don't really wanna lose customers just because of a bad modem. Here's how I can help you...

Customer: You see, If you check your records, I've been actually calling you almost every other day for the
past few weeks. You guys, just wasted my time, and I can't believe that I'm still with you folks!

Agent: Deborah, I understand your situation, and I would feel the same way if I'm in your situation. So,
please, calm down, and stop yelling at me. Let me tell you what I could do for you, OK? Just give me a
minute...

Customer: I'm so sorry, I'm not really taking it on you, and am not trying to be a difficult customer. It's just
that I've had so much stress, more than I can actually imagine. But, please, go on.

Agent: OK, here's what I could offer you. Since, you've been with Rocket Speed Internet for more than 5
years now. I'm gonna get you a free modem, with Wireless capability, absolutely, free of charge! And, I'll
place the order now, for an overnight shipping. So, that means, you'll get the free modem by tomorrow.

Customer: Wow, that's actually great! Thank you so much!

Agent: And, also, I'll sign you up for a FREE 6-month trial Speed Upgrade. So, from your old package,
instead of getting max of 3 Mbps, you should now get 6 Mbps of speed. After 6 months, you could still
have it for an additional 5$ a month, or, if you are not satisfied, you could just simply downgrade your
plan, back to the old package.

Customer: That's actually a pretty good deal. I can't ask for more. I guess, I'll be staying with you guys for
a very long time, and I would be glad to recommend you to all of my friends!

Agent: Well, I'm so glad to here it from you. Do you have a pen and paper, so you can write down your
order number?

Customer: Ok, I have it.

Agent: Your Free Modem Replacement Order Number is FX893-7873. You'll get this modem tomorrow. For
the setup, if you can't follow the setup instructions on the manual. We have our 24/7 Technical Support
hotline who can help you setup your new modem. So, would there be anything else that I could assist you
with?

Customer: I'm speechless, Taylor, all I can say now is THANK YOU!

Agent: You're very much welcome, Ms. Brown. I hope I was able to make you a very satisfied customer!

Customer: Yes, Taylor, you did, sweetie! Goodbye!

Agent: Thanks Ms. Brown, and Again, my name is TAYLOR, Thank you for choosing Rocket Speed Internet!
Enjoy the rest of your day!

Agent: Thanks again, Good bye!

CALL CENTER MOCK CALLS SCRIPT SAMPLE 2 - CREDIT CARD CUSTOMER CARE

Situation: A customer is calling in to report a stolen card.

Customer's Profile: Male, 30-35 years old, nervous.

Goal: Freeze the Stolen Card Account Number, apologize and give assurance.

Agent: Thank you for calling Bank of Wealth. My name is Sydney. How can I assist you today?

Customer: I want to report a stolen card. I got drunk, and had lost my wallet last night.

Agent: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about that, don't worry, we're gonna make sure that we freeze your
account, so no one can use your Credit Card, ok?

Customer: Thanks, I hope no one have tried using it.

Agent: Don't worry, we are gonna be alerted right away by our System, if there are any invalid pin
attempts on your card. For security purposes, let me just verify your account first, ok?

Customer: Sure, go ahead. What do you wanna ask?

Agent: I need to verify your First and Last Name?

Customer: My name is Park Jae-Sang, but, you can call me "PSY!"

Agent: Thanks, PSY! Wait, Is it just a coincidence that your name is just like the one who created the world
famous, "Oppa Gangnam Style"!?

Customer: I'm sorry, that wasn't me. But, since that song became very popular, my friends are now calling
me PSY.

Agent: You got me there! Well, I'm sorry, just had to ask that, since, I really love dancing while I'm playing
it every morning! But, going back on your card, let me also ask you for your Mother's Maiden Name?

Customer: That's alright, Sydney! It is Wan.

Agent: How about the last four numbers of your Social Security Number?

Customer: It is ****.

Agent: Last, but not the least, may I please verify your complete Billing Address?

Customer: I live in 67489, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210.

Agent: Thank you so much for all of the information. I'm now processing the request to freeze your
account. Please, grab a pen and paper. Thank you!

Customer: I have it, go ahead!

Agent: As of September 26, 2013 at 5PM Pacific Time, your Credit Card Account is now frozen. You'll get
your Card Replacement within the next 3-5 Business Days, Free of Charge. Your Confirmation Number is
787-909-SPNC

Customer: I got it, thanks a bunch, Sydney! You're such a big help!

Agent: You're very much welcome! Is there anything else that I could help you with?

Customer: I guess, that would be all for today. Thanks again! Bye!

Agent: You're welcome! And, again, my name is Sydney! Thank you for calling Bank of Wealth! Good bye!

CALL CENTER MOCK CALLS SCRIPT SAMPLE 2 - EMERGENCY HOTLINE

Situation: The caller heard some gun shots, and saw people running from his neighbor's house.

Caller's Profile: Female, 20-25 years old, nervous.

Goal: Get all the important information from the caller. Keep the Caller on the line while the authorities try
to reach the location.

Agent: 117, what's your Emergency?

Caller: Oh my God.... I heard gun shots from my neighbor's house, and saw 3 Hispanic male running from
their backdoor... *Screaming*

Agent: Ma'm, please, calm down, OK If you scream, I won't be able to understand what you are saying,
this is very important so we can alert the authorities right away.

Caller: Ok.. ok... I'm sorry...

Agent: Thank you, you are doing a great job! You said, you heard multiple gunshots, and 3 male running
from your neighbor's house, is that right?

Caller: Yes, they are already gone in the dark. I saw 3 Hispanic male running down the street.

Agent: Don't worry, I'm reporting it as we speak Ma'm, are you alone in your house?

Caller: Yes, that's why I'm shaking. I don't have a gun with me, even my dog is terrified as well!

Agent: And, what is your Name and Street Address?

Caller: My name is Sharon Davis, we are at 9657 Caminito Chollas, Sandiego, California.

Agent: Thank you, got it. Make sure that all doors are locked, and stay with me on the phone, OK I already
alerted the authorities, and they are now on their way!

Caller: Thank God...

Agent: At what time it happened?

Caller: It was just 5 or may be 10 minutes ago... Where are the police?

Agent: Ma'm, they are now on their way!

Caller: Wait, I'm hearing some sirens.

Agent: That must be the Police, don't open your doors yet, stay with me, OK?

Caller: Alright.. Oh my goodness, I'm still shaking!

Agent: OK, feel free to grab a glass of water, I'll wait right here.

Caller: Ma'm, are you still there?

Agent: Yep, I was just drinking.

Caller: Ma'm, I got a call from the Sheriff's Dept, it was just some kids who are doing some prank on their
friend. The noise you heard are just firecrackers. So, there's really nothing to worry now.

Agent: I almost had a heart attack, stupid kids!

Caller: Well, at least, no one got hurt. I hope you stay safe, OK?!

Agent: Alright, thanks for your help operator.

Caller: No problem, bye!

Mock Call Tips and Scenario

So you passed the initial interview and you’re invited for a mock call? Super! Today, you’ll learn the mock
call tips and tricks to pass your job application. This is going to be sooo detailed that it’s specifically
written for complete beginners.
After the tips, you’ll read a customer-agent scenario where I’ll explain the tips in details and what you
should do to pass.

What is a mock call test?

Think of it like acting. You and your interviewer are the actors. You are the agent, and your interviewer is
the customer.

While the customer role can change from calm to neutral, to irate to hysterical, your role as a customer
service rep can’t. You have one specific role:  a professional customer service representative.

And by professional, I mean you need to solve the customer’s concern as fast and efficiently as possible, to
the best of your customer’s satisfaction, regardless if s/he was calm, neutral, irate or hysterical.

How hard are the questions?

The questions are answerable by common sense. Whatever the questions are, you’ll have to base your
answers from the given product information. If you have no call center experience, it’s very unlikely that
they’re gonna ask complicated questions.

But note that you’ll have to keep your common sense and initiative working to answer questions that are
not seem to be on the paper, but are actually there.

Basic Call Flow

1. Open the call.

Thank the customer for calling, state the company name and ask how you can help.

Thank you for calling CCV. How may I help you today?

2. Determine the customer’s question/concern by asking the right questions

(Example later on the conversation.)

3. Resolve it.
(Example later on the conversation.)

4. Offer additional help.

Is there anything else that I may help you with today?”
4. Close the call.
Once the caller confirms that he has no more questions, close the call by thanking him, and once again,
state the company name.

Thank you for calling CCV. Have a great day.”