Maintaining Your Composure Under Pressure

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – or is it? The end of the year is a time for celebration and reflection, but many times, those who work in customer service face frustrated, stress-filled clients who feel the pressure of another year coming to a close. You may struggle in maintaining your composure (and helpful attitude) when a customer interaction goes south, but as the face of a company at that moment, you know your job is to be an exceptional brand advocate. How can you keep your cool during stressful seasons? Today we’ve got some tips on maintaining your composure and helping you reflect your company values when tensions run high.

Review Last Year’s Trends

Last year’s experience can be a valuable tool when preparing for this year’s holiday rush. Did one communication channel receive more traffic? For example, did you receive more emails or phone calls? With this information, you can predict staffing needs for each channel. You can also check in with the marketing team to review their forecasts and find out when they’re sending out promotions. Maybe a particular campaign will result in questions – and you can go ahead and prepare to answer them now.

Be prepared for every question

Carefully review your company’s FAQ and policies so you know the answer to any question that might be thrown your way during the busy season. Ensure that necessary resources are easily available to the customer, either on the website or in an email template. Clients will love that you know the answer right away and will be delighted when they can seamlessly move on to their next task.

Smile

Most customers will not be thrilled about taking extra time to speak with customer service, so help them out by sounding cheerful and pleasant – it will be a refreshing change from the typical holiday frenzy.

Let the customer vent

Sometimes a client just wants to tell someone how frustrated he or she is. Acknowledge his or her struggle and let them know you’re working on the solution. Don’t assume the customer is unreasonable. Remember that you are there to serve, and sometimes that means being empathetic to the holiday stress.

Something Extra

If you’re in customer service selling a physical product, throw a small (useful) free gift in your client’s bag or package, just to make them smile. Or maybe you can apply a special discount to a digital order. Let your customer know they’re appreciated, and they’ll be more likely to return during the next holiday season.

Enjoy the busy-ness

In the end, you should be thankful that your organization is busy during the holidays. This is a crucial time of year to hit those revenue goals. The stress of the holiday rush may seem unbearable, but remember the company needs it to sustain business the rest of the year. Keeping your clients happy during this time is the beginning of a relationship that will continue for years to come.