Maintaining a positive attitude, both in person and on the telephone, is very important in the Office Skills and Customer Service profession. A positive attitude is the key to your success in your job and experts agree that maintaining a positive attitude is a choice you can make on a daily basis. While you may not have any control over many things that happen in life, you can, in fact, control your attitude by incorporating some of the following positive choices into your daily work life:
- Decide you like your job and do it well as this can be the basis for a positive attitude according to Nancy J. Friedman in her book Telephone Skills from A to Z. Nancy states that successful people normally have made two decisions about their attitude: 1) I can control my attitude and 2) I will make the workplace an ideal site for my cheerful, positive attitude.
- Smile while talking to your customers as your attitude isn’t just reflected in your tone of voice but also in the way you stand or sit and in your facial expressions. You’ll find that your attitude towards customers may influence your own behavior as it’s hard to hide a negative attitude.
- Be Friendly and courteous to all callers, not just the ones you know. Remember that you are representing your company and first impressions count.
- Try to reflect on your pleasant customer experiences through-out the day and not on the unpleasant, negative ones. You’ll be amazed at how much this will improve your attitude.
- If you encounter an assertive, angry, upset customer, don’t allow your attitude to slip and become negative. Take a moment to reflect on how this impacts your attitude and then make a choice to retain a positive attitude as this will make the rest of your day much happier.