We must decide to give every customer our best service, no matter how we feel, whether they deserve it or not, no matter what is happening around us.

The right attitude begins with our choice to feel good about ourselves. You cannot help someone else unless you feel good yourself. It is as simple as that. We choose our mood each day when we get up. We choose to smile or frown. Here are some thoughts on setting our mood, which in turn sets our attitude.

Our thoughts control our feelings

Many of our thoughts are “automatic”, learned from past experiences and tucked into our subconscious for release at the right moment.

An example of this would be when you get in the car to go to work. We turn the key and nothing happens. You think; “this is terrible, I’ll be late for work.” The thought “this is terrible” came without thinking. Prior experiences have caused this reaction. You start feeling frustration and anxiety that will follow you all day. A positive response would be “The kid must have left the lights on, again. I’ll call the tow truck and have another cup of coffee.” This is a slight annoyance at most.

Our feelings set our moods, and our mood sets the level of customer service we provide

Our mood determines how we answer the phone, how we greet people, how we concentrate and how well you satisfy your customer’s needs.

To always provide excellent customer service you must be free of all negative thinking. This starts when you wake up in the morning. We decide what our mood is going to be. We can choose good or bad.

So if it is up to us, what do we do to get started in the right mood?

• Take a minute to tell yourself that this is going to be a good day.
• Use notes on the mirror, or notes left somewhere where you will see them.
• Put a note in your cube, or on the phone to remind yourself that it is easier when you are in a good mood.

Don’t let the happenings of the day get you down. Try to catch the automatic thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. These thoughts come fast, they may be fragmented sentences; they may not be verbalized.

By putting yourself in a good mood and maintaining that mood, you can concentrate on your customer’s issues and provide them with excellent customer service.