POMEGRANATE P.R. Helping you grow your business

Crisis? What Crisis?

Times may be harder but there is a lot you can do to stay on top of the situation.

1 Manage your stress

Most people find a little stress is necessary to get things done. This is usually described by stress counsellors as Positive Stress. Negative Stress is often defined as “more pressure than an individual can cope with”. Negative stress can lead to illness, accidents and a decline in productivity. It is bad for our health and bad for business.

How stressed are you?

Find a quiet space, with no telephones or interruptions, and think about the following:

Have you noticed any change in your sleeping habits recently? (Sleeping more than usual or waking in the night?)
Have you been suffering from chest pains, migraines, shortness of breath or lack of energy?
Have you had more than your usual share of infections this year? (e.g. colds, tummy bugs)
Do your muscles feel stiff and tense?
Are you more irritable than usual? (Ask your partner’s opinion before saying “no”.)
Do you find it hard to finish what you have started?
Do you find it hard to concentrate or focus?
Do you find it hard to make decisions?
Do you feel restless all the time?
Have you noticed any other changes in behaviour?

If you have answered “Yes” to 2 or more of the above then there is a good chance you are feeling the effects of negative stress.

What to do about it? Relax. There are lots of things you can do:

If you answered “Yes” to questions 1-3 then we recommend you make an appointment with your doctor for a health check and advice about an exercise programme (see below)
Get plenty of exercise (after checking with your doctor). Walking costs nothing. Yoga, Tai’chi and swimming are all excellent stress busters.
Learn to recognise the symptoms of stress and take action when you feel stress building up. For example, pay attention to your body. When you feel your shoulder muscles knotting up, take a break and do some simple stretching exercises. Breathe deeply.
Learn about and practice positive coping strategies. For example, focus your energies on what you can do rather than factors outside your control.

Think positive!

Positive Thinking

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

Pessimists are rarely disappointed. They also get to say “I told you so” a lot.

Optimists risk overreaching themselves. However it doesn’t bother them too much when things go wrong as they see set-backs as temporary! Optimists generally live longer than pessimists.

Positive thinking is a kind of optimism, but of the sensible, realistic kind. Even pessimists can learn how to do it!

Put very simply, positive thinking is about using your energy to cope with whatever situation you are in.

Often we exaggerate the nature of a problem, and/or exhaust our energies trying to change things we have no control over.

Once we “buy in” to the idea that circumstances are overwhelming, we are simply unable to see opportunities that do exist.

Positive thinking means running a “reality check” on whatever issue you are facing, looking for exaggerations and distortions in your perceptions.

It also means locating the place in any situation where your actions will make a difference. This is your “point of power”. Once you focus your energies on your point of power you will feel energised and better able to move forward.

We recommend you read more about positive thinking. A good place to start would be with Stephen R Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.

Talk to us here at Pomegranate. We can help you to assess your situation using these techniques and we can show you how to continue helping yourself.

Customer Service.

In a crisis, people may be feeling fraught and anxious. Unless managed well, this may result in a decline in standards of service and ultimately in a loss in business.

Here are our tips for excellent professional service.

Treat your staff well. Make sure they have regular breaks. Let them see that you consider them to be an important part of your business. If they don’t feel valued, they will pass on their discontent to your customers. We guarantee it.
Ensure that customers are greeted with a smile and eye contact. If you are busy when customers arrive, acknowledge their presence with eye contact and a welcoming gesture and attend to them as soon as possible.
Whenever possible do not engage in lengthy phone conversations when you are dealing with a customer face to face. Never take personal calls. If it is a business call then apologise to your customer before picking up the phone. Then keep the call as short as possible, offering to call the person back if appropriate.
Have a procedure for dealing with complaints and make sure all of your staff understand it and follow it. The number 1 rule is that whoever receives a complaint must take it seriously and take responsibility for it. Nothing infuriates customers more than not being listened to when they have a problem. Look at the comments on www.tripadvisor.com. You will see that customers tend to be more upset if a complaint is handled badly than by the original problem. In a nutshell:

Listen to the problem and focus on trying to understand it (this will help you to avoid the kind of defensive behaviour that customers find offensive).
Acknowledge the customer’s point of view and show them some empathy. Do this even if you think they are being unreasonable.
Let the customer know what you intend to do about their problem. If you cannot handle the problem yourself, call someone who can (manager, cleaner).
Let the customer know you are doing this.
If the problem cannot be solved immediately, let the customer know when it will be attended to.
Check (at an appropriate time) that the problem has been resolved to their satisfaction.

Pomegranate can provide you with an assessment of your current level of customer service and with training tailor-made to meet the needs of your particular business.