Coping with stress and customers

The recent weather events that impacted much of the North Island, and in particular the Auckland, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions, remind us of the importance of looking after ourselves and those close to us.

In the context of this article, this obviously includes your family and staff. That said, in times of severe stress and upheaval, it’s easy to focus on those around you.

But don’t forget to take the time to consider yourself and your own needs. That’s because mental health is just like physical health although, perhaps, much more difficult to monitor.

Whether you have been impacted by adverse weather, faced unexpected reactions from staff or customers or have simply had a hard day at work, it’s important to recuperate every now and then and focus on your own wellbeing.

There are many ways to address these needs, whether that’s simply by taking time out to reflect or doing something that takes you away from the daily grind.

In MTA world, one of the benefits members have access to is the employee assistance programme, or EAP as it is more commonly referred to.

In short, it’s a counselling service to help people rationalise their thoughts. Feedback from our members who have used the service is very positive. grocery bills or energy costs.

EAP Services Ltd claims to help more than one million people each year with its researchbased, psychology-led counselling. Its learning tools help upskill people to live the best lives they can and it uses real data to underpin its work.

There may well be other suppliers and, even though this column may sound like a bit like a promo for EAP, it’s only because it’s the service I’m most familiar with.

The net outcome is that discretionary spending is taking a hit. That might be in the form of people pulling back on purchasing a new car, motorbike, jetski or even a new shirt or old album seen in the second-hand record store.

A build-up of pressures in any form can manifest in unexpected reactions. Some people become much more combative.

This doesn’t mean you are expected to become an “agony aunt” and resolve everyone’s personal issues.

But it does mean that recognising the reaction you’re seeing might well be driven by many other problems outside the matter at hand.

Reconciling an event in that way might help put you in a better position to work with the current issue and not get drawn into the customer’s deeper problems. Oddly, counter aggression does not help resolve what’s taking place.

Speaking of disputes, it’s better to avoid them than experience them. They cost you time, money and stress.

Saying it again, regardless of which service or strategy you use, as a business owner you must look after yourself because you’re carrying the load.

Life, in general, is a bit tougher these days, and in all sorts of ways and for a wide variety of reasons.

Putting aside the weatherrelated issues, financial pressures are building on the back of higher interest rates and increased daily living costs – whether those be via higher mortgage or rent costs,

This was borne out within our mediation service in which we noticed an upwards spike in case workload in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis and those disputes were more difficult to resolve.

Yes, the trigger might be the car breaking down, but that might not explain what comes across as customers overreacting.

When you think that through, those excessive reactions can most probably be sheeted back to the collective pressures in people’s lives.

In the dealer world, there are two things you can do to reduce the likelihood of dispute. Firstly, thoroughly inspect the vehicle being sold before delivery. It’s much easier and cheaper to resolve any faults while it is in your care.

Secondly, make sure the paperwork is thorough and complete before getting your customer to sign.

If you have properly documented the sale, it becomes one less area for misinterpretation that could be used as evidence against you. You might be surprised how many times car dealers get caught by inadequate sale documentation.