When you answer a customer’s phone call, the boredom you feel at work can be heard in your voice.

Customers are observant to your lack of interest and it comes through in more ways than one. When you’re bored, you tend to sigh and mumble. You’re also likely not sitting up straight, so you’ll sound tired and disinterested.

Here are some tips to banish the boredom:

• If you’re having trouble achieving the right cadence when speaking with customers on the phone, stage a dress rehearsal with another customer service representative. Solicit feedback on what you can do to make yourself sound more interested.
• Get out for a brisk walk during your scheduled break time. The fresh air will give you energy.
• Find something on-the-job to become excited about. If you’re feeling excited and not bored, those feelings will translate in your voice as well.
• Take a few minutes to joke with your coworkers. Pepper your day with a few chuckles and you’re bound to have more excitement in your voice.
• Concentrate on one customer at a time, and try to forget about all of your other customer experiences during this one phone call.

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If you’re feeling sluggish in the mornings when you arrive at work, chances are you need a better way to increase your energy level. We have the remedy. Start off your day right with these energy boosters:

• Get a good night’s sleep – Try to get in eight hours of sleep a night. Likewise, go to bed and get up at the same time each day. Going to bed or waking up at different times causes your body’s clock to go off track. So, if you normally get up at 8 a.m., refrain from getting up any later than an hour before or after that everyday.
• Relax before bed — Before you turn out the lights, make sure that you have gone through a relaxation routine. You can read a book, take a warm bath or drink some warm milk. If you are relaxed before you go to bed, you will sleep better.
• Exercise regularly — The average individual should be exercising a minimum of three times a week for 30 minutes. Create a workout routine to maximize your energy level. Daily workouts can help to increase your blood flow and to utilize nutrients in your bloodstream more efficiently.
• Munch on those carbs — Eat a diet filled with plenty of fruits and vegetables. Make sure you consume plenty complex carbohydrates such as bread, whole wheat, etc. Try to cut down on simple carbohydrates like sugar. These give you only quick energy fixes that cause you to feel more sluggish when the energy burst is over.
• Supplement your diet — Even if you are getting a well-balanced diet, many of the essential vitamins in foods are lost during the cooking process. Try taking a multi-vitamin daily, and you should also take an additional supplement of Iron, B-Complex and vitamin C. If possible, resort to herbal supplements like Ginseng. Remember to consult your doctor before taking any vitamins or herbal supplements, because some can interact with prescription medications.
• Get out! — Sometimes just getting some fresh air will give you an energy boost. Try to take a walk or just stand outside for a few minutes to take in your surroundings. You’ll feel so much better afterwards.

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For greater flexibility when you present, you can link to other presentations. The flexibility comes about because you can decide on the fly whether to use the links. If you have extra time or a member of the audience asks a relevant question, you click on a presentation’s link to go to the presentation on that topic.

When you’re done covering that topic, you just press [Esc] to exit the second presentation. You’ll find yourself back on the same slide that contained the link.

Set up the hyperlink

First, create your main presentation. Then you’re ready to link to another presentation.

To link to another presentation:

1. Move the other presentation, if necessary, to the same folder as your main presentation. Keeping the presentations in the same folder avoids broken links that can occur if you take your show on the road or share it with others.
2. In your main presentation, insert an AutoShape (called a shape in PowerPoint 2007) and enter text to indicate the topic of the second presentation. Format the text and colors so that they’re clear and legible.
3. Press [Ctrl]K to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
4. Click the Existing File Or Web Page button on the left side of the dialog box. Navigate to the second presentation and click OK.

Always test your hyperlinks in Slide Show view to make sure they work. When you click the hyperlink, the second presentation opens. You may see a dialog box (which varies according to your version of PowerPoint) requiring you to allow the hyperlink.

Run through the presentation and press [Esc] to end the presentation. You’ll automatically return to the slide in the original presentation containing the hyperlink. You can now continue the original presentation.

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Don’t — let an angry customer drain time from others waiting for your service.

You can’t neglect an irate customer, but you don’t necessarily have to spend your whole afternoon with him.

A dissatisfied customer can consume a lot of your valuable time. Even though your job is to serve him, the reality is he isn’t your only customer — you have others waiting in line.

So how do you politely close business with your current customer who’s hogging all your time? First, make sure your business is indeed finished. Don’t let an angry customer’s issues go unresolved. Then, after you’ve wrapped up the business (even though he doesn’t seem to want to stop arguing) use these tips:

• Help the customer, and then politely tell him, “Have a nice day!” This will cue him that his turn is over.
• Direct your customer to your supervisor if you’ve reached a dead end. Consider saying, “I’m sorry sir, but I don’t know how else I can help you. Perhaps you should speak with my supervisor.”
• Politely ask your customer to please excuse you so you can service your other customers who are waiting patiently.
• Be honest and tell your customer that you’ve done everythingyou can to help him but you really have other work responsibilities to tend to.

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Recently promoted or hired as a manager or supervisor? Congratulations are in order, followed by some good advice on how to make your mark in your new position.

As a new manager, know that your employees follow your behaviors closely; they may scrutinize your every action. But there are ways to show your employees that you are someone they can trust and respect to lead them in the company.

Here are some simple rules to live by when entering into your new niche, according to Tom Schmitt and Arnold Perl, authors of Simple Solutions:

• ” Listen to your employees. Just like you want people to listen and pay attention to you, your employees crave the same kind of attention from you. Good communication with employees involves you being a good listener.
• ” Be approachable. Your employees need to know that they can talk to you about any issues or problems without being afraid of you. Keep their concerns private and respect their thoughts and ideas. Their dignity is important to them, and you don’t want to make them feel alienated in any way.
• ” Show sincere interest in your employees. Let them know you have real concern for their welfare, show them how to succeed at their jobs, and let them know when they’ve done well. These actions tell your employees that you respect them. In turn, your show of respect and interest will help you retain good employees.
• ” Give and take feedback. Not only will you need to reward good performance, you will also need to address any performance problems or failures. Be candid about their performance, and allow them to be part of the solution. Encourage them to give feedback to you about a process or goal that they might not totally agree with.
• ” Surround yourself with strong players. Take cues from a fellow supervisor who is well liked and effective. Pay attention to how she handles similar situations, and learn from her actions. Above all, a good manager needs to have self-awareness about her abilities as well as her misgivings. Use your strong abilities to adapt to each situation, and work on areas that aren’t your strong points.

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