Anxiety On The Phones

February 25, 2012 7:14 PM

What are some techniques that will help me stop feeling anxious while talking on the phones at work?

I've noticed that I feel VERY anxious when I take calls at work. Normally, it's not that bad if I've worked several shifts in a row, but otherwise my anxiety skyrockets.

Often times when I feel anxious, my heart races VERY rapidly, my voice quivers, and I want to cry because I feel so overwhelmed. Sometimes I just want to stop taking the call and hang up the phone, but I know that I can't do that. I still feel anxious even after I'm done talking on the phones, mainly because I know that another call can come through the queue at any point. There have been times when I have asked to go home early (something that my workplace offers depending on the call volume) even if I know that it will affect how much I earn for that day.

I've been working here for close to two years. Things weren't as bad before in terms of my anxiety mainly because I used dissociation as a technique to cope with personal stuff including my anxiety. However, I'm getting closer to myself now that I have been taking Cipralex which means that I am noticing more of my anxious feelings.

I know that leaving my workplace can be viewed as a possibility to others, but it's not something that I want to do. I get paid relatively well, enjoy my workplace, and have a great group of co-workers. I also enjoy interacting with different people over the phones despite my overwhelming feelings of anxiety.

I am currently taking 20 mg of Cipralex because of my anxiety, depression, and dissociation, but what are some techniques that will help me make it through my shift and get through these calls?

I really don't want to seem like a nervous wreck or someone that doesn't know their stuff when talking to clients or when the quality team listens to my calls...

So, what are some techniques that will help me stop feeling anxious while talking on the phones at work?

An additional question: how would you feel if you were calling an inbound call centre and you were dealing with an anxious call centre agent?

posted by livinglearning to Health & Fitness (20 answers total)

I don't have too much advice, but I think one thing you could do is try not to worry too much about that last question (how the person on the other end feels). I am 99% sure that the people you talk to don't notice and don't care, or not nearly as much as you do. They aren't nearly as focused on it as you are.
posted by queens86 at 7:24 PM on February 25, 2012

Seek therapy, this is all in your head. I don't think about the mental health of permastrangers on the phone with me for the first and last time. In fact, I usually assume call center people are following scripts. Maybe you need to think about yours? Good luck.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:32 PM on February 25, 2012

What are you anxious about? Are you concerned about what the people on the other end of the phone think of you? Because I assure you, they think nothing of you. At all. You're just a voice on a phone and you cease to exist the minute they hang up. You're not, you know, the fully fledged person who is you. I'm like 40 years old, I've probably dealt with... 1000?... call centers in my life, and I can't remember a single person I've ever spoken to, except one. (Who was hard selling me with repeated calls to my mobile while I was already placing a fucking order with his co-worker on the other line. What a dick.)

Other than being a dick, out of every sales rep I've ever dealt with - incompetent, mediocre, outstanding, Scottish, Indian, Irish, closed sale, failed sale, bad support, perfect support - I can't recall a single distinct individual.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:43 PM on February 25, 2012 [2 favorites]

You mention that you feel overwhelmed. Are you in a position where you don't have the resources/authority/power/training to solve the caller's problem? That would definitely make me anxious. Or is it just a matter of being well-equipped to handle the issue but not feeling like you sound friendly/helpful?
posted by mochapickle at 7:45 PM on February 25, 2012

I also take calls at work and felt very anxious about it in the beginning - and still do, to a certain extent. Two things that help me: putting myself in the mindset that I am working with the caller, not against them, and having a really supportive boss that I know will back me up if I get a problematic call. The second thing might be outside of your control, but you could try the first one.
posted by imalaowai at 8:07 PM on February 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is your anxiety mostly about "being someone who doesn't know their stuff", or is there another aspect to it? What are you most afraid might happen? Are you mostly concerned about the client or the call QA staff?
posted by trevyn at 9:15 PM on February 25, 2012

I dislike phones, so I feel you. Here's what I would do if I were in your situation - I'd approach it like I do my fear of cockroaches which is to treat it through phobia exposure acclimation.

Which is to say, go at it full force. Don't allow yourself to delay even a moment in dealing with the [trigger]. It makes it worse both instantly and for the next time. Physiologically worse. You also praise yourself when you get done dealing with it in a way that is consistent with not withdrawing from it. And you occasionally when getting panicky try to mentally go through the worst that could happen, and realistically place that in the grand scheme of things (the cockroach will get away and/or possibly now or in the future run near/on me is the worst that could happen for that phobia, which while icky isn't actually life-threatening or anything).
posted by vegartanipla at 9:22 PM on February 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have what I call phone-phobia (making a dentist appointment can take me weeks), but I've always found it relatively easy at work because I'm not me, I'm "The Company". If I mess up, people will think ill of The Company, not of me. Additionally, incoming calls generally mean the caller wants something from you, i.e. you can help them. This is a reassuring position to be in (for me. Much much better than being the asker).
So yeah, no idea if rationalising it like that can help you, but it got me through five years of call centre work.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 9:26 PM on February 25, 2012

At work, our sales guys need to cold call every day. When they started out for the first time, one technique that they used to relax was to put their feet up on their desk and lean back in their chairs.

That might be more extreme than what's allowed in your call centre. But relaxed body language can help. Also, smile, even if you don't feel like it. Smiling actually puts you in a better mood and it comes through in your voice as well.

I worked at a call centre (outbound calls) and I was just like you. I would be fine if I was working several shifts in a row, once I had kind of gotten into the groove, but at the beginning of shifts I was always anxious. Can you schedule more shifts in a row?

While I felt anxious, I also really enjoyed cold calling, because I found that each call was fascinating. Maybe you can focus what's happening in the call itself, like imagining what that person's life is like, or focusing on which approaches solves your clients' problems the fastest?

Best of luck :)
posted by Jade_bug at 10:40 PM on February 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Re. anxious phone centre person: as long as they were helpful and did their job I wouldn't care.

I think people covered everything I could think of but just in case repetition is useful:

I take a long, deep breath and call immediately.
I used to absolutely hate cold calling and would leave bills unpaid rather than call a stranger to get them sorted.
Then it became a necessary part of a new job.
So now I call as soon as I know I must - get it over and done with sorta thing.
Also, it's not me who's calling per se. It's the Job Description.
And I'm always very polite and I smile as much as possible. It helps with morale.
posted by mkdirusername at 2:15 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

You could try standing up while on the phone - certainly at the start of calls or when you feel more anxious. The people who advocate this talk about all sorts of potential benefits - so relating to how you feel and some relating to how you will be apparently be perceived by your interlocutor (see link) - no idea if this will work for you - but I have found it useful. If I have a cordless phone then I find it helps not just to stand up but to walk around.
posted by rongorongo at 3:48 AM on February 26, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice so far!

I think I feel anxious because calls can come into my queue at any time and because someone from the quality team can listen to my calls at any time. Everything is recorded and that can be scary even if I am sticking to the script for the most part. I receive very good quality marks so that isn't the problem, but it's just my feelings of anxiety that I can't seem to deal with.

I was told to try breathing techniques and grounding techniques, those sometimes help when I'm off the phones. But, I'd like to know if there are any other things that I can try in order to make it through these calls?
posted by livinglearning at 5:17 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I forgot to mention this above, but my feelings regarding the call queue and call quality make it difficult to interact with the client without feeling anxious. The strange thing is that I have received two separate awards for my call quality...
posted by livinglearning at 5:22 AM on February 26, 2012

You seem to be having performance anxiety when it's pretty clear you are a good performer and the anxiety is baseless. This is the sort of thing CBT can help you with in a handful of sessions. If that is not an option, you may find the Anxiety and Phobia Workbook to be helpful.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:06 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Can you stand up at your desk without drawing attention to yourself? Everyone sounds better, happier, and more energetic when standing instead of sitting.
I handle my phone anxiety (I'm ridiculously shy) by making myself stand up and smile really big for every call. I put all my focus on getting my smile through to the other person. It makes me very popular with the people that I am speaking and gets my mind off of all the little nagging worries and insecurities that I have when on the phone.
posted by myselfasme at 6:25 AM on February 26, 2012

I use stress balls. They drain the anxiety from my vocal cords into my twitching fist.

Seriously, give one a try.
posted by Trurl at 7:40 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

To echo rongorongo and myselfasme: standing up really does help. I was taught the trick when in a sales job. It gives you a bit more confidence and authority, and deals with some of the excess nervous energy. Also while standing try turning so you're not facing your desk.
posted by WPW at 7:40 AM on February 26, 2012

Duuude do you work at my old work? I used to work from home as a call center agent for Eddie Bauer, and it sounds SO similar. At any time someone could be listening to our calls. Sometimes I'd get an IM from my boss, "Please do not use words like 'cool' while speaking to the customers." It was terribly annoying, but eventually I learned not to care. The customers were happier when I was casual and helped them shop, as opposed to stiff and stringent. We would get quality scores, and in general my scores were high even if there was something to criticize. I am not a very sales-focused person so I just tried to make sure the customer was engaged and happy (especially because we got paid per-minute!). My best advice to you is: don't take it so seriously. I NEVER EVER heard of anyone getting fired from that job, ever. Just do your best and take it slow, and don't worry about the queue even if your boss is all, "OMG 20 people are on hold". They'll continue to hold and you'll wow them with how much special attention you give them, or they'll call back later or shop online (or whatever the function of your job is). Focus on maintaining your already-awesome quality, and don't stress too much about the actual person on the other end of the line. If you want to talk more, memail me!!
posted by masquesoporfavor at 9:40 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate everyone's advice.

It would be kind of strange to take calls while standing up because this isn't common at our office. It would also be difficult to type while standing up at my type of workplace. I think I'm going to get a stressball though because that would help. I'm also going to try to approach things differently as suggested by many of you here and hopefully with time I will stop feeling as anxious.
posted by livinglearning at 5:37 PM on February 26, 2012

You mentioned having some sort of success previously as a side effect of your dissociation. There are healthy ways to incorporate this kind of depersonalization approach that don't require you to put your self/soul/personal development/mental health at risk.

One way of stepping back from the forced intimacy of an incoming call is to treat it like a roleplaying exercise. You aren't The Call Centre CSR, you're an actor who plays a CSR. It's like a condom for your brain! Customers or quality monitoring responses aren't judging you, they're judging the character you play.

If your workplace allows it, you could even use a different name on the phone (or a diminutive of your own name). A friend of mine who was tired of explaining her name to customers ("Vietnamese for beauty? How exotic!") became Susan on the phones instead of Dung. Her call times dropped by 15%, too. I am sure your anxiety has different roots, but it might help you too.
posted by Sallyfur at 2:04 AM on February 27, 2012