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Talk Up Your Teammate - 12/5/23


It happens all the time in business. The salesperson transitions the new customer to their service representative.  The nurse tells the patient about the doctor about to come into the room.  The gatekeeper tells the customer about the supervisor they’re about to transfer the customer to, in order to Read more

Use Silence Wisely - 11/28/23


Silence is golden...until it isn’t. Silence is an excellent tool to use when talking to the customer.  Silence can convey that you’re listening, that you are patient, that you are being kind and are deferring to the other person.  Being silent can convey that you’re intentional about what you say, Read more

Be Grateful for the Good - 11/21/23


There are several different ways you could define gratitude, but I like the simple definition:  Being grateful for the good.  There’s a lot to be upset about, a lot to be frustrated with, there’s a lot to lament about in our customer service roles.  But even in these challenges, Read more

Sport Some Customer Perks - 11/14/23


Of all the industries we work with, the one that talks most about providing perks and benefits to its customers is pro sports.  We’ve worked with NASCAR, MLS, the NBA, and a little bit with the NFL and the NHL. And most of the teams or organizations will provide their Read more

Customer Service Lessons from the E.R. - 11/7/23


Every industry is interesting in its own way, and healthcare is definitely no exception.  We’ve done many different types of studies and projects in the emergency rooms at hospitals, and it’s interesting to look back at some of the results of focus groups we conducted with the E.R. patients. We Read more

I Did This…For You - 10/31/23


Michelle needed to run by the grocery store during her lunch break, and because it’s October in the USA, that means it’s Halloween month!  Fittingly, the grocery store had every shape and size of a pumpkin you can imagine; there was even this small basket of mini pumpkins. They were Read more

Make Deposits with Your Customer - 10/24/23


Carrie has a 50+ hour a week job, and - financially - she does better than many.  She’s in the media, but she doesn’t like everything to be public.  Carrie’s a real person with real issues and real needs and real gifts, as well. One day, her best friend, the Read more

Find Their Future Motivators - 10/17/23


We’ve provided fan experience and customer retention consulting in professional sports for a couple decades now.  One of our professional basketball clients was the Miami Heat.  We were working with them just a year or so after they had acquired superstar Shaquille O’Neal.  When they signed him, ticket sales Read more

How to Exceed the Promise - 10/10/23


It’s the never-ending battle between marketing and customer service.  Marketing makes promises, and customer service has to deal with upset customers when the company doesn’t deliver.  To ensure we deliver on promises, let’s assess promises by looking at some famous quotes over time… Promises may get Friends, but ‘tis Performances Read more

What “One in a Million” Means - 10/3/23


You are One in a Million! That can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  Depending on the tone in which it’s said, the phrase can be a compliment or a criticism.  If there are 8 billion people in the world, that means there might Read more

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Higher Ed – All About Customer Service for Student Success?

Posted on October 5, 2016 in Business Advice, Education, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

blog-10-5-16I was presenting results of mystery shopping research years ago to a Higher Ed client.  There were about 150 people in the room, and in the middle of the presentation, two professors stood up on opposite sides of the auditorium and starting yelling at each other.  They were arguing over whether students should be viewed as customers.

Without rehashing the details of that conversation 10+ years ago, let’s juxtapose that visual to the visual of Universities looking at customer service as a key to Student Success.

The transition is starting to happen – even in Higher Ed.

In the article Customer Service May Be A Key Ingredient To Increasing Successes And College Rankings Without Increasing Costs, the author highlights all the many initiatives that colleges and universities have underway to maximize student retention, graduation, and other measures of Student Success.

She states “Many schools are creating infrastructures that consider its students as customers; it wants its students to feel that the University is working for them rather than against them. This manifests itself in how students are treated in all aspects of their interactions with their university. It includes attention to course scheduling, ease of registering for courses, early provision of financial aid packages, etc. They want to make sure that students have a good experience.“

She offers as an example “Too often, classes are scheduled for the convenience of the faculty rather than the student resulting in most courses being scheduled between 10 and 4 Monday through Thursday resulting in conflicts for students when many of their classes are scheduled at the same time.“

The author highlights a University that has hired an executive to oversee the student experience strategy and to develop metrics to gauge performance.

Just as with any organization/business, it’s not all about the Education or the Price that keeps the student in school or facilitates their graduation.  Sometimes it’s conveying to the student that they’re valued, and customer service in the development of organizational strategies and the 1-on-1 Moments of Truth where those strategies are implemented can be the difference between a student feeling valued or looking elsewhere.

Use customer service strategies and techniques to show you value the student.

Would you like to learn about how CSS helps Education-industry organizations succeed?  Visit http://cssamerica.com/education-industry/


Superintendent Promotes Super Customer Service

Posted on January 22, 2016 in Education Please leave a comment

Blog 1-22-16Students are not customers.  Parents are not customers.  Vendors are not customers.  Co-workers are not customers.

I hear these statements all the time from people in Education who don’t like the concept of customer service – “we’re educators, not customer service reps!”

While it’s true that many in Education are educators, this lack of willingness to embrace the concept of customer service is like a roadblock to a healthy culture internally and respectful and responsive relationships with those not employed by the school system.

In the article Expert: Better customer service one answer to district’s out-enrollment, Newport Independent Schools Superintendent Kelly Middleton talks about the importance of customer service.  He’s in a district with another public school district and a private school nearby – he’s in competition.  In understanding that competitive concept, he looks for how his district can differentiate itself from others – and part of that difference-making equation comes down to customer service.

When Middleton offers examples of customer service, he uses examples of empathy (using the sporks to eat when he’s in the cafeteria with the children), having great communicators assigned with more customer-facing responsibilities (putting the right people in the right positions), and making home visits (going to the child’s home to learn more about them and develop relationships with their family).

Don’t let the term “customer service” keep your organization from serving others.

Interested in improving your customer experience?  Visit the Customer Service Solutions website.


For School Districts, the “Nebulous” is Important

Posted on April 20, 2015 in Business Advice, Education Please leave a comment

Blog 4-20-15Parent satisfaction and student satisfaction are easily measured. The employment rate of high school graduates and the percentage of graduates moving to college are also easily gauged. The attendance patterns of students and ACT scores are both measurable.

But in the survey results for Springfield Public Schools, there was something overall that was highly important…and highly nebulous.

In a survey of students, employees, parents, and community members, the third most important “measure” of school success was “Communication, collaboration and critical thinking.” This attribute was only less important to respondents than “Highly qualified teachers” and “Employment rate.”

This is important, because when we think of outcomes, we think of graduation, employment, and college entry. But to the stakeholders in this school system, the most important “causes” of these “outcomes” or “effects” were teachers, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.

When many districts and other educational organizations work to improve student success, they work on the academic rigor, the testing, raising reading or math proficiency, and putting the right curriculums and programs in place.

But people make those approaches work, and what characteristics of the people and the organization make them work? Their communication, collaboration, and critical thinking make them work.

Whenever you launch an initiative to improve performance in your organization, don’t just create the perfect program. Ensure that the people are communicating, collaborating, and asking the right questions to make that initiative a success.

Did you like this post? Here are other Education-related posts:

Learn about our CSS Education services at: http://cssamerica.com/education-industry


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