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Change on the Fly - 5/30/23


Situational service requires some advanced engagement skills.  It involves seeing each situation independent of any others, reading the moment, and changing on the fly to create the best possible customer experience and outcomes.  So, what are some keys to situational service?  Keep these guiding principles in mind: Start Open-minded: When Read more

Try an Empathy Exercise - 5/23/23


We often note that empathy is the most important quality to have in order to be great at customer service.  Empathy enables you to view people uniquely.  It helps the customer not to feel like just a number.  And the more we can view people as individuals, the better Read more

Time is of the Essence - 5/16/23


Time is precious.  There’s no time like the present.  Your time is valuable.  Timing is everything.  Children spell “love,” T-I-M-E. There are many great quotes that reference time.  And part of the reason is that time can be considered somewhat finite; at least within the day, it’s a limited resource.  Read more

Perpetuate Positivity with the Customer - 5/9/23


We’ve written many Tips on how to deal with various negative customer emotions.  Those emotions could reflect anger, fear of the unknown, upset, anxiety, or nervousness.  But instead of talking today about how to deal with their negative emotions, let’s talk about how to engender some positive emotions. We want Read more

Are You in a Position? - 5/2/23


Last week’s Tip compared Perspectives and Positions, and we noted that when people have a perspective on a given topic or issue, that’s often useful.  However, when people are more focused on their position, things can get testy. One topic we didn’t fully address last week was the definition of Read more

De-escalating Conflict in Customer Service - 4/25/23


Conflict can be very healthy and productive.  You and your customer are taking different perspectives, but if you have the same goal and you focus on what you’re trying to accomplish, the different perspectives may lead to an interesting approach or a mutually-beneficial solution. If the decision was up to Read more

Why a Home Run Swing Whiffs - 4/18/23


ACME Tree Service showed up at Nancy’s house to provide an estimate for trimming some trees.  The sales consultant looked at the trees and their proximity to the house, and he quickly wrote up a bid.  Heavy trimming on 9 trees.  Heavy price tag.  It was a quick conversation Read more

Communicate Crisply - 4/11/23


I try to make these tips around 300 words, but oftentimes I’m North of 400.  I work hard to pare down the words because I don’t want one or two core points being lost in a barrage of verbosity. Phrases like lost in a barrage of verbosity are the things Read more

Improve Co-worker Rapport to Improve the Customer Experience - 4/4/23


The movers were packing up the house.  It was a stressful time for Janine.  She was having to move her aging parents to a new city in a new State to help care for them.  The parents were leaving behind friends and a community where they’d lived for most Read more

G.A.B. – The Survey Guiding Principles - 3/28/23


You’re excited!  The company has okayed your conducting a survey, and you immediately think of a half dozen questions you want to ask every customer.  You document your questions, get input from others, and all of a sudden you have a Word document with 36 questions instead of 6.  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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