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Use AI to Improve Your Performance - 7/23/24


Many companies are integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into some aspect of their business.  This could greatly change how they operate, how they communicate with customers. This AI wave reminds me of a story from 20+ years ago when a stock brokerage firm launched a new website that greatly enhanced the Read more

The New Burger Experience - 7/16/24


Floyd loves a good hamburger. Any chance he gets to try a new spin on an old standby, he takes it. Recently, a burger joint opened near his house, and Floyd was very excited! It was owned by and named for a world-renowned chef, so it had to be Read more

Boost Customer Happiness - 7/9/24


There’s a cooking show that a friend of mine watches, and the premise is all about reverse engineering food.  They may take a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, analyze it, and determine the ingredients just by tasting it.  Then they figure out a recipe.  The cook will try to make Read more

Brainstorm to Better Yourself - 7/2/24


I’ve led enough sessions with clients on continuous improvement topics to have solid experience on how to lead ideation exercises, brainstorming to develop new ideas.  Oftentimes these sessions start with the right question; the first answers may not be the ultimate solution, but they can serve as a jumping Read more

The Power of the Pause - 6/25/24


When I’m facilitating a meeting, and it feels like it’s going off-track or the discussion is going a little longer than it should, I may say something like “let me pause the conversation so that…” or “let’s pause just for a minute and consider…” I don’t like the word STOP. Read more

Handle Interruptions Heroically - 6/18/24


In the middle of a project, Jimbo, the customer service team member, had to stop what he was doing because he received an e-mail from a customer complaining about their experience at a recent event. Later that day, Jimbo was asked by his boss to put everything on hold for Read more

From Employees to Teammates: The Shift - 6/11/24


Be a great teammate. Be a good team player. We’re all part of the team. We’re no longer employees, we’re team members! The phrase “Team” is used in describing co-workers so much more than it was used years ago.  Then, we would be talking about employees, talking about staff, talking Read more

Nurture New Relationships - 6/4/24


Freddie was a new business owner in town.  He was launching a franchise, had acquired some funding from a local bank, and was in search of staff who cared about customer service. All the while, he was in the process of renovating a storefront for his business, so he was Read more

There’s Positivity in Patience - 5/28/24


The employee at the financial services firm was working with a new client on a relatively simple loan.  The documentation was about as clear as it could get to the employee, but the customer had lots of questions.  The employee calmly, clearly, and specifically answered each question.  The meeting Read more

The Goal – A Great Experience - 5/21/24


The following is a narrative of a great experience (people, process, service, facility) at a minor league sporting event – key points that could apply to any business are in bold… Mark and I pulled into the parking lot, excited about the game.  The Slapshots had been on a roll Read more

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Help Drivers be Students

Posted on July 10, 2013 in Business Advice, Education Please leave a comment

The quality of the experience of a school student is based purely on their relationship with their teacher, right? The quality of the customer service at a hotel is based purely on their interaction with staff at the registration desk, correct? The season ticket holder’s perception of a sports club’s fan relations is based purely on their relationship with their sales representative, right?

I hope you didn’t agree with these statements, because so much about a customer’s perception of how they’re treated and valued is determined by people other than these key employees.

In the article New chief of Broward school buses: ‘We can fix things’, the new transportation director highlights one of her four key areas of focus being customer service improvements, particularly by training bus drivers. Now my company has actually trained bus drivers for a large school system as well, and there are reasons why this is done – whether drivers are with a student for 10 minutes one morning a week or for 45 minutes each way 5 times per week, a great deal of the student’s opinion (as well as their parents’ opinions) about their school experience can be impacted by these drives to/from school.

Granted, the experience in that classroom is hugely important, but many issues, relationships, discussions, delays, and general topics that require customer service skills occur on the bus.

The big point to take away is that we cannot assume that only one person impacts the customer’s opinion, and others are not relevant. We can’t assume that if an employee has a technical skill, then their communication and customer service skills are irrelevant.

Look at your organization through the customer’s eyes, and look at all of the touch points they have with individuals in positions not named “customer service” or “fan relations” or “reception.” See the impact that these others have on customer perceptions, and ensure they have the customer service skills to succeed.

Make students of your employees by teaching them customer service skills, techniques, and principles.

Learn about our CSS Education services at: http://cssamerica.com/cssed.htm

Interested in improving your educational organization’s customer satisfaction? See our other blog posts at: http://serviceadvice.cssamerica.com/category/education/