Recognizing Your External Customers
Who are the "external customers" at your school? What ways do you serve them?
My external customers include
A) students. We provide them with a variety of academic and non-academic resources, including career development, health and huan services, and
B) employers/extern sites. We provide them with skilled prospects and a reputation as a committed and professional organization.
C) parents/families. We provide families with access to our public information, excluding that with FERPA prohibits.
The school’s external customers are Medical Assistant employers (i.e. clinics, hospitals, and emergency centers). The Medical Assistant department ensures that our graduates have the knowledge and skills to successfully and competently perform clinical, administrative, and laboratory duties. Graduates are armed with academic and medical knowledge and practical skills to be proficient in any medical setting. In addition, tutorial support is offered to assist with certification reviews. Graduates are welcome to audit any course or skill. Employee surveys are obtained to improve the curriculum.
The most prominent external customers at our school (other than our students) are employers & local high schools. We have wonderful relationships with employers (salons, spas, barber shops) in our area. Many of these employers completed one of the programs at our school. They come to us to fill job openings, and we supply them with well-trained students. We also have a relationship with our local high schools and community colleges. We are involved in career fairs involving the schools, which peeks interest in the fields that we employ. We have enrolled many students after their attendance at one of these career fairs.
Prospective students as well as students. Local salons, spas, barber shops, etc. We have a wonderful relationship with local businesses that will employ our future graduates. Many were started up by our own students (as we have been in business for over 20 years). These employers let us know when they are hiring, and we provide them with well-trained graduates. This relationship is one of the primary factors that influences are very high placement rate.
Our external include our employers, members of the community, and our students and graduates. As a career college, we serve all of them and try to deliver the best customer service experience to each.
I feel it's very important to always keep in touch with the students...by phone, email or even send a text, to find out how they're doing in class. Just to let them know you care.
It's eaually important to keep in contact with local doctors offices and hospital, that attend your Advisory meetings and accept extern students.
Current students as well as prospective students are the main external customers at our school. I serve the current students by providing a safe learning evironment and then making sure that my students are my first priority in each decision I have to make throughout my day. When I prioritize my students things usually run smoother and I not only have more time available once all student needs have been met but it also allows me to spend more time with prospective students. By answering questions for prospective students I can increase the likelihood that the student will convert from a prospective student to an actual current student. Now they have become my first priority, so it is a cyclical process that results in a win-win situation.
We have 3 very important external customers at the institution that I work for. We have our students, we have our manufacturer specific dealerships and industry partners , and we have our Program Advisory Committee.
Our students, of course, make it possible for the campus to operate by enrollment. They in turn pay a tuition for their education. We have our network of dealerships that our Employment Services Department communicates with and attempts to find employment for our students after graduation. We also hold a bi-annual Program Advisory Committee meeting which consists of our industry partners and industry professionals. They graciously volunteer to come to our campus twice a year to give us their input on our day to day operations and voice likes and opportunities for improvement in curriculum, facilities, and students. We then attempt adjust our program to their recommendations, and to produce graduates that fit the “mold†of the technician they are looking for.
the external customers at my school are those that are family and friends of my students. I often have students in my new classes let me know that they heard about the program from a friend or family member.
It is so important to my institution to address the external customers. I work at an online institution that is regionally and nationally accredited. We have been around for over 100 years, so our external customers are essential to us. The needs of our future employers to our student-customers are often address through direct recruiting activities in our career programs. They provide our student-customers with externships. Community members are often either themselves an alumni or know someone who has gone to my school. For these reasons, if a student-customer is local to our school we will host community meet-and-great activities to promote a goodwill atmosphere towards our city.
I do agree with your thought that the most important group of external customers are our externship/clinical sites.It is of upmost importance to provide excellent customer service to our affiliates.
Thanks for your post, Paula! Externship sites are a great examples of external customers. In what way could the community also be considered an external customer?
Dr. Jean Norris
Our externship sites are our External Customers. We serve them by making sure our students do a good job at their externship.
Our big external customers are corporations that employ our students by way of their franchised dealers.
We constantly monitor their (the corporations) desires and needs for student performance so we can ensure the lessons our students learned here are relevant to the needs of the dealer network for those corporations.
Nicole, Great insight! What do you do to help recognize these external clients?
Elizabeth Wheeler
External customers are everyone I come in contact with at the clinical sites I visit. This includes student preceptors, staff, patients, etc.
One of our external customers is the Advisory Board. We rely heavily on the comments of the Advisory board regarding curriculum, industry certifications, soft skills training, etc. We serve the Advisory Board by providing them with technically competent professionals who possess the soft skills to obtain employment and keep employment.
Shannon, That is correct. What are some other things you can do to recognize your external customers?
Elizabeth Wheeler
As a school whose biggest program is culinary the local restaurants are some of our biggest external customers. Not only do they allow our students to have internships with them but they also make an effort to connect with our students and they hire many of them after they have graduated. The local restaurants also come to our school during events to show students some of the skills that they will learn during their time at our school. Which is great because it really gives our students an opportunity to see what our culinary program is all about!
