Customer Value
How do you create value for your customers and what might you consider doing differently?
It is becoming a customer service world, people expect "more". I like the fact of walking into a business and get greeted with an introduction as to who they are, It makes me feel like I now have an "in" and have a chance of making a better deal.
With our students many of them look at the staff as their "new" family, if I am walking down the hall next to someone I will strike up a conversation, YOU might be just the person they feel they can connect with if they need any type of help or just want to talk to someone.
One of the ways to create customer value is to show that you care about what they need and appreciate what they do. Organizations accomplish this by systematically by building customer service best prctices into the strategic plan. We also create value by conducting reviews to ensure that current practices are not stagnate, but highly effective.
We create value by seeking feedback from our customers, listening to this feedback, and improving our customer service based on this feedback. We are also currently focusing on education on customer service for all employees. Some of our faculty, including myself, are enrolled in customer service related seminars/courses. We will then meet and share this information with all of our faculty & staff.
Something we are currently striving to improve is one of our major procedures - our time clock procedure. This, unfortunately, is a slow process, as it involves a large financial investment.
We create value for our customers by obtaining and listening to their feedback. We conduct surveys to obtain feedback, summarize that feedback, and create an improvement plan to respond to that feedback. We share this information with all faculty/staff in a meeting. During this meeting, we are also further able to specify specific methods for implementing this improvement plan. One thing we will do differently after this course is to follow up on this feedback with the students/graduates via emails or meetings so they understand what we are doing to respond to their comments/concerns.
The value is built from the very first interaction. The website, phone conversation, follow-up email with directions, greeting, the tour, and throughout the relationship.
What I could do better is to walk the floor and look at everything as a mystery shopper (or customer). What do they see --- if the front desk clean, is the receptionist attentive, is the tour informative.
I agree with these points. To me listening to a customer is the first step to providing good customer service. It is hard to provide for a customer without knowing what individual needs and concerns they have.
Follow up calls and great listening skills will make a big differance.Once the customer realizes that you are listening to what they are saying they will be satisfied.
We create value for our student-customers with providing very good customer service expectations and the ability to access materials online. We provide various SLAs to maintain a reasonable follow-up time and will provide student-customers with the opportunity to give us feedback on a regular basis. This gives student-customers the opportunity to feel value in their program they are taking with us and ultimately continue with their matriculation.
I would create value for my customer by illustrating and demonstrating personable and professional customer service throughout the organizations departments to ensure a consistent and pleasant experience. Some objectives that we may do differently is to mandate a striker dress code, adhere to a more formal attendance policy, and ensure all managers engage frontline employees and customers/clients.
Matthew, Great insight as to making the students feel like they are not just customers, but people. I am curious about your mention of attitude; what specifically is getting in the way of a positive attitude?
Elizabeth Wheeler
We create value for our customer by helping them resolve issues or find answers to questions in a timely manner. We also create value for our customers by making them feel like they are the most important customer in the world. One simple example that we did at my campus was we installed a free coffee bar for our students. We also create value by hiring the right faculty to teach our courses. Students like to feel like they are more than a number. Currently our student support department is just calling students when they are absent from class. I believe that student support needs to have a more proactive approach with students by communicating with them throughout the quarter. We also create value by assisting the students in finding their career once they complete their program. We need to change the attitudes of some of our staff and faculty members because their attitude is destroying the customer value by not providing exceptional customer service.
Recognize and reward excellent performance.Make sure every student has the opportunity to learn and grow. Understand what really matters to your people.
My customers are my students and what I do for them is:
1. Be prepared for each and every class.
2. Give them the proper tools to be successful in the class.
3. Answer their questions thoughtfully.
4. Give them 100% while they are my student, and beyond.
Angela, Thank you for sharing. We agree that honesty is the best policy!
Dr. Jean Norris
We value our customers most especially to our students and prospect students by keeping track of every phone call, inquiries and contact the customers makes with us. Because, if you are not keeping track of your encounters with a customer, you are likely missing additional opportunities to show them value. Whether the customer is occasionally asking for tips or information, or if you are actively contacting the customer, you need to record each of these encounters. We also value our customers or students by listening to them on what they telling us. We also provide course satisfaction survey to our students every at the end of the term for the mentor who handled the course so we will know what are the areas for improvement.
We create value to our customers by being honest and listening to their needs. What makes us unique is that we make sure everything is disclosed to the customer so they can make an informed decision on their education. I think we do very well with customer service I wouldn't change a thing.
David, That is an interesting perspective. Do you feel that students these days are less likely to trust?
Dr. Jean Norris
Creating value for a customer should always involve providing something (usually a service) in which the person will be able to benefit. If this idea is prioritized, everything else will follow.
You may create value by building trust and giving honest answers. When a customer sense confidence in the speech given by the rep, their are more likely to trust them.
