I hope you had a great weekend and that the up coming week will be enjoyable.  Last week I had the privilege of teaching students and TANF participants in Norman OK, over 150.  I also spoke at the 2006 OACEP Fall Retreat at Quartz Mountain in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.  It was a great group and the conference center where it was held was one of the most beautiful I have been too.  

 

I am home for a while.  Please check out my Thought for the day at: www.motivation1.com/whatsnew

 

Have a great week.

 

Paul

DOING AWAY WITH SURPRISES IN THE OFFICE

 

Customer service is always considered excellent if you meet or exceed the customer’s expectation.  It is considered poor by the customer if you don’t reach their expectations.  Many of our customers come in to our office with varying degrees of knowledge of what to expect.  Some expect to get waited on instantly; some might think that because their neighbor got a grant that they should too.  Some of our customers think that we give away jobs, pay for car repairs etc.  There are two ways of handling this:

 

  1. Create a survey for new customers as they come into the office for the first time.  Asking them their expectations. 
    1. What do they expect to happen?
    2. How long will it take?
    3. What are their expectations of finding a job? (What are their rules, how far will they travel, what is the least they will work for? Etc.)
    4. What are their expectations of their case worker?

 

After they fill out the answers this should be one of the first things that you review with them when they come into the session.  This helps clarify what you can and cannot do for them.  At this time you can also discuss your expectations of them.

 

  1. Create a menu of expectations in which you describe what to expect when you come into the office.
    1. How long it takes to receive benefits.
    2. How much paperwork it takes.
    3. How long it takes to get to go to school.
    4. What sessions you have to take and how long they are.

 

In the City of Key West our IT department has given out a menu of how long it will take to fix hardware, software that way people know what to expect. 

 

What kinds of things do you do to find out what the customers expect?

 

 

 

 

 

Responses

 

DOING AWAY WITH SURPRISES IN THE OFFICE

 

Overall, my response has to be communication, communication, and more communication.  There can’t really be too much communication when it is clear and concise, but is exactly where these negative issues arise with customers, clients, and students when there is communication without direction and structure.  I have seen this in the workplace, as well as, having too little communication.  It is akin to the person who constantly sends out email forgetting all the information or failing to attach crucial documents explaining a process.

 

I fully agree with setting up menus of what the customer can expect, as well as, what you may expect of them, as you have written so I will briefly concentrate on the lack or excess of communication.

 

Outside of perhaps utilizing signs on walls in the office place to help direct or coach the customer (guidance) we must be very careful of how well structured the communication is.

  1. 1)       Does it answer any possible question briefly and concisely?
  2. 2)       Does it show clear direction?
  3. 3)       Does it simplify the overall process and interaction between the office and the customer?
  4. 4)       Finally, is it results driven to provide maximum benefit with the least amount of effort?

 

I created a layout of our department functions and have included it in the professional development workbook, as well as, had it printed in three colors to be hung as a wall mount.  Every student is versed as to what the expectations on both sides of the fence are.  Therefore, there are few or no surprises in the office.

 

There are five psychological points I would like to impart, which has worked very well for us:

  1. 1)       Always communicate on the same level as the customer/client/student/graduate/employee
  2. 2)       Reinforce the fact that we are all the same with regard to the human condition
  3. 3)       Be respectful of others at all times
  4. 4)       Always be available to answer any and all questions posed
  5. 5)       Finally, be timely with all responses

 

There, I hope this helps everyone!  Have a super week!

 

Ed Smith, Visalia, CA

 

 

In answer to the question at the end of your memo, you have taught me to ask clients what they expect.  The answers are interesting because there is a lot of misinformation out there that people pick up, and clients sometimes are surprised to be asked. Laurie OR