Month: October 2013
You Got Served! The City of Philadelphia Celebrates Customer Service Week
In the words of Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin, “Well done is better than well said.”
The idea of customer service is often reserved to describe interaction with stores, restaurants, and other organizations in the private sector. Rarely do we hear people say “Wow, that city government has great customer service.” Those outside of government might be surprised at how seriously customer service is taken in the public sector. In fact, Customer Service Week was created by the 1992 by the President of the United States, citing the value of service excellence in a free market economy. The proclamation said:
A business will do a better job of providing high quality goods and services by listening to its employees and by empowering them with opportunities to make a difference. Customer service professionals work in the front lines where a firm meets its customers; where supply meets demand. With responsive policies and procedures and with simple courtesy, customer service professionals can go a long way toward ensuring customer satisfaction and eliciting the next round of orders and purchases.
(Read the Presidential Proclamation here)
Fortunately, the Philadelphia City government has made customer service a priority. From the City’s Strategic Goal 5 of “ Philadelphia government works efficiently and effectively, with integrity and responsiveness—to the award-winning Philly311 non-emergency contact center—to city-wide departments and agencies using social media and other innovative approaches to engage citizens, customer service is not a stranger to Philadelphia’s public servants. For this year’s Customer Service Week, the City’s Customer Service Officers briefed Managing Director Rich Negrin and his senior staff on their departmental customer service plans. These efforts are part of the City of Philadelphia’s Customer Service Officer’s program—a way to implement meaningful, measurable and sustainable customer service initiatives within the City’s key infrastructure departments. Our City’s Customer Service Officers are made up of a remarkable group of committed employees who have conducted internal and external focus groups, determined customer service metrics and developed a scalable customer service plan with the support of myself, the City’s performance management team and Managing Director Rich Negrin who defines customer service as “meeting the needs and exceeding the expectations of the customer as defined by the customer.”
Take a look at the CSO Program’s introductory video:
For this year’s Customer Service Week, we’re making Benjamin Franklin proud by not just talking about customer service—but actually doing something (many things actually) to make sure our customers are properly “served.” Happy Customer Service Week everyone!
Rosetta Carrington Lue is the Chief Customer Service Officer and Senior Advisor to the City of Philadelphia’s Managing Director. Follow Rosetta on Twitter @Rosettalue or visit her blog at www.rosettacarringtonlue.com
25 Key Multi-Channel Customer Service Statistics – Business 2 Community
Customer Experience Excellence Best Practices
Delivering a high quality multi-channel customer service isn’t easy. Today’s consumer uses a variety of channels to make contact with a business, and as the number of touch-points have grown, so have their expectations for a consistent customer service – with minimal effort required.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/25-key-multi-channel-customer-service-statistics-0643317#y7vxZcIX6mbklEAs.99
See on www.business2community.com
Top 10 Tips for Social Media Customer Service Engagement – SoCoCare
Customer Experience Excellence Best Practices
One of the best Top 10 tips for social media customer service engagement I’ve seen thus far this year.
See on sococare.com
What’s the Difference Between A Customer Vision & Customer Mission?
As part of any customer service program, vision and mission statements are essential pieces of communication for both employees and customers. These statements not only communicate priorities and standards, but they also act as “guiding posts” for customer service operations and initiatives.
As these statements are often muddled and ignored by stakeholders, it’s important to craft each statement to serve its respective purpose. Here’s a bit about the difference between both statements and how you can craft each to drive your customer service operations.
A Customer Service Vision Statement should answer the question: “Where do we see our customer service operations in the next ten years?” A vision statement is the long-term “vision” for you operation—but it also needs to be concise, measurable and simple enough for every employee to understand. The best vision statements are memorable and empowering sound bites that encompass your organization’s customer service activities into one sentence or two. The statement should also speak to your customer’s voice. Customers should be able to positively relate their last experience with your organization to your vision statement.
A Customer Service Mission Statement should answer the question: “How are we going to reach our customer service vision in the next ten years?” This statement is a bit longer than the vision as it dives into your organization or department’s specific customer service operations. The most important aspect of your customer service vision is that your employees should be able to see how their roles fit into the process. This gives a purpose to day-to-day tasks—driving your organization’s customer service operations forward.
The most effective customer service vision statements will positively contribute to your organization’s customer service operations internally and externally —for years to come. What are some examples of the best customer service mission and vision statements you’ve seen?
Innovative Customer Service Leadership Strategies 