chief customer service officer
National Customer Service Week: Day Two
A brief recap from yesterday’s great presentation from the General Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, Darryll Adams:
There were a lot of takeaways from Adams’ presentation, but perhaps the most valuable element he brought was opening up the floor for questions and comments. For City workers, having an opportunity to ask a question to an expert outside of the public sector is incredibly valuable. Granted, not everything relates between the two, but the fundamental principles of customer service are universal. Adams pointed out that his employees—no matter if they are on or off the clock—are instilled with a customer-centered attitude. Even when we are not at work our friends, family, and neighbors know that we are city employees, therefore, our actions and attitude should reflect that in our day-to-day lives.
For many departments, customer service is not the highest priority, and that’s why workshops like Darryll’s are important; they are geared towards training and development of the every day heroes. These City employees came out to discuss the importance of quality customer service because they believe in their calling. Getting employees invested in your mission is directly connected to your efficiency. In a cyclical way, when your employees are invested and believe in what they are doing they provide better services and the customer satisfaction rate increases dramatically.
In the private sector, companies compete for customers. The choice of service provider helps keep companies working to improve their services. The customers of the City have their families here. People who choose to work for local government have decided to participate in the civic responsibilities of this city. That is an admirable commitment. Our motivations in the public sector are driven, not by competition, but by the desire to help build a better city for all of us. We want our customers to keep coming back to Philadelphia. As a place to live, start a new business, or to visit and enjoy.
National Customer Service Week: Day One
Today I asked a group of city workers, “why treat citizens like customers?” The answers were on the right track, but my question drove at a larger philosophy. I’ve spoken before about translating private sector practices to the public sector, but today it’s no longer a question about translating practices. Being customer facing, friendly, or centered is no longer a matter of adaptation but one that should be built into your company or organization’s vision. We treat citizens like customers because they are customers. Our citizens, often unknowing, are giving us feedback about their customer experience and shaping our interactions with them.
This is just one of the topics we touched on during my lecture today for national customer service week. As the week continues Philly311 will invite customer service experts to speak about best practices and how they are making their mark in customer service. Our communications unit has organized a series of workshops and lectures featuring Darryll Adams, General Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, Stacey Mosley, Data Services Manager for the Office of Innovation and Technology, Layla El Tannir, Manager of Social Interactions, and Sarah Levitsky, Marketing & Special Events Manager, for Reading Terminal Market.
We look forward to hearing from all of the speaks.
Do you have any plans for customer service week? Share your plans with us!
Creating a Welcoming and Connected City: The story of Philly311’s Youth Engagement Program
A few weeks ago I posed a challenge to my Philly311 Customer Service Programs and Engagement Strategist, Amanda V. Wagner: Create a program that encourages young people to be civicly involved. Amanda leads the Philly311 Customer Service Programs and Strategies Unit which is responsible for Philly311’s customer service innovative programs and communications.
She was excited by the idea; however creating the program would be a challenge within itself. Daniel Ramos, Philly311’s Community Engagement Coordinator managed a similar program in the past with the 311 Youth Neighborhood Liaison Program. The experience that Daniel acquired during the 311 Youth Neighborhood Liaison Program would shape what recently became the Youth Engagement Program.
I strongly believe that by engaging young talent early we can help resolve future neighborhood problems, and encourage a younger generation to consider a career in government. At the core of Philly311’s philosophy is one simple idea. Philly311 connects citizens to city services and resources, and there is a plethora of city services available to people outside of what citizens see on a daily basis. We want to educate adults about those city related services, and especially kids who could benefit most from it.
For example, one of the organizations we have partnered with on the youth program, After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP), works to serve the 45,000 kids citywide that spend an average of “20-25 hours a week alone after school between 3pm and 6pm, the most dangerous time of day for youth according to the Police Department.” Organizations like ASAP are a huge resource to citizens and meet a significant need in the community.
The Philly311 Youth Engagement Program (Y.E.P) kicks off in July for five week sessions. Y.E.P’s programming will teach a group of early middle school kids how to interact with Philly311, including a discussion on our award winning mobile app, and how to engage with community resources. Y.E.P has partnered with several City of Philadelphia affiliated youth programs to provide a well-rounded roster of opportunities. Under the supervision of Amanda V. Wagner, and Director of Communications for Philly311 Customer Service, Gabriela Raczka, the program has created long lasting alliances with community partners.
I am grateful for a great Philly311 team that shares my passion for government customer service, and I’m looking forward to the feedback we’ll receive and the impact the program will create for the children of Philadelphia.
Measurement Matters: What does ROI look like in government?
When launching a large project, like the City of Philadelphia’s recent implementation of a new Customer Management Relationship (CRM) solution, you want to keep the final Return on Investment (ROI) in mind. Naturally, the purpose of any project is result and solution driven. For The City of Philadelphia, our goal was to provide the customers of Philadelphia with a robust 311 system that had the ability to store knowledge base, serve as a social contact point, and provide accurate and real-time service request information. In essence, the goal of the new CRM was to create a more responsive, informative, and communicative point of contact with the City and its customers. And though we have successfully implemented this system, the question of how government can track the success of profitless projects comes into question. It is easy to follow a dollar. Money leaves tracks, but how does local government leverage private practice metrics to better inform future projects and practices?
Non-profits use a different measure of value to reflect a more impact-centric formula to measuring ROI. Monetizable outcome and value have taken command of the popular imagination, yet motivation, beliefs, and ethical practice are equally important, and have defined value in the public sector. Regardless, the bottom line is investment creates more investment.
According to a 2008 report from the ROI Institute, and comprehensive measurement and evaluation process data from over 200 organizations, “Global trends in measurement and evaluation” indicate “increased focus is driven by clients and sponsors,” and “ROI is the fastest growing metric.” These two factors demonstrate that increased focus for an organization is directly impacted by the return. Impact can easily be interchanged with the public sector’s definition of value.
The relationship between return, and exterior financial support, points to an across the board paradigm shift between all sectors. Activity is no longer sufficient evidence to justify activity. Activity–whether it is a program, a project, an initiative, or the creation of a product–must be result based. In this there is a need to abandon ambiguous performance measurements, forge more social partnerships, and use efficient CRM systems that capture data. With this paradigm shift, we see government adapting to result based processes.
Dr. Jack Phillips and Patricia Pulliam Phillips note in their review, “Using ROI to Demonstrate HR Value in the Public Sector: A Review of Best Practices,” that ROI methodology is currently being used in the public sector in a multitude of ways by entities like the USA Veterans Administration, Australian Department of Defense, and U.S federal government agency. These entities are using ROI to “demonstrate program success and impact of training on educational programs,” “measure the impact of a new human resources information systems,” and to “measure the cost benefit of a master’s degree program conducted on site by a prestigious government.”
The emphasis on managing data isn’t simply a sporadic interest in government, or a trend that the public sector is suddenly jumping on board with. From a federal level the 2002 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) pinpointed five government wide goals that have influenced this contemporary line of thinking. The goals speak to the need for strategic management of human capital, competitive sourcing, improved financial performance, expanded e-government, and budget and performance integration. The PMA’s goals indicate a need to find a comprehensive formula for combining ROI metrics and analytics that support social impact, program evaluation, and quantitative data to measure both a monetary and a non-monetary return. The outcome of finding this formula would result in more than just saving a few bucks, and could potentially result in productivity and quality increases.
In an earlier document from the ROI Institute, Dr. Phillips provides an example of what this would look like:
“In a government setting, cost savings measures are available from every work group. For example, if a government agency implements a program to improve forms processing–a productivity measure is number of forms processed; the quality measure is the error rate on processing forms; a time measure is the time it takes to process the forms; and a cost measure is the cost of processing forms on a per-unit basis. Improvements in work unit performance in a government setting have many opportunities for program benefits that can be converted to monetary value.”
One of the ways that the Third Sector Organization (TSO), in the United Kingdom, has attempted to qualify social value of their sector is through developing a methodology: Social Return on Investment (SROI). The goal of SROI is to translate social, economic, and environmental benefits into monetary value. Yet the SROI isn’t necessarily applicable to individual programs and initiatives, and still prioritizes financial measurements over, say, what a social audit would result in: qualitative information combined with financial data that informs internal performance.
Ultimately, even with the strides that the TSO has made, there is still a global gap in knowledge when it comes to gauging impact on smaller scale profit-less items. A 2013, working paper from the Tellurid Science Research Center concluded on a similar note, stating:
“There is an extensive body of grey literature on impact measurement practice, however this has tended to be small-scale and boosterist in nature. The field has also suffered from a lack of theorisation of key concepts and critical appraisal of previous research, with a few exceptions. A number of studies are emerging which attempt to address this theoretical and empirical gap, but in general empirical research on impact measurement practice in the UK third sector, particularly which organizations and subsectors are undertaking impact measurement and the practices and tools they are using, is limited.”
Though there are limitations, the potential remains there for the public sector to find an all encompassing return model, however no formula or practice standard exists at the moment. BUT there is still hope! As the global-municipal conversation circulates around transparency policies, and open data regulations, a dialogue about best practices ignites, and that includes the question of how to apply ROI in the public sector.
Photo by: Tax Credit
Addressing Unexpected Problems on the Road to Progress
My team and I have been working on procuring and implementing a new city wide CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for nearly two years now. The system will improve the City’s ability to communicate with citizens and internal departments, as well as, create a social platform around 311. The CRM will facilitate collaborations between neighbors and stakeholders encourage them to share practices, and organize events to better their communities.
Like any project, we have experienced ups and downs. I would be lying if I said that the journey hasn’t had unanticipated hiccups. Inevitably with a project of this magnitude, there are bumps in the road. Some of these challenges are foreseeable, and accounted for in the very beginning, and others reveal themselves in the process.
In February 2014 we kicked off our CRM implementation and a new era of citizen engagement in Philadelphia. Before we were able to introduce the project throughout the City, we spent months planning, collecting data, and journey-mapping to ensure that the customers’ needs would be met and their expectations exceeded. Yet in that mission there were some obvious challenges. Anytime you, or a company, are implementing new technology, training your internal customers has to be a high priority. However, who needs to be trained, and when they need to be trained, often fluxes in relation to a number of factors. When schedules, resources, and strategies change in the process, you have to remember to be proactive and not reactive.
Embrace and face change. This isn’t to say that you should spend all your time planning for the unexpected, but to rely on your greater objective as a source to keep from getting discouraged. Part of being a project executive means establishing a strategy to confront the unexpected opposed to simply reacting to them as they come along. Don’t spend too much time planning for what cannot be planned.
The procurement and implementation journey has been long, but certainly worthwhile. With every mention of the new CRM I can’t help but to thank the people who have supported this process. A big thank you to Mayor Nutter, Executive Sponsor and City Managing Director Richard Negrin, Chief Innovation Officer Adel Ebeid, Philly311 staff and our internal and external partners.
Regardless of the inevitable challenges we’ve faced, the ultimate outcome: a transparent government that prioritizes its citizens, is what makes bumps in the road, simply that.
Stay tuned for news of our PhillyInnovates summit on February 18, 2015 with our partners at Salesforce. This will be a huge opportunity for the community to learn about the whos, whats, whys, and hows behind how the City of Philadelphia is connecting with its customers.
Photo by Pulpolux
10 Things Revolutionizing the Customer Experience in City Government in 2015
As the year inches towards a closing, I can’t help but to reflect on all that the City of Philadelphia has accomplished in the past year. With the implementation of a new customer relationship management system, new partnerships, and program expansion, it has been a long year. It has also been a year that has brought us at 311 closer to fully realizing our big goals. We are on the cusp of a movement. We are aggressively steering away from what traditional government has been, revamping our customer service strategy, and leading the nation with an innovative approach. By incorporating private sector methods, and platforms, to better our customer experience, we have been working to revolutionize the way government operates. Here are a few things that are changing city government, and in a very big way.
1. The Customer. Understanding that the citizen is our customer, and using those terms as synonyms, has reoriented our general framework. Our customers are unique because they are citizens! The citizens’ customer experience expands beyond providing city services. Every improvement we make for our customer affects their quality of life.
2. Executive sponsorship from Mayor Nutter and his cabinet. Having people who share your desire to create a city environment of customer excellence, has been imperative to the process.
3. Managing Director, Richard Negrin, follows suit in understanding and supporting our movement towards a progressive and transparent city government. Support from Mayor Nutter, Mayor Nutter’s cabinet, and the Managing Director, influences and facilitates change in every step of the journey. These folks are more than okaying improvements, they are standing by them, and pushing them to the next level.
4. The Mayor’s Goal Five: “Government Efficiency and Effectiveness.” A focus on efficiency and effectiveness is imperative for city government, and the Mayor’s goal five is a constant reminder of what type of experience we should be crafting for our customers. Keeping this in mind, sets a mindset of progress.
5. The Innovation Lab. The Innovation Lab encourages creativity and gives us a designated space for our citizens to generate new ideas. The Lab is another extension of how the city is bringing the customer further into the conversation, and also helping them lead the conversation.
6. The Neighborhood Liaison Program. NLP is just one example of programming that we have implemented to give our customs self sustainable tools. In the last year the program has doubled in size from 600 to 1,200 contributors. This increase demonstrates an increase in trust towards city government. Citizens are seeing results and relying on us more and more.
7. Having a Staff that Cares. Our staff at 311 is always there for the citizens, and realize that they are a direct reflection of the city they work for and love. Understanding our common objective, fosters a motivated and caring internal environment.
8. Customer Service Officers. 311 is no longer limited to City Hall. With people like Customer Service Officers, we are out in the communities and impacting people where it counts.
9. Partnering In and outside of the City. Especially with the implementation of the new customer management system, our partners have played a significant role in helping us move towards our goals this year.
10. Taking Notes from business and tech communities. Paying attention to what private sector companies are doing, and translating them into our own practices, sets us a head of the curve.
The list could easily go on, and will as 2015 unfolds. We are excited about the future and so are the citizens of Philadelphia. Tell me what’s changing your industry and what you look forward to in the New Year.
3 Key Drivers Behind Improving Excellence in Government Public Service
Private and public sectors are terms that are thrown around loosely no matter what end of the spectrum you or your business falls under. In government, it’s not unusual to hear people say, “Well if we were in the private sector…” In many instances the two seem like they are different worlds, but ultimately they are both used to describe parts of the economy, and what services each sector provides. Where the private sector part of the economy is concerned with private enterprises, the public sector is concerned with government services.
In customer service, it is imperative to know the difference between private and public sectors, because it helps define your customers’ needs. Though the terms are important, it’s not uncommon to see people use them incorrectly. But both the private sector and the public sector have distinct characteristic that distinguish them from each other.
The private sector is privately owned
The primary differences between the private and public sectors are who they employ and who they work for. The private sector is usually made up of privately owned organizations, like corporations. However, the private sector is not limited to big corporations and can include local business, credit unions, non-profit partnerships, and charities.
The public sector serves the public
The public sector mostly operates through organizations owned by the government, and as a result, public sector workers are paid by the government. These organizations can include: holding political office, the U.S Postal Service, and federal, state, or municipal governments. The public sector provides services that directly influence their governing province and/or country.
Private provides tangible products, while the public sector often outputs “anti-products.”
Ron Ross of The American Spectator put it nicely when he said, “The private sector’s products all around us — food, shelter, clothing, automobiles, home appliances, entertainment, for example. The public sector’s products include defense, the justice system, roads and highways, public schools, income redistribution (welfare), laws, and regulations…” It’s easy to recognize the private sector because of its products, yet it’s important not to overlook the significant services that the public sector provides.
We see that the private sector and public sector have their clear distinctions, yet they often find themselves in communication with each other. Customer service methods are a great way to share a dialoged between the two. Part of my job as the Chief Customer Service Officer is understanding that there are different approaches when it comes to customer service in both sectors. A customer is a customer regardless of the product, yet in the public sector, when your customer is the public, it is a little bit different. As a customer of Wal-Mart, if you are dissatisfied with the service you have experienced, you can go shop at Target. Most of the time, with public services, you can’t shop around. In the public sector we have long-term customers and our challenge is to provide them with the best customer service that we can.
Providing citizens with great customer service often means borrowing strategies from the private sector. Using social media as customer service tool, for example, is something that many successful businesses have done. We have implemented a similar strategy at the City of Philadelphia, but one that directly connects citizens with city services. Understanding what is being referenced, and being familiar with the distinctions, between private and public sectors, ultimately helps the public sector better meet citizens’ needs.
To learn about more differences between the private and public sector, check out Jan Mares’ “25 Differences Between Private Sector and Government Managers.”
Photo by Jacrot Christophe
Eliminating the Black Binders and Building Communities
Before the Neighborhood Liaison program I would attend community meeting after community meeting where I would run into the same types of members. Members who were frustrated, who’d been long established fixtures in their neighborhoods, and were seeking answers and change from the City. More than a few times I was presented with big black binders full of personal reports and general community issues. Sitting down, listening to citizen’s frustrations, and flipping through these binders, we became frustrated. Behind every concerned was a community member who was ready to transform their neighborhood into a better place, and we needed to make that a possibility.
At some point everyone in customer service experiences a situation when they have to ask themselves, “what can we do to better the service we are providing?” Sometimes the answer is not as hands-on as we would like it to be. I always think of the Maimonides quote, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed a man for a lifetime.” In this particular scenario the answer was to create a platform for change and provide those who wanted to create that change with the tools to do so. This is how the Neighborhood Liaison Program came to fruition.
The program was created to eliminate the middle man, and have stand-out community leaders bring their neighbors’ concerns straight to Philly311. In short, a Neighborhood Liaison is someone who records items discussed during community meetings and contacts Philly 311 for action and answers. Today we have a system in play that:`
- Provides assurance that an issue was addressed and action is being taken!
- Makes it easy for citizens to use Philly311.
- Centralizes all concerns, and issues of the community, by creating an account for any neighborhood to get action taken
- Provides access to status of issues or concerns at any time by checking the status of the issue through the Philly311 website or contacting or by contacting a local Neighborhood Liaison
- Builds the community by getting people involved
I’m happy to report that I have not been faced with a black binder since we launched the Neighborhood Liaison Program in 2010. The program is self-sustainable in many ways that other government services are not. After training, community members are equipped with the necessary tools to create the change they desire. I like to think that the amount of growth we have seen in the program is indicative of the its success. Last year alone the program doubled from 600 participants to over 1,200. People will fight for positive transformation and it is our job to fight along with them.
Photo by: jkfid’s
#Crisis: How Government Uses Social Media in Emergencies
Hurricane Sandy’s path of destruction affected 24 states, and cost the U.S a total of $65 billion in damages. Nicknamed “Superstorm Sandy,” the hurricane quickly became the most cataclysmic hurricane of 2012. In Philadelphia, public transportation was shut down, Philadelphia International airport suspended flights, and all major highways were closed during the hurricane.
Catastrophes like Hurricane Sandy pose a unique challenge for 311 centers. Every day we at Philly 311 have a duty to provide citizens with factual information and critical answers about City services, but when the City is facing a crisis, the importance of that information is magnified. Citizens look to the City for guidance, and we provide it. One of the most efficient ways to do this is through our social media channels. Here are a few tips I’ve learned through the experience.
Prepare Ahead of Time
Like the hurricane itself, the best way to handle an emergency is to prepare for it ahead of time. During Hurricane Sandy this meant, using our resources and collecting data before the panic, and staying up to date on the storm’s progress.
Have a Practice in Place
In order to be affective during a crisis you have to have a strategy in place. Social media strategies are not born over night, and they certainly are not created on-the-fly during emergencies. Strategies take time and practice to develop. Know your company or departments goals, identity, objectives, and customers before jumping into an all around high-risk situation.
Keep Your Message Consistent
When people are panicked there tends to be a lot of miscommunication and inaccurate information circulating. As a source of data and a connection to City services, we can’t risk pumping out false information. False information during times of crisis can lead to people getting hurt. Refrain from reposting information from unknown sources.
Stay Calm
It is easy to get overwhelmed during a crisis, especially when you have an influx of people contacting you and reporting the same issues. However panicking doesn’t help anyone. Find effective ways to save time, don’t let customers get lost in the shuffle, and treat everyone with care and consideration. Customer service should not get lost during these moments, it should shine!
Our social media platforms were crucial in handling Hurricane Sandy and helped extended the City’s reach. During the storm our followers nearly doubled, demonstrating how citizens were collecting information, and connecting with the City of Philadelphia. People use the internet to connect with social media not to search for information. We provide people with a single, real time, and responsive platform to receive the information that they needed most in order to guarantee their safety.
Photo by: MattysFlicks
Using Disney’s Customer Service Model in Government
It’s no surprise that customer service models differ from company to company. Depending on an organization’s mission, customer service models could focus on anything from low cost, high convenience to personalized care. Regardless of what your organization values, a customer service model should focus on customer satisfaction and how to continuously drive it. This means fine-tuning your touch points and developing strong internal policies and training programs. It also means evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of your customer.
As I looked around for a model that could provide more pieces for CXO’s to use in developing their customer service models, I stumbled across a post written on the Disney Institute Blog about a year ago called A Model for Customer Service. While Disney’s customer service model focuses on exceeding a customer’s expectations, there are six pieces of their quality service model that could be applied to any organization’s model—even if that organization is a government entity. Here they are:
“• Guestology – the study of our Guests and their wants and needs. Who are your customers? How can you anticipate their needs?
• Quality standards – Disney’s operational guidelines to providing an outstanding experience for the Guest. These questions may include, “Are the hours I operate ideal for my Guest?” or “What can I do to lessen or avoid overcrowding?”
• Cast (employees) – The people charged with delivering outstanding service. Are you properly aligning the talents of each individual with a role (job) that will utilize those gifts?
• Setting –The physical environment. Is it clear where your Guests should place their order? Is your entrance inviting? Would a Guest describe this area as clean?
• Process – The step-by-step procedure for accomplishing a task. If a Guest has a complaint, what is the appropriate channel to direct it?
• Integration – How do you make sure that each piece works seamlessly with the others to deliver the best possible experience for your Guest?”
Although these six pieces were written for Disney, their concept can be the applied across industries. I used similar concepts developing a model for the City of Philadelphia. Guestology had to do with understanding constituent wants and needs. Cast meant developing a great training program and hiring the right people.Process meant fine-tuning our operations and Service Level Agreements with other departments. And Integration meant coordinating internal and external processes to work together as well as communicating our feedback and data to our senior team for ideas on how we can improve.
Setting is the only piece that does not perfectly translate. While Philly311 does have a walk-in center, our most popular channel is still the telephone. For us, “setting” meant evolving our channels to work as efficiently as possible. It also meant developing new channels so that we could bring our “setting” to our customers. Some of this was accomplished by developing a community engagement program—attending community meetings and training citizens in our self-service portal. Another piece of our setting was a mobile strategy—bringing our same service plus new technology and information to every smart phone. In governmental customer service, developing the right setting was one of the most difficult and yet most appreciated pieces of our customer service model.
Could Disney’s customer service model work for your organization? Are there any other essential components to your model? Let me know in the comments.
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
Innovative Customer Service Leadership Strategies 