customer service
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.
Planning for the Future of Digital Services in Government
I was recently asked in an interview with Govloop, a government focused social network and online publication, about how the City of Philadelphia is engaging citizens through digital services. Government is changing, and the conversation is no longer about why we need digital services for engagement initiatives, but how we can use them. The key to engaging citizens through digital services relies on getting to know your audience, having a strategic plan, using a wide range of channels to communicate with your customers, and listening to feedback.
The design of our digital service platform is entirely informed by customers. Both our internal and external customers’ wants and needs determine the service we will provide. Having a clear definition of your stakeholders, and framing your relationship around the question of, “how can we make you successful,” is pivotal.
In government, we have to be cautious about spending; as a result, the voice of the community must define what we prioritize in service. Like I mentioned in my interview, “We look at everything in order to define what we want to design…you have to bring the customer’s feedback to the table, not just the internal people. You need everyone’s ideas, but specifically you need to know what your customers want and then design something around meeting their needs.”
Data trends become more crucial when determining citizen needs. As citizens adapt to mobile lives, we see a need to meet the citizens where they are. Forty percent of Philadelphians do not have access to Internet in their homes; however, most have access to mobile devices. Knowing that we have to meet our customers, social media becomes an influential tool. Through Philly311’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, we are able to connect with communities on an inherently social platform. Social media also offers us an opportunity to observe trends; what people are talking about, and what topics generate the most conversations. Being the fifth largest City in the US, means that individual communities have needs that are specific to that neighborhood. Monitoring social media is an excellent way to manage the various voices throughout the city.
In addition to social media, surveys are crucial in getting to know one’s audience. By taking surveys, we collect data that speaks specifically to issues. However, noticing trends, leveraging social media, and collecting data, means nothing if that information isn’t being put into action. Planning a communication strategy is imperative to creating a mainframe for the dialogue. Once you know what is working, creating a blueprint of how you got there, you can apply that template to other initiatives.
Find out more about what’s trending in government digital services, here: https://www.govloop.com/resources/future-digital-services-five-trends-transforming-government/
Getting to the Core: Where Competencies and Values Meet in Government Customer Service Operations
Every company, business, and government department should have a set of core values. These core values stand as an ethical code for your work place, and a set of values that your office culture evolves from. For me, and the City of Philadelphia, specifically the Office of the Managing Director, we aim for excellence, passion, engagement, integrity, and encourage strategic and smart risk taking. In this, core values are not merely an ideal, but a set of attitudes and behaviors to strive for. It is with our core values in mind that we assess what we need in terms of competencies.
The way you do your work is just as important as what you accomplish. That’s the importance of competencies. Competencies are realistic, observable behaviors that relate to your goals. In other words, they are the skills you need to fulfill the responsibilities of your job. Core competencies are branches of your organization’s core values in the sense that the strengths of those values are extended and, eventually, complemented by the technical skills and capabilities of your team. While core values are the backbone, creating a foundation for a company, core competencies are what determine the advantage. Having a clear idea of what your company’s core competencies are, result in going above and beyond average profits.
Adapting this model–one that’s often applied to the world of finance and product based corporations–to customer service, leaves us with a unique challenge. When we adjust our concept of profit to mean customer/citizen satisfaction, the elements that contribute to that satisfaction become our core competencies. In a 311 government contact center, excellent customer satisfaction is what brings us to that number. We must ask, on behalf of our external customers:
- What does the citizen need?
- How can we assist in meeting those needs?
- How can we assist in meeting those needs more effectively and efficiently?
These questions, in sum, point to what the U.S Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has defined as customer service core competencies; a commitment “to satisfying internal and external customers.” In appropriating HHS’s definition, we discover the cyclical nature of the core competencies and core value relationship within the City of Philadelphia. Our values become our key behaviors in customer service that, in return, establish the City of Philadelphia Philly311’s effectiveness which generates an above average service level. For example, when you have a call center agents driving their work with values like excellence, passion, engagement, and integrity, City of Philadelphia Philly311’s overall service reflects that.
#1 Key to Government Customer Service: Hiring People with Passion
I’m excited to introduce our new series from Philly311 TV, “Day in the Life.” It has always been a priority for us to communicate our core values, and initiatives through creative and effective means. What we do at the City matters. Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, citizens don’t get to choose their city services, so it is the job of those of us who work in government to ensure the best possible experience. In an effort to realize our goal, we look for passion in our employees. It is easy to find people who are qualified, have the skill sets, and can take on the necessary responsibilities included in a role. However, it is that extra something, a genuine passion for the work, that truly delineates a person in their field.
Daniel Ramos has always been an employee with a ton of passion for what he does. As the Community Engagement Coordinator for Philly311, responsible for connecting the 311 service and the Neighborhood Liaison Program to community stakeholders, Daniel is passionate about working in the community. Being from a neighborhood that continues to face adversity, Daniel knows what people in the community need, and actively works towards connecting citizens to city resources.
Talk the Talk: Customer Service Terms To Know
In my last blog post I wrote about the differences between private sectors and public sectors. It may seem like basic information, or at least something that Google could solve, but you would be surprised how often undefined terminology gets the better of people in the work place. We’ve all been in similar circumstances; perhaps your boss asks you to complete a task, but includes a phrase or two that you are unfamiliar with. A lot of the times, people are afraid to ask for the definition of a word, which can result in general misunderstandings and unfinished tasks. I’ve personally faced situations like these.
As a member and founder of several initiatives and programs, I’ve run into this problem. I’ve experienced moments in meetings when a group has had to stop and clarify. Language consistency is a critical element of working efficiently and effectively. Below are a few terms that have become part of my every day as a Chief Customer Service Officer.
Citizen Engagement
According to the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies, “Citizen engagement in public administration implies the involvement of citizens in decision-making process of the State through measures and/or institutional arrangements – so as to increase their influence on public policies and programmes ensuring a more positive impact on their social and economic lives.” Citizen engagement is what we rely on when it comes to operations and it is reflected in the City of Philadelphia’s many initiatives, like the Citizen Engagement Academy, Neighborhood Liaison Program, and the Youth Neighborhood Liaison Program.
City Services
City services, also known as municipal services, are services that city government offers and provides, like trash clean up or graffiti removal.
Customer
Within the call center community, “customer” and “citizen” are often synonymous. Our customers, those who are calling for city information and city services, are citizens.
Customer Experience
Customer experience is frequently lumped in with customer service; (though it is the foundation of it) customer experience is the long-game. Customer experience is the total experience, and every interaction the customer has with the supplier. As a city contact center, customer experience becomes all encompassing. The citizen’s experience often goes hand in hand with their experience with all city services and not just the call center itself.
CRM
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management: a system that manages customer interactions. The system tracks, manages, records, and stores pertinent data. For a contact center, a high functioning CRM is imperative for maintaining internal and external customer relations.
Emergency
As a non-emergency contact center, knowing when to call 911, opposed to 311, is important. An emergency is classified by something that needs immediate attention, and something that may be dangerous or life-threatening.
External Customer
For the private sector, external customers are those that sign the check, so to say, but for the public sector these are our citizens.
Internal Customer
Internal customers are on the inside. They are your employees, stakeholders, and people who are directly connected with the organization. In many ways internal customers differ from external customers. Both internal and external customers should receive equal attention for the best overall outcome.
Service Requests
Service requests are requests from customers asking for specific services to be completed. A good example of a service request is a request to clean up a vacant lot. A citizen calls in, provides the location of a dirty vacant lot, an agent then puts in a service request with the Community Life Improvement Program, (CLIP) and the lot is cleaned within a timely manner.
Do you have any tips about language consistency? Are there any terms that confuse you? Leave a comment and let me know!
Photo by Martin Cathrae
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
Call for Customer Service Speakers!
Mark your calendars! Philly311 will be hosting a customer service focused speaking series and would like YOU to participate in it.
Event: The 311 Customer Service Winter Series. The series will feature and be hosted by the City of Philadelphia’s Chief Customer Service officer, Rosetta Carrington Lue. The series spans over a six week period and will include panel discussions and key speakers.
Who: The 311 Customer Service Winter Series is looking for speakers who have a background in customer service, customer experience, or speakers who have participated in the creation or implementation of customer relationship systems.
Date: February 11, 2015 – March 18, 2015
Location: Philadelphia, PA (TBA)
Topics: The series will focus on customer service, customer experience, and how technology is altering internal and external customer relations.
If you fit the above description, and would like to contribute to the series, please contact Amanda Wagner.
Stay tuned-in for more updates!
Event Contact:
Amanda V. Wagner: amanda.v.wagner@phila.gov
Streamlining Customer Information through Video
As we begin to release new episodes of Philly311 TV, I thought I’d write a post about the importance of these videos from a customer service standpoint.
Philly311 TV is the digital engagement effort of the Philadelphia city government’s non-emergency contact center. I serve as the host of the show and interview a diverse range of employees throughout city government. We created the show as part of our multi-channel engagement strategy to provide customers with more information and access to our organization.
After lessons learned from Season 1 (filming 30-minute, talk-show formatted episodes) we decided to move to a more flexible format that would provide more value to our customers. In Season 2, we still film casual conversations in a studio setting, however, we cut these conversations into vignettes in post-production to streamline information for our customers.
With these vignettes, we can provide quick, immediate answers to some of our customers most frequent questions. We can use these videos to populate our social media streams, meaning that customers can see answers to their questions on their newsfeeds before they even ask.
Here’s a great example:
Another benefit to using video to answer customer questions is that it humanizes your organization. If customers can see that real people, who care, are behind your organization, they will be more likely to engage. It’s always better to have an explanation come from a person (or a video of a person) than from a word document, FAQ list, or an instruction manual.
Providing quick, engaging video answers to our customers has been a relatively easy process, and could be for your organization too. What are your thoughts on the using video for customer engagement?
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
5 Ways Government Can Improve Its Customer Service Excellence Brand
While government has started to incorporate more and more private sector strategies to improve operations, one effort where government is lacking is branding. Where private-sector companies are able to build brands that customers love and are enthusiastic about, governments tends to stray away from any substantial efforts to build a lovable brand.
While government may never be able to build a Starbucks-esque brand (where customers are constantly “wowed” and pass this wow along via word of mouth and social media) government can make small changes to the way it interacts with its customers to create a more open, pleasant, and collaborative experience for customers.
I recently read an article called “5 Lessons from Companies with Adoring Customers” by Hannah Johnson on the Get Satisfaction blog. The lessons outlined were incredibly helpful and offered great insight for how small changes can improve an organization’s brand.
Let’s take these lessons and adopt them for government.
1. Provide Customers Access to Decision-Makers when they have a Gripe
The words “open” and “accessible” are now synonymous with any progressive government. While some of this focus is on releasing data, constituents also want access to the top officials making decisions. Thankfully, there’s social media. Social media has leveled the playing field in terms of constituent accessibility. Now, all it takes to reach top officials is a tweet or a comment on Facebook. And you would be surprised at how impactful a genuine reply or even a retweet can be.
2. Don’t Just Innovate for Them, Innovate with Them
Social media and other technologies have also given governments the ability to brainstorm with customers and get their feedback. When designing a process, program, or event, why not post something on social media asking for input? Also, Tweet Chats (scheduled discussions on Twitter) sponsored by governments are a great way to engage and discuss new ideas with customers.
3. Identify, Incentivize, and Empower Customers
Governments should take this cue from the private sector and reward top customers. This does not mean that governments need to buy customers expensive gifts, but customers who are top proponents of services or programs should gain recognition or meetings with top officials. Another way to incentivize customers is through gamification. Gamify civic engagement by giving points for participation in programs or community events. You can also designate great customers as “Super Users” or other honorary names.
4. Treat Customers like Humans
Government may be limited by budgetary or regulatory constraints in terms of marketing messaging. However, customers need clear information from their government. In some cases, there’s not a lot of room for creative marketing promotions or messaging, as information about resources and other public services should not be misconstrued. Social media, however, allows government to step away from entirely robotic responses. Through the use of social media, government can have real, human conversations with customers, rather than only pushing out information. Human interactions can improve the way customers perceive government as a whole.
5. Allow Customers to Help Themselves
Governments are known for being overly bureaucratic. Now more than ever, customer want information, answers, and resolutions instantaneously. A way to appease the customers is to make many processes self-service. Let customers get the information they want, as soon as they want. If your current system don’t allow for the creation of self-service portals, create informational blog posts, or even a wiki so that customers don’t have to wait in a queue to get an answer they could find faster themselves. Empower your customers. They’ll appreciate you for it!
Can you think of any other ways to improve your local government’s customer service brand?
The Nine Tips for Offering Exceptional Customer Service on Social Media in Government
I recently read an article in Forbes by Tracy Foster on “The Nine Tips for Offering Exceptional Customer Service.” Every organization should build its social customer service strategy based this list as it really speaks to our current social climate. Customers want to engage with organizations that offer fast, effective, human interactions. Government organizations are no different. Customers want to engage with government on their terms, via social networks, usually through smartphones. Governments that are taking a proactive social approach are engaging more constituents in a more meaningful way. That’s why I adopted Tracy’s lists of “The Nine Tips for Offering Exceptional Customer Service on Social Media in Government.” With this, I explain how Tracy’s tips can relate to a government agency.
- Be fast. Constituents have grown used to government agencies taking too long to respond to inquires. Social media has given agencies a gift by empowering employees to respond to concerns instantaneously. This is especially true in times of extreme weather or other stressful events. Social media allows agencies to update customers with valuable information in real-time.
- Be thoughtful. Social media has also given agencies a chance to humanize government. Don’t be afraid to show a little personality. Show excitement when an event or story warrants it. If your agency might lose followers if it sounds too much like a robot, constantly pushing out information without real interaction.
- Always respond to problems. Social media is a public platform. That means that customer concerns are aired to the public and, more importantly, the choice to ignore those concerns is public too. While certain situations require certain levels of sensitivity, as a rule, your organization should provide as much information to the customer as possible.
- Send customers to where you want them to be. (Tracy’s explanation works perfectly for government agencies) If it’s an issue that can’t be solved in 140 characters, give customers a direct email address, and be sure that they are responded to as quickly as they would be on social media. If it’s a press inquiry, direct them immediately to the person who manages public relations.
- Share success stories. As a government agency, someone is always telling your story; social media has given you the tools to tell your story too. Blog about your accomplishments. Government is too often reacting to stories when it can be proactively pushing stories out through blogs and other low-cost platforms.
- Cultivate brand advocates. Whether your organization is in government or not, it should reward great customers. While private companies might have the money to give away ipads and other intriguing gifts, government has the resources to reward customers with facetime with top officials. Have a great customer who is always speaking highly of your organization? Schedule a meeting with the mayor or top official in your agency. This kind of reward is more valuable than you think.
- Double-check spelling and grammar. Enough sed. (Just kidding.)
- Be proactive in sharing product and company updates. Government resources are some of the least known-about products out there. For whatever reason, people are not aware of the services that could impact their lives. This tip goes along with #5, to proactively push-out your story and inform customers about the services you offer.
- Go beyond the product. Your organization’s social media presence has the ability to be a resource in and of itself. With retweets, re-posts, and other sharing capabilities, your organization can constantly provide customers with valuable videos, articles, resources, pictures.
Do you have any other social media tips for government agency? Let me know in the comments! And thank you, Tracy, for the great article!
Innovative Customer Service Leadership Strategies 