Announcing GL Infograph - How to Create Great Government Customer Service
GovLoop has partnered with RightNow to produce a variety of resources to help you and your organization excel in customer service. Excelling in customer service is no easy task, and with resources like the GovLoop/RightNow Excelling with Customer Service Guide, the Customer Service Hub and the infographic below, GovLoop and RightNow will help you master customer service. The infographic below shows the recipe for great customer service.
The recipe is like any cooking recipe you will read. Think about how you use a recipe in your personal life - I think back to my Grandmother, who was the greatest cook ever (hopefully my Mom doesn’t see this!), but reading her recipes has always given me a framework, not a clear path to learning how to make her Christmas cookies. My Grandmother would say things like “add a little bit of sugar,” or “a pinch of salt,” absolutely no use of conventional measurements. But that is why she was such a great cook, it came to her naturally and she taught others through her experience. Many of her recipes I have to ask my Mom what to do or what my Grandma may mean. My Mom has the answers because my Grandmother was the one walking her through how to cook. So in many ways, my Grandmother’s recipes are providing me a framework, not necessarily a solution. The same holds true with customer service, and all the resources GovLoop and RightNow have provided.
Customer service is just like cooking, customer service improves with patience, practice and passionate people leading the way. The key is there is no exact science and no specific way to master customer service. One of the best ways is to learn from others, share best practices, and most importantly, adapt all of your new lessons learned to your own environment. The Customer Service Infographic recipe provides you with the framework you need to excel with customer service. Take the recipe and tailor it to your needs, make it your own and always be sure to share back lessons with others in our community.
Comment
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Comment by Nancy Heltman on January 31, 2012 at 9:33am -
I couldn't disagree more Robert. Part of the reason government is looked upon so shabbily is because we have not made customer service paramount. It is not a TACTIC it is what has to drive us. If we aren't working for the taxpayer - the ultimate customer, and our co-workers who are also customers, we become bureaucrats using the most obnoxious definition possible - government for government's sake. Making sure we serve our constituents and that they know it has to be what drives us if we ever want taxpayers to appreciate what we do.
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Comment by Robert Bacal on January 11, 2012 at 6:47pm -
I am a bit dismayed, and certainly confused by both the post and the comments. The right questions aren't being addressed here.
First and foremost, customer service is a TACTIC, not an over-arching strategy, something that should be integrated in to large strategy to fulfil the goals, role and mission of the government agency. And strategy MUST be driven by one fundamental question: "Why are we doing this?"
Then comes the litany of questions that are never asked on govloop when it comes to customer service, citizen engagement, etc:
1) Given that there are costs to customer service, and taxpayers don't want to pay more for it, why up it?
2) What are the consequences of saying: "It's good enough, in this economic climate"?
3) How do the new tactics of customer service (e.g. technology, social media) provide value over and above existing methods already in place?
4) What do citizens want? Are they willing to pay more for the convenience of accessibility. Michael Fraser suggests we need to "use his/her preferred communication channel"? Why? What are the consequences in terms of mission and role if we don't do that? Why is it that such convenience has become the focal point for government customer service?
5) For each additional channel there is incurred cost, and the private sector is finding that new channels don't replace old channels, so you end up with poorer customer service by adding additional access channels, because the spreading of scarce resources is wider. So why the obsession?
After 25 years involvement in government customer service, (and as a citizen I want more of it), I have to say that as a taxpayer, I don't want to pay more. And, having worked with thousands of government employees delivering customer service from government position, my take is that "government customers" are never going to be happy with the many tasks government carries out, and there is virtually no strategic consequences to offering a reasonable level of service, but only that.
Government is not a business. It should not operate according to the role and mission of business, neither by the values inherent in business, because all that will do is increase the costs of government. But even so, I should note that businesses offer "just enough" customer service to fulfil the profit and business goals -- the strategic goals. Since the advent of social media, almost all customer satisfaction surveys have indicated LESS customer satisfaction.
I'd love for people to set me straight, but I fear there's some very smart people NOT thinking strategically at all.
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Comment by Meagan K. Warncke on January 10, 2012 at 3:37pm -
Awesome! Going to share this at my team meeting on Friday!
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Comment by Michael B Fraser on January 5, 2012 at 10:20am -
I would add other considerations: First, accessibility is fundamental. If the customer can't reach you with his/her preferred communications channel during the time when help is needed, then frustration will escalate. Second, skills of staff and their empowerment help keep costs low, turnover low, and customer satisfaction high. The processes must allow quick and seamless escalation if the problems can't be solved at the lower levels (Tier 1 for example of help desk support could be empowered to solve certain types of problems within certain ranges of decision authority). Finally, analysis of patterns of time and nature of problems/issues communicated inform training, staffing and other decisions. As part of this front line interaction with customers, sometimes new ideas for products and services can also be gleaned and then forwarded back to the organization. Your organization can also sponsor a user group or customer advisory board to also provide focused feedback on an on-going basis.
Having just multiple channels for communication is necessary but not sufficient without the business processes and people skills to enable great customer service.
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Comment by Angel Llerena on December 27, 2011 at 11:30pm -
This is definitely a recipe worth trying.
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Comment by JERRY SVOBODA JR. on December 14, 2011 at 9:44pm -
All I can say is pretty interesting!!!!!
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Comment by Preston G. Baker on November 9, 2011 at 11:00am -
As voiced by some others, these are the ingredients needed for great customer service, but the proportions certainly are not applied in equal measure. A greater portion of customer service staff will be needed than texting or there will be more emphasis on telephone contact than mobile. The recipe for each agency will vary based on customer base, resources and a variety of other factors that contribute to the delivery of great customer service.
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Comment by Geoffrey McLennan on November 8, 2011 at 2:44pm
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My approach is more pragmatic, a bit traditional, but should be added to the graphic: what are the customer's scope and schedule, and what is the service provider's budget?
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Comment by Susan Thomas on November 8, 2011 at 10:06am -
@Andrew, I agree with you. Responsiveness and issue resolution are key. Automated customer service systems and recorded suggestions to consult a website are sometimes used to obstruct and imply the company cannot be bothered with the customer's concern.
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Comment by Carol Davison on November 7, 2011 at 12:01pm
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I am a visionary and think strategically and systemically. I provide better results after I slept on first defining the performance gap so I am solving the appropraite problem and not only respodning. Yes I could provide cheap, speedy junk, but I haven't found that customers like it. I think we spend too much time providing cheap, speedy junk when thinking challenges through would produce better results.
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