Dr. James E. Shippy Houston Community College Student Customer Services Dr. James E. Shippy Houston Community College Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education Conference San Antonio, Texas March 2014

Our Students Are: GLOBAL REGIONAL and from OUR COMMUNITY

Global

Regional

Our Community

Houston Community College Southwest 6

Purpose of Session A discussion of student customer services activities that personnel can champion at their colleges will be provided. Participants will be afforded the opportunity to develop customer service strategies. Strategies will be identified to assist participants in improving their student customer service efforts.

Outline of Presentation 10 customer service challenges. 5 customer service requests/demands. Student customer exercise. Examples of strategies to improve student customer services in testing centers. Conclusion.

10 Things Your Student Customers in Will Not Tell You, But I Will. I’m not a student to be confrontational and cause a scene. However, there are several things that bother me when I came to your testing center. If you pass this on to administrators, it couldn’t hurt and probably would help. Thank you.

Dear College Administrator: 1. Nobody greeted me when I walked into your registration area. No one said, “Hello.” No one asked if they could help me and no one said goodbye when I completed my registration. Well, at least I wasn’t any trouble. 2. Your staff looked tired. Yes, they did. Otherwise why wouldn’t they greet me with a big smile and some enthusiasm? It didn’t look like they even wanted me in the place.

Dear College Administrator: 3. I came to the registration area. I couldn’t believe no one said, “Thank you.” No one told me to enjoy the semester. I did get a lukewarm “Have a nice day.” But it was said so routinely, it didn’t mean anything to me. 4. When I phoned for some information, my call was treated as an annoyance. I sensed very little desire to be of any real help.

Dear College Administrator: 5. Whoever answered your phone never identified themselves. I happen to like to know who I’m talking with and when I don’t, it hurts any trust I might give your college. 6. During the phone call, the voice of whoever answered sounded aggressive and challenging. I didn’t feel very welcomed.

Dear College Administrator: 7. When I walked in, all your staff were talking and laughing amongst themselves and ignored me until I asked a question. 8. There were no bosses around. Remember the old saying “when the boss is away, the mice will play.” Guess what? They do!

Dear College Administrator: 9. When I told your staff about my registration concerns which was important to me, no one sympathized with me. It was ‘business as usual’ for them. Someone just said take a seat, someone will be with you in a few minutes. 10. Everyone looked angry. No one was smiling. Remember, sometimes it’s the things you ‘don’t do’ that make me want to attend another college.

Dear College Administrator: Thanks for listening. We all know these are basic common sense topics, but we also know that basic common sense isn't too common. Adopted from 2013 Nancy Friedman’s, “10 Things Your Customers Won’t Tell You, But We Will” http://www.nancyfriedman.com/10-things-your-customers-wont-tell-you-but-we-will/

FIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUESTS/DEMANDS 600 college students interviewed Five requests arose These should be accepted as benchmarks Requests/demands are fairly self-evident Students, as people who wish to be treated with respect and value.

Five Customer Service Requests/Demands 1. A positive reception and ongoing indications of appreciation. Students need to know the institution appreciates them and shows it wants them to enroll and stay at the college by making them feel welcomed and important. 2. Response and action. Students require their needs be responded to and action is taken to fix their problems in a manner that shows they are important.

Five Customer Service Requests/Demands 3. Me-centered service. Students expect that they will be treated the way they expect. After all, the world revolves around them. 4. Educational value and quality. Students want to know they are given the opportunity to learn and succeed in their courses.

Five Customer Service Request/Demands 5. Educational return on investment (ROI) Students expect their investment in college will pay off financially and socially. Reference: Raisman, N. (2002). “Embrace the oxymoron: customer service in higher education”. Palm Beach, Florida: LRP Publications

Customer Services Wishes Exercise List the 1-2 the most promising student customer service ideas.

Strategies to Improve Student Customer Services at Your College Greet students friendly and thank them for being here. Registration center environment: Sign in process Chairs comfortable Computer screens Air conditioning and heating : comfortable Lighting

Strategies to Improve Student Customer Services Greet students friendly and thank them for being here. Learn from our students. Get feedback!! Track your results. Know what's working and why. Be efficient. Make your processes take less time by improving procedures more efficient for staff and students. Be clear with employees about customer service expectations. Attitude: What are the attitudes of your staff? Develop customer service vision and goals.

Strategies to Integrate Customer Services in Your College A set of statements that articulate the college’s philosophy for effective customer services. Assess current level of customer services. Clarify roles and responsibility of faculty, staff, and administration in regards to customer relations. Build an institutional identity with expectations about customer services through human resource hiring and orientation with new personnel. Emphasize training to develop employees knowledge, skills, and attitudes in customer service. Communicate and give feedback how the institution is accomplishing its customer service objectives. Chitwood, J.P. (1996). Sensitizing community college personnel through customer service training.

Your Iceberg The iceberg represents you and the 10% above the water is your skill. The 90% below is your attitude and character. It’s what’s below the surface that impacts your customer service. An iceberg is an interesting picture of customer services than meets the eye. Most of the iceberg is below the surface of the water. So much of our influence comes from qualities we can’t see on the outside. It’s the stuff below the surface that contributes to our customer service traits such as, attitudes, behavior, trust, respect, etc. Adapted from Elmore, T. (2010). Habitudes: Images That Form Leadership Habits & Attitudes

Quality Customer Service Quality customer service begins when management’s philosophy and attitude are conveyed to the customer through the front line staff. Training and empowering your employees provides the core to developing a fully integrated customer service program.

Quality Customer Service Can customer service be taught? While specific techniques can be taught, customer service is more of a spirit where responsibility and care for the customer is reflected in the attitude of the employee. It is best encouraged through coaching, lead by example and cultivated through practice. Leadership is required to foster an atmosphere of customer service.

Conclusion 1 Does everyone around you have the energy and enthusiasm for quality student customer service? Or have their energy and enthusiasm dwindled? Are they still working because they love what they do or are they simply working because they haven’t been able to escape yet? Hire people with the characteristics of trust, respect, passion, sense of humor, positive attitude, vision, integrity, wisdom, and sensitivity.

Conclusion 2 *“It is an attitude. It is a culture. It is a collective way of seeing the world. "Wowing" customers is not the exception. It is the rule”. (Murphy, 2013). Our students, community, and employees expect quality service. Students are the ultimate reason we are in business. *Murphy, J. (2013). The How of Wow. simpletruths@newsletter.simpletruths.com

ATTITUDE =100 A 1 T 20 I 9 U 21 D 4 E 5 100 CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE!

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS THANK YOU!! HAVE SOME FUN TODAY AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE. Dr. James E. Shippy Dean of Student Development HCC Southwest College 713-718-7788 office 713-718-7888 fax james.shippy@hccs.edu