Creating Positive Customer Services in a Challenging Environment

1. Creating Positive Customer Services in a Challenging Environment presented by Stacy Brooks, The Detroit Public Library Steven K. Bowers, Detroit Area Library Network Laura Mancini, Oakland County Libraries Karen Tubolino, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center Library Cathy Wolford, Benson Ford Research Center 12 October 2006

3. “What is Customer Service?” • www.dictionary.com: • Customer: a “patron . . . a person one has to deal with” • Service: “an act of helpful activity . . . of service; useful . . . to supply with aid, information, or other incidental services” • Customer Service: “assistance and other resources that a company provides to the people who . . . use its products or services”

4. “It Starts With A Mission” • Must incorporate a service philosophy that can evolve naturally into library practice • Too often mission statements focus on staff goals and products: what the library will and will not do and will and will not provide • Must shift focus to customer interests

5. The Detroit Public Library enhances the quality of life for the diverse and dynamic community in the City of Detroit. The library enlightens and empowers its citizens to meet their lifelong learning needs through open and equitable access to information, technology, and cultural/educational programs.

6. “My Library” • How many of you use your library as a customer? • How many of you use a library other than the one you work at? • How can we understand what our customers are looking for in CS? What is it like to be our customers?

7. “Knowing our Challenging Environment” • What are customers expecting nowadays? • What services are other venues offering? • What about online services and communities?

8. “Tearin’ Down the Walls” • Letting go of library lingo • Identifying, hiring, and encouraging good frontline and behind the scenes staff • Noting barriers beyond our control • Empowering staff to make good customer service decisions

10. “The Yoga Principle” • Staff should have the flexibility to work with customers on an individual basis • Rules may have to be uncomfortably bent • You have to stretch to maintain healthy CS

11. “Back to Basics: The Reference Interview Model” • Make use of verbal and non-verbal skills • Acknowledge their question even if the solution is not immediate • Never promise something you cannot deliver • Although it may seem unimportant to you, it is important to them • Follow up and follow through “The user has the best understanding of what information is needed. You have the best understanding of where the information is.” Mary Ellen Bates

12. “ASAP Technique” • Acknowledge that you do understand • Sympathize with the customer • Accept responsibility for the situation • Promise to help • Outagamie Waupaca Library System Tip Sheet, February 1994

13. “The Good, The Bad, and The Unhappy” • “A happy user tells 2 people; an unhappy user tells 10 people. Do the math . . . ” Mary Ellen Bates • “4% of unhappy customers complain; 96% simply go away angry.” Albrecht & Zemke • “For every unsatisfied customer who complains, there are 26 other unhappy customers who say nothing; of those 26, 24 will not come back.” US Office of Consumer Affairs

14. “The Proactive Plan” • What are some particular problem situations that we can identify ahead of time and formulate solutions to? • How can we formulate strategies for dealing with each customer individually? • How can we understand customer perceptions and “misperceptions?”

15. “Taking Action” • We must acknowledge the ways our customers want to use the library • We must realize that customer needs and expectations change and evolve and our customer service standards must reflect this “In the end, what we talk about when we talk about customer service is survival.” Talley & Axelroth

16. Creating Positive Customer Services in a Challenging Environment is only possible if you take action. • Let’s keep the discussion going. What are your thoughts, reactions, and questions?