Making the difference: Customer service in today’s university Sarah Willard 1 May 2008
Running order Introductions Objectives Customer service definitions Exercise one Examples of good/bad service Methods of evaluating service Exercise 3 Final thoughts
Exercise one Who are our customers? What do they expect from the university?
Exercise two Examples of good and bad service you have received What went wrong? How was it resolved?
Benefits of customer service Increased student and staff retention rates Reduced running costs due to efficiency Reduced marketing costs Stronger position in a competitive marketplace Improved internal communication Improved staff relations and morale
Customer service What makes excellent customer service? Satisfying their needs, make them feel special and important,memorable experience, respect, exceed expectations, put them first, responding, professional, welcoming, caring, personable, proactive ………
Monitoring and evaluating customer service How are we measured? Market research, Observation, Interviews, Mystery shopping, Satisfaction surveys, National student survey, Student Admissions Improvement Process review
SERVQUAL A method to evaluate actual performance and perceptions is SERVQUAL. It is applied to staff and customers and helps to identify service delivery gaps. The following aspects are ranked Tangible services Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy
SERVQUAL Exercise three 15 minutes for exercise 20 minutes to feedback One group of students and one group of staff Scores for desired service Scores for perception of service 1 is low and 10 is high
Improving performance Personal communications Opportunities for feedback Differentiate between different customers Added value schemes Learn from experience Measure standards of service Consider the problems that prevent good service Internal and external benchmarking