Rewarding Good Customer Service Makes Good Sense

Rewards are very important to developing a culture of good customer service. Simply put, people need to know there is a value in changing and adapting to a real student first culture. So any cultural change needs to be reinforced with rewards. They tell people they are doing the right thing and make people feel good when they do them.

Rewards can be as simple as “great job” as profound as a “Thank you” or as materialistic as you wish to be. But they should almost always be contemporaneous with the event. Timing is important.

There is little as powerful as someone saying “well done” when someone does something that delivered good customer service. If for example, you observe an employee walking a student from one office to another to get her the service and help she needs at the correct office, That’s when you should tell the walker “well done. That was just great.” That is a reward that comes right at the event and is strong and positive. The walker gets the satisfaction of someone having observed and giving a reward. And that’ll come with a smile so it is a double reward. An “attagirl”is always a good thing to give. It recognizes the person, the event and good customer service. When someone provides good customer service, recognize and reward.

One of the strongest rewards a manager can give is a simple, powerful “thank you.”  People in general seek both attention and recognition. Little provides both as well as a thank you from the boss. If a supervisor sees someone doing anything to help another, student or colleague, the supervisor should go up to the provider and say something like “I just want to say thank you Elizabeth for the great way you helped that student. That was just wonderful. Thank you.” That is recognition and reinforcement of the value of good service to the culture of the school that will be remembered for quite a while. It also reinforced the value of the service provided and odds are very good, it will be given to numerous others in the future. Thank you is just such a powerful communication and reward.

Another very strong reinforcement that good service is valued is through communicating a bit more formally with the person. Supervisors and administrators should have small engraved single fold cards like those used to write thank you’s for gifts. The cards should be engraved on a good stock too since the card will then state a value to the recipient if it seems “expensive” even though these cards really are not. A person should take one out and write a note to someone who has provided some good customer service to another at the school, especially students. A short note stating the service provided along with an appreciation for the person plus a written thank you is mailed to the person’s home. Getting it at home makes the thank you even more effective. This is because few things from the school, especially the administrators are mailed home. Moreover it says you have taken the time and effort to write it by hand and mail it rather than the usual email which just does not have the impact of a note mailed home.  Furthermore, it can be, and will be shown to everyone in the house and even beyond.

There can also be formal programs set up to recognize and reward customer service all year long with a big payoff at the end.  At one school I was Chancellor of, I created a system called the bucks. We printed up college dollars in various point denominations. One of them is above. We customized them to have photos of people and places at the school on the point bills. Senior administrators (who could not get bucks) had the bucks to give out on the spot. When someone provided good customer service they were given a buck with as point domination that seemed appropriate. The bucks were an immediate reward.

We also had a form that could be used by colleagues to nominate another colleague for bucks for good service. They could also indicate the level of the service and what demonization they felt could be appropriate. The nominations went to the presidents’ office for review. Then at the monthly all-college update meetings where we not only told the campus what was going on and what would be going on, we gave out the bucks from colleagues. The minor ceremony was greatly anticipated as we read the name of the recipient, the nominee and the rational and gave out the appropriate bucks. The winners were also noted in an email that went out to the entire college following the monthly all-college meeting. People put great stock in the bucks and even had a competition going to compare total point totals. Others taped them across the wall or tacked them up in their offices or work area. And since the bucks were for good customer service to students (an automatic ten bucks) and to colleagues (one to five bucks) we were constantly rewarding good service and making that part of the culture.

The bucks would be used in an auction of things like cameras, palm pilots, and a lap top as the bigger prizes and lots of smaller goods as well as services like hotel weekends and dinners. Some would be donated others we bought for the auction which took place the afternoon of graduation.  We set aside a fund of two thousand dollars or a dollar a student for the event whichever number would be greater. If there were more than 2000 student retained into the week just before graduation, we would put more money into the fund. This also put the focus on retention as a value for the school and the people who worked there. The only money that could be used to bid on the auction items were the bucks. So the more bucks a person earned, the more he or she would have to bid for items for services at the auction. This of course encouraged people to provide good customer service so they could get more bucks to buy more things through bidding. 

The good service bucks provided immediate rewards when they would be given to a person immediately upon providing good service. They also became part of the culture as they were given out every week and the winners of the bucks were recognized. The bucks also grew a culture that saw that providing good customer service as a goal of the school had and would support all year culminating in some really good rewards. It imbedded good customer service as part of the culture of the college and even got more people to attend graduation to be there for the auction that immediately followed.

IF THIS ARTICLE MAKES SENSE TO YOU, YOU WILL WANT TO OBTAIN A COPY OF THE BEST-SELLING NEW BOOK ON RETENTION AND ACADEMIC CUSTOMER SERVICE THE POWER OF RETENTION: MORE CUSTOMER SERVICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION  by clicking here

N. Raisman & Associates is the leader in increasing student retention, enrollment and revenue through workshops, presentations, research, training and academic customer service solutions for colleges, universities and career colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as businesses that work with them 

We increase your success

CALL OR EMAIL TODAY
www.GreatServiceMatters.com 

                                             info@GreatServiceMatters.com 

413.219.6939 

 

Learn from Customer Service and Hospitality Failures

I am reading a book To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure by Henry Petroski an engineering prof at Duke. He writes about what we can learn from failure and when it comes to engineering, it is a great deal. When it comes to improving customer service and hospitality we can learn a great deal from failure too. Now he writes about how bridges fail quite a b it but if we but realize that customer service and hospitality are "ridges to our students" his message comes through clearly.

A college president called me about having a workshop at his school. They are looking at a potential large enrollment drop following the end of the first semester. He said he wanted me to only focus on the positive aspects of the school’s customer service. “I always believe in focusing on the good. What we do well. Use that as a basis to build.”

“Ahhh” I replied. “There is part of your problem right there. You need to focus on the negatives. On what students are complaining about. We need to set up a system that encourages students to complain.”

He was aghast. “You want us to get our students to complain? But that will just encourage them to be unhappy and focus on the negatives. Besides, I don’t need more problems. I want fewer of them.”

“Exactly the reason to elicit as many complaints as you can.” I replied. “You cannot fix a problem until you know about it. If you aren’t aware of issues, they sit there, fester, grow and then explode in attrition rates. You need to get as many complaints as you can get. Then check into them.”

“To see if they are valid before we go ahead and fix the issue” the president asserted quite presidentially. “No sense putting time and money into an issue if it’s not a real problem. I mean just because a student says something is so doesn’t make it so”

“NO.” I empathetically responded. “If a student thinks it is a problem, it is. If it is only a problem for that student, it is still a problem even if only for that student. Keep in mind that if that student is unhappy, has a complaint. He or she may well get to the point of saying goodbye. That’s how attrition rates get up there. Individual students decide to leave.”

“But if I send a lot of time on one student, I’m not sure that’s an efficient use of resources. Shouldn’t we do a survey or something and see how a larger group of students feel about things. What if that student is wrong and a change makes others unhappy?”

“Okay, first off, if one student complains about something, it is likely that others feel the same way. They just haven’t said anything. And at the very least, they have heard of the problem and will give it credence since it came from a fellow student. Complaints are Malthusian after all. The complainer tells another and another and the “anothers” tell yet others and so on. So they need to be dealt with.” Then I added “But first you need to develop a way to flush out the complaints”

“I see. We have a student satisfaction survey we’ve used before. Our VP of Students developed it with her staff. We generally do well on it so maybe there just aren’t that many issues out there.”

“Well, maybe there aren’t. Surveys can be used as a starting point but they need to be developed by someone who does not have a vested interest in the answers. Your student services group may be the best in the country but I hope you can see that they could have a vested interest in the results. They could have, subconsciously of course, devised items, topics and issues that would lead to certain types of responses. You need someone who is detached from the results. Who is interested only in getting valid results. I can make some recommendations of good people if you like.” Didn’t want him to think I was saying this simply to try and get some more work.

We discussed some consultants and then went on to some other methods of gathering complaints such as comment cards like the Applegrams at Lansing (MI) Community College, or an email address set up just for complaints, or even better, a blog to discuss issues students have. I mentioned that in any of these or other methods, they should not be anonymous if at all possible.

“But will students give their names?” he questioned.

“Some will, some won’t but if you can get a name, it is always better. First you set up a community. Second, names provide a level of integrity to the issue. And third, you have someone to get back to with a solution or a description of the review and resolution of the issue.” I let the pause of silence by note taking go by and continued.

“You’ll want to always acknowledge the complaint. Best to do so in a way that can let others know of it so they can join into the discussion. But also to let them know you are taking the issues seriously.” I added.

“But that will broadcast any problems. That’ll tell everyone we have issues. Won’t that just multiply the problems and hurt our image.”

“Only if you don’t respond to and don’t resolve the problems. If the school accepts it’s not yet perfect and let’s students know what they already know, you will get honesty points. Then when you resolve the complaint and publicly let everyone know you did and what you did, that makes the school a hero.” His “ahh” let me know to go on.

“The research is clear that when a business, in this case a school owns up to an issue and solves it to the customer’s benefit, you turn a complainer into a supporter. Maybe even an advocate. Let the issue stay out there and fester and you could create a group of insurgents dedicated to hurting the school by exploding their complaints to everyone they can reach.”

I did do the workshop and stressed the positive techniques of providing good customer service ad hospitality but I did not leave out the failures we so often have in higher education. After all we need to learn  from them.

UMass Dartmouth invited Dr. Neal Raisman to campus to present on "Service Excellence in Higher Ed"  as a catalyst event used to kick off a service excellence program.  Dr. Neal Raisman presents a very powerful but simple message about the impact that customer service can have on retention and the overall success of the university.  Participants embraced his philosophy as was noted with heads nods and hallway conversations after the session.  Not only did he have data to back up what he was saying, but Dr. Raisman spoke of specific examples based on his own personal experience working at a college as  Dean and President.  Our Leadership Team welcomed the "8 Rules of Customer Service", showing their eagerness to go to the next step in rolling Raisman's message out.  We could not have been more pleased with his eye-opening presentation. Sheila Whitaker UMass-Dartmouth

The University of Toledo was able to really get its customer excellence focused after Dr. Raisman and his team performed a full campus service excellence audit of the University. Dr. Raisman’s team came on campus for a week and identified every area we could improve and where we are doing well. The extensive and detailed report will form a blueprint for greater customer service excellence at the University that will make us an even better place for students to attend, study and succeed. Thank you, Dr. Raisman, for doing a great job. We unreservedly recommend his customer service audits to any school looking to improve customer service, retention and graduation rates.    Iaon Duca, University of Toledo

The report generated from the full campus customer service audit that N.Raisman & Associates did for our college provided information from an external reviewer that raised awareness toward customer service and front end processes.  From this audit and report, Broward College has included in its strategic plan strategies that include process mapping.  Since financial aid was designed as the department with the most customer service challenges that department has undergone process mapping related to how these process serve or do not serve students optimally.  It has been transformational and has prompted a process remap of how aid is processed for new and continuing students.                            Angelia Millender, Broward College (FL)

                                                 

IF THIS ARTICLE MAKES SENSE TO YOU, YOU WILL WANT TO OBTAIN A COPY OF THE BEST-SELLING NEW BOOK ON RETENTION AND ACADEMIC CUSTOMER SERVICE THE POWER OF RETENTION: MORE CUSTOMER SERVICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION  by clicking here

N. Raisman & Associates is the leader in increasing student retention, enrollment and revenue through workshops, presentations, research, training and academic customer service solutions for colleges, universities and career colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as businesses that work with them 

We increase your success

CALL OR EMAIL TODAY

www.GreatServiceMatters.com 

                                             info@GreatServiceMatters.com 

413.219.6939

 

Star Facuty Do not Necessarily Equal Star Customer Service or Hospitality

Colleges and universities are on a tear right now trying to attract star faculty to the campus so they can brag about their celebrity professors. Many time the university will set up a special chair and allow the new start to spend most of his or her time doing research and not teaching., After all who would want to waste celebrity faculty on students?

This is a bad idea. It may bring in some more star power and even bring in some more money from research grants or donors to create a chair to attract the celebrity but it is like what can happen at a good restaurant when it hires a celebrity chef. It all become about the star and not the entire team. This can be very demoralizing and will disrupt the morale which is so important to providing academic service excellence to students.

When a restaurant hires a celebrity chef it can attract more diners to the place but the whole restaurant ends up being about the chef not the food itself and certainly not the service.  In fact, the new celebrity chef is usually so focused on bringing even more fame to him or herself that the entire restaurant starts to feel the pressure to build the star’s brand. The kitchen staff might at first be proud that they are now working under a renown chef and that can bring some immediate provide but after a while it usually turns out that the hew star is focusing on burnishing his own glow more than that of the whole kitchen team and does not share the glory very well. The team begins to become demoralized and realize that there is no longer a real team just a star and the revolving people whi are there to make him shine.

The kitchen and  service staff often feel the breakdown in the team effort and since they area at the bottom of the ladder they begin to resent the new star. The same can happen in an academic department. A new star is brought in with a very reduced teaching load if any at all and all the other members of the team feel diminished. The courses need to be taught so they either have to pick them up or more adjuncts (read academic indentured servitude) need to be hired so the new star can spend their time researching and not teaching. The basic work has to get done after all.

I am aware of a school which brought in a star poet and scholar of contemporary poetry and gave him a one course (actually a graduate seminar) to teach a year. And he was given a chair so he was sure to have a pile of money to sit on quite comfortably. At first the department was proud to have this poet and scholar.  But then others who had been working at the university for years and not gained much recognition even though they too had written books and even publishes some poetry and fiction began to feel as if they had been overlooked.  They had reduced teaching loads (after al who but community college, lower level professors and adjuncts who work for pennies on the hour teachers do not have reduced teaching loads it seems).

The morale in the department began to drop and it affected the students who could feel and even hear the tensions between the new start status professor and the faculty in the classroom. The halls became abuzz with comments and complaints and the new start just kept to herself anyhow. Within two years the star moved on to another school but the damage was done, The department felt that they had been slighted especially when the celebrity moved on to an even more prestigious school.
 

The department morale never quite recovered from the celebrity experience because it left most of the professors feeling under-appreciated.  They also saw even more that the reward for becoming a celebrity faculty was to teach even less and that became a greater goal of the faculty. The less one taught; the more important one was. Teaching was even more denigrated in that department to the point that if a faculty member was “stuck” with undergraduate courses he or she felt as if he had been saddled with the weight of the academic world.

Undergraduate students the bread and butter and real reason why colleges exist were the big losers in all of this. They ended up with faculty who did not want to teach them. They were led to faculty whose morale had been brought low. They were just not provided the academic service excellence they had paid for. And interestingly enough, retention in this department dropped off for all these reasons. Students felt, rightly so that the faculty did not care and as we know students place being cared for at the top oif the taxonomy when making decisions to stay or go.

Hiring ad staffing are such major decisions that departments and colleges fail at so often. They think of their prestige and themselves rather than what is best for the students. For the cost of the celebrity faculty member they hired they could have actually hired two full time faculty who may have actually wanted to teach. They could have added to their full time faculty rather than go for the name brand that caused the department years of problems.

One of the best ways to assure that there will be academic service excellence in the classroom is to have a solid core of full time tenure track faculty who care about teaching. But I fear that universities and college shave forgotten that and embraced celebrity and anti-teaching attitudes more to the deficit of students.

And that is too bad since a good teacher will also do good research just as part of what she or he does as a professional while a good researcher may well not be a good teacher nor even care about helping students grow and learn.

UMass Dartmouth invited Dr. Neal Raisman to campus to present on "Service Excellence in Higher Ed"  as a catalyst event used to kick off a service excellence program.  Dr. Neal Raisman presents a very powerful but simple message about the impact that customer service can have on retention and the overall success of the university.  Participants embraced his philosophy as was noted with heads nods and hallway conversations after the session.  Not only did he have data to back up what he was saying, but Dr. Raisman spoke of specific examples based on his own personal experience working at a college as  Dean and President.  Our Leadership Team welcomed the "8 Rules of Customer Service", showing their eagerness to go to the next step in rolling Raisman's message out.  We could not have been more pleased with his eye-opening presentation.    Sheila Whitaker UMass-Dartmouth

www.adminbookshelf.com

If you want more information on NRaisman & Associates or to learn more about what you can do to improve academic customer service excellence on campus, get in touch with us or get a copy of our best selling book The Power of Retention. 

Hospitality and Customer Service in Colleges

A serious misunderstanding that exists on campuses is that customer service is somehow an evil thing. It is not. It is simply a fact of daily life whether it is delivered well or poorly. We provide customer service every day in the classroom, in offices, across the campus and even the campus facilities themselves. These are the services we provide to make sure that the basic needs of students are met. An obvious example is the cafeteria where we actually do serve and provide food services. Even the classroom is also a cafeteria off sorts with a defined menu and set of portions of knowledge that must be presented in an intellectually tasty manner. The major service on a classroom in instruction and that is a service after all.

There is no way around the fact that a college is a collection services though there are certainly ways to do them better.

And these are all required services that must be provided to the customers, our students, in the best way possible. We must make sure that whatever we do we do well. We need to provide them with a strong customer service excellence. Whether that excellence be in an office when a worker stops what he or she is doing to welcome a student and help solve an issue.  Or a faculty member who makes certain that she is the last one out of the classroom so she can check with every student to make sure he understood the lesson for the day and make arrangements to help those that may be a bit confused. Or an administrator who interrupts her work to meet with a student and try and see what he needs to make his stay better and keep him in school through graduation. Or even the all-important maintenance crew that makes certain the campus is neat. Clean and all bathrooms are clean and functions. Everyone on campus is responsible for providing the basic services to our customers, hence – customer services.

These and many more are services we do provide. And we should strive to provide them with excellence. We cannot deny that we have to do them so let’s work at making sure that what we do them our customers are satisfied with the services just as we work hard to  make sure they are happy with then food in the cafeteria. (Or at least should be doing that. Doesn’t always happen we find on an audit of a school’s services.)

So let’s agree that we do provide services and we should strive to make them as excellent as is possible for our students, our clients after all who do have many choices in where to go to spend their educational money nowadays. And one way you can check to see if you are providing good services is just to ask the students.. Or you can hire a professional such as us to audit the services and see what needs to make them better. This is something that should be done since poor service and another word/concept we will be discussing in a later paragraph account for 84% of all attrition on a campus and that means a major revenue loss too.

There are no excuses for weak services. If people cannot provide good service they need to be retrained or moved. We hire the most knowledgeable faculty we can to try and assure that they will be able to provided good educational service in the classroom but again that is only part of what we need to consider.  As discussed in an earlier recent article, it is not just expertise that is key to customer service excellence. It is an attitude that needs to be taken into consideration when hiring.

What we are of the really talking about is academic hospitality. Just as a t a restaurant if the food is great but the service is sloppy, indifferent, even hostile the food is just not going to taste as good. A waiter who just takes orders is not giving good, enthusiastic service. Note how each starts usually be giving his or her name and tries to engage the guest in conversation before the orders are taken if he or she is a good hospitable waiter.  Yes it increases tips but the goal of good customer service and hospitality on campus is to increase retention and graduation rates after all. Why else is the college there?

A great researcher does not always make a great teacher. A fully competent financial person does not always wait on students well in a bursar’s office. An excellent administrator who can get things done does not always work well with students. An advisor who may be one of the few who knows her stuff but does not make hours to meet with students is not being hospitable to them.

It is hospitality on campus that we are often really concerned with. How often do people stop and just talk with students to see how they are doing or feel about the place? Does the school evaluate people to see how hospitable they are to students and helping them? Does the school even have a code of conduct or the sort that states what is expected of each member of the college? Does it say things like “say hello to every student you meet or pass on the campus” and when possible do give a name-get a name to establish closer ties and more hospitable attitudes. Does the campus promote the student as if he or she were some sort of guest that can decide to leave this educational hotel and got to another?

I am not saying coddle students at all. We must demand from them too because that is what they expect if they are to learn and succeed. What I am suggesting is that we need to check to maker sure that all our services are excellent and meet students needed. And be sure our campus is hospitable to our students. Do we make them feel welcome? Do we give them decent parking locations or do we save that for ourselves? Do we make sure that faculty keep office hours when they say they will and make them at times that students can actually come by? (Our audits find that this is often rarely the case). Do administrators have an open door policy to students so they can meet with them and hear the complaints or solve problems.? Are employees trusted to make decisions to help students?

Are students made to feel as if they are really important?

Are they said hello to as they walk across campus?

If they look confused does someone stop to help them out?
Do people I offices treat them as important clients and not just as an imposition?

Are students made to feel as if someone cares about them and their welfare?

Do you ask students how the service has been in an office?

Is there communication in which students are asked how are things going?

Are they made to feel this is a hospitable campus after all that is the goal along with providing excellent services which are what must be done every day?

Is your campus and the people in it warm and welcoming to students?

Are they open to students and their needs?
Do they seek out students who may need help?

Do they act as if the students are guests who can switch academic hotels at any time?

Simply put, is the campus friendly to students and one another?

Are the employees treated with respect and warmth too? They are customers also after all and if they aren’t treated with hospitality they will not pass that on to your students.

It is not just customer service though that is extremely important and must be checked on to make sure it is really happening as you think it may be. Or as customer service rule number 1 says “Make your campus into Cheers University” providing academic hospitality in which “everyone knows your name and everyone’s glad you came.” (If you’d like a copy of the 15 Principles of Good Academic Customer Service, just ask for it at mailto:info@GreatServiceMatters.com

 UMass Dartmouth invited Dr. Neal Raisman to campus to present on "Service Excellence in Higher Ed"  as a catalyst event used to kick off a service excellence program.  Dr. Neal Raisman presents a very powerful but simple message about the impact that customer service can have on retention and the overall success of the university.  Participants embraced his philosophy as was noted with heads nods and hallway conversations after the session.  Not only did he have data to back up what he was saying, but Dr. Raisman spoke of specific examples based on his own personal experience working at a college as  Dean and President.  Our Leadership Team welcomed the "8 Rules of Customer Service", showing their eagerness to go to the next step in rolling Raisman's message out.  We could not have been more pleased with his eye-opening presentation. Sheila Whitaker UMass-Dartmouth

The University of Toledo was able to really get its customer excellence focused after Dr. Raisman and his team performed a full campus service excellence audit of the University. Dr. Raisman’s team came on campus for a week and identified every area we could improve and where we are doing well. The extensive and detailed report will form a blueprint for greater customer service excellence at the University that will make us an even better place for students to attend, study and succeed. Thank you, Dr. Raisman, for doing a great job. We unreservedly recommend his customer service audits to any school looking to improve customer service, retention and graduation rates.    Iaon Duca, University of Toledo

The report generated from the full campus customer service audit that N.Raisman & Associates did for our college provided information from an external reviewer that raised awareness toward customer service and front end processes.  From this audit and report, Broward College has included in its strategic plan strategies that include process mapping.  Since financial aid was designed as the department with the most customer service challenges that department has undergone process mapping related to how these process serve or do not serve students optimally.  It has been transformational and has prompted a process remap of how aid is processed for new and continuing students.                            Angelia Millender, Broward College (FL)

                                                 

IF THIS ARTICLE MAKES SENSE TO YOU, YOU WILL WANT TO OBTAIN A COPY OF THE BEST-SELLING NEW BOOK ON RETENTION AND ACADEMIC CUSTOMER SERVICE THE POWER OF RETENTION: MORE CUSTOMER SERVICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION  by clicking here

N. Raisman & Associates is the leader in increasing student retention, enrollment and revenue through workshops, presentations, research, training and academic customer service solutions for colleges, universities and career colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as businesses that work with them 

We increase your success

CALL OR EMAIL TODAY
www.GreatServiceMatters.com 

                                             info@GreatServiceMatters.com 

413.219.6939

What We Do to Help Customer Service Excellence at Colleges

Each week we receive many inquiries on what we can do for schools to improve their customer service excellence and thus retention. So we decided to respond and let people know what it is we do among other things such as research so schools might be able to prevail themselves of you services. Here is a little boit on what we do.

You can do some of this yourself as discussed in an earlier article on DIY Yourself audits which can be found at http://academicmaps.blogspot.com/2008/01/diy-movement-in-customer-service.html

Here is some of what we do that can help you improve customer service excellence and retention (not to mention revenue)

 86 N. Cassady Ave.  Ste 18

Bexley, OH 43209

413.219.6939

info@GreatServiceMatters.com

www.GreatServiceMatters.com
413.219.6939

Dr. Neal  Raisman is the founder and President of N. Raisman & Associates which since 1999 has been the leading provider of academic customer service solutions that increase retention, student success and morale along with institutional revenues in the US, Canada and Europe for over 450 universities, colleges, schools and the businesses that work with them.

Here are some of their services:

Every college is somehow unique. N.Raisman & Associates respects the differences and individuality of each campus and institution. We do not present boilerplate. Prior to any workshop or training program, an N.Raisman & Associates professional research your school and if possible, comes on campus to meet with students and other members of the college community. Only then will the presentations be planned and created so they meet your needs.

We also take into account the reality that there are times when not everyone can attend a workshop, training session or presentation at a given time. Students must be served so when this occurs, N.Raisman & Associates works with the school to schedule another session the same day at no added cost to the institution.                                   

WE GUARANTEE RESULTS!

Customer Service Retention Studies

Reception Areas Admissions Counseling

Financial Aid Registration Registrar's

Cafeteria Bookstore Website

We review these areas as well as every level of customer service such as:

We will also test Points of Contact such as

• the University website;
• collateral materials
• telephone system and protocols, 
• catalog,
• signage provided to orient and direct on the campus;
• entrance signage;
• entrances and entrance areas;
• interior directional signs;
• entrances,
• decompression zones,
• lobbies,
• campus flow;
• parking lots,
• walkways,
• halls,
• colors,
• open spaces,
• lighting,
• landscape,
• paths,
• appearance of building exteriors,

• appearance of building interiors, handicap compliance,
• lobbies,
• bathrooms,
• common areas,
• bookstore,
• functional flow,
• student space and its utilization,

• observable safety concerns,
• cleanliness and general appearance including paint.

As well as testing every level of student service including:

• catalog information, ease of use and information retrieval,
• website’s ease of use and navigation
• email use and responses to,
• wait time - how promptly people are recognized and served,
• acknowledgment of student presence and manner of the recognition given,
• welcoming and comfort level generated,
• how courteous your people are,
• how questions are responded to,
• requested information provided promptly and graciously,
• accurate directions given,
• general demeanor, and attitude toward customers,
• availability of information at point of contact,
• point of contact knowledge of  University and/or where to get it if not available,
• accuracy of information,
• use of campus jargon or argot versus standard language,
• language use, attitude, syntax, grammar, tone,
• customer-first attitude,
• time to completion required for successful interaction,
• helpfulness and accuracy of written materials at points of contact,
• location and availability of information and media,
• people processes used with students,
• administrative processes affecting students,
• orderliness of the interaction and area of interaction,
• telephone protocols used by students contacts to aid or detract from service to campus callers,
• general telephone skills and return call response,
• the environment provided for students in these areas and offices from layout and space through lighting and clutter as they affect the customer's sense of reflected value and service from entry to the campus through moving through it and finally the exiting experience.

The student services and customer service audit includes parts of the above with specific focus on primary active service providers and functions such as

• Receptionists
• Admissions
• Advising/Counseling
• Financial Aid
• Registrar's
• Cafeteria 
• Housing
• Administrative
• Office appearance and physical services.

We will also test Points of Contact such as

• the University website;
• collateral materials
• telephone system and protocols, 
• catalog,
• signage provided to orient and direct on the campus;
• entrance signage;
• entrances and entrance areas;
• interior directional signs;
• entrances,
• decompression zones,
• lobbies,
• campus flow;
• parking lots,
• walkways,
• halls,
• colors,
• open spaces,
• lighting,
• landscape,
• paths,
• appearance of building exteriors,

• appearance of building interiors, handicap compliance,
• lobbies,
• bathrooms,
• common areas,
• bookstore,
• functional flow,
• student space and its utilization,

• observable safety concerns,
• cleanliness and general appearance including paint.

As well as testing every level of student as students service such as:

• catalog information, ease of use and information retrieval,
• website’s ease of use and navigation
• email use and responses to,
• wait time - how promptly people are recognized and served,
• acknowledgment of student presence and manner of the recognition given,
• welcoming and comfort level generated,
• how courteous your people are,
• how questions are responded to,
• requested information provided promptly and graciously,
• accurate directions given,
• general demeanor, and attitude toward customers,
• availability of information at point of contact,
• point of contact knowledge of  University and/or where to get it if not available,
• accuracy of information,
• use of campus jargon or argot versus standard language,
• language use, attitude, syntax, grammar, tone,
• customer-first attitude,
• time to completion required for successful interaction,
• helpfulness and accuracy of written materials at points of contact,
• location and availability of information and media,
• people processes used with students,
• administrative processes affecting students,
• orderliness of the interaction and area of interaction,
• telephone protocols used by students contacts to aid or detract from service to campus callers,
• general telephone skills and return call response,
• the environment provided for students in these areas and offices from layout and space through lighting and clutter as they affect the customer's sense of reflected value and service from entry to the campus through moving through it and finally the exiting experience.

We also look at the objective correlatives of customer service and retention, facilities and the environment provided for students to make certain that nothing is overlooked. We use our trained academic shopping to bring a new set of eyes to your school and make sure we experience the total campus as a potential student would. From signage to flow, we cover it all. Then we provide intelligent, appropriate and affordable solutions to help you increase enrollment and retention.

NRaisman & Associates is the leader in helping you understand your customer service status and needs. Using various research models and surveys we help you really understand what students actually want. Our deliverables are not just numbers but practical and affordable solutions and remedies.

Need to focus a part or the entire institution around customer service or retention issues, NRaisman & Associates has the proven experience to help you accomplish your goals. We have done it for others and will do it for you using tested and proven, methods as well as some humor to keep everyone on task and happy.

Proven Success Catalysts

We know your college, its community and the students it serves are unique. So we honor that distinctive­ness in all the assistance we provide to be certain you will be successful.

We learn who you are, your objectives, goals, and anything that may be hindering your mission and full achievements. No boilerplate! All is custom designed to your college, its people and students. Our methods, techniques and approaches have all been proven to be catalysts to your greater success.

N.Raisman & Associates

Customer Service Retention Audit
Point of Contact Solution Studies
Objective Correlative Appraisals
Student/Employee Satisfaction Surveys
Area Service Focused Review
Web Evaluations
ACS Mini Audits
Retreat Facilitation
Coaching for ACS Success
Why They Leave Identification
Presentations on What is Academic Customer Service
Workshops
Training

Some of Our Clients

University of South Carolina  
Coppin State College

Georgia State University

Temple University

Monmouth University

Southern Florida University

University of New Brunswick (Canada) 
University of Louisiana – Monroe

Stony Brook University

University of Toledo

Broward College

University of Central Arkansas

Pratt Institute

University Massachusetts - Dartmouth

Chancellor of the State of Ohio

Texas A+M University– Laredo

ARAMARK Corporation

Alabama State University

Norwich University
Liberty University

C C ‘s of Baltimore County

London School of Finance

Lone Star College System

Lincoln Technical College

University of Maine – Fort Kent  

Columbus State Community College 
 Eaglegate Colleges

Hunter College of Nursing

Beckfield College

NACUBO

Corning Community College 
Westchester Community College

Cincinnati Area Consortium of Colleges + Universities  
Landsdowne College (UK)

Briarcliffe College

Manatee Community College 

Morrisville State College

ECPI Colleges of Technology

Snead Community College

Universite d’Angers (France)

Western Wyoming Community College

Mt. Wachusetts Community College…and hundreds more

UMass Dartmouth invited Dr. Neal Raisman to campus to present on "Service Excellence in Higher Ed"  as a catalyst event used to kick off a service excellence program.  Dr. Neal Raisman presents a very powerful but simple message about the impact that customer service can have on retention and the overall success of the university.  Participants embraced his philosophy as was noted with heads nods and hallway conversations after the session.  Not only did he have data to back up what he was saying, but Dr. Raisman spoke of specific examples based on his own personal experience working at a college as  Dean and President.  Our Leadership Team welcomed the "8 Rules of Customer Service", showing their eagerness to go to the next step in rolling Raisman's message out.  We could not have been more pleased with his eye-opening presentation.    Sheila Whitaker UMass-Dartmouth

www.adminbookshelf.com

If you want more information on NRaisman & Associates or to learn more about what you can do to improve academic customer service excellence on campus, get in touch with us or get a copy of our best selling book The Power of Retention.