Customer Relations in Schools:
Creating a Five-Star Customer Service Environment
Workshop Description:
The most persuasive form of communication about your schools doesn’t come through the news media or fancy written brochures or web pages. It comes with basic high-quality customer service delivered by front line employees. The way employees answer the phone, respond to inquiries, relate to visitors, and express themselves defines your schools for parents and the public. Staff can make or break your image every day by what they say and do. Businesses with excellent reputations use five-star customer service techniques as the cornerstone of their reputation management efforts. It’s harder in public schools because, unlike the private sector, we can’t “niche” market and choose who we’ll do business with. We must meet everyone’s high expectations!
In this workshop, employees and leaders will –
- Understand customer expectations in today’s society and how they translate
into the educational arena - Address the question of whether they truly are or can be a school of choice
- Define who is the most credible voice for schools and how customer relationships are key
- See why bad news travels faster than good news and how rumor mills can be harnessed
- Learn the ABCs of customer relations:
- Appearance: how you are perceived professionally by how you and your schools offices look
- Behavior: tips and tactics for handling difficult people and demanding customer types
- Communication: best practices for listening, written, verbal, telephone, and cyber communication
Attendees have a chance to assess their own customer service strengths and weakness and to run through scenarios in teams to diagnose what went wrong in some actual customer service disasters that occurred in school settings.
