PUBLISHER’S CORNER
Customer Service is Everyone’s Responsibility
WRITTEN BY TONY CORPIN |
TONY@STNMEDIA.COM I
was at the Southeastern States Pupil Transportation Conference in West Virginia last month when a ven- dor shared an excellent example of great customer ser- vice. A school district had been having problems with its air conditioning systems not functioning properly. Te sales representative identified the issue and took action to solve the problem and come to that customer’s rescue. Te A/C company supplied the customer with new systems at no cost, though it was expensive to do so. Yet this extra step in providing superior service in the face of adversity earned the loyalty and admiration of the fleet manager. Put simply, customer satisfaction has been proven over and over again to have a direct correlation with a business—or school district’s—success. Does your transportation team provide excellent cus- tomer service to the school, parents and students? Tat can be a hard question to answer if you are not measur- ing these relationships every day. And if you’re not, you should be. First, be sure to involve your entire team in the pro-
cess, from the drivers and mechanics to front office staff and management. Departments need to be communi- cating about issues so the students, parents and school officials view a smooth running transportation operation at all times. In conversations with our featured “Garages Stars” this month, these maintenance professionals told us that they view schools, students, parents and even the school bus drivers as their customers. Tey instill in their mainte- nance teams the realization that they aren’t delivering packages or produce but children, so the vehicles need to run smoothly and safely. And if things don’t work, they are held accountable for the transportation departments failure just as all the employees should be. So customer service means jumping to action. Wait, you say, we don’t have a customer service depart- ment. Ten who talks to parents, kids and the school? Everyone should be, that’s who. When I searched for a list of the Top 10 companies with the worst customer service, can you guess what
came up? Surprise…cell phone companies, cable com- panies, banks, airlines and big box retailers, based on 23,000 votes from more that 4,000 voters on website
Ranker.com. So why are these types of companies experiencing poor customer service reviews? Maybe these companies don’t understand the fundamentals, that customer service is everyone’s job. So who is the best at customer service? Amazon,
according to USA Today. Te company offers the most seamless returns and has incredibly fast response times, especially as it recently added resources to its call centers to keep hold times at a minimum. Amazon customer service agents are also shockingly thoughtful with fol- low-up. Tis company knows what it’s doing! So can our industry take a page from Amazon’s customer service playbook? Forbes customer service expert Micah Solomon, recently named the “new guru of customer service excellence” by the Financial Post, recommends cutting the scripts and providing genuine, personable service. “Scripted service, provided by servile, unempowered
employees who have to ask a manager before doing anything unusual or creative for a customer? Tat’s so 2013,” he said. “If you’re still offering that kind of service, you are essentially turning your employees into inferior versions of an app. Anything that can be scripted can be turned over to machines, and customers today realize this. What customers today want, when they want human service at all, is a peer-to-peer, genuine, useful experience.” Remember in this day and age that customers share their experiences in public forums like Facebook and Twitter, whether you like it or not. Customer service is a key component of your everyday operation, so be sure everyone on your team knows it. ●
Tony Corpin, Publisher
58 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
