Boston College
The Well-Practiced Manager
Professional Development
Fall 2011
Resource for
Boston College Managers
and Supervisors
From the Director:
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When you walk into a nice looking shop,
you would expect someone who works
there to ask, “How may I help you?” The
shopkeeper wants to connect with you,
to make you feel good about the time
spent there, and to convince you that
this is a place you want to visit again.
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You get the sense that the people working in this company don’t care
about their jobs or about you. At the very least, you expect the people
with whom you do business to be polite and to do what they say they
will. If they do even just a little bit more, you are likely to become a
fan and loyal customer.
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In our case, the definition of customer is
a bit different. Most obviously, we have
students, parents, alumni, and donors,
all of whom have chosen to come to or
support Boston College. Additionally, we
have employees and vendors, who have
chosen to work with us. We also have
other departments within the university,
even if they do not have a choice about
working with us.
Y
ou know bad customer service when you see it. You get
put on hold listening to awful, canned music for far too
long. A repairman arrives hours late. Your order is wrong
and the clerk blames you.
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It’s basic good customer service.
And, it’s just as important here, at
Boston College, as it is for any store
or restaurant. The principle is so
important, that it is included in our
University-Wide Performance Attributes
and Competencies that describe what
effective performance looks like here.
Working Better for Customers
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Good customer service is about building relationships through trust.
It starts even before a customer walks through your door or picks up
the phone to call you. You want the people with whom you interact to
know that you are concerned first and foremost with what they need
and how you can provide it.
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Oriented for Customer Service
Creating a culture of customer service requires creating a vision.
Why do you do what you do? Whom are you serving? What do these
people need? How can you gain the trust you need in order to build
a relationship with them?
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Thinking about these people in terms
of “customers” and about what we do
as “customer service,” opens up an
opportunity to do our jobs even better.
It is primarily a matter of thinking about
what you do through the eyes of the
people with whom we interact every day.
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In this newsletter, we provide some
guidelines for thinking about customer
service in your department and how
to improve it.
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Sincerely,
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Bernie O’K
Bernie O’Kane
Director, Employee Development
2-3332
okane@bc.edu
An effective focus on customers comes
from the very top of the organization.
Leaders must be committed to the
concept of providing good customer
service, and they must encourage
it throughout the department.
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As a manager, the first people on your
list of customers are your employees.
If they are unhappy, it will be hard for them to ensure that their
customers are happy. Talk to them about what is going well in the
office. What could be done better? Are they getting the support they
need to do their job?
Ask them to help create the vision for customer service. Get their
ideas about what customers want and how best to help them. Empower
them to address issues as they arise. It is best to deal with problems
quickly, and that requires giving the people who interact with customers
the authority and resources to solve them.
continued
A Customer’s Perspective
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through your customers’ eyes
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Improving customer service requires looking at what you do through your
customers’ eyes. One way to do this is to walk through an interaction with
your department as if you were a customer, starting with trying to find it.
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Is there a sign on the door? Have you posted a good map on the Internet?
Is your phone number or email readily available?
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How are you greeted when you come through the door or call? Can you get
through to a person? Are there road blocks to leaving a message? Call your
own phone numbers from time to time to see what is really happening.
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Another way to find out how well your department is serving customers is
to ask them. This can be done informally by checking with people as they
leave the office or following up with a phone call at the end of a project.
You could go further with a brief, formal survey asking about specific
aspects of their experience.
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This should be an ongoing process with regular check ups.
You need to continually redefine what good customer
service looks like as the needs of your customers change
and as the services your department provides or the
methods you use to provide those services change.
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Improving customer service requires evaluating how customers are
treated now and whether what we are doing is aligned with their needs.
Here are some questions to start the process:
✓ What does good customer service look like for our department?
✓ Are we responsive? Do we answer the phone and return emails promptly?
✓ Do we set realistic expectations and keep our promises?
✓ Do we listen to our customers and show that we care about their needs?
✓ How do we deal with complaints?
✓ How do we handle mistakes?
✓ Are we helpful even if there is no immediate benefit to us?
✓ What extra can we offer?
✓ How do we find out whether people are satisfied with our service?
Additional Resources:
10 Steps to Successful Customer Service,
Maxine Kamin, American Society for
Training & Development, February 2010
The Boston College University-Wide
Performance Attributes and
Competencies are used throughout
the performance management
process. They include providing
good customer service:
Customer Focus
• Understands role of “customers”
in the University environment
• Understands and responds quickly
to needs of department and University
customers
• Understands how own work activities
impact customers’ view of University
• Addresses customers’ concerns with
courtesy and respect; works to build
a “win-win” relationship
Unleashing Excellence,
The Complete Guide to Customer Service,
Dennis Snow and Teri Yanovitch,
Wiley, November 2009
Editorial Services provided by
Jennifer Powell, The Excellent Writers Group,
excellentwriters.com
Graphic Design by
Tania Fine Helhoski, BirdDesign,
www.birddesignstudio.com
Employee Development Office
Department of Human Resources • 129 Lake Street
617.552.8532 • employee.development@bc.edu • www.bc.edu/ed