Today The Public Manager has tips on improving customer service in the public sector thanks to Wendi Brick, former Customer Service Manager for the County of San Diego, Director of the Department of Customer Service for the City of San Diego and President and CEO of Customer Service Advantage. Join Wendi on GovLoop. She’s also author of “The Science of Service: Six Essential Elements for Creating a Culture of Service in the Public Sector.”  Wendi will provide more information in The Public Manager this Fall on the implementation of the President’s Executive Order to improve customer service . For more on improving government performance, head to the ASTD Government Pavilion in Orlando on May 24.

By Wendi Brick,

On April 27, 2011, President Obama issued an Executive Order to streamline service delivery and improve customer service.  It includes specific directives at an agency level.  But what can you do as an individual public manager to support this Order?  Glad you asked. 

The quality of service we provide to everyone we interact with during the day speaks volumes about our personal integrity and directly impacts the way our customers see not only our agencies, but government in general.  Every time you pick up the phone, send an email, or attend a meeting, you are making an impression on the people around you and the people you serve.  All of those impressions add up to become our reputation in the community.

The fundamentals of making a great impression are straightforward and universal.  Picture great service as a three-legged bar stool with your customer sitting on top.  If one of the legs is wobbly or broken, the customer is going to be uncomfortable and may even fall off the stool..  You are 100% in control of how strong each of those three legs remains during every customer interaction.

The first leg is “professionalism,” including friendliness, helpfulness, willingness to assist, empathy…really, how nice you are.  The second leg is “knowledge” or how smart you are.  I don’t mean “what did you get on your SATs?” smart, but “can you answer your customers’ questions” smart.  If you are very nice to me, and can’t answer my question correctly, well, that really is not great service.  

You can probably guess what the third leg is – “promptness” pure and simple.  If you’re really nice to me, know the answer to my question, and don’t return my call for two weeks, that’s not good service. That’s perpetuating the idea that government’s bogged down with red tape and bureaucracy.

Since these three fundamentals are, well, so fundamental, why do we experience such horrible service so often?

Great service is not an accident.  It comes from intention and attention to detail.  Here are 10 tips to provide outstanding service, based on blunders I’ve seen over and over.  These simple practices will create great impressions on every person every day.

1. Focus on your greeting - what you say, your expression, and your tone.
2. Return calls and emails within 24 hours or the next business day.
3. Use auto-reply/update your voicemail when you are out of the office forone day or more leaving alternative contact information.
4. Send complete email responses that include greetings and signature blocks with phone numbers.
5. Individualize service.  Although everyone wants the same three fundamentals, they may define them differently.
6. Be conscious of your own body language and appearance.
7. Ask your customers for feedback and thank people who take the time to share a concern.  If they didn’t tell you there was an issue, you certainly couldn’t fix it.
8. Take emotional situations professionally not personally.  It’s not about you.
9. Make a great last impression.
10. Treat every customer as if they were your only customer.