WVLA 2013 Fall Conference
Hilary Fredette:
Martha Yancey:

Introductions

Your Name
The library where you work
Does your library have a service challenge?

Building a Common Understanding

  • Why is good service important?
  • Who are your customers?
  • Why is it so hard to find great service?

To build a culture of great service, you need to:

Define service
Teach service

Live service

Measure service

Reward service

WVU Libraries
Mission Statement for Customer Service

  • WVU Libraries shall provide outstanding customer service to all users
  • Every user and co-worker will be treated in a positive manner with courtesy and respect
  • Every request will be handled quickly, accurately and professionally
  • We will give great service to each other as well as our users

WVU Libraries
Service Star Card

FrontBack

Build a Culture of Great Service:
What is currently in place at your library?

Define it:
Does your library have a mission statement? This can be the starting point towards developing a customer service mission statement.

Teach it:
A commitment to teaching starts the process.

Live it:
The commitment to great service must be strongest at the leadership level.

Measure it:
You must measure your customer’s satisfaction to know if theprogram you developed is successful.

Reward it:
Rewarding it keeps it going. There are many ways to reward people.

Three Steps to Great Service

  1. Be Approachable
  • 10/4 Rule
  • at 10 feet, smile or make eye contact with the user
  • at 4 feet, greet them
  • Speak to the user first – don’twait for them to speak
  • Engage them
  • Ask open-ended questions
  • Figure out what the user wants or needs
  • Speak plainly; avoid library jargon
  1. Help users to
  • get what they are looking for- or -
  • solve their current problem

You should do so: [A.P.E.]

  • Accurately
  • Make sure you understand the request by repeating it back to the user, if necessary
  • If you are unsure of an answer, check to make sure before responding
  • Politely
  • Refer the question, not the user, if immediate referral is not possible
  • Enthusiastically
  • Be sincere
  • Fake it ‘til you make it
  • Have the user leave feeling positive about the library
  1. Go the Extra Mile
  • Walk the user to the stacks or another desk
  • Provide a free print if they are having printing problems
  • Follow up with the user

Extra Mile Ideas

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Recipe for Handling Customer Complaints
(Blue andGold tickets at WVU Libraries)

  1. Acknowledge the complaint
  1. Sincerely apologize
  1. Take action to make it right
  1. Thank the user for making the complaint
  1. Document the complaint

WVU Blue Tickets

WVU Gold Tickets


The 5-90-5 rule

Is customer service a skill you are born with?

Can great customer service be taught?

5%are born with the ability and interest to provide great service “born service providers”

90%with training can do well. Want to do a good job.

5%not willing or able to give good service

The Power of Language:

Avoid…… / Instead Try….. / Thoughts…………..
Can I help you?
May I help you? / Saying almost anything that greets the user and gets them into a conversation / The automatic answer to
‘Can I help you?” is “No” most often, it is a conversation stopper, not starter.
You Should……. / Identify your expectations and state it clearly: Would you…Would you mind…Could you…. / “Shoulds” are usually tip-offs that you have unspoken expectations.
I have to…
You have to… / I am going to…… / Why do you have to? Making a conscious choice is far preferable to feeling “forced” or to making as sacrifice.
You will need to go …. / Let me walk you over there and get that for you
Let me walk you over there and show you…. / Our systems can be confusing. Help the user feel taken care of, not ordered around
I can’t….
We don’t do that…. / Normally we don’t, but let’s see if we can find a way to…. / We are WVU Libraries. If we can find a way to make it happen, we will do it! We will do what is necessary to make them happy.
We don’t have it….. / I’m sorry, we do not own the material or the item is already checked-out. Let me find out where the information might be found / Have an alternative to offer to get them what they need or want
Anything Else?
Is that all? / What else can I do for you today? / Anything else sounds like you’re trying to get rid of the user

Revised from Zingerman’s The Art of Giving Great Service Seminar 8/13 hf/my

The Art of Giving Great Service
Outline of WVU Libraries’ Workshops

Each class will be broken into 3 groups of 5-7. In front of each attendee will be the workbook and a tin of candies with their name. Everyone has assigned seats.

  1. Welcome attendees, thank them for coming and ask them to participate and ask questions. Go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves to the others. (10 min)
  2. Name
  3. Library and department
  4. How long you’ve worked at WVU Libraries
  5. What you like BEST about working at the Library; must be a positive statement
  6. We’ll come back to you if you can’t think of something positive
  1. Myra talks about Libraries’ mission and the importance of customer service. (5-10 min)
  1. Show video. (20 min)
  2. Break out workbooks: (10-15 min)
  3. Let’s build a common understanding.
  4. Let’s build a culture of great service
  5. Define it: Customer Service Mission Statement
  6. Any suggestions or comments?
  7. Teach it: What we are doing throughout the fall
  8. That’s what we’re doing today and hope to continue in the future. Are there other ways this can be taught?
  9. Live it
  10. What are ways we can live it?
  11. Measure it:
  12. This is a crucial piece that is being planned. We’d like to get your input.
  13. Reward it:
  14. What would be a good reward ($$ is not an option)
  15. Lunch (30 min)
  1. Ice Breaker activity: break into groups and play the 2 truths, 1 lie game. (10 min) – if time allows
  2. Three steps to great service (15 min)
  1. Explain extra miles; both daily and for complaints:
  2. Extra mile: each table develops list of extra mile options (in 10 min); winning table gets award, each table must have options for both tech and public service depts. (enough rewards for tie:12)

Giving Great Service
Feedback from mandatory WVU Libraries “Great Service” workshops

Comments about the session:

  • Buy WVU Library bags for rain protection
  • Well thought-out workshop. Need larger room, a little crowded
  • This was fun
  • Excellent workshop!
  • Very good workshop – fun and informative!
  • Need more time for discussions
  • I really enjoyed this and look forward to future sessions. I think I can (and will) do better in providing customer service. I hope the Libraries continue to have conversations about our service because I think we need to really engage our patrons… otherwise libraries become irrelevant. Would love to see sessions on telephone skills, working w/ international students, getting along better w/ co-workers, etc.
  • This was excellent. Inspiring and a good shot in the arm for the beginning of a new academic year.
  • Good atmosphere, did not feel talked at.
  • Maybe make it longer?
  • Not at this time
  • This was fun! Very useful – we need it every other year or so.
  • Enjoyable and informative.
  • Better than I thought. Activities not so bad.
  • Thank you all; it took a lot of work to plan and deliver this session. It’s a great start. One question: what can we do to apply relevant ideas from this session to the culture of instruction?
  • Hope this works
  • Enjoyed it!
  • I think our ‘culture’ has wanted to be of good public service, but I think sometimes some of us feel like we are ‘threatening’ others who don’t want to go as far with service
  • Very fun – valuable lessons – we all need reminded
  • Good job!
  • Excellent and I really appreciate it!
  • Good session. Reinforces & encourages me to give customer ser.
  • Very good! Martha, Hilary &b Alyssa did an outstanding job putting this together – Thanks!
  • This was a very interesting and informative session
  • Presenters created a good atmosphere for sharing ideas, participation.
  • Give us feedback on the process. Let’s find a better term than “patron” or “user” or “customer”. We need new or better terms for a new or better culture.
  • This was great - thanks for all the time you have put into it!
  • There were a lot of good suggestions, ideas, and interaction in this group today. It was a very positive experience.
  • Happy that this has started – hopeful that it may help bring about change.
  • I have never “served” anyone – and I am not a “servant”. I provide assistance to patrons who require it – I am an “assistant”. The servant-customer paradigm is a relic of 19th century social patterns which have little place in an egalitarian modern world.
  • I like the idea of getting a list of extra miles. Looking at which rules are no longer useful is a great idea
  • Thank you
  • Very good conversations
  • Great job
  • I enjoyed it. Thank you!
  • Good session – fun.
  • Very well done. Good balance of activities.
  • I was impressed that I got a card in the mail thanking me for registering for the workshop, signed by the 3 workshop leaders. Helpful reminders!

Bibliography

All titles below are available through Interlibrary Loan from WVU

Weinzweig, Ari. Zingerman’s Guide to Giving Great Service: treating your customers like royalty. New York: Hyperion, 2003.

Zingerman’s 3 Steps to Giving Great Service: treating our customers like royalty. Produced and created by Matthew Grocoff. Dancing Sandwich Enterprises. 2007. DVD.

Zingerman’s 5 Steps to Effectively Handling a Complaint. Produced and created by Matthew Grocoff. Dancing Sandwich Enterprises. 2009. DVD.

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