Sunday, February 20, 2011

Return on Investment and Student Customer Service Expectations

 
Return on Investment and Student Expectations
Claes Fornell the director of the American Customer Satisfaction Index Academic writes “regardless of product, there are three general factors that determine how well a company’s offerings correspond to the idiosyncrasy of consumer demand: expectations, quality and price”.[i] Though higher education is a rather different business than most of the companies he works with, Fornell’s overview fits much of academic customer service as well as expressed in three returns on investment (ROI’s) expectations students and the family that supports them bring to a college.  In fact, one might posit that good academic customer service has at its foundation providing the client/student with the means, ability and services to be able achieve three major returns on investment (financial, emotional and affective ROI’s) which are key to the student and family’s expectations of the school to attend and graduate college, and to do so in a way that makes the client feel valued and appreciated.

Academic customer service accomplishes the above by employing a student-centric approach, processes and protocols focusing on teaching, training, and learning in an encouraging environment that acknowledges a student’s personal worth and existence to assure student growth and success now and in the future. It does not assume coddling students or favoring them with unearned or high grades. Academic customer service also does not include faux business concepts such as the client is always right (they take tests and quizzes after all). 

Return on Investment (ROI) is normatively a financial formula. (ROI = Return/Investment yielding a positive or negative percentage indicating what financial return may or may not ensue.) The basic ROI formula concept in academic customer service is here translated not as a financial plus or minus percentage basis, but as a personal psychological formulation comprised of a students perceptions and judgments that the investment he is making is worthwhile. If it is, the student is comfortable, even happy, and stays. If the student does not feel there is at least a financial, emotional, and associative equity between what he  is invest each day and what the school returns to him he will calculate a negative ROI and likely leave. If he should stay, he will slog through bad-mouthing the school whenever the chance arises. If he graduates, he will not contribute as an alumnus. 

The three major returns on investment students and their supporters bring with them and retain throughout their career at the institution as well as after leaving it as drops or alumni in order of most important to less important are
1.    Financial ROI
2.    Emotional ROI
3.    Affective ROI.
Financial return on investment has two formulations. The first, Financial ROI 1, is focused on present day appreciations of money invested and what I get for it now. This focuses on the perception of whether or not, "I am getting my money's worth. Do I feel that the tuition and fees are well spent and spent on me? Is the college using the money to give me what I am here for?"  The second, Financial ROI2 evaluates whether or not the student believes that staying at the school will finally lead to the job and career that he or she came to the school to acquire.
In determining financial ROI 1, the student and supporters judge the value of a number of what might at first seem to be disparate issues from obvious ones such as perceived value of classroom instruction to whether or not faculty seem to care if students understand and are learning. Concerns such as are faculty available for office hours and help, do administrators respond to problems, how staff treat students enter into the computations. Even what might seem to some as ancillary issues under the category of objective correlatives[ii] such as facilities, parking, lighting, and so on. These figure in strongly in formulating a financial ROI and have some importance in the calculation of an affective ROI as has been discovered in retention audits of colleges conducted by the author.

Financial ROI 2 is a prediction of future career returns on the investment; not immediate direct out-of-pocket financial investment through tuition, fees, books, etc. The core of the calculation is in the belief that the school will or will not lead to and help obtain a good job. Students must believe that the college will not only assist in preparing and certifying them prepared to go out and apply for jobs, but that the school's reputation will make obtaining that job possible. If a college has good, available and publicized career services that help prepare for applying for jobs or, even better, if the school has an active outreach to students on careers and assistance in locating possible jobs, the financial ROI 2 will stay in the positives. If the college can also point to a history of success stories for its grads this too strengthens financial ROI 2.

Emotional ROI refers to the personal investment that a student and family make in the school. When a student decides to attend a college, that person is making a commitment that is somewhat akin to an engagement. The decision to attend a college is like saying a student and the college will not date others. Trust, attachment, and commitment between the student and college arise in the student's mind and feelings leading to a pledge that he expects will be returned. That pledge is, "I will trust you to do right by me. I will put my education and thus my future in your hands. I will trust you to treat me fairly and provide me an honest opportunity to learn and get that job I want." 

If that vow is not reciprocated by an institution’s actions, the student does not perceive the emotional investment being returned by the school, the student falls out of love with the college. Students cite two major negative perceptions of why they end an engagement with a school. First, they come to believe that "The school only cares about me for the money they get." This statement sees the school as setting money as more important than the student (too many adjunct faculty, not enough sections of courses, poor scheduling, canceling classes at the last minute, not enough staff, aggressive bursar and collections letters). Or second, the student feels the school does not reach out and show it cares about her as an individual with personal needs (can't find faculty during office hours, can't get extra help when needed, faculty do not seem to realize students have lives too, administrators don't care or solve problems, staff are cold or rude, no one smiles, students get the run-around also known as the shuffle, issues go unresolved or with just a decision that is unexplained, etc.).  Any of these can and will lead to a student formulating a weak emotional ROI.

The last is associative/affective return on investment). Associative ROI is calculated on the sensation that attending this college says something about a student, his values and character. Valuations such as “attending this is an investment of my reputation, self-value as well as social position as its name defines me through association. Is that good?”  The student is also calculating whether that “being part of this school will make me feel good. Will being associated with it improve my value and recognition?” 

The ROI on association can be a strong one if the student feels that the school is well known and respected in the community. If it is not, the school can create strong associative value by providing excellent service to the student, who will then takes pride in attending since this reinforces the emotional ROI as well. A college can overcome lack of current recognition in for example the US News and World Report if its services are strong enough. Strong service and personal attention can build a student’s desire to be associated with the college. Lose the student's belief in the school by ignoring the students or by negative reports in the news.  When that happens, the associative ROI can be negatively impacted so the student does not want to be associated with the school. 

One way a school can judge if its associative value is up or down is by counting the amount of logo- or name-laden clothing that is sold in the bookstore. When students wear college branded clothes it is done to make a statement to the world about the wearer. Wearing a brand-name college such as Harvard, University of Michigan, or another high recognition school is a statement meant to associate the wearer with the strength and value of the name.
 (excerpted from Vol 3 of The Business of Higher Education p111-114 "Academic Customer Service" by N. Raisman)





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Friday, February 18, 2011

Hillel and Vision in Customer Service in Higher Education

The Hillel Thing and Customer Service in Higher Education

I need to tell you a little story. It is about Rabbi Hillel who lived around 110 BCE and died about 10CE. He was a renowned scholar and teacher who believed anyone who wanted to learn could.

One day an apostate came to his school and asked to see the Rabbi. This young man had no religion or beliefs other than being a problem  for others. Hillel received him and asked what he wanted.

“Rabbi” he said “you are known as a great scholar and teacher. Perhaps you can answer a question I have and if you can answer it I will become Jewish and your student for the rest of my life”.

Now Hillel knew this was going to be one of those parochial school questions that are meant to stump the teacher like “Hey, can God make a rock so large that he can’t lift it”? But the offer was too great. A convert who would become a student? Hillel agreed to the question.

“Okay” said the apostate. “Can you explain the entire Torah while standing on one foot?”

This was an impossible request, The Torah is so rich with meaning that it would take many libraries to be able to hold all the studies, papers, discussions and interpretations of the five Books of Moses. There were volume upon volume of Mishnah and Talmud interpreting just words in the Torah. How was Hillel to do this? And while standing on one foot?

Hillel thought for a minute, pulled up one foot and said “That which is hateful to you, do not to others. All the rest is commentary. Now, go study.”

We in the Western world know of this in a slightly different form as stated in the Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

When it come to customer service this works too but in a different form. “Do unto the student standing in front of you as you would have done to your son, your daughter, you r mother or your father.”

If you think of what you would want for someone else to do if it were your son or daughter, your mother of father standing there needing help, you will do the right thing. It may not be the thing that totally pleases the student but then again customer service in higher education is not always pleasing the customer. We have to live within rules, regulations and what is tight. But if you do look at each student as if he or she is a family member and do for that student as you would want someone else, to do for your child or parent, you will do the right thing and please the customer in the long run.

So as you are called on to help a student "Do unto him or her as you would want done to your son, your daughter, your mother or your father. And do not do what is hateful to any of them. If you do, you will do what is right. All the rest is commentary. Now go do it.”


If this article makes sense to you
you will want to get my new book
The Power of Retention
: More Customer Service for Higher Education
by clicking here


N.Raisman & Associates is the leader in increasing student retention, enrollment and revenue through workshops,research training and customer service solutions such as campus service audits to colleges, universities and career colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as to businesses that seek to work with them
We increase your success


CALL OR EMAIL TODAY
TO INCREASE YOUR SCHOOL'S RETENTION

www.GreatServiceMatters.com
info@GreatServiceMatters.com
413.219.6939
Neal is a pleasure to work with – his depth of knowledge and engaging, approachable style creates a strong connection with attendees. He goes beyond the typical, “show up, talk, and leave” experience that some professional speakers use. He “walks the talk” with his passion for customer service. We exchanged multiple emails prior to the event, with his focus being on meeting our needs, understanding our organization and creating a customized presentation. Neal also attended and actively participated in our evening-before team-building event, forging positive relationships with attendees – truly getting to know them. Personable, knowledgeable, down-to-earth and inspiring…. " Jean Wolfe, Training Manager, Davenport University

“We had hoped we’d improve our retention by 3% but with the help of Dr. Raisman, we increased it by 5%. Rachel Albert, Provost, University of Maine-Farmington

“Thank you so much for the wonderful workshop at Lincoln Technical Institute. It served to re-center ideas in a great way. I perceived it to be a morale booster, breath of fresh air, and a burst of passion.” Shelly S, Faculty Member, Lincoln Technical Institute

“Neal led a retreat that initiated customer service and retention as a real focus for us and gave us a clear plan. Then he followed up with presentations and workshops that kicked us all into high gear. We recommend with no reservations; just success.” Susan Mesheau, Executive Director U First: Integrated Recruitment & Retention University of New Brunswick, Canada



Monday, February 14, 2011

The Vision Thing in Customer Service

In order to change the culture of a college community, it is necessary to have a common consensus on the customer service vision for the campus.  Everyone must have the same concept of what customer service is. They must have a vision that overrides their personal definitions and concerns and encompass one that everyone can understand and embrace. A vision is not a set of lofty statements such as students are our business our only business that one might find in a seven steps to salvation  mission statement; meant to be read not enacted. A vision must be a practical guide to see how things work and should work on campus.

A vision is like corrective lenses on someone who is nearsighted and can only see their office and work. Most everyone can see after all but not everyone sees the same. There are differences of perspective and angle, of ability and cognitive function and some people really do have such bad eyesight that they need to have corrective lenses out in font of their eyes or they will walk all over students who get in their path. They just do not see them. So think of the college’s vision statement as a set of eyeglasses to get everyone focused the same and on the same object and purpose. 

I do not mind seeing the customer service vision statement as a corrective set of lenses either because most campuses do not see students correctly and some don’t see them clearly at all. Students may be ruder than in the past but that is not who they are finally and that must be seen.In fact, there are some schools that wear blinders to keep students out of their research and self-centered vision of the world.

The vision needs to start from an understanding of who our customers are. Students primarily,. There are more than one set of customers on a campus of course. There is the entire caste system and everyone in that academic caste system is a customer of one another but for this vision formation we will focus on students, the primary customer.

And yes, I know there are people out there who hate the idea of student as customers and the college as a business but all I can sy by now is “get over it.” It is true and a fact. Colleges are businesses and here it is once and for all. We are businesses whose budget depends on selling the University (recruitment) to its customers (students and parents) by sales (admissions) and collecting revenue (tuition) by billing (bursar) based on the college's brand (reputation), products (courses, programs, degrees), services (advising, FA..) and creating a connection with the customer (client services) by employees (faculty, staff, administrators) (some in unions) who receive salaries and benefits, delivering product (learning opportunity) fulfilling customer need (degree and career/Grad school). Get the message?

So what should the vision contain? Six elements.  

1.       Providing a positive return on student investment;
2.       Making students feel welcome and valuable in the classroom and on campus;
3.       Providing the care, concern and services needed to retain students in a college or   
         university…from making a school into Cheers University… to scheduling and advising to  
         classroom decorum and assistance… to all the services that can yield success for students
        and showing them you want them to be there
4.       Doing all this with a smile and pleased attitude that one can help students succeed and stay in school
5.       The Hillel thing –Do unto students as you would want done for your son, your daughter, your mother or your father
6.       Following the 15 Principles of Good Academic Customer Service. (want a copy. Just click here and ask)

More on these in the next posting. 

N.Raisman & Associates has been providing customer service, retention, enrollment and research training and solutions to colleges, universities and career colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as to businesses that seek to work with them since 1999. Clients range from small rural schools to major urban universities and corporations. Its services range from campus customer service audits, workshops, training, presentations, institutional studies and surveys to research on customer service and retention. N.Raisman & Associates prides itself on its record of success for its clients and students who are aided through the firm’s services. www.GreatServiceMatters.com
info@GreatServiceMatters.com 
413.219.6939 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              413.219.6939      

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Monday, February 07, 2011

The Time For Change to a Focus on Students is Now

customer service, student retention, retention, college customer service,
Higher education is not a sector well known for change. It is in fact a sector that is laughably slow to embrace any change at all while telling everyone else how they should alter their work habits, strategies, businesses, countries, culture and so on. Academia is also comfortable telling its clients what change they need to make to be successful in my class while using old notes from many classes ago. We have no compunction about telling students what they should do to change even if we are not going to do so. And it is done in interesting and competing ways. Each faculty member, every class sends out a different message to students. In humanities classes, students are told to open their minds and embrace new ideas but don’t try and shake mine even if I believe that Shakespeare was gay and all his plays send out a pro-gay agenda what with all the cross dressing and all. In math we are told to close down our minds and just accept that this is the right way to do this and all other ways to solve the problem and get to the answer are wrong. In social science or psychology students are exposed to whatever pet theory the particular faculty member embraces even if it is at odds with every other person teaching in the college. Well, you get the picture. Students are bombarded with calls to change even though they may conflict, be correct or even produce little change as the new book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Arum and Roska posits.

One thing about change is sure. It does not take place or if it does it is very very slow in higher education. I recall a student done by some professors at the University of Pennsylvania in the 80’s which showed that higher education changes seven times slower than business and that was on issues such as technology that all agreed with. (Sorry, I lost the study but if anyone knows of it I would love to hear so I can get it again.) Imagine how slow change can be on issues that are even slightly controversial? Such as changing the culture of a school to embrace student success above research and personal success? To place student learning and teaching at least on a par with research? To actually get colleges and universities to embrace the idea that it is not enough to simply admit a student, that student has to really be taught and retained to graduation? To embrace Principle 15 of the Principles of Good Academic Customer Service – Actually give as big a damn about graduating students as recruiting them. (If you’d like a copy of the 15 Principles of Good Academic Customer Service, just ask for them at info@GreatServiceMatters.com)

Somehow we have this attitude that it is okay and even good to have students failing and leaving a school. The old “look to your right, look to your left…” Somehow losing students by the left and right establishes a university or college as a tough school and academically valid. That is not so and needs to change.  If that were so then schools such as Dalton State, Golden Gate University, Baker College, the University of Phoenix and over 1,000 others would have to be really great schools since they graduate far less than 30% of their students in six years. While universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Davidson would be weak schools because they graduate over 90% of their students in six years. Talk about an upside down idea!

Lose Students: Lose Money
What losing students does establish is that the school is losing money; leaving millions of tuition dollars on the table as students walk out, drop out, stop out and get out. Every student that leaves takes tuition and fee dollars with him. That is not just pocket change, but dollars. It is highly likely that your college or university is losing millions of dollars a year due to attrition as a study of 1668 colleges and universities I recently completed shows. If you want to find out how much your school is losing from attrition just ask me (Nealr@greatservicematters.com)

So it is important for any college or university which is to focus a bit on its revenue and budget to also realize that it would have to change its attitudes and culture. That is not easy to do. Not easy but necessary. Sorry to be so blatant on this point but to increase revenue and not have to keep cutting into the muscles and sinews that hold the college together, it will be necessary to focus on retention.  It will thus be necessary to focus on student success above all else. Not just retaining at any cost but retaining by helping students succeed. That also means that the culture will have to change from a “research first” culture to a students first. It will be necessary to move from “this would be a great place to work if it weren’t for the students” to this is a great place to work because of the students.” Colleges and universities will have to move from churn and burn to learn and earn.

These will all be major cultural shifts that will demand changing beliefs, practices, habits, traditions, folkways and attitudes of all the members of the school from the lowest adjunct pariah through the administrator Brahmin caste. This would not be easy. It will demand strength of vision, tenacity, sensitivity, patience, and at times the strength of purpose to take a chance moving forward. These unfortunately are not always qualities we ascribe to out leaders in some schools. Nor are they qualities that we attribute to some key members groups for success such as faculty who have an interest in a vested academic power structure built ion research and recognition. Turning around the Goodship Academia is not easy but it has to be done.

The Heat of Budget Cuts Could Melt the Culture
Change as we learn from organizational development requires something to happen. Some event or situation that causes enough “heat” to unfreeze the organization. When the organization is unfrozen it might be able to start to make some changes required to reshape it into a new organization with perhaps different mission or purpose. Granted it is very difficult to “unfreeze” higher education as a result of tenure.  Tenure isolates a key group i.e. tenured faculty who hold the power among the faculty in general and much of the college at large. Tenured faculty are largely personally immune to the heat of budget and personnel cuts that have made others in academia feel the heat. They cannot be dismissed due to revenue reductions as students continue to stream out the exit with their tuition money. Tenure keeps them as almost untouchable. Sort of ironic in that Brahmins have become the untouchables because they are Brahmins!

Years ago, my wife and I were driving across the US heading to Boston to bring our new daughter to meet her grandparents. As we drove, there was a news story about some homeless people who froze to death in the cold. I quickly questioned why no one did anything to help them? Aileen hauled off and punched me in the arm. “Ow” I yelled to which Aileen said “I didn’t feel a thing.” This is the situation in many colleges and universities which keeps them from unfreezing even in the face of revenue reductions that are causing cuts that are hurting students more and more every day. But because of tenure, many faculty who can control change are not directly feeling the heat. Yes, they do feel when people are let go. They feel the cuts in equipment, release hours travel funds, staff, etc. They are not heartless or impervious to the cuts but they are protected. This makes change even more difficult since the mind of the faculty is usually the consciousness of the institution unless the leadership is really committed to an idea or goal that can pull tenured faculty along.

Change might take place now since there is the ever-hotter potentially unfreezing effect of revenue reductions and cuts in almost every college and university in the country.  This is a time when leadership can make a clear and clarion case for focusing more on students and a bit less on research; focusing more on revenue and budget growth than expenditures and cuts. But it will demand that leadership show the college what’s in it for them and maintain a clear and consistent message. Presidents should be willing to do this since they should be rather fatigued at cutting budgets and trying to explain the cuts while having to place reductions in the best light possible when the first thing to go was the light bulb.

The campus should also be fatigued from hearing and absorbing the cuts. The members of the campus community should be ready to embrace some change even though they will simultaneously resist that same change hoping all will go back to the good old days of the nineties which may not have realty been all that good anyway.

This is a time for presidents, boards and college communities to draft customer-centric, thus student success centric plans to focus on students as a primary and actual activity. Yes, missions all say something about student being our most important business but that has not been true on most campuses for many, many years now.

The budget crises hitting higher education demand change and the best way to affect change that will also increase revenue is becoming student graduation-centric. The more students that stay in school and graduate, the greater the rewards –monetarily and mission-wise. And it is not a time for the usually glacially slow change of college. The reductions in budgets are so severe that to wait too long to embrace change will only expose the college to greater damage.

The time to change is now. The change needed is to focus on retention and student success.


If this article makes sense to you
you will want to get my new book
The Power of Retention
: More Customer Service for Higher Education
by clicking here


N.Raisman & Associates is the leader in increasing student retention, enrollment and revenue through research training and customer service solutions to colleges, universities and career colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe as well as to businesses that seek to work with them
We increase your success

CALL OR EMAIL TODAY
TO INCREASE YOUR SCHOOL'S RETENTION

www.GreatServiceMatters.com
info@GreatServiceMatters.com
413.219.6939
Neal is a pleasure to work with – his depth of knowledge and engaging, approachable style creates a strong connection with attendees. He goes beyond the typical, “show up, talk, and leave” experience that some professional speakers use. He “walks the talk” with his passion for customer service. We exchanged multiple emails prior to the event, with his focus being on meeting our needs, understanding our organization and creating a customized presentation. Neal also attended and actively participated in our evening-before team-building event, forging positive relationships with attendees – truly getting to know them. Personable, knowledgeable, down-to-earth and inspiring…. " Jean Wolfe, Training Manager, Davenport University

“We had hoped we’d improve our retention by 3% but with the help of Dr. Raisman, we increased it by 5%. Rachel Albert, Provost, University of Maine-Farmington
“Thank you so much for the wonderful workshop at Lincoln Technical Institute. It served to re-center ideas in a great way. I perceived it to be a morale booster, breath of fresh air, and a burst of passion.” Shelly S, Faculty Member, Lincoln Technical Institute

“Neal led a retreat that initiated customer service and retention as a real focus for us and gave us a clear plan. Then he followed up with presentations and workshops that kicked us all into high gear. We recommend with no reservations; just success.” Susan Mesheau, Executive Director U First: Integrated Recruitment & Retention University of New Brunswick, Canada










Thursday, February 03, 2011

America’s Best Collegiate Customer Service Call Center

customer service, college retention, academic customer service, attrition, collegiate customer service

Columbus, Oh was covered by a quarter inch of ice. The main and many secondary roads seemed okay in most places though the local schools were closed. But Columbus State Community College did not. It was open and the calls from angry students who had to come to school flooded into CSCC. Fortunately, CSCC has what is the best college call center in the country so the angry students were handled by professionals who knew what to do.

“Hello. This is XXXXX (name of the call center person). Who am I talking with please?”
“Sam and I’m really pissed off.”
“What seems to be the problem Sam? I’ll see what I can do to help.”
“The roads are all ice and I’m supposed to come to school? You guys are the only one open. What the hell is the problem with you? Do you want students to get hurt trying to get there? What are you crazy? It’s all ice out there. It’s not safe to drive on the roads. That’s why everyone else in the city is closed. What are you doing being open? You must just want me to get in an accident and get hurt just to come to class.””
(pause to see if he were done) “We certainly do not want you to get hurt. Not at all. The school is open but if you feel it is not safe to drive here please get in touch with your instructor and let him or her know what the problem is.”
“Do you have his telephone number? It’s Prof Smith teaching Bio 112 today at 10:00.”
“Let me get that for you. Yes, here it is. The number is XXXXXXX Call him and let him know what your decision is. We certainly do not want you to get hurt and he’ll work something out with you.”

Wow! That is the way it should be done rather than what happens at most schools. But isn’t

Considering that twelve percent of all potential enrollment is lost when an interested probable student makes contact with a school, it should be alarming that telephone skills have dropped. In the last two schools we audited, we found that people simply did not know how to answer the phone when someone called. At one school, the person answered the phone with just a very bored mumbled “hello” and the other let the phone ring five times and answered with such as methodical. “This is xxxx University. Can I help you” that a caller would be pushed back by the indifference. At another school, we called, as we do in a customer service audit to test knowledge and handoff skills, we asked where we go to drop a course but the person answering had no idea. She sent us on a merry shuffle from phone to phone to phone to phone to when a normal person would have hung up. We finally did get to the Records office only to be put on hold for three minutes! None of these represented good customer service and would have likely contributed to a non-application or drop.

People just do not know how to use the telephone anymore yet the phone is often the first actual point of contact with a school. So not thinking about that, schools place the least skilled, lowest paid, untrained people to make the first contact – often students who have no idea at all how to answer and use a phone. I am amazed that admissions people allow this to happen since they’re the ones who lose out most directly since the poor phone skills turn off potential students. I am also amazed that schools do not take phone answering seriously at all. A twelve percent boost in applications would be an enrollment and thus revenue boost. But who needs money nowadays? Not colleges and universities!

Thankfully there are some schools that are looking into solving the telephone issue. Some do get training in phone use from groups like ours. Some have adopted our mirror and smile approach that we recommend to everyone. That is a good start. Some schools are even hiring people with skills to answer phones in all offices. Remember it is not just the main trunk line coming in that is a problem but every phone in the school. And some, (bless them) have been looking at setting up a phone call center with a group of highly trained professionals who can answer a phone and actually solve problems.

When we work with a college to set up a call center we always have one model program, in mind. The best darn call center in American academia – the call center at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, OH under the leadership of Nina Reece who also played the college president at times when a very angry student demanded to speak to the college president. Likely Nina played a conciliatory president better than the real one would do and the student was happy he was heard at the “top”.

The Columbus State Community College Call Center
The CSCC call center has been in existence for nineteen years. It started In July of 1992 as an attempt (and success) to take the problem of poor phone skills and turn them into a benefit for the school.  And boy has it succeeded. It started as a way to end the long lines students experienced trying to take care of basic tasks like registration, drop/adds and admissions questions and requests. It has become a central feature in CSCC’s customer service and ending telephone shuffle by having all external calls sent to one spot where trained telephone professionals answer the phone and send the caller to the correct connection or even better, take care of the caller’s needs right then and there.

For example, if a student has the change her schedule during registration, the student can call into the center and the trained professional on the other end can cancel a class section, help the student choose another day and time or even another course in the major, schedule the student, accept any change in payment or fee and even order and accept payment for the books which will be mailed out to the student all in one call. No need to find a parking spot, run around the registrar’s, bursar’s, financial aid, find an adviser go back to registrar and perhaps bursar and financial aid and then the bookstore to complete the change. Now that’s customer service.

And the call center helps an average of 1600 people/calls a day and even more during registration time. The normal shift has ten full and part-time people answering the phones and helping callers.  Unlike a corporate call center there is no board reminding people to get rid of the caller in 2.6 minutes and get on to the next one. In fact, the representatives are trained to take all the time the caller needs to help, resolve any issues and do all they can to make sure everyone hangs up the phone feeling heard and helped That can be a tough task too. There are callers who are just plain angry but the call center folks do a great job of helping soother angered callers. But the center is a great and rewarding place to work and the full time staff have been there from four to seventeen years. Once they are there, they stay in this demanding but very satisfying job. Satisfying because they really do help people and the center leadership is so great to work for.

The Center uses the 6 basic steps to success in telephone customer service
They answer with a smile on their face, a simple hello and give a name – get a name. “Columbus State Community College. This is XXXXXX. Who am I talking with please?
After getting the caller’s name they repeat it and ask how they might help.”Thank you Paul. How may I help you today?” Then they use the two ears and one mouth rule. They listen and let the caller talk as long as he or she likes, While the caller talks, they might take notes and start to plan a response while considering what they will need to do. They can access information on line and through the large physical date vase in their information books. The information books are supplemental information they might need beyond their own extensive knowledge of the college and on-line information and forms.
Summarize issue
After the caller has said all he wants to, the center worker pauses to make sure the speaker is really finished then summarizes the issue before going on to resolve it. The summation shows she has been listening and assures that they are all on the right topic.
Suggest solution and resolve
Then the agent suggests solutions and with the caller’s consent implements the agreed upon resolution.
Thank you for allowing me to help
Thanks the caller for calling an either goes onto the nest call or gets up and goes in a break room to relieve the tension if it was a tough call.
Hand-offs
If the call is a particularly tough one or one that escalates to the point that the agent does not feel she can work successfully with the caller, she can hand it off to another agent who is coming into the call fresh and after much of the rancor has been expressed. In the handoff, the handing off agent ells the receiving agent the crux of the call and politely passes the caller on –usually to the center director Nina Reese. This way the caller does not have to go over the same ground which just would intensify frustration and anger. The call can start en media res and move forward.

The goal is to resolve’s the caller’s need or issue happily no matter how long it takes and to get it done in the center if at all possible. They abhor the shuffle and are anti-turfing agents at their core.

Hiring
New agents are selected not on experience with call centers but on their personality and creativeness. “They need to be really creative to be able to think and realize what a caller is really asking. Sometimes they also need to become an actor and show interest even if they are not. Many of the calls we get are often the same and it can be hard to sound interested in the thirtieth change a course call in a row., So the agents need to be creative enough to find ways to motivate themselves and show the caller they are interested even if they are faking it” said Center Director Reese.

They also look for people who are organized. They have to know where their information is and get to it quickly so they don’t keep the caller holding. Little upsets people more than holding for someone to find something so the agents need to be able to know where it all is. Reese mentioned that people with food service experience tend to do real well in the call center. They come to the job with a hospitality experience that suits them well for the work in the center.

Reese also added a key ability she looks for when hiring. “They have to have a good sense of humor to roll with the punches. Not ever caller is great to work with. Some are downright rude and impolite and you have to be able to laugh it off or you’ll go crazy and take it out on other callers.”

Training
Every new agent receives a full three week training course from Asst. Director Barb Simpson. Barb starts the training with having the new agent learn the college itself. She actually walks the trainee around the full campus, in and out of buildings so the can later picture what they are talking about. She then walks the trainee into all the various departments and office that the center interacts with; stopping at each one to discuss what they do and make introductions so the trainee can later put faces and names with actions and places. The agents really need to know how and what they are talking about to provide the full customer service with confidence and empathy.

The agent is next trained on the use of all in-line internet forms and the College’s MIS system, Datatel. If they are going to help students complete forms like add/drop to FAFSAs, they need to fully understand the process. They also need to know the MIS system since every call is logged into the system for future reference and to help caller without making them go through the entire history if the issue.

They are next trained on “how WE do it.” This is not a commercial call center. No quotas; no time constraints. The mission and purpose of the center is to help callers and have them leave satisfied and with answers or resolution no matter how much time it takes. They are taught give a name – get a name; how to talk with people, how to listen; and how to follow the center’s three P’s “Be patient, polite and professional” at all times. Only after they have absorbed the P’s will Barb let them start to listen in on calls and then start taking calls themselves. Nina Reese the center’s first and only director says it really takes about six months to really get it to the training including listening on their calls continues. It is not a quick affair but an on0goping aspect of center success.

Operations
The center handles most everything from admissions questions and application information through some areas in which other schools really fall down like advising, registration and even financial aid. Even parking. The center people can advise on what courses are available for their major, can tell them if they have made appropriate academic progress to take course, if they have met pre-reqs for a course and can quickly find the requirements for programs a student might be interested in and then place them in the course or the major area. They can also help students choose majors by listening to them and guiding them into programs that they are looking for. They can even look at a transcript from outside the college and let students know what courses can equal what or the reverse, what CSCC course will be accepted at another Ohio college. This level of service is amazing and really helps kill the shuffle that starts when a student needs to find an advisor to move forward in his career at CSCC. They are so knowledgeable that faculty, even department chairs call them for help in academic matters at times.

The center can also handle all financial aid questions but does not do any backroom calculations of financial aid. They can and do guide students through the FAFSA, deadline information, explain loans and availability of them to students and families who call in. They can also let the students know what financial aid has been awarded and how to access it. They also can work with students on academic progress issues that can affect how much financial aid is available. For example they can tell a student how any courses they attempted, completed, passed and how that could affect their financial aid. They can tell them that because of lack of academic progress the student is on the restricted list and will need to take x class or classes to get their grade level where it needs to be to receive financial aid. If there are some personal issues or calculations needed or issues that are too specific, they set up an appointment for the student with a professional financial aid adviser.

The goal of the call center is not to replace financial aid or any other office but to positively supplement them by taking care of issues that can be handled in the center. That way the professionals in specific offices can focus more fully on service students who come to them for more in depth issues than repeating the same simple service over and over taking them away from providing really good service to students who really need it.

In 1992 Columbus State Community College had really poor customer service. Long lines as the one pictured here from a customer service audit there; angry students; students who shuffled out the door; calls going unanswered and generally a core group of upset and frustrated students. If the school were open during snow students would try to call and get a busy signal or no one picking up. They did not know what to do with their courses or their anger. So CSCC asked Nina Reese to forma  group to answer calls coming in and try to make students happier with the way they were being treated on the phone.  Nineteen years later and with a sporadic focus on customer service now picked up again strongly by a new president, CSCC has cut its lines, reduced student frustration and anger and much if that is the result of its call center which is the best in the country. The new president will no doubt continue to build on the Canter’s success but will cause one center solution to end. Center director Nina Reese can no longer play the president because the new president is a man. He’ll have to answer his own phone. Even she can’t fake a man’s voice though she and her colleagues in the center can darn well do most anything else it seems.

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