After a long holiday weekend of both family gatherings and battle rounds of extreme shopping, I am sure you have some good stories about service to tell, both the good and the bad. Over coffee or lunch today at the office, I am sure there were full out pantomimes if not dramatic readings of service stories. No matter how things ended up, let’s talk for a few minutes about how things could have started better and then maybe even stayed on track! Teeing up service excellence in the first minutes of the exchange is critical to taking control of a positive outcome in customer service, and higher education service is no different.

Here are the best ways to Tee Up Customer Service Excellence in Higher Education:

  1. Wait, what wait? Describing waiting for service, it’s said folks would rather spend 15 minutes in paradise than five minutes in hell. If the wait is pleasant, then customers can wait even longer. Even though we try hard to eliminate lines, stuff happens that increases the traffic flow in person or in the phone queue, and so we just have to be ready to manage a wait.
    1. Don’t ignore the next student while doing something you can do later.
    2. Give students something to do to prepare for their time with the service professional. Student workers can help manage and expedite a lobby line, letting students know how to do that transaction online instead of waiting, for instance. Rewrite your IVR message in a phone queue wait crisis to ensure students are ready when it is their turn, reminding them to have their student ID number ready or whatever.
    3. Be transparent. If you can reveal how long the wait will be, that’s the best, because that transparency wins points. Again, telling students the URL or place in their portal where certain information or transactions are located can prevent them waiting unnecessarily.
    4. And make the wait atmosphere as pleasant as possible! This is not the time for low energy or poor greeting skills! You may be faced with a long line or sad faces, but you have to counter that with terrific energy and realistic understanding.
  2. Tee up that Four Star Greeting! Welcome them to come forward, introduce yourself, and tell them what you do, and then the most important part of all–invite them to tell you what they need. The ”How may I help you?” critical fourth step at the end of your greeting is the most forgotten part of the basic service exchange. You welcome their issue, as you invite them to speak.
  3. Smile and keep smiling: Service is what you do, and you enjoy it, and you’re a professional, so smiling, as long as it is appropriate in the exchange, keeps you in the driver’s seat. Trust me, it works!
  4. Personalize the Experience: Say their name, if you know it, or welcome them back, if you don’t but recognize them. Students have a name 100% of the time, but how often do we use it or even ask for it? Ask them how their term is going. Apologize for the wait, but without detail, or for the weather that day, or whatever seems to be operating, but by all means, personalize the service exchange. This creates that sense of belonging and lifetime loyalty.
  5. Make Eye Contact and keep it: “See the student.” “Hear the student.” Once they start telling you what they need, keep eye contact. Don’t ignore them and start processing their request. You may rush to judgment, miscalculate their issue, and either give them false information or “bounce” them to the wrong office. And it is just rude, to ignore someone who is speaking.
  6. Use Scripted Responses: Whether it’s not something that comes up every day, or it’s a new transaction to your office, or perhaps it is something that can be stressful for the student and make them frustrated, use scripted responses to make sure that you respond correctly. Write them yourself, so they sound authentic, then get approval from your manager so you know you’re supported. Have them written down, near the counter or your phone, and practice them so you don’t have to read them. They really work!
  7. Be Genuine and Authentic: Think about the best service people you met recently. They were the ones that said thank you and really meant it. Stay in the game, keep your energy up and stay connected to the student you are currently serving. It all goes easier if you are connected and real during the exchange.

One student at a time-that’s how we retain students! And your service excellence exchange can be the most powerful retention effort in that student’s day!