I recently read a quote, “customer service isn’t a big thing; it’s a million little things.” This quote got me thinking about how we as Master Educators provide customer service to our students. After all, the students that fill our classrooms and student salons are our number one customer.
We must ask ourselves, do we truly consider our student customers? After all, students are paying for our services, which is providing them with education. Just like any other customer, they expect a fair return on their investment. Providing effective customer service means providing our students with a quality education.
A good place to begin is to step back and get into the role of the customer for a moment. What little things do you want or like to have happen when you are the customer? The reality is, if we want to WOW our students with outstanding customer care, then we need to step out of the shoes of being a Master Educator and become the customer.
I like to refer to all of the little extra things we do as customer service providers as “added value services.” Which, when put together, can add up to creating a WOW experience for students. To help you identify areas of opportunity to WOW your students, I suggest you do the following exercise.
Step 1: Divide a piece of paper into two columns. Label one side “minimum expectations” and the other side “exceeds expectations.”
Step 2: Think about all your areas of interaction you have with your students. Under the “minimum” column write down your student’s minimum expectations for that interaction. Next, move over to the “exceeds” column and write down what you could do to exceed your student’s expectations. Let me give you an example:
Interaction: Greet students in the morning
Minimum Expectation: Instructor welcomes me with a smile and a friendly “good morning.”
Exceeds Expectations: Instructor welcomes me at the front door with a smile and a friendly “good morning” and I receive a sincere thank you for being on time today. The instructor is prepared and set up for success and I hear that we are going to have an awesome day!
Once you have your “exceeds” list created, put it into action. I think you’ll agree with me that there are numerous choices when it comes to education and our ability to provide excellent service to our students can put you and your school in a leadership position.