Customer Experience

Poor Customer Experience

It seems that those of us working in institutions-hospitals, schools, libraries, government 

offices - have forgotten customer service.  My multi-year frustration with poor customer service came to a head this summer when as a result of a nurse's accident I had to go to a local hospital, not my regular hospital. I was greeted by a screen upon my arrival at the lab. It was a touch screen that was not calibrated so it was impossible to use. After attempting twice to sign-in a woman sitting a mere two feet from the touch screen came and did it for me. First, I didn't have to go to the lab. I was doing the hospital a favor, and felt that my name should have been flagged, V.I.P. Second, I love technology but not to replace a human interaction.  This whole experience got me thinking about customer service in my own library. 

The Human Connection

We as librarians (or teachers, or gov't workers or hospital staff) never talk about customer experience. The first interaction a student has in a library leaves a lasting impression and may well determine if they come back again. That first impression should not be silence, but a smiling, sincere greeting. I sit at the circulation desk and say "Good Morning" to every a student, and mean it.  It is a good morning when students are using the library.

Patrons as Customers

Like many librarians I keep track of student use of the library as one piece of evidence to show the need for maintaining library services. I think of my library as a business, the more customers through the door, the more likely the profits will increase, but like any business it's not just about getting them through the door once. It's about getting them to return again and again by providing services they need, in a pleasant environment. Every time a student walks through the door of the library, my imaginary cash register rings out KA-CHING. If you go to a restaurant and the food is good but the waitress is terrible and worse she is nasty to you, then you wouldn't return. What if we started viewing our patrons as paying customers? Even though they don't hand us cash after finding a book or using a computer, they (or their parents) have paid taxes to support the school and thus the library. I know, you’re saying but our libraries are not getting their fair share of the funding. As librarians we cannot always control the fair distribution of the revenue, but we can control the product produced. Would our student patrons benefit from more money in the library—YES! Would our customer service be improved with more money? Possibly more staff would mean more questions were answered quicker, more instruction, etc., but would the basics of customer service… that feeling a student has upon exiting the library, improve? Whether we work in a "rich" or "poor" library, we influence customer service, and improving customer service costs nothing. 

Precepts of Customer Service 

• Check your affect. We often don't realize our natural facial expression may appear unhappy or even hostile, if that's the case, make an effort to smile regularly. 
• Be the "Wal-Mart greeter" by acknowledging patrons as they enter and exit. 
• Do a sound check on your tone of voice, like our facial expression we may not realize how we sound, our “neutral” may appear mean. 
• Adopt politeness as True North, say "thank you" and "have a great day." Nothing makes me happier than when I am thanked. 
• Don't wait to be asked for help, read your customers body language and offer to show customers your system. It's uncomfortable to go to a place when you don't know how the system works. 
• We all wish we could be treated like a VIP professional athlete or movie star. So to quote Gandhi, "be the change you desire in the world." Give your patrons the VIP treatment, and treat them like the rock stars they (and you) are.