This document provides guidance on customer service best practices for organizations. It discusses the importance of customer service, experiences, and loyalty. The foundation of excellent service is an organization's mission, vision, and values. Staff must understand why high customer service is important in order to achieve the organization's goals. The document outlines how to create positive customer experiences and emotional connections through small personalized interactions. It also provides tips for maintaining high service standards, handling complaints, and assessing customer loyalty.

1. CUSTOMER
SERVICE SECRETS
OF A GOOB
FROM FOUNDATION TO CHIMNEY
Warren Bird, CPRP, AFO

2. LEARNER OUTCOMES
▪ Customer Service vs Customer Experiences vs Customer Loyalty
▪ The foundation for excellent service is organizational
mission/vision/values
▪ Importance of “why” in addition to “how” when training staff
▪ Review customer service procedures
▪ Review assessment tools to maintain high customer service levels

3. WHAT ARE CUSTOMERS?
▪ A customer is the recipient of a Good or a service, or a product, or an
idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial
transaction or exchange for money or some other valuable
consideration.
▪ An external customer of an organization is a customer who is not
directly connected to that organization.
▪ An internal customer is a customer who is directly connected to an
organization, and is usually (but not necessarily) internal to the
organization. Internal customers are usually stakeholders, employees,
or shareholders.
Everyone we come in contact with during our workday is a customer and we should
strive to provide the highest level of care and hospitality to them all

4. WHAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE?
▪ Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by
providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and
assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are
met.
▪ The programs and services your organization offers to the public
provide the revenue to function.
▪ It is imperative to provide excellent service to enhance the level of
revenue received. It funds the staff and operations to achieve your
organizational mission and vision.
Common courtesy and respect form the foundation of
exceptional guest service.

5. WHAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?
“How customers perceive their interactions with
your company”
▪ Customer service determines customer experiences
▪ Customers remember experiences for a long time
▪ Customers tell others about negative experiences
▪ Staff duty to provide customers with a positive experience
▪ Positive experiences are vital to improve customer quality of life

6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE =
EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS
▪ The power of your service lies in the ability to create an emotional
connection rather than a rational connection with your customers.
▪ Emotional connections lead to better economic outcomes.
▪ Creating emotional connections is key to delivering exceptional service
experiences.
▪ The higher the emotional connection with your customers, the better
your sales and profitability.

7. EMOTIONAL CONNECTION BENEFITS
Emotionally engaged customers tend to be:
▪ 3 times more likely to purchase
▪ Less likely to shop around
▪ Much less price sensitive

8. CREATE EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS
▪ Create small, individualized moments where your customers feel
special:
*Staff Name Badges – customers connect better when they know
staff names
*Recognize customer milestones
– customer birthdays
- membership anniversaries
- program accomplishments (martial arts belts, masters swim
distances, etc.)
▪ These moments make customers feel like they are VIP’s.
▪ How can you create personal interactions and build relationships with
customers?

9. STORY BREAK
▪ Customer Experience and Emotional Connections

10. WHY PROVIDE SERVICE?
▪ What is your organization’s cost recovery directive?
▪ What happens if you don’t achieve that directive?
▪ How does your organization recover costs?
▪ Do you train your staff on this basic principle?
▪ Contractual agreement = You provide services and activities that
benefit the community and individuals want. The public acknowledges
the benefit of these services and agrees to pay for them through taxes
or user fees based on the perceived value.
▪ Perceived value is based in part on the service received before, during
and after the activity

11. FOUNDATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE
▪ Organizational Mission – The Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department
provides recreational, cultural and natural resource experiences for the benefit
of the citizens of Garland
▪ Organizational Vision – Garland is an active, fun, healthy and inviting city
▪ Organizational Values:
Teamwork: the ability to work together toward a common vision
Integrity: Freedom from corrupting influence or motive. Adherence to a strict
ethical code
Innovation: An exploration of the new
Passion: Boundless enthusiasm
Service: An act of assistance or benefit
Fun: Playful activity

12. CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS
▪ Fulfill mission and vision through Service Standards
▪ Operational criteria to ensure consistent performance of mission and vision
▪ Standards are prioritized to enhance efficiency of operations and eliminate
conflicts between standards
1. Safety – Evaluate facilities, programs and processes to ensure guest and staff
safety
2. Courtesy – All guests and staff are treated courteously and with respect
3. Environment – Staff maintain the guest environment to the highest available
standards
4. Efficiency – Operations are performed in the most efficient manner to provide
the best experience for staff and guests

13. SERVICE STANDARDS APPLIED
Example – “Ninja Knife Throwing for 3 year olds” program
1. Safety - Will program participants and staff be in a safe environment?
2. Courtesy - Will program participants be treated courteously by
instructors and staff?
3. Environment - Will the facility considered provide the best
environment for the program?
4. Efficiency - Will all processes provide a great guest experience for the
program - including parking, registration, janitorial, evaluations, etc.?

14. STAFF PERFORMANCE
Staff will be far more inclined to provide excellent customer service if:
▪ They understand the organization’s vision and mission
▪ They see the organization’s values practiced by their supervisors and peers
▪ They are recognized and rewarded
▪ They feel like part of the team
▪ They are well-trained

15. STORY BREAK
▪ Staff Performance or standards

16. STRATEGY – MAINTAIN LOYAL CUSTOMERS
What Customers Want From You
1. Make me feel special
2. Treat me like an individual
3. Show respect to me
4. Be knowledgeable (staff)

17. GIVE CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT
▪ Acknowledge and make eye contact with customers when they enter
facility or approach staff
▪ Easily identifiable staff – uniform, staff shirt, name tag, etc.
▪ Staff give full attention – make eye contact with customer
▪ Customer’s name is used during conversation
▪ Appropriate body language is used at all times – alert, energetic, happy
to be at the workplace and eager to serve
▪ Communicate clearly and effectively with customers
▪ Empathize with customer point of view to identify alternative solutions
▪ Respond to “thank you” with “you’re welcome” or “it’s my pleasure”.
Other responses may be perceived as disinterested or uncaring.

18. BE KNOWLEDGEABLE
▪ Employees have a responsibility to answer
questions and share information
▪ “I don’t know” is an unacceptable answer
to a customer question
▪ Employees should attempt to provide
answers to questions through research or
calling other staff
▪ Customers benefit when staff provide
additional suggestions relating to activities
similar to the customer inquiry - upselling

19. TELEPHONE PROCEDURES
How to have consistently great telephone conversations:
▪ Answer all calls promptly (by the second ring)
▪ Be polite and cheerful; smile while talking
▪ Identify yourself and facility when answering call
▪ Ask how you can assist caller
▪ Keep hold times to a minimum
▪ Take messages when appropriate
▪ Ensure messages reach the individual
▪ Make inquiries tactfully
▪ Give undivided attention to caller
▪ Avoid long conversations
Customers judge your organization by how courteous staff were in answering the call, conversation and taking messages

20. TEACH EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE
1. Make eye contact and smile
2. Greet each and every customer
3. Seek customer contact
4. Provide immediate service recovery
5. Display appropriate body language at all times
6. Thank each and every customer

21. SERVING CUSTOMERS WITH DISABILITIES
▪ When speaking to a guest with a disability, speak directly to them rather
than to a friend or companion
▪ Don’t worry if you use common expressions such as “it was a pleasure
to see you” or “I’ll walk you to your destination”
▪ Offer assistance to a person with a disability and wait to act until your
offer is accepted
▪ Be considerate. It may take a person with a disability extra time and
space. Let the individual set the pace when talking or moving to a
destination
▪ Avoid clichés such as confined to a chair, wheelchair bound,
handicapped or crippled. Instead, say a person with a disability or a
person with a speech impediment, always putting the person first

22. STORY BREAK

23. CUSTOMER SERVICE RECOVERY -
COMPLAINTS
Immediately resolve a service issue before
it becomes a service problem
To promote Customer Service Recovery,
remember to LAFF:
▪ Listen – for a way to solve the issue
▪ Apologize – even if it’s not your fault
▪ Fix it – do whatever you are authorized to
do and inform supervisor if it isn’t enough
▪ Follow Through – to make sure the
situation is resolved

24. REALLY UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS
▪ Stay calm and courteous at all times.
- The situation will NOT improve if you become angry
▪ Listen with understanding.
- Let the customer finish their complaint so you can identify, target, and
agree on the problem. Kindly apologize for the problem
▪ Determine actions necessary to resolve the problem
▪ Determine if you are the person to resolve the problem
▪ If you're not the right person, assist connecting the guest to the
appropriate person.
- Make sure the customer gets connected or has a phone number
▪ It is the employee’s responsibility to notify their supervisor if a situation
is getting out of control or beyond their ability to provide assistance

25. WHEN IT GETS OUT OF CONTROL
▪ Abuse of employees and customers should never be tolerated
▪ If a customer becomes abusive, the employee should inform the customer
that they are no longer the appropriate person to handle the situation, and
inform a supervisor immediately
▪ If a supervisor is not present, staff should inform the customer that a
supervisor will contact them as soon as possible
▪ If the customer continues to be hostile toward staff or other customers,
staff should request the hostile customer leave the premises
▪ If the customer remains hostile, refuses to leave, and staff believe there is
no other solution to ensure a safe environment - call 911

26. STORY BREAK

27. ASSESSMENT TOOL - EVERYTHING SPEAKS
▪ Definition - Pay attention to the details
▪ Every detail of your operation “speaks” to your
customers
▪ Staff performance and facility conditions send hundreds
of messages to customers during each interaction
▪ Staff interactions speak to customer about your
organizational culture and staff desire to serve
▪ Customers are acutely aware of the “everything speaks”
concept
▪ Paying attention to details builds trust in customers
▪ Walt Disney – “everything speaks” starts at parking lot

28. ASSESSMENT TOOL – SERVICE MAPPING
▪ Evaluate services provided by organization
▪ Involve all levels of staff involved in providing that service
▪ Map out service by timeline or process
▪ Evaluate how service can be improved for each service box
▪ EX: guest experience leaving park for hotel

29. CUSTOMER LOYALTY ASSESSMENTS
▪ Evaluations
▪ Needs assessments
▪ Mystery shoppers
▪ Focus Groups
▪ Suggestion boxes
▪ Email
▪ Customer requests or complaints
Assess and Compare Customer Loyalty Levels Routinely

30. QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?

31. THANK YOU!
Warren Bird
wbirdcog@gmail.com
214-802-1408