The Customer Is Always...The Customer
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This document discusses providing excellent customer service. It emphasizes understanding customers' real needs and priorities by asking the right questions. Customers are no longer defined solely by their use of physical library spaces, so libraries must listen closely to customers and focus on serving individuals.
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The Customer Is Always...The Customer
- 1. “The customer is always… the customer!” Providing top notch service in a multiple choice world OPAL Annual Conference, August 8, 2014 George Needham Vice President, Global and Regional Councils
- 3. College library/public library customer comparison chart http://bit.ly/TVGiGr Isleton Branch. Sacramento Public Library http://bit.ly/1mDUCi5
- 4. First principles 1. What are you really trying to accomplish? 2. What is the real problem? 3. What really matters to our customers? Adapted from “First principles thinking: a better way to innovate” by Jorge Barba on Game-Changer blog, June 26, 2014 http://bit.ly/1r4r7Jx
- 5. 1.) What are you really trying to accomplish? Licensed from http://www.123rf.com/
- 7. Avoid the tug of war http://www.calgaryunitedway.org/main/images/Newsfeed/plane-pull-2013.jpg
- 9. Limit the clutter http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5sbg3HnMq1qg2xooo1_500.jpg
- 11. Emotional clutter counts, too! http://angeanglade.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ClutteredMind.jpg
- 12. 2.) What is the real problem? You are here. Licensed from http://www.123rf.com/
- 13. Ah, for the good old days… http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Monopoly_pack_logo.png
- 14. Our changing value proposition From…
- 15. Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Libraries • Books are for use. • Every reader his book. • Every book its reader. • Save the time of the reader. • The library is a growing organism. http://bit.ly/1ormEKE
- 17. 3.) What really matters to our customers? http://www.balboa-software.com/LibraryCard-L.gif http://law.ucla.edu/library/online-library-tour/first-floor/reference/
- 18. Identify your customers Licensed from http://www.123rf.com/
- 19. Understand your customers http://www.starfleetacademy.edu/mindmeld
- 20. Connect with the always-connected http://451heat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/451-heat-451-Marketing.png
- 21. Cut through the noise http://melaniewellspring.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/helmet-kids-slider.jpg?w=980&h=520&crop=1
- 22. Your users aren’t remote: you are Licensed from http://www.123rf.com/
- 24. Ask the right question https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/6/005/06c/3fa/0ad0ae8.jpg
- 25. But not just “The Usual Suspects” http://spectrumculture.com/film/criminally-overrated-the-usual-suspects/
- 26. Forget being “all things to all people” http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a0/b5/64/a0b56484a0e235c07ea525640c8baf23.jpg
- 28. Libraries don’t serve people… http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/icondesigner.net/hyperion/256/Sidebar-Library-icon.png
- 31. George Needham “The customer is always…the customer!” needhamg@oclc.org 614-761-5173 Explore. Share. Magnify.
Editor's Notes
- Thank Paul and the committee for the invitation Praise lovely MTSO campus Not much on OCLC in this presentation, but check out the other presentation later in the program Ground rules: Lack of formality Ask questions when they arise Feel free to challenge
- This is known as the passive-aggressive approach to customer service. Too common in library’s “gotcha” ethos—one right answer culture
- University Board Library Board University administration County Commissioners, Mayors Faculty Other elected officials Grad students, adjuncts Businesspeople, Friends of the Library Undergraduates Homeless people
- Refer to article as source of ideas Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, Space X and numerous other ventures: starting with first principles allows you to begin at square one without the preconceptions or baggage we bring when we do incremental thinking Analogies can get in the way when trying to think in terms of first principles BTW, this is one of only two text-heavy slides in this program
- TO THE AUDIENCE: What are you really trying to accomplish? What are the institutions in which you work trying to accomplish?
- Based on whatever comes out of the previous discussion: How do you align what your library is trying to accomplish with what your institutions is trying to accomplish? More of them than there are of us We know this, but sometimes what we know and what we do get in the way of each other: FOOD PYRAMID example
- September 2013, Calgary Alberta, fundraiser for United Way OPEN WITH SMALL PICTURE: This looks like a typical tug of war, your basic zero sum game <CLICK> But this is really a picture of what people can do when they work together, towing a fully fueled Airbus A300—weighing about 200,000 pounds—as a fundraiser for the United Way in Calgary, Alberta When people work together, and they are all pulling in the same direction, it is amazing what they can do!
- THROW THIS TO THE AUDIENCE: Who defines library success? Faculty? Students? Administrators? Librarians? US News and World Report? Define success in terms of what you are doing to meet the goals of your parent institution CML: Helping get kids ready for kindergarten, a community-wide goal
- OK, let’s down shift to some more prosaic, day-to-day issues. First, how many of you looked at this image and couldn’t see anything wrong? No one appreciates this kind of mess except the person who made it! EXAMPLE: The Apple Store Genius Bar It doesn’t cost anything to get the clutter out of the way, and it makes for a more inviting work space for both the library worker and the library user
- There is no exception to this rule! Weeding is vital, even in academic research libraries. Doesn’t mean you pulp the books necessarily. Seriously, we are starting to think about collections in a new way. OCLC and OhioLINK have been in the forefront of this change I’ll discuss this more during the OCLC update, focusing on the recent OCLC Research report, “Understanding the Collective Collection.” But there has been a mindset shift away from an emphasis on “What do we own?” to “What can you access through us?”
- And speaking of mindset changes, the clutter isn’t limited to our desks. Think differently about what we do and why we do it. So easy to get hung up on the way we learned to do it. Analogy: doctors forced to work ridiculously long shifts as residents will not change this process, even though they know the results aren’t great, because that’s the way they learned, and damn it, these kids should have to got through the same thing. Similarly, when educators and librarians get PO’d because students can find useful information instantly instead of going through the process we did years ago. Or, the uproars over dropping Dewey or AACR-2.
- So getting back to first principles, ASK THE AUDIENCE: What is the fundamental, existential problem facing libraries today? DISCUSS
- If you wanted nearly any academic or scholarly or reputable or peer-reviewed information, you had to come to us: we had the good stuff. Professors put reserve collections in the library that forced students to come in to use them.
- This has become the existential issue for libraries, regardless of type. From scare, expensive resources and limitless time to ubiquitous resources and dwindling time VALUE PROPOSITION DISCUSSION. In this world, convenience will always trump quality; so it is our responsibility as librarians to make quality convenient.
- Going back to first principles, who better than one of my personal heroes, Dr. S. R. Ranganathan. DISCUSS EACH OF THE FIVE LAWS BRIEFLY. PUT IN CONTEXT OF CLOSED STACKS, CLASS ISSUES, ETC.
- From Lynn Connaway’s description of the new publication Reordering Ranganathan CLICK Today's library users challenge librarians to move from the simple declaration of "save the time of the reader"; meeting today's users' needs requires embedding library systems and services into their existing workflows CLICK Our modern-day rephrasing of "every person his or her book" is know your community and its needs CLICK The core meaning of "books are for use" is still about access; however, our interpretation focuses on developing the physical and technical infrastructure needed to deliver materials CLICK Our interpretation of "every book its reader" focuses on increasing the discoverability, access and use of resources within users’ existing workflows CLICK We agree that "a library is a growing organism" and propose growing users' share of attention.
- TO THE AUDIENCE: What do you think really matters to your customers? Oxford Brookes Story: Antony Brewerton. “Save time; get better grades.” “I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter.” Bob Goff, Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World.
- Customers today are not the same as they were when you entered the profession.
- A few sobering points: 1998 is now as distant from today as 2030. Today’s high school freshman were born in 2000. And by the way, Eminem’s daughter graduated from high school this spring. Jerry Seinfeld was 35 years old when his show premiered. This year he turned 60. These students have almost no patience with obstacles or reasons why they can’t get to the information they want. Other traits: Learning is important and new skills will ease stressful situations. Motivated by learning / want to see immediate results Collaborative Achievement-oriented Highly creative Positive Diverse Fun, Flexible Want continuous feedback Respond poorly to those who act in an authoritarian manner and/or who expect to be respected due to higher rank alone.
- One of the key points for the audience today is that they expect to connect with anyone any time, and that means you too. Not 24 hour libraries necessarily, but services that can be reached online and on mobile device. As my 14-year old grandson told me, “If it ain’t mobile, it ain’t going anywhere!” GROCERY STORE Get into people’s work flow—no left turns or even worse, U-turns.
- These things are adding to the noise: Creating your own Facebook presence Relying too much on a pc or laptop-native web site These things help you cut through: Contributing to other people’s ongoing threads on Facebook and Twitter Mobile apps Getting Institutional Repository and other owned-digital content out Search Engine Optimization
- Importance of branding: Jay Barney Story Support faculty, administrators, staff, and students wherever and whenever they are Platform agnostic
- “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to respond.” Stephen Covey Generally not a core competency for librarians. As Jerome Kern once wrote, Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Librarians gotta tell you why, why, why… If you do decide to listen <click>
- Make sure to ask the right question! QUESTION FOR AUDIECE: What is the right question? Never ask civilians what the library should do—THEY DON’T KNOW! Ask them about themselves: their work, their studies, their research, the obstacles they are facing. Then apply library skills to those issues
- Avoid the trap of only considering the needs of the people you see every day, or that you hear from—physically or virtually—on a regular basis Need to consistently replenish the audience, especially on campuses where you have a constant turnover of students and adjunct faculty
- But remember—you can’t be all things to all people. “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” OK, in my case, it’s multitudes of pizzas. Anyway, after all this, realize that you can’t please or serve everyone equally and trying to do so is about as attractive as a kick in the butt.
- It’s a repugnant idea to librarians, but you need to focus on your high value/high return users. This doesn’t mean you ignore everyone else, but you need to focus your resources where you can have impact. Chasing the latest bright shiny thing tends to be more of a problem in public libraries than in academic libraries, but it is still a tendency we need to avoid.
- In the end, good customer service comes down to knowing—knowing in a bone-deep way—who your customers are and what they need. And this can’t be done by institutions or by applying algorithms…it’s done by <click>
- People. What are your written policies? What are the unwritten policies and practices that actually determine your culture? What do you reward? What do you punish? What do you ignore? What is covered on your annual evaluation forms? How does someone get promoted, or get tenure? The whole thing comes down to the codicil to the Golden Rule: Do unto others as they would have you do unto them. I hope I don’t get in trouble for paraphrasing the Bible in this setting.
- So what’s holding you back?