Delivering Legendary Service at Schools
Have you heard of Seinfeld – An American TV series in the 90s? Did you watch the Soup Nazi episode? This soup deli served the best soups in the world. It was so good that the customers had to follow their bizarre ordering procedure. Their procedure was: Step into the store, move to the right side, proceed directly to the counter, order without making small talks or comments, and then step to the left. Customers must strictly follow the procedure to get what they wanted, or they would hear the dreaded words, “No soup for you.” The characters on Seinfeld were terrorized with unbelievably bad service treatments from the chef, but they kept returning to the deli.
Would you put up with poor customer service for a product (or a service) you love? Probably not unless you have no choice. An international school. It had no problems with student enrollment. They were turning away students and they became cocky. They were the only international school in town; this place was developing into an industrial and technological hub. The school was established in the mid-90s. They didn’t have to care about offering good service until another international school opened about ten years later. An expatriate enrolled his children in the newer school, not the more established one. When he was asked why he didn’t pick the more established school, he said that the older school was his preferred choice; he visited the older school first. But he was utterly disappointed by the behavior and attitude of the person at the front desk. He said she was rude and unfriendly. If a staff member was rude and unfriendly, he reasoned that the principals and teachers were probably like that as well. He didn’t want his children to be educated in this kind of environment. He didn’t enroll one or two kids but four of his children went to the newer school. Just do your Math. On average, the tuition fee is US$20,000 for each kid. You multiply that by 4. It is $80,000 per year!!! He lived and worked in that city for eight years. As you can imagine, the enrollment number of the first international school started to dwindle.
Elaine, one of the characters on Seinfeld, was subjected to the same treatment by the soup “Nazi.” Refusing to be treated disrespectfully, she went to do something about it. At the end of the episode, she went back to the soup deli and flashed a stack of the Soup Nazi’s recipes at the chef. As she was reading out his recipes one soup after another, the chef became increasingly worried. You could see it in his face. She finally got her revenge. Her final punch line for the chef was: No more soup for you! What goes around comes around.
To build a successful school, we all recognize the importance of establishing high expectations for students and teachers. High expectations for students have repeatedly been shown to have a positive impact on their performance. Similarly, teachers who are expected to teach at high levels of effectiveness can reach these expectations.
Likewise, it is equally critical to acknowledge the significance of requiring high expectations for school leaders and other staff members. Therefore, all school members, including employees, contractors, and volunteers, ought to provide exceptional service to everyone in the school community. The ultimate purpose of delivering stellar service to these stakeholders is to meet the students' needs, enhancing their learning eventually. The true power of implementing outstanding service is the impact we have on the lives of the students who enroll in our school. The students are our ultimate purpose.
There have not been many choices regarding children’s education for expatriate parents in the past. Now, however, the number of schools has increased exponentially. There are international schools, bilingual schools, and quality local private schools. It is not difficult for parents to find another education alternative if they are dissatisfied with the current school.
Gone are the days when schools competed solely on academic excellence or state-of-the-art facilities. Academic rigor and state-of-the-art facilities are still critical. However, we can agree that customer service is a part of K-12 education these days. In fact, if the school expects to remain relevant or solvent, customer service is an essential expectation.
Delivering Legendary Customer Service. What does it mean? What does it not mean?
Let’s start with what is NOT legendary customer service.
It does NOT mean that customers are always right. It is NOT doing whatever the customers are asking for. It means building relationships with the people we support and serve.
It does NOT mean just for parents. When we talk about customers, parents (the paying customers) always come to mind. It means for both the external customers (parents and students) and the internal customers (teachers, staff, and colleagues from other departments).
It does NOT mean embracing customer service at the expense of academic rigor. It means excelling in all we do – raising the academic standards and raising the service standards. It is NOT either-or. It is both.
There is one more benefit of delivering legendary service. Having good customer service skills is vital to you as an individual. Customer service skills are life skills. They are relevant and essential for all individuals and employees of any industry.
Henry Wong will share three suggestions on how to raise your service standards to both your internal and external customers at schools in his next blog. He will also be facilitating a once-a-year “Delivering Legendary Service for Schools” workshop in February/March 2022 for administrative or academic support staff and teachers. Please feel free to check it out.
