OLA Super Conference

1. Customer Service Like a Rockstar
Brian Pichman | Director of Strategic Innovation – Evolve Project
Twitter: @bpichman
#olasc

2. Agenda
 PuttingYour BandTogether
 Keeping and BuildingYour Band Members
 Setting UpYour Garage
 Getting to theTop (Billboard Music Awards)
 More Band Practice!
 Rifting 101

3. Objectives to Overcome
 Team had a negative persona due to poor performance
 Team had poor customer service skills (with other departments and customers)
 Reliability of employees differed across the team.
 No leadership structure.
 High employee turn over.
 Near failure on meeting Service Level Agreements
 Customer Dissatisfaction

4. Performance Improvement Plan
 Goal Number 1: Must Improve Customer Service
 Fix Leadership Structure
 Rebuild team
 KeepTeam motivated and dedicated.

5. People:You
Be A RiskTaker
Be A Rule Breaker
 (Within reason)
Have Passion
Have Drive

6. 65% of 1,000 consumers surveyed said
they’ve cut ties with a brand over a
single poor customer service
experience
(Parature)

7. It takes 12 positive customer
experiences to make up for one
negative experience.
(Parature)

8. PuttingYour BandTogether
Building EffectiveTeams to WorkTowards Fantastic Service

9. People: Staff andTeam
 Have motivated and positive team members
 Staff members who want to do more than just “check in and out books”
 Skill Assessment
 Staff members all have unique skills / hobbies
 Create badges / shirts that help identify the staff members with those specific skills
 Encourage them to be vocal about their skills and passions to relate to patrons.

10. What Makes Up an EffectiveTeam?
 Reliability
 Shows up to band practice, does their
fair share of the work, and works hard
to meet commitments.
 Adaptability
 No matter the scenario; your “band “
should adapt to ever changing
requirements and situations.
 Share of Leadership Roles
 Sharing accountability and acting as
an owner will always drive your “band
“ forward.

11. EffectiveTeams Have a Clear Unity and Purpose
 Defining World Class Service
 Everyone must work towards achieving the best support possible.
 Whether that’s through circulation, reference, programs, the makerspace, workshops, etc.
 BrandingYour Library/Organization
 Everyone must be proud of the organization or library they work.
 Setting Clear and Demanding Performance Goals / Metrics
 Everyone must have the drive to continue to exceed expectations and push the limits of
their abilities.

12. Outcomes of Building ATeam
Problem
 Missing Succession Planning
 Only ”One Expert”
 If they were out
= panic
Resolution
 Quickly ramp up building a strong
leadership structure
 Make everyone sis an “expert” on a select
subset of topics that match their career
goals / passions.
 Customer Service Improves

13. 89% of consumers have stopped
doing business with a company
after experiencing poor customer
service
Source: RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report

14. It is 6-7 times more expensive to
acquire a new customer than it is to
keep a current one
(White House Office of Consumer Affairs)

15. Keeping and BuildingYour Band
Members
Strengthen the relationship between employees, managers, and customers.

16. You HaveYour Band… But
 There are always other places good team members may work.
 Your band members want to joinAlanis Morissette’s band.
 How do you prevent people from leaving and keeping team members focused on
improving themselves/customer service?
 How do you keep your employees engaged and wanting to come into work?

17. Managing a team is a lot like…

18. Happy Rock Mates are: PaidWell
 Do a market analysis of what
competing “bands” play.
 Use glassdoor.com or indeed.com to
find what other people pay.
 Ask!

19. Happy Rock Mates are: Mentored
 Peer Mentor Program
 Executive Leadership picks someone
to mentor and help grow their skill
sets.
 Do regular “one-on-ones”
 Consistency is important

20. Happy Rock Mates are: Challenged
 Challenge your employees on a
regular basis.
 Push them outside their comfort
zone.
 Mentor them during challenges and
monitor progress.
 Offer incentives

21. Happy Rock Mates are: Promoted
 Build internal “levels” that are
reachable by building KPI’s
 Set benchmarks for a type of service:
 Books Recommended
 Positive Patron Surveys
 Items Researched
 Attendees at a Program
 Promotions can also be simply
“tacking on” responsibilities
 Employees feel valued and
empowered.

22. Happy Rock Mates are: Involved
 Involve your team in roadmaps (or
writing new songs).
 Ask for their opinion.
 Have them review processes
 Have them come up with focus
committees
 Have them do research on a specific
topic.

23. Happy Rock Mates are: Appreciated andValued
 A “ThankYou” goes a long way.
 By asking for their input, you are
showing they are valued to the team.
 Share their wins with the team.
 Share some responsibility.

24. Happy Rock Mates are: On A Mission
 Set goals and objectives for your
team.
 Help them focus by:
 Increased Responsibilities
 Promotions
 Giving them “innovation hours”
 Stop Drop and Read
 Give them a project to work on.

25. Happy Rock Mates are: Empowered
 Empower your team members to use
their critical thinking skills and make
informed decisions.
 If they make the incorrect decision; do
not deflect blame.
 By allowing them to focus on their
missions you will give them
empowerment.

26. Happy Rock Mates:Trusted
 Trust your employees.
 Don’t micromanage. If you build your
team correctly; they will manage
themselves.
 Allow your employees room to fail on
non impacting projects.

27. Other Roads to Success
 Quick 5-15 Minute Meetings Each Day (Team Huddle,Team Meeting, etc)
 Fun and Social Activities (Costume Parties, Appreciation Days)
 Drive Innovation (Let people come up with a solution and work on it)
 Leaders should have two main concerns: people and production
 Having a high concern for people motivates the team and they become more productive
 Having a high concern for production creates sense of achievement and satisfaction
 Have One-On-One Meetings (Mentoring)

28. Common Team Issues
Communicate
If you have a problem with someone in your group, talk to them about
it. Letting bad feelings brew will only make you sour and want to
isolate yourself from the group.
Don't Blame Others
You're not fooling anyone, people know who isn't pulling his/her
weight in a group. Pointing the finger will only make you look
cowardly.
Support Group nobody likes a know-it-all…..support your team member’s ideas
No Bragging Superstar’s are just as bad…be a mentor not a braggart
Listen Actively Look at the person who's speaking to you, nod, ask probing questions
and acknowledge what's said by paraphrasing points that have been
made
Get Involved Take the time to help your fellow teammates - if you've helped them
in past, they'll be more than happy to lend a helping hand.

29. Shifting Mindsets – EmpowerYou/Team
 Exposure
 You have more control over books than Barnes and Nobles plus Borders combined.
 Explain the amount of patrons your library sees weekly
 Delivered Content
 Companies spend a lot of money (from paying an employee) to deliver their content (product or
service) to their prospective buyers.
 Libraries can deliver content, as it is their job to their community.
 Libraries support the delivered content.

30. Harris Interactive (2007 Survey)
PURCHASING BOOKS, CDS AND DVDS
 Whether young or old, people make purchases from a retailer after they’ve
checked out it of the local library.
 40% adults and 36% youth have purchased a book (hard cover or soft cover) after checking it
out from the local library.
 20% adults and 22% youth have purchased CDs after checking them out
 22% of adults and 25% of youth have purchased DVDs after checking them out.

31. Outcomes of KeepingTheTeam
Problem
 HighTurn Over
 Employees
uninterested/unengaged.
 No onboarding process that focuses
on customer service.
Resolution/Outcomes
 It was found there wasn’t enough employee touch
points. Adding more frequent touch points improved
overall team satisfaction of the work they do.
Confidence is important
 This then was reflected within the customer
interactions.
 New innovative ideas came from the team.
 Team members DO NOT want to get promoted out of
the department. People who have left (within or
outside the organization) has expressed interest in
returning.
 Customer Service Improves

32. 55% of consumers would pay
more for a better customer
experience.
(Defaqto Research)

33. Consumers are 2 times more likely to
share their bad customer service
experiences than they are to talk about
positive experiences.
(2012 GlobalCustomer Service Barometer)

34. Setting UpYour Garage
Creating an environment that fuels innovation, excitement, and outstanding customer service

35. Environments
 Building an enjoyable environment is important to the happiness
and success of employees
 Which leads to the improvement of services or products offered
 Which equates to consistently delivering Rock Star Customer
Service.

36. Why DoYou ComeToWork?
Usually one of two things:
It’s a job/you need money
You like the job/people

37. Setting Up An EnvironmentWorth Having
 Build a team that everyone enjoys being part of
 Build an environment that makes people want to be at work.
 You NEED to have employees who are proud of where they work

40. The OldWay:

41. The NewWay:

43. Layouts
 Open and Collaborative
 There shouldn’t be “offices”
 Do meeting rooms or mini on-demand offices
 Have “tinkering” items
 Video Games
 Knitting
 Coloring
 Stress Balls
 Nerf Guns
 Swings….
 Encourage working together to solve problems versus working in a silo.

44. Outcomes of Building AWinning Environment
Problem
 People show up late and want to leave
early.
 Lack of collaboration
 Lack of ”excitement” to be at work.
 The only drive was to leave the
department and to work somewhere
else.
Resolution/Outcomes
 Employees come into work EARLY and stay
LATE
 Employees build products that drive success
 Employees act as a family
 They look out for each other
 Cover each other’s shift
 Host “parties” and “get-together's” at work
and outside of work
 Innovation Hours to develop ideas.
 Customer Service Improves

45. Getting to theTop
(Billboard Music Awards)
Building surveys to measure and rate performance

46. Survey’s
 Traditional Survey (Measures Customer Satisfaction)
 Net Promoter Score (Measures Customer Loyalty)
 Find out if customers are talking about you and their overall impression of you

47. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
 Goal:To determine if your users will recommend the service/you/library provides
 Usually includes a small amount of follow-up questions to help understand why they
would recommend / not recommend
 Identify Users
 You are able to identify the loyal customers and the “naysayers”.
 NPS is a standard measure to compare customer satisfaction across similar or other
industries.
 Without a plan to act on results, all surveys are useless.

49. NPS is scored off this single question:

50. NPS

51. NPS
 Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep referring
others, fueling growth.
 Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who
are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
 Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage
your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
 To calculate your NPS, take the percentage of customers who are
Promoters and subtract the percentage who are Detractors.

52. Promoters

53. Passives

54. Detractors

55. Calculating NPS
Counts # Percentage
Promoters 10 10/13 77%
Detractors 2 2/13 15%
Passives 1
Total Surveys: 13 NPS 77-15 = 62
62
Take percentage of customers who are Promoters and
subtract the percentage who are Detractors.
https://delighted.com/nps-calculator
Counts # Percentage
Promoters 70 70/100 70%
Detractors 10 10/100 10%
Passives 20
Total Surveys: 100 NPS 70-10=60
60

56. Top Brands – NPS is a Comparable Metric
 You can compare your score with
other industries; the scoring
mechanism is standard across.
 NPS is also an improvement plan.You
are now able to track and measure
success (or failure) in a repeatable
fashion.

57. “Don’t ForgetYour Guitar Pick” Level of Importance
 After getting scores, there must be a process in place to drive
improvements and provide follow ups to people who gave bad feedback.
 Turn the negatives into wins!
 Successful companies use Net Promoter to build out improvement
strategies.
 Before sending our surveys; determine what you will do with a bad survey
and how it should be delivered to the team/team member.
 Make those processes available to the team so they are aware.

58. NPS Discoveries
Problem
 Customers wanted more detail in
conversations through email or follow up
messages.
 Customers got confused between our
organization and 3rd party affiliates.
 Skillset Gaps
 Agents sounded bored.
Resolution/Outcomes
 Provided a more detailed approach to email
communication and trained agents
accordingly.
 Worked on branding the organization so
hand offs to other 3rd party groups was
more obvious.
 Some of the negative surveys were about
employees who had a skillset gap. This was
corrected through training.
 It turned out agents where not taking
vacation day and were getting burned out.

59. 78% of consumers have bailed on a
transaction or not made an intended
purchase because of a poor service
experience
(American Express Survey)

60. A customer is 4 times more likely to
buy from a competitor if the problem is
service related vs. price or product
related.
(Bain & Co.)

61. SurveyTips: Ask the Right People
Identify your target audience
Tailor questions for accuracy
Deliver surveys on the most effective communication
channel (Social Media, Email, Phone, etc.)

62. How to Survey and AskYour Crowd
 Engage your respondents through effective surveys to drive the desired results to
your business.
 Make informed decisions
 Identify weaknesses and highlight new opportunities
 Overall, response rate to surveys is poor. You will need to focus your efforts on
determining the best way and level of frequency to send out surveys.
 IEToo many surveys = nuisance.
 Survey process is in constant refinement.

63. SurveyTips – Short and Sweet
 Clear and Concise
 Get the must have information
 Surveys should last about 5 minutes
 Avoid Open Ended Questions
 Open Ended Questions usually involve “feelings” and less focus on the facts.
 What did you enjoy about the program?
 Close Ended Questions encourage a clear and direct answer.
 Did you enjoy the library program?

64. SurveyTips: Be Unique
 No one likes the mass generic emails.
Customize the invite
 PersonalGreeting
 Branding
 Effective and Inviting Subject Line

65. SurveyTypes
 Web/Email
 Telephone
 Paper
 Let people know ahead of time a survey is
coming.This will result in higher response
rates.

66. Obtaining Surveys
 OnThe Fly
 Call Backs / Forms
 Automated Dialing:
 https://www.precisionpolling.com/
 https://www.twilio.com/elements/automated-surveys-and-feedback

67. When to survey:
 Patrons after a library program.
 Popup Box on library website when spending an X-Amount of time on the catalog,
online database, etc.
 Patrons at the circulation desk.

69. 41% of customers expect a response to
their email within six hours.Yet the
research data reveals that only 18% of
companies deliver within this timeframe
(Youstice)

70. More Band Practice
Continual Improvement and retooling is key.

71. Have Fun
 Having a relax and fun atmosphere will allow you to:
 Retain Employees
 Have Happy Employees
=which equals= Strong Customer Interactions
 You are able to meet metrics and deliverables through mitigating their stress.
 Remember the slides about Happy Rock Mates!

72. PullingThingsTogether
 NPS gave you a way to create metrics and evaluate performance
 Ensure there is continual improvement
 Share data with the team. If someone got kudos, give kudos!
 Gamify the workplace – points and a quarterly award program.
 Build a QATeam to focus on continual improvement…

73. Improving Service Levels with your QATeam
 Ask:What can we do to improve our service?
 Quality Assurance (QA Process)
 QA reaches out and asks about the experience.
 What could have been done differently to improve service?
 What would they like to see?
 Reportable and Measurable
 Share the wins
 Improve the losses
 QA listens in on interactions and scores them

74. Challenges with Reviewing Interactions
 “Why are you nitpicking what I say”
”I’ve always said it this way”
 Is this going to be part of my review?
 We are trying to partner with our
users.These are ways to improve our
overall image in the community
 and Brian Pichman told me to make
you do this
 Start with: No (unless its really bad).
These are opportunities for
improvement.

75. Rifting 101
What else can you do!

76. Eliminate the deadweight
 Not all ideas are good
 Run Reports on:
 Database Usage
 Specific Book Collections
 Outdated Programs
 Constantly review and revise
your customer approach

77. Working withYour Customers
 Tone changes when standing (so no more sitting at the desk!)
 Avoid “Negative Words”
 Unfortunately, we don’t have that book.
 You can’t use the 3D Printer since you haven’t been trained yet.
 I’m not the correct department
 Instead Say:
 I can place that book on hold for you as there is no copies available. Alternatively, may I recommend
this other fantastic book.
 I would love to have you use the 3D printer, but first let me show you how to use it.
 I can get you over to someone who can assist you.
 Don’t Apologize, but show Empathy.

78. Continually BuildYour Brand Image
Interactions should be similar; start and end the same way for all employees.
 Thank you for calling [Library Name] my name is Brian. How can I help you today?
 Affirmation Statement:
 Yes I can help you with [that]
 Finding the book
 Getting signed into a computer
 Connecting you to the wifi.
 Is there anything else I can do for you today?Thanks for visiting [Library Name]. If
you need anything else

79. Current State
 Employees want to stay with the organization/department.They feel they have a sense of purpose and
show a huge amount of dedication to the work they do.
 See value in the leadership group to learn from and are serving as mentors.
 Customer Service is one of the highest in the industry – will be competing for industry awards.
 Periodic Improvement Projects to address concerns and re-evaluate customer service and other skills
 Built Review Metrics and Dashboards – all agents want to be the very best they can be.
 Other teams want to work exclusively with our team (to be part of the environment, collaboration, new
ideas). A lot of the new ideas for the organization have came from the team:
 Online refresher courses / CBE set up for organization.
 Gamification of the work place (Point System)
 Artificial Intelligence to create documentation and send emails
 Wiki retooling and refinement.

80. Questions?
Brian Pichman
 Twitter: @BPichman
 Email:
bpichman@evolveproject.org
 www.evolveproject.org
 www.libchalk.com
 Find me at #olasc:
 Wednesday NightWelcome Party
 Exhibit Hall with the Makerspaces
 Play with really cool technology.