Aligning Your Customer Experience With Your Brand Promise

Why Customer Service Matters in Schools

We know how important customer service is in our everyday life. An unpleasant encounter with a service provider can just about ruin our day. A positive experience on the other hand, can lighten our outlook and brighten our day.

You may have heard about the concept of customer service in schools and are wondering what it has to do with you as a teacher, manager, or admin officer?

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Your school might not have a formal approach to customer service, but here’s the thing: every person in your school who deals with the public…performs customer service.

So the question isn’t ARE you doing it?…it’s HOW WELL are you doing it?

There’s little doubt we are in the height of the customer experience economy as we so often hear organisations of all industries spruiking about their improved customer experience. With greater competition, customers are seeking better experiences and becoming more demanding. Even schools, who were always seen as the authority that nobody questioned, are having to be more accountable for their service. Parents and students have become more aware of their rights and way more demanding than ever. As a result, schools are beginning to view all their stakeholders as customers.

In this article you will discover WHO your customers are, WHY it’s really important to provide great customer service in your school…and most importantly, HOW to do it.

Firstly, who are your customers? Your customers are not just your students, parents, and wider community, but also your colleagues, school officers and the principal. But wait, you might be thinking that some of the people on that list are people you work with. How can they be your customers? That’s because they’re your internal customers. And the reason they’re called customers is that your external customer experience will depend on the way in which your internal customers work together.

For example, you promise to do something for a parent, but you go on leave and forget to hand it over to another staff member. You’ve broken your promise and the customer loses trust in you and in the school. It takes a lot to rebuild that trust. So it’s important to see all of your stakeholders as customers so that your external customers have better experiences.

There are three key reasons why customer service is important in your school.

1. Your reputation: Positive word of mouth about your school creates confidence in your community, making it easier to build positive relationships with parents and students.

2. Your branding: Your school brand is your promise to your customers, and a negative experience can quickly erode the trust that has been built.

3. Personal well being: Happier customers make your job easier, so you’ll experience greater job satisfaction and less stress.

And here are three tips in how you can create positive customer experiences:

  1. First impressions are lasting impressions. Remember to smile often and be aware of your body language. Non-verbal signs can be very powerful, so always take a personal reality check before you greet a person or pick up the phone. Make sure your words, tone of voice and your body language are congruent.
  2. Build trust by doing little things that your customers don’t expect. For example, smile and give your name when answering the phone, make a courtesy call if you don’t have the information by the promised time, respond promptly to emails and phone calls, thank people for their time (people love to be appreciated) and at the end of conversations, ask if there’s anything else you can do.
  3. Create a culture of I CAN. This means finding solutions instead of obstacles. If you have been given a difficult request, find a possibility or an alternative solution rather than all the reasons why not. Try using the phrase, ‘Yes and,’ instead of, ‘Yes but,’ and you’ll soon find your I CAN mindset.

Stay ahead of the game by creating memorable customer experiences that will boost your customer relationships and decrease your stress levels, and you’ll have the whole community raving about you and your school.

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Ava Lucanus


Ava Lucanus
Ava Lucanus is a Customer Experience Expert, who helps organisations to align their customer experience with their brand promise. Drawing upon four decades of knowledge and experience, Ava works with organisations Australia wide including schools. Through her company Edge Communication, she provides training programs for every level within business to fully optimise customer relationships and increase trust.
She can be contacted at:
ava@edgecommunication.com.au