Do you treat your school parents like a customer or a partner?

Recently, I had two different client care experiences: an exceptionally good one and an exceptionally poor one.

First, the good story.

A landscape gardener was working in my backyard during a really wet southern Victorian winter. The garden was a mess and, to make matters worse, he continually wheeled his barrow past our back door leaving mud and slush all the way up the path. At the end of each day he patiently swept the path clean, placing the slush in his trailer.

It was an unexpected treat that added about 10 minutes to his day. He didn’t have to do it. But I’m so glad he did. The landscape gardener went the extra mile to make sure my experience dealing with him was exceptional. He treated me like a valued client.

Now, the poor customer service story.

I went to my accountant for some financial advice. Given the complex nature of the problem he couldn’t assist straight-away, so he said he’d get back to me after conferring with his colleagues. After two weeks of no contact I phoned him, asking when I could expect to be the beneficiary of his wisdom. He made an appointment for me to visit the next day.

He gave me a verbal report without a written summary of the recommendations. I made notes as he spoke; however, I couldn’t explain his advice to my wife. After two weeks I was none the wiser. The result – one dissatisfied, unhappy client. He took too long to get back to me and his verbal report wasn’t backed up by written recommendations. He treated me like a troublesome customer, not a valued client.

Here’s the kicker! I’ve been telling all my friends about both experiences. Good news travels just as far and wide as bad news and I’m sure the landscape gardener will be in high demand among my friends.

How do you treat parents?

How to do you treat the parents you deal with? Do you treat them like troublesome customers or do you treat them as valued clients and partners in their children’s education? How you treat them makes a big difference to how you and your school will be perceived, as well as to the quality of the relationships you’ll experience.

Here are some ways to treat parents so they feel like partners in their child’s education:

Always address parents by their preferred name, which is written on a page in your records set aside for them.

Return communications promptly and always give a timeframe. “I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.”

Follow-up all meetings with a note, email or phone call even when they don’t expect it.

Provide a brief written summary or even a recording of a parent-teacher meeting.

Always provide samples of children’s work at parent-teacher meetings.

The mark of true professionalism as a teacher is shown in the way you make every interaction with parents as pleasant and positive as possible, even when the issues you are discussing may be challenging. This is what treating parents like partners is really about.