By Stephen C. Schultz
My 16 year old daughter appears to have some talent and
skill around volleyball. She is a good athlete period. But, she has a passion
and desire about volleyball beyond her years. She has aspirations to play in
college and has demonstrated the maturity, motivation, drive and focus needed
to get her there.
I was attending a parents meeting sponsored by the school
district about the process of college recruiting and how to navigate not only
the rules, but the politics. It was interesting to say the least. The presenter
said that college coaches rely heavily on “Reliable Third Party Endorsements”
to determine if they even want to take a look at an athlete.
If athletic scholarships are being provided, that coach is
essentially “purchasing” that athlete. The estimated costs associated with a single
full ride athletic scholarship is somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000.
Parents and athletes often make the mistake of thinking that the scholarship is
there to entice the athlete to attend that particular school. In reality, the
coach is actually making an expensive purchase; one they don’t take lightly.
What this means is that the parents and the athlete can
“toot their own horn” all they want, but the college coach is going to rely on
the opinion and recommendation of high school coaches, club coaches, season
stats and academics to determine if the athlete even gets an opportunity to
demonstrate their talent. The coach will do all in their power to minimize the
risk that a “student athletic product” under delivers or is defective in any
way. Again, they will base their decision on “Reliable Third Party
Endorsements”.
This started me thinking. (I know…always a scary thing!)
As I serve in a leadership role at my place of employment,
can some of these same principles apply? How often do we as an organization
spend time in front of our clients and customers, those who purchase our
products or services, and “toot our own horn”? Does it not make more sense that
those purchasing our services would make decisions based on “Reliable Third
Party Endorsements”?
In my particular field, the field of assisting families
whose teens are struggling in one way or another, it is really not much
different. There are Educational Consultants and other allied health
professionals that provide the service of being a third party endorser. Parents
and families who have used our clinical services often assume the role of third
party endorser as well. It is also
important for us to have research and “stats” associated with the services we
provide.
This really isn’t much different than my daughter and her
aspirations to play volleyball. As we perform in our duties in our chosen field
of work, we must always remember to demonstrate passion in our profession or
trade and provide service or products that are needed and valued. As we do
this, we will hopefully accomplish these results through maturity, motivation,
drive and focus.
Please allow me to share some statistics and information
that I shared with the various admin teams at each of our treatment programs
that relates specifically to customer service. While it was written and shared
internally, there are still some applicable points for business in general.
I thought I
would share some recent statistics from a Global Customer Service Survey done
by American Express. I have also made a few comments in terms of what we can
learn or take away from these numbers.
As I have been
attending Weekly Administrative Meetings at all of our programs the last few weeks, it is apparent that
there is some downward pressure we are feeling on the cost of our programs. We
are in a very fragile worldwide economy right now and parents are “shopping for
the best deal”.
While these
statistics are general consumer statistics, they can also be applicable to the
services we provide students and give us insight into the families we work
with.
Statistic #1:
70% of those surveyed are willing to spend an average of 13% more with
companies they believe provide excellent customer service – up over 9% from
previous years.
Take Away:
Price is important, but becomes less important as the customer perceives the
value of our service. If they go somewhere else, the decision could be money
driven. However, we always need to ask ourselves; “Did we do the best we could
in assessing the client’s needs and providing a valuable solution?”
Statistic #2:
60% of those surveyed think today’s businesses have reduced their focus on
providing good customer service. That is an increase of 5% over previous
years. They also think companies are paying less attention to service and
more attention to cutting costs.
Take Away: We can use
customer service as a way to differentiate ourselves in the service we provide. This is
an opportunity to make sure our parents know what they are getting. We
need to make sure we establish appropriate expectations and educate our
families to understand why they should be using our services.
Statistic #3:
78% of consumers have canceled a transaction or refused to make a purchase because
of poor customer service.
Take Away:
Poor customer service can negatively impact our programs. We must all be
on board and aligned. Parents must experience a consistent level of
service from anyone he/she deals with. This includes the initial experience
with admissions, as well as clinical, residential and academic services.
Statistic #4:
59% of consumers will try a new brand or company for a better service
experience.
Take Away:
This is an opportunity to demonstrate through personalized and customized care and treatment that we are the "Gold Standard" in teen treatment services. In
a down economy, where everyone is extremely price conscious, this is our
opportunity to provide real value!
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