Measure satisfaction
As your organization grows, you have to put techniques and processes in place that allow you to monitor how well you’re meeting customers’ needs and expectations.
But measuring customer satisfaction isn’t only about asking the right questions and properly compiling the data. The person or department you put in charge of this segment of your business needs to have a strong understanding of analytics and they have to work with you, the CEO.
“Sometimes they might report directly to the CEO, but if not, they have to have direct access to the CEO,” Nelson says. “That’s the key to keeping clear and timely communication with your customers.”
Also, whomever you give the responsibility must have the technical training to perform the job and a deep understanding of the organization as a whole. At EDMC, the Academic Programs and Student Affairs Department undertakes surveying students.
“I would think that as a person is developing their own management team, that it is very important that they recruit or find within part of their management team someone who has expertise in that area,” Nelson says. “You want to hire the best and brightest in an area like that that is so important to the future success of the company.”
Like Nelson says, measuring customer satisfaction must be seen as a priority, which means how you gather feedback and the topics you’re gathering feedback on are just as important.
One of the easiest and most effective ways to capture the information you’re looking for is by developing a format to survey customers. When creating the survey, think of how your customers prefer to be communicated with because their participation is an essential part of the process.
EDMC performs a variety of informal and formal, electronic and physical surveys. But the company sees the best response is when it keeps the customer in mind and asks: How can I make this convenient, user-friendly and in an appreciative way?
Not only must the survey be easy to access, but the questions must be on target and easy for the customer to understand.
“The types of questions that you would ask would be related specifically to the profile of that particular customer,” Nelson says. “In our case, if someone is one of our doctoral students in our doctoral pharmacy program, you would want to ask them about their faculty member, their classroom facilities, the clinical facilities, the curriculum — those things that are very specific to that particular customer.”
You want to survey customers in every area they might have expectations of your service, as well as the service outcomes. For example, EDMC tracks how students are doing in the program they’re enrolled in, graduation rates, whether they’re finding jobs and the salaries they earn. EDMC also surveys potential and past customers, as well.
“It’s all, in some way, related to the customer,” Nelson says. “Everything that we can, we try to measure and make sure that we’re tracking.”
Obviously, it’s a lot of information to collect. You need a solid team because the process doesn’t stop there.
“It’s very important that that data is then quickly analyzed because, again, there is a shelf life to the data you collect,” he says. “Quickly analyze it and put it in a format that the leadership of the company at all levels has access to for the areas of the company they’re responsible.”
Create accountability
If customer service is one of the core values you list, then everybody from you and your management team down to the newest hire need to treat it as such.
There are several ways to send the message that customer service is a priority and that employees will be held accountable to upholding that value. First and foremost, Nelson says it starts with the CEO’s leadership.
At management meetings, employee meetings and whenever Nelson has the chance, he makes a point to report on where EDMC stands in terms of the level of student interaction and satisfaction.
“If you’re talking about it and you’re reviewing it and you’re sharing it with the people who work directly with you, it becomes very obvious,” he says. “So first is by being an example.”
Part of the communication is making sure you and your management team share with employees what metrics the organization is tracking. EDMC uses the standard methods of communication, such as company Web site, department meetings, companywide voice mails and e-mails to get the message across, but the important point is that employees are hearing it repeatedly.
Using metrics to gauge customers’ thoughts makes holding employees accountable easier, because you always know what grade the organization is making when it comes to service and specific aspects of service. As the leader of the company, you can’t reach out to every employee and every department. But you can get the conversation rolling by following up on the metrics with your direct reports and setting the expectations to follow suit down the line.
“In other words, on a regular basis through the management structure, you follow up to make sure that they’re following up,” Nelson says.
You can maintain customer communication and monitor customer satisfaction, but remember they are directly linked to your employees and their abilities. Nelson says the commitment to EDMC’s students has to be shown during a new hire’s interview process.
“For those who are current employees, you continue to do management development and employee training to make sure that those values that are so important are being reinforced and framed and taught to the people in the organization — all of us,” Nelson says.
HOW TO REACH: Education Management Corp., (412) 562-0900 or www.edmc.edu