Customer Driven
Service
Transit has grown beyond its early operational focus of simply moving people from point A to point B. It is now understood to be an intensely customer service-focused industry. This change is also reflected in new ways transit organizations are viewing their internal hierarchy. No longer are the board members and managers necessarily at the top of the traditional org chart, rather the customer is at the center of it with everyone else supporting their needs.
The newly updated National RTAP Customer Driven Service module focuses on how providing excellent customer service is now considered a core job requirement. Additionally, it teaches transit employees how customers come to form opinions of their organization, to know what constitutes excellent customer service and to be aware of the unique needs and expectations of different riders.
This technical brief provides an overview of the format and content of the module, and describes how it can be used to train transit staff.
Training Transit Staff to Provide Exceptional Customer Service
Customer Driven Service is based on the latest research and best practices from the transit industry. It also includes insights from the private and nonprofit sectors where some of the most innovative customer service strategies have been developed.
The four core units of this training are:
I. The Keys to Customer Service: The Big Picture
II. Customer Service in Action: Creating a Culture of Customer Service III. Taking Care of Your Customers
IV. Customer Service Breakdowns
Your Keys to Providing
Exceptional Customer
Experiences in Transit
Course Design
UNIT I — THE KEYS TO
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
THE BIG PICTURE
Customer Driven Service focuses on teaching all transit staff that interact with customers the importance of customer service, as well as providing them with the tools and training they need to provide excellent customer service regardless of the situation or who the customer may be. The unit covers universal concepts in customer service that apply to all organizations and in all business sectors.
Providing excellent customer service is about creating a positive experience for customers and an environment where they feel valued and taken care of. Unit 1 includes innovative strategies and examples drawn from the transit industry as well as leading private businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Core elements of this unit include:
Who is Responsible for Customer Service?
The Relationship Between Transit Operators and Dispatchers Changing the Hierarchy of the Transit Organization
Who is the Customer? The Customer Experience Moments of Truth
Judgments and First Impressions
This unit explores how everyone in a transit organization is responsible for creating a culture of exceptional customer service. This includes everyone from the mechanics to the managers and even members of the board of directors.
This training module was developed as a traditional classroom course led by a trainer/instructor. It includes several video and multimedia elements to illustrate key concepts and best practices. To meet the needs of transit staff without access to an instructor, the module also includes a self-paced E-learning version of the module.
The length of time spent on each unit can vary depending on the amount of time dedicated to hands-on training and exercises, case study discussions and the amount of additional, organization-specific material the trainer chooses to add to the base module.
The PowerPoint, videos and exercises can also be used to augment other transit staff training programs and/or training sessions. The learner’s guide can also be used as part of an agency’s customized staff manual.
UNIT II — CUSTOMER SERVICE IN ACTION: CREATING A CULTURE OF
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Creating an excellent experience for the customer who rides on a transit vehicle takes more than just a welcoming and helpful transit driver. It takes committed mechanics, schedulers, call-takers and administrators as well. In short, is takes a culture of customer service that permeates the entire organization. Core elements of this unit include:
Your Performance Code The Way We Treat Passengers The Importance of Internal Morale Characteristics of the Customer
Service Superstar
The Steps in Quality Customer Service
Unit II begins with the need to make a personal commitment to demonstrate the personal and professional traits necessary for exceptional customer
service. Customer service is then examined in the context of the broader transit organization and how we treat passengers. This includes compelling material on how attitude and internal morale affects customer service.
Another important concept is the evolving hierarchy in transit organizations. The trend is moving away from a traditional top-down orientation. Increasingly the customer is being seen as the center from which every other element of the organization emanates.
The unit also covers the many ways customers form opinions about the quality of their experience with transit and how transit staff can recognize — and even anticipate — “moments of truth” when customers are likely to made a judgment about your service.
Exercises in this unit include:
Identifying Moments or Truth and How to Make the Most of Them
Identifying Ways of “Making Your Customers’ Lives Better”
Characteristics of the
Customer Service Superstar
Though we all know what excellent customer service consists of, some individuals are naturally better at providing it than others. People who excel at customer service:
Have a positive attitude Enjoy working with people
Put the customer on “center stage” Have a high energy level
View their job as a human relations profession
Can allow customers to believe they are right (even when they are wrong)
Anticipate customer service opportunities
Board/Managers/Supervisors Schedulers/Dispatchers
Bus/Van Operators
UNIT III - TAKING CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS
In the broadest definition, customer service involves doing whatever it takes to satisfy the customer. In a transit environment it is not just about moving individuals from one location to another, it is about improving the quality of their lives. Individuals and organizations that care about customer service always see through the eyes of the customer and ask, “What does it take to satisfy this person?” Part of the challenge is that what it takes to satisfy the customer varies from person to person.
Core elements of this unit include: The Seven Basic Needs of Transit
Customers
Generational Customer Service Opportunities to Excel
The Power of Anticipating Customer Service Opportunities
This unit examines, in depth, the basic needs all transit customers share. The unit also explores how generational differences may affect the preferences passengers are likely to have for interactions with transit staff and means of communication. The unit concludes with examples of how actively anticipating customer service opportunities leaves customers feeling calm and taken care of and ultimately may avoid a customer becoming agitated, upset or angry.
The exercise featured in this unit:
The Seven Basic Needs of Transit Customers — Practice Identifying Ways to Meet the Seven Needs
UNIT IV — CUSTOMER SERVICE BREAKDOWNS
If we’re all experts at customer service, why do we occasionally struggle with it? We are all hu-man and hu-many things can affect our attitude including challenging schedules, unrealistic cus-tomer expectations, job stress, personal life stress, bad weather, traffic… the list goes on. This unit examines things that contribute to customer service breakdowns and innovative ways to counteract them.
Best Practice: Keep it Simple
and Client Centered
The employee handbook for Nordstrom department stores is a simple card with a welcome greeting on the front side and the company’s mission statement on the back. It reads:
“We’re glad to have you with our company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal
and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. We have only one rule: use good judgment in all situations.”
The unit comes full circle concluding with a discussion of what separates the person who provides acceptable customer service from someone who delivers exceptional customer service. The exercise featured in this unit:
Core elements of this unit include: Customers and the Questions
They Ask
The Effects of Stress
When Things Go Wrong (and Customer Expectations Aren’t Met)
Dealing with Angry Customers Defusing Conflict
Resolving Complaints
This unit helps transit staff shift the way they view some of the most common
(and perhaps frustrating) questions passengers ask. Another important component covers how to respond when things go wrong. The unit details how to defuse conflict, address people’s concerns and make decisions that are most helpful to the customer.
The exercise featured in this unit:
Are You Stressed? – a personal stress inventory.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course participants should be able to:
Explain who in their organization is responsible for customer service Discuss their performance code
Explain the importance of high morale within their organization
List the characteristics of a customer service superstar
List the steps involved in providing quality customer service
Discuss the Seven Basic Needs of Transit Customers
Explain the importance of living a healthy lifestyle
Discuss the steps involved in diffusing conflict
Best Practice: Involve Customers
in the Solution
Ask the customer how he/she would like the problem to be solved. If it is a reasonable request, do it. Don’t worry, in most cases customer demands are more reasonable than you may imagine. What customers want most is a respectful, courteous response to their concerns.
Course Materials
Following is a summary of the key elements of this training module:
Learner’s Guide — This workbook provides core content on who in your organization is responsible for customer service, the steps to providing excellent customer service, and information on the basic needs of customers as well as what happens when customer expectations aren’t met, along with tests and exercises that help emphasize key concepts. PowerPoint — This PowerPoint presentation is designed to help guide students through
the essential content included in the Learner’s Guide.
Instructor’s DVD — This DVD contains course materials from the Learner’s Guide, short video segments that illustrate industry best practices and additional resources including a sign-in sheet, course evaluation form and a blank course completion certificate.
E-learning DVD — This DVD can be used as a self-paced individual study course when a classroom course is not available.
Instructor’s Guide — This workbook is designed to help instructors get the most out of the Learner’s Guide, the PowerPoint and the DVD.
A key feature of this newly updated National RTAP Customer Driven Service module is the extensive use of video and multimedia. Visual elements are important to all trainings but are particularly important in this one. Video elements are incorporated into each unit to reinforce key concepts. They also include demonstrations of some of the more common and more challenging customer service interactions transit staff are likely to encounter.
The four units of this training module can be covered in a single day or over a series of days as suits the trainer. The quizzes, videos, and exercises can be used in conjunction with classroom training to reinforce learning, or independently as a training refresher.
The National Rural Transit Assistance Program is funded by the Federal Transit Administration and managed by the Neponset Valley TMA.
