The start of the new year is a good time to reaffirm important organizational policies, practices and expectations. Yesterday I reaffirmed for City employees our organizational standards for Customer Focus.
These standards were developed by our Human Resources Division staff and are based on traditions and practices that many Eden Prairie city employees have been using for years. These standards will be our organizational expectation for customer focus from this point forward.
Here they are:
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Welcome Others
* Go out of your way to make our citizens or customers feel welcome. Act happy to see them. Make eye contact.
* Smile and greet. For example, in person: �Good morning or afternoon, may I help you?� On the phone: Smile and say, �Good morning [or good afternoon], this is _______ at the City of Eden Prairie�s __________ [department or division], may I help you?�
* Use language that will be easily understood by customers. Avoid jargon or acronyms.
Project Professionalism
* Wear identification or clothing that identifies you as a representative of the City in a prominent place.
* Dress to inspire confidence in others. Project a visual image that demonstrates that you take your job seriously.
* Maintain a clean, organized work space.
* Publicize your schedule. Personalize your voice mail greeting to indicate the date and your availability. Keep your outlook calendar current. When out of the office for more than 24 hours, acknowledge this with the �Out of Office Assistant� in Outlook and a personalized voice mail greeting indicating when you will be returning.
Take Ownership
* Return all phone calls and e-mail within 24 hours.
* Listen and respond with support to each request.
* Take charge if a customer has been transferred by phone or in person more than twice.
* Follow through in responding to customer concerns or requests. Keep your commitments.
Emphasize the Positive
* Focus on what you can do for the customer rather than what you can�t do.
* Offer alternatives or options for customers.
* Whenever possible, avoid �fighting� words like �no,� �can�t,� �never,� �always,� and �should�
* Educate while enforcing rules or laws.
2006 is going to be a very busy year for the City. I look forward to 2006 because we�ve got a great team of employees here. We work well together.
