One way to give good customer service is to employ cheerful, helpful people who are happy to answer the same ten questions over and over and over again. The better way is to think about how you could eliminate those questions in the first place. I imagine this might be particularly useful in an admissions office.
70-80% of the calls and emails that come into an admissions office are likely about the same ten things. How could you eliminate those questions? Could you answer them on your website? If you think you’ve already answered them on your website, could you make them clearer and easier to find? Could you re-write the directions in your application, add new copy to your site, or post “Ten Things Every Applicant Should Know Before You Apply”?
College tour guides could do the same thing. Think about the five questions that you’re asked most often while giving tours. How could you answer those questions preemptively?
We try to do this at Collegewise with our materials, our seminars and our meetings with students. We know what questions get asked over and over again, so we try to answer them before they’re asked. When people visiting our Irvine office commented that it was confusing that the offices on our floor didn’t go in numerical order, we wrote our own directions and sent them to visitors before they came to see us. And we made sure to include this tip:
Inexplicably, the offices on our floor do not go in numerical order. But just keep bearing right and go all the way to the end of the hallway. We’re the last office on the left.
One sentence eliminated both the confusion and the question.
Whether you’re a school, a college, a counselor or a student leader, think of how you could answer questions preemptively. The best customer service is the kind they never have to ask for.