Turning customer complaints into compliments

There’s an old adage in the parking industry: no complaints equals a compliment.  That’s because people generally don't like to pay for parking; it's easy to get a complaint when you are charging people for something they don't want to pay for, but compliments are tough to come by. The Transportation and Parking department at Oregon Health & Science University recently asked Toister Performance Solutions to help them do the seemingly impossible: create a service experience that consistently led to real compliments, not just a reduction in complaints.  

Our approach

Sue Thompson, the Transportation and Parking Department's Associate Director, wanted to provide training for her employees that led to real results. The foundation for this initiative was our Delivering Next Level Service training program.  Prior to the class, we worked with Sue and her leadership team to create an action plan that would help participants implement the skills they learned in training and ultimately lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction. Our workshop planning tool helped facilitate this plan.

Here were some of our key actions:

• Sue and her team helped each participant set a personal goal before coming to training.  This ensured each person was prepared and focused by the time training started.
• We split the class into two half-days so participants could implement some of the skills they learned in part 1 before attending part 2.
• The department’s leadership team attended our High Performance Management workshop to gain new skills that would help them reinforce the customer service training.

Taking the Reins

Our role as a consulting firm is to enable our clients to take charge of their own success.  In this project, the Transportation and Parking department took ownership of this initiative to build positive momentum amongst their staff and continue to make progress after the training was completed. 

Here are just a few things they are doing to maintain their progress:

• Customer service is a topic at each weekly meeting, where they review concepts covered in training and discuss how to resolve challenges.
• Contests are frequently held to see who can offer the best service.
• Customer compliments and “kudos” are announced at team meetings.  Each employee who receives one is entered into a monthly drawing for a gift card.

The Results

The Transportation and Parking department has begun receiving an unprecedented number of service-related compliments from university faculty, students, staff members, and visitors.  The department recently held a surprise party for the entire team to recognize their accomplishments and several senior leaders from the university attended to share with the team how impressed they were with the team’s progress.  The department also unveiled a display case in their lobby that has team photos and customer compliments in it to remind customers of the Transportation and Parking department’s commitment to customer service.

More About OHSU

Oregon Health & Science University is a world-class teaching hospital and research center that draws students, faculty, and patients from around the world while maintaining a strong connection to their community. Their main campus is located in Portland, Oregon. Please visit their website to learn more.