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It is well understood that quality customer service is of utmost importance in any business, and the delivery of recreation and parks services is certainly no exception. However, what too many agencies fail to recognize is customer satisfaction begins internally with the way staff members are treated. When a business treats employees well, logic suggests these employees react by giving positive customer service to patrons.
When you walk into a business, you can gain a quick understanding of how the staff perceives their treatment by the agency. How many times has a staff person ignored you or was grumpy? This does not give the customer a feeling that his or her business is important or needed. Employees are on the front lines of the company, the ones who directly interface with the public. However, how often are they treated as invaluable assets? Perhaps too often agencies have it backwards with those “behind the scenes” people who they are more important than anyone else. We call these folks managers!
A Formula For Success
There is, of course, a recurring misconception of customer service typified by the statement, “The customer is always right.” That statement fails to support staff members and suggests that regardless of the behavior of the customer, the employee is always wrong. In 21st-century lingo, the staff member is “thrown under the bus.”