FiveStar partnered with the City of Dothan, Alabama, as its exclusive “Customer Service Coach.” The goal: To establish a long-term, sustainable customer service foundation for Dothan’s 1,000+ city workers.

The City adopted seven customer service standards, with all workers receiving training for seven months.

FiveStar’s strategy included:

#1 — Met individually and collectively with Dothan City Commissioners, the City Manager and all department heads to enlist feedback and support of overall customer service initiative.

#2 — Designed a concept for sustaining a long-term customer service initiative:

• Formulated an internal customer service team with specific responsibilities of team members.
• Coached an 18-member team on a monthly basis to identify internal and external customer service opportunities for improvement.
• Formulated five specific subcommittees.

#3 — Helped establish an internal customer service theme and mission to create organizational synergy: “SEC: Service, Excellence & Commitment … The Dothan Way!”

#4 — Developed tool kits (PowerPoint presentations, resources, etc.) for department managers to use via the intranet.

#5 — Developed an “SEC Champion” form for monthly employee recognition.

#6 — Identified first- and last-impression customer contact opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.

#7 — Worked with specific departments (finance, utility collections, meter readers, etc.) to improve customer-friendliness, image and professionalism.

#8 — Developed an organization-wide, department-specific Service Recovery Plan.

#9 — Surveyed employee talents to make the most of internal resources.

#10 — Facilitated development of internal customer service performance standards to be incorporated into employee evaluations.

#11 — Created poster messages and handouts as image builders and job aids for the seven consecutive standards rolled out each month.