Providing customer service in a nonprofit environment takes different forms depending on the type of work you’re doing. A homeless shelter that provides meals, beds, and hot showers on a daily basis may find that simply greeting each guest warmly and making sure the soap dispensers are filled is making great strides on their customer service. An educational nonprofit that sells books and teaching aids may find that fulfilling orders quickly boosts their service. To improve customer service in a nonprofit environment, you must first decide what good service means to your organization, determine ways to measure it, and then implement practices to improve it.
Determine Service Baselines
The first thing to do is to determine what constitutes the absolute minimum level of good service you can provide to your constituents. Here’s a simple checklist to help you take that first step.
- At what point do members of your organization interface with the public?
- Is it by phone, in person, social media, or at events?
- Who meets with the public? Is it one person, a team, or everyone?
- What is the interaction like?
- What impression do you want people to get of your organization?
- Do you give staff and volunteers any type of training in customer service currently? If so, what is that training?
- Do you have any parameters for how quickly phone calls must be returned or who gets to respond to inquiries on social media? If so, how is this information shared with everyone?
Next, think about your desired outcomes. If your desired outcomes don’t match the current situation, what changes can you implement to help you achieve your outcomes?
Measuring Service
Organizations typically apply both qualitative and quantitative measurements to service. Qualitative sounds simple enough; you can send out surveys, save emails from constituents thanking someone for good service, or measure it in terms of donor and patron satisfaction.
Quantitative means measuring, and measuring involves numbers and data. You need a starting point, an objective, and a way to measure the distance between the two. When it comes to customer service, think about measuring the time elapsed between returning calls, the time to deliver service, and similar metrics.
Not everything can—or should—be measured. Make logical decisions based on what’s most important to your organization’s service level. Don’t force-fit anything into quantifiable metrics that doesn’t make sense to track.
Improving Service
Once you know what you have and what you’d like to see, it’s time to put into place some best practices for improving service. In a nonprofit environment, that can be slightly more challenging than in a for-profit environment if you’re dealing with volunteers as well as paid staff, but it can be done.
- Set expectations: Set the bar high for customer service, and when new volunteers or staff are trained, make your expectations clear.
- Establish written policies: Written service policies also make expectations clear and provide common standards by which service can be measured.
- Reward right actions: When you notice people on your team giving great service, reward them by giving them praise, thanking them, or otherwise pointing attention to “right” behaviors.
- Model what you’d like to see: Be sure that your senior level staff demonstrate the highest standards of behavior, too. It’s important that managers act as role models for volunteers and junior staff. People practice what they see, and when they see you “walk the walk,” they’ll know that good customer service is important to your organization.
Good customer service is important whether you run a nonprofit or a for-profit organization. When it comes to helping others or fulfilling your organization’s mission, your interactions with the public, and the positive feelings these interactions engender with the public, are what will lead people to think favorably of your organization and perhaps donate to it. It’s all part of running a great nonprofit organization!
Beck & Company
Beck & Company offers certified public accounting and business advice, with an emphasis on the world of nonprofit organizations. We understand the nuances and challenges that nonprofits face and can help you with accounting, business advice, and more. Contact us today or call 703-834-0776 ext. 8001.