School Customer Service: The Power You Need to Cause Parents and Students to Choose Your Schools

While the enrollment in K-12 schools is still on the rise overall, many individual schools and school districts are experiencing a slow, but steady, erosion of their student enrollment. A growing number of parents are making the decision to home school their children. Public and private schools alike are competing to retain students and attract new ones. Some parents are making a decision to send their children across district boundaries to other districts which, in their minds, offer something better. In addition, many parts of the country are experiencing the growth of virtual schools that can serve students regardless of where they live. All this adds up to a highly competitive situation that is only going to increase. Schools and school districts that want to remain competitive and retain and grow their funding sources will find value in turning their attention to a whole new area: Customer Service. The good news is that once school personnel obtain this important focus, great things can and will happen that literally transform the learning community. This book, School Customer Service: The Power You Need to Cause Parents and Students to Choose Your Schools, relates the story of a school principal who is grappling with the issues of a school and district in decline. With the help of an old friend in the community, he begins to view his school and district through the lens of a customer. The insights that come to him through the conversations with his friend reveal strategic actions that he can take to turn his school into a model of service and responsiveness that even captures positive media attention. With School Customer Service: The Power You Need to Cause Parents and Students to Choose Your Schools, you can engage teachers, administrators, and support staff in important conversations about: Sizable revenues in state aid and tuition that you might be losing by not meeting the needs of parents and students and the community as a whole. Who your competitors for students are and what they may be offering that you aren't. How you can recapture revenue by meeting more needs and reattracting students and parents to your school or district. How parents think differently than educators and how not understanding parent thinking gets in the way of providing great service. The positive outcomes you can achieve by turning an unhappy customer into a satisfied customer. Additional needs you can meet without more money. The strategies essential to building relationships and rapport with customers. The strategies essential to building public trust and confidence. Ways to deal with problems, mistakes, and sensitive issues. The great customer service lessons that are all around us. How focusing on customers is fun and motivating and, most of all, produces satisfaction for administrators, teachers, and staff.