How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively 1/28/2021
Virtual Acquisition Office™ a Unison company. All rights reserved. © 2021
How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Bonnie HangerSenior Acquisition Expert
Jodie Paustian, CPCMSenior Acquisition Expert
MEET THE PRESENTERS
How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Learning Objectives
▪Identify types of customers and their expectations
▪Discuss the differences between customer service, customer engagement, and customer experience
▪Explain various techniques and skill sets that complement exceptional customer service and deliver positive experiences
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Session Overview
▪Who are your customers?
▪What do your customers want?
▪What is customer service?
▪What is customer engagement?
▪What is good and bad customer service, and the overall customer experience?
▪Why is customer experience important?
▪How do you deliver better service and experiences?
▪What are some successful skill sets you need?
▪What can you do to build a better customer experience?
▪Wrapup
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
The Customers
▪Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11 defines a federal government customer as individuals, businesses, and organizations (such as grantees and state/municipal agencies) that interact with a federal government agency or program, either directly or via a federal contractor or even a federally funded program. This also includes public servants and employees in their interactions with federal processes
▪FAR 1.102 – deliver on a timely basis the best value or service to the customer and work together as a team
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Internal Customers▪Peers
▪Leadership
▪Program partners
6
▪Internal agency offices• Counsel
• Security
•Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business
• Industry Liaisons
• Competition Advocate
• Chief Financial Officer
• Chief Information Officer
• Category Management Office
•Office of Procurement Policy
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
External Customers
▪Industry partners
▪Taxpayers
▪Other government agencies•OMB
• Government Accountability Office (GAO)
• Small Business Administration (SBA)
• Congress
▪Shared services organizations
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Competencies Related to Customer Service
▪Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC)-C/Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA):
Problem solving, customer service, oral and written communication, interpersonal skills, decisiveness, technical credibility, flexibility, resilience, and accountability
▪FAC-COR:
Business acumen and communication skill sets, knowledge management, writing statements of work
▪DAWIA COR certification:
Attention to detail, decision-making ability, flexibility, oral and written communication skills, self-management and initiative, influencing, and persuasive interpersonal skills
▪FAC-P/PM:
Leadership
▪DAWIA PM certification:
Interpersonal skills, communicate effectively, flexibility, resilience, conflict management, team building, decisiveness, customer service, and problem solving
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (COR)
CONTRACTING
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Expectations
▪Confident you know what you’re doing
▪Treated with respect
▪Kept informed
▪Given accurate, honest, and clear information
▪Have needs met
▪See a consistent process
▪Know how long actions are going to take
They want good customer service!
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Service Cycle▪Taking care of the customer’s needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high-quality service and assistance before, during, and after requirements are met
▪Benefits:
• Strong relationships
• Better morale
• Increased efficiency
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Be Proactive
▪Reactive vs. proactive: responding to a problem after it arises vs. anticipating a customer’s concern and addressing it beforehand
▪Establish effective communication plans throughout the life cycle of your procurement
▪Follow through in contract administration efforts to ensure the contract provides the needed results –supplies or services
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Engagement
▪Process of actively building, nurturing, and managing relationships with customers
▪Cannot happen without communication; however, communication can happen without engagement
▪Engagement is:• Listening to one another and having dialog – making it a two-way conversation
• Understanding what others think about the message – are there concerns, was it clear, what do you think we should do?
• Getting participation from both the sender and receiver – it is active, not passive
• Connecting, being attentive, and acting in good faith
▪When successful, stakeholders feel heard and know their opinions matter, which brings cooperation and collaboration in problem-solving
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
The Bad vs. Good
$10.2M Contract Procured Soda Bottles for COVID-19 Testing
DLA’s Proactive Contracting Anticipated Customer Needs
Grr…Great!
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Experience
▪Refers to a combination of factors that result from touchpoints between an individual, business, or organization and the federal government over the duration of an interaction and relationship
▪Can include factors such as ease/simplicity, efficiency/speed, and equity/transparency of the process, effectiveness/perceived value of the service itself, and interaction with employees
Customer Experience (CX)
Customer Service
Customer Service
Customer Experience (CX)
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Experience Resources
▪Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – The Customer Experience (CX) Cookbook, November 2020
▪American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) white paper – Customer Experience Playbook: A Guide to Transform Service Delivery
▪Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Digital Strategy Playbook
▪Performance.gov Resources
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
The Importance of CX
Creates engagement –when an individual is
happy with their experience, they feel more
invested.
If you always advocate for your client’s best interest, they will advocate for you.— Doug Stuck, VAO Director of Client Solutions
Creates a shift from a reactive state to a
proactive state – allows for joint solutions.
Creates a pillar of trust –when an individual trusts you, they are more likely
to have open & direct communication.
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Deliver Better Services & Experiences
▪Become the customer’s champion: •Whether you are working virtually or in the office, respond to inquiries, provide
information, handle issues, offer guidance, or resolve concerns
• This reflects on the reputation of you and your organization
▪Be engaged and provide support to assist customers throughout their journey – as the requirement is developed; during solicitation, evaluation, and award; and (just as important) when administering the contract
▪Lead by example, and remember: Acquisition is a team sport!
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Service Skills for Acquisition
1. Active listening
2. Adaptability
3. Attentiveness
4. Conflict resolution
5. Creativity
6. Decision-making
7. Dependability
8. Effective communication
9. Empathy
10. Friendliness
11. Open-mindedness
12. Patience
13. Product/service knowledge
14. Quick thinking
15. Reading physical and emotional cues
16. Responsiveness
17. Timeliness
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Customer Experience (CX)
Treat everyone fairly, courteously, and
respectfully
Be sincere, transparent, and trustworthy
Create a personalized experience; remember
to use their name
Prevent background noise so others know
they have your full attention
Set goalsSmile! You can hear it
over the phone
Acknowledge challenges when necessary and ask
for help if you need it
Offer alternatives if the proposed solution isn’t
acceptable
Establish regular schedules for meetings
or information exchanges
Provide checklists, samples, templates, and
guidance to reinforce your conversations
Set up a shared area for document reviews and
collaboration
Offer training sessions with customers on
various topics
Elements to Build Better CX
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Wrapup
As a result of our webinar today, you can now:
• Identify your customers and their expectations
•Discuss the differences between customer service, customer engagement, and customer experience
• Implement various techniques and skill sets to make sure your customers remember you … POSITIVELY!
•Enjoy your future WIN-WIN experiences!
Virtual Acquisition Office™ a Unison company. All rights reserved. © 2021 20
YOU
’RE
HA
PP
Y
I’M HAPPY
How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
VAO Resources
▪Softer Side of Acquisition: Mastering Customer Service
▪At a Glance: VAO 2020 Resource Guide
▪Countdown to Contract Award: Get Organized and Meet the Customer
▪Webinar: VAO Fall 2019 Roundtable
▪Daily News: • VA Cookbook Serves Up Recipes for CX
• Ideas and Inspiration: Keeping Customers First
• How to Provide Better Customer Service
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
Other Resources
▪OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 – Managing Customer Experience and Improving Service Delivery
▪Performance.gov – Federal agencies’ efforts to deliver a smarter, leaner, and more effective government
▪OFPP Memorandum – “Myth-Busting #4” – Strengthening Engagement with Industry Partners through Innovative Business Practices
▪“Top 10 Soft Skills for Customer Service Jobs” – Alison Doyle, May 2020
▪“Excellent Government Customer Service Is Not An Oxymoron” – Richard Petree, March 2011
▪“CX Strategy: Customer Service and Customer Experience-What’s the Difference?”– IT Modernization Centers of Excellence, September 2018
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
▪It’s not too late!
▪At any time, please send questions regarding this presentation to [email protected]
Questions and Answers
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
▪Earn CLP credit for this presentation by taking the content-related quiz. Click the quiz link on the webinar landing page
▪Download the certificate and view your transcript anytime in Timeless Training
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How to Make Sure Customers Remember You … Positively
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You’re well on your way to the head of the class!
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