A Micro-Credentialing For Service Excellence: A Training For Frontline Employees

Our approach to delivering customer service and support for our students encompasses a range of methods. However, it's crucial to recognize that there exist fundamental principles, time-tested strategies, and proven techniques that empower frontline staff to deliver exceptional service.

In many organizations, including higher education institutions, the customer experience serves as a key differentiator. Frontline customer service staff act as the gateway to your college or university, contributing to a welcoming atmosphere and laying the foundation for a lasting positive relationship with the institution.

This session is specifically designed for newly hired frontline customer service staff and those seeking a refresher on providing outstanding service to college students and their families. Together, we will explore various techniques that enable staff to cultivate positive customer relationships with students while also examining approaches to evaluate the service experience.

• Familiarize frontline staff with effective customer service methods for supporting students.
• Empower staff with fundamental principles and proven techniques for delivering exceptional service.
• Highlight the importance of the customer experience as a key differentiator in higher education.
• Emphasize the role of frontline staff in creating a welcoming atmosphere and fostering positive relationships with students.
• Provide essential knowledge and skills to newly hired and existing frontline staff for delivering outstanding service to students and their families.
• Explore techniques for cultivating positive customer relationships and evaluating the service experience.
• Foster a student-centered approach within the frontline team to build lasting positive connections with students.
• Equip staff with tools to elevate the customer service experience and contribute to institutional success.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a complex regulation that protects student records while granting access to students and parents. This webinar aims to address challenges faced by frontline staff. It covers the following key issues:

1. Lack of awareness about FERPA regulations, which can lead to tragic incidents similar to the one at VTU 15 years ago.
2. Unintentional disclosure of student information by frontline personnel who are unaware that it is protected.
3. Limited understanding of FERPA among higher education professionals, despite its importance in safeguarding student records and sharing essential data for campus safety.

The webinar provides a concise overview of FERPA, emphasizing its critical aspects relevant to daily roles in academia. It highlights the need for a balance between student-record confidentiality and sharing vital information for university communities' health and safety.

Following the tragic events at Virginia Technical University in April 2007, the U.S. Department of Education issued a "Dear Colleague" letter clarifying FERPA requirements. While institutions have implemented measures to share crucial student information, the rise of websites, social media, and learning platforms has increased the risk of unintentional FERPA violations without proper training.

By understanding FERPA basics and its boundaries, frontline staff can navigate compliance confidently. This webinar empowers participants with knowledge and guidance, promoting a culture of FERPA awareness among educators.

• Increase awareness and understanding of FERPA regulations among frontline staff, including student employees.
  
• Educate participants on what information can and cannot be shared under FERPA to prevent potential tragedies.
  
• Help frontline staff avoid unintentional disclosure of protected student records.
  
• Provide a comprehensive overview of FERPA fundamentals in day-to-day roles.
  
• Emphasize the balance between student-record confidentiality and sharing necessary data for campus safety.
  
• Highlight the significance of the "Dear Colleague" letter issued after the Virginia Technical University shootings.
  
• Address the increased risk of unintentional FERPA violations due to online platforms and stress the importance of proper training.
  
• Empower frontline staff with the knowledge to ensure FERPA compliance while sharing vital information responsibly.
  
• Foster a culture of FERPA awareness and expertise among frontline educators for enhanced privacy protection and information sharing.

Have you ever dealt with a frustrated, demanding, or threatening student, parent or even a fellow staff member? If you’ve worked the “front lines” of customer service in higher education, you have had this experience. Most often, you are “broadsided” to the point where you are at a loss for words, defensive or even fearful. When this happens, it is often difficult to recover and continue to work toward a solution. Instead, we are often caught up in the negative situation and our own reactions, and these interactions end badly for all involved. Are you trained to effectively deal with the various levels of frustration, emotions and escalations that often occur?

As we know, problems can occur in every area across campus and at varying levels of severity. Customer demands can be vast and unrealistic, and yet we are still here to serve. Students, parents and even staff members may complain, yell, make a scene in front of others, and even become threatening to the point of needing to request campus safety support. So how can you handle the difficult or disruptive customer in a positive and safe manner?

This webinar will offer practical advice and tips for frontline staff on how to work with frustrated and difficult customers, in person, on the phone, or through email. The presenter will discuss ways to prevent problems before they start, reduce escalation and conflict, and hopefully turn a negative into a positive.

• Provide practical advice for frontline staff in higher education to handle frustrated, demanding, or threatening customers effectively.
  
• Equip staff with strategies to handle difficult customers in person, on the phone, or via email.
  
• Prevent problems, reduce escalation, and resolve conflicts with practical techniques.
  
• Maintain professionalism and composure in challenging customer interactions.
  
• Transform negative customer experiences into positive outcomes.
  
• Enhance customer service skills for handling frustration, emotions, and escalations.
  
• Improve staff confidence and customer satisfaction through effective customer management.
  
• Ensure personal safety awareness and guidance for requesting campus security support.
  
• Deliver an engaging webinar for staff to apply techniques in daily interactions.
  
• Foster empathy, understanding, and effective communication in higher education customer service.

This webinar will explore crucial virtual interactions that have the potential to either enhance or hinder the delivery of exceptional service. It is expected that frontline staff will establish relationships and cater to customer needs through various means such as face-to-face, phone, email and possibly video interactions. However, if most of your interactions have been face-to-face, you may wonder if you are adequately prepared for this professional virtual challenge.

In this training session, we will focus on developing the appropriate professional behaviors required for effective phone conversations, email communications and video conferencing. We will delve into strategies for ensuring that frontline staff possess the necessary information and resources to engage in efficient interactions. Additionally, we will explore methods for documenting and recognizing these interactions, which will contribute to sustaining a culture of excellence in customer service.

• Explore impact of virtual interactions on exceptional service and satisfaction.
  
• Equip staff with skills for effective phone, email, and video interactions.
  
• Address challenges in transitioning from face-to-face to virtual interactions.
  
• Enhance professional behaviors for virtual channels.
  
• Improve email clarity, professionalism, and timeliness.
  
• Provide strategies for successful video conferencing.
  
• Ensure access to resources for efficient virtual interactions.
  
• Explore methods for documenting and recognizing outstanding virtual interactions.
  
• Empower staff for excellence in virtual customer interactions.
  Promote a customer-centric approach across virtual channels.