Kenny Hardin, Salisbury City Councilman
♦ At the April 5th City Council meeting I shared during my updates that I would be conducting Customer Service improvement training with the Staff at the water bill/Fibrant office on Martin Luther King Drive.
I wanted to share this update that the training has been cancelled by the City Manager with a series of “explanations.”
I want to provide some background on how this training request came about and what had transpired in the last 48 hours to ensure clarity for our citizens.
Back in February, I took a tour of the Fibrant operations and met for a one to one meeting with the Fibrant Director. He was very gracious and answered all my questions. As our tour winded down, we met the Customer Service Manager in the hallway. She was equally gracious in providing insight into her area and spoke of her commitment to provide optimal customer service to customers.
She shared with me some of the challenges her staff face with customers and spoke of the need for additional training. I responded that I have taught very effective and well received customer service classes at leading Hospitals throughout NC and around the Country. I listed Carolinas Healthcare System, Duke University, and other Hospitals in Missouri and South Carolina.
I told her about successes I’ve had in helping several Hospital and Healthcare organizations move to the top 1% in customer satisfaction. I also shared that I’ve provided customer service consulting services to profit businesses, non profits, city governments, school systems, colleges, churches, Home Health agencies, physician practices and the mental health division of the Departmentt of Health & Human Services on multiple occasions,
I provided insight into the various customer service training models I have certifications and expertise in. The Manager was interested and asked if I would be willing to provide training to her staff. I agreed and asked her to provide me approvals and specifics on date, number of attendees and length. She sent correspondence that her Director approved the training, so I created a presentation and forwarded for their approval. I received an email acknowledging they were extremely pleased with the content in the presentation and felt it would be a great fit for staff needs.
I announced the training in the City Council meeting Tuesday evening. On the following afternoon, I received a voicemail from the Manager stating there were concerns about payment and a conflict of interest. I called and spoke with the Manager personally and the discomfort was obvious in her live voice as it was in her voice mail. I explained to her that I would waive any fees and provide the training at no cost.
On the next day, I received a voice mail from the City Manager stating that he nor the Director, who had initially approved the training, was aware and that they had someone to conduct customer service training. No mention was made of fees or my conducting the training at zero cost with this new “explanation.”
Yesterday, I spoke with the Manager at the State Legislative breakfast. Again the discomfort in her voice was obvious and she apologized for the way things had developed. Shortly afterwards, I was approached by the City Manager. He asked if I had received his voice mail and offered another “explanation” that they contract with someone for training and hoped I understood. No mention was made of waived fees.
I explained they reached out to me and I was ok either way. I told the City Manager that I thought his decision was personal and had nothing to do with fees or conflict of interest.
I shared my displeasure with the Mayor about the unprofessional way this was handled. I told her my intentions in responding to the training request was in line with the often repeated, but cliché Team Player word the City Manager often uses but rarely engages in consistently. This is why mistrust and poor communication continue to hamper positive relationships.
It’s unclear to me why any opportunity to provide additional training and knowledge to foster better performance and improved internal and external customer relationships would be avoided? One perspective should not be the only perspective regardless of who is teaching it.
We have great people working for the City but customer service failures will occur. So, if you don’t get the service you deserve or if someone exceeds your expectations and provides exemplary service, please reach out to our City Manager at (704) 798-8221.
