LGMA Qld Customer Service
Village News
April 2015
Welcome to Customer Service Village News!
We are pleased to bring you the first edition of
LGMA Queensland’s Customer Service Village News
for 2015.
Throughout the year we’ll keep you informed of the
latest topics on the minds of our councils and
communities and share Customer Service trends
and practices that are being taken up by local
governments and other industries.
We’ll also give you the chance to get to know each
other better and share our direction in planning for
future Village events to get your all-important input
into the topics and speakers you would like to see.
We hope you enjoy Customer Service Village News
and look forward to bringing many more editions to
your inbox.
Happy reading!
Marita, Caroline & Liza
Customer Service Village Executive
Your Village Executive for 2015 are Marita West
(Logan City Council), Caroline Bailey (Toowoomba
Regional Council) & Liza Perrett (Logan City
Council).
Marita has 15 years in local government and has
worn a number of different hats, including
Meetings Coordinator, Governance Officer, Civic
Cabinet Coordinator (BCC), Performance &
Improvement Program Leader and more recently
Customer Service Program Leader. Marita has a
passion for service excellence and providing
solutions to improving the customer experience
[email protected]
Local Government Managers Australia (Qld)
Level 7 Quay Central
95 North Quay
Brisbane Qld 4000
Caroline Born in England, I am immigrated with my
family to Sydney at the age of 3. I am the proud
mother of a Burmese cat and a black Labrador. I
have travelled to the US, Scotland, Ireland,
Malaysia, Bali and Japan. I am a true travel bug. My
hobbies include, art, gardening, photography and
cooking. Long term, I would like to have a couple of
investment properties and move into a bigger
home. [email protected]
Liza has over 22 years’ experience in local
government and has worked in various areas of
council and managed complex organisational
projects such as local government reform and
establishment of Logan City Council’s first customer
service Branch. [email protected]
Overview: Village Forum 11 March, Brisbane
The session in Brisbane was very interactive forum
and at times controversial but mostly it was a great
opportunity to debate ideas, share information and
experiences of other councils.
Highlights of the programme included sessions
covering:
 How to embed a customer service focus culture
into your organisation (Rum Charles, Indigo
Training);
 how to use social media to engage with your
customers (Matt Murray, Redlands City
Council); and
 tools to assist you focus your business on what
your customers find important and their
satisfaction ratings (Grant Bennett Logan City
Council).
Contact: Michelle Rizzardini
Tel: 07 3174 5006
Fax: 07 3012 7862
Email: [email protected]
LGMA Qld Customer Service
Village News
April 2015
During the World Café workshops attendees had
the opportunity to discuss their councils’
experiences, learnings, processes, challenges and
success on the following topics:
 Managing Privacy (obligations) in your customer
service centre;
 Knowledge management;
 Rostering & workforce planning for contact
centres.
Each topic also incorporated customer service and
innovation programs. Outcomes/conversation
points of the World Café discussions are available
on the LGMA Village website.
A quick summary of the March forum include:
If you are not moving with technology from top,
you will not gain young people to your
organisation
Councils and those working in them need to be
aware of the underlying risks of not cultivating a
customer service focused culture and
implementing a system to manage- one focus,
one system;
SILO’s stifle innovation and create customer
service blockages;
Move from a vertical system model to a bicycle
wheel, with customer service at the hub;
Use new communication tools (social media) to
communicate with your customers. This can be
a two way exchange, use your community to be
your eyes and ears (eg customer twitted about
a light out on a jetty, job log raised, issue
actioned and resolved).
Trust staff to have conversations with the public
via social media – already do on phone and
counter (front line staff access)
10 questions to consider when implementing a
social media strategy in your organisation –
check out Matt’s presentation.
Local Government Managers Australia (Qld)
Level 7 Quay Central
95 North Quay
Brisbane Qld 4000
Surveying customers directly on what the find
important and their satisfaction levels on those
services can assist in ensuring council is focusing
on the needs and wants of the community –
resources can be efficiently directed.
It is important to do regular and ongoing
measures of service delivery to ensure
assumptions are appropriate and trends
identified.
Don’t survey your customers unless you plan on
accepting the feedback, reviewing your
business and actioning results.
The Brisbane sessions were attended by a broad
range of councils, which provided a great platform
for networking and sharing of ideas. Represented
councils included Logan, Scenic Rim, Central
Highlands, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley and Western
Downs.
The response from the sessions overall was
extremely positive. Feedback provided helpful
suggestions on topics for future forums; topics that
you, our members, are wanting more information
to assist you and your organisations.
Testimonials:
“It was refreshing to hear the varied solutions to the
common council problems”
“Great networking”
“Great speakers and interesting topics. Enjoyable”
“Liked the café format and ability to discuss the
different topics”
Contact: Michelle Rizzardini
Tel: 07 3174 5006
Fax: 07 3012 7862
Email: [email protected]
LGMA Qld Customer Service
Village News
April 2015
Forum Presentations Available
Some light relief
The presentations from the Brisbane Customer
Service Forum are available from the Village page
on our website. Simply go to www.lgmaqld.org.au
and click on the Village tab, then the Customer
Service Village icon. A password is required to
access this page. Contact LGMA Qld on 3174 5006
if you do not have a password.
Call for Papers/Ideas
The next forum will be held in October in
Townsville. With the feedback and discussions that
came out of our Brisbane Village in mind, we are
working towards a programme featuring the
following topics:




Privacy – how to implement a policy statement
(options, case study), what do we have to do
(basics of legislation), storing of information ( eg
Credit card); record retention
Linking front line staff to social media- how to
make it work
Workplace culture and customer service- case
study (initiatives).
CRM tools- what is available.
We believe this is a great start to our October lineup, but we need your help to ensure that you will
not only find these topics interesting, but that some
of you may have firsthand experience and can share
your knowledge with the group as a Village
presenter.
If you have any topic ideas or would like to present,
please contact Marita, Caroline or Liza by 1 June
2015.
Local Government Managers Australia (Qld)
Level 7 Quay Central
95 North Quay
Brisbane Qld 4000
We found this site and thought you might find
some light relief from these customer service tales.
Do you have a funny customer service experience to
share with us?
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/funny_custo
mer_service_stories_you_ll_never_forget
5
minutes with: Karen Dickson, Scenic
Rim Regional Council
Something I have learnt about
working in this role is that
diplomacy is very important
especially when dealing with
staff.
What does good customer service mean to you To provide a high level of service to both internal
and external customers aiming to achieve a win/win
where possible.
I am really proud of my team - Their support and
dedication overwhelms me.
My colleagues don’t know this but - I hate heights.
Finally some advice for others in similar roles is you need to enjoy what you do. We spend some
much time at work with our extended family it is
imperative that we have fun (in a professional
manner) as well.
Contact: Michelle Rizzardini
Tel: 07 3174 5006
Fax: 07 3012 7862
Email: [email protected]
LGMA Qld Customer Service
Village News
April 2015
Got a story to share?
Have you come across an interesting customer
service case study or article lately? Perhaps you
have undertaken a project at your council that you
would like to share with your fellow Villagers? If so
we would love to hear from you. Send your news
items or case studies to Marita West for inclusion in
next edition of Customer Service Village News.
Web links
Tips to delivering customer service excellence http://www.serviceexcellence.com.au/content
_common/pg-tips-to-delivering-customerservice-excellence.seo
Case Studies – Customer Service excellence:
http://www.customerserviceexcellence.uk.com
/getDynamicContentAreaHome513b.html?type
=3
ACELG: Service Delivery Review, a manual for local
government:
http://www.acelg.org.au/file/2140/download
Connect with us!
Join the LGMA Qld Facebook group to view photos
from the Village Forum and much more.
LGMA Queensland’s Facebook group is a great way
to see what we are up to throughout the year.
Local Government Managers Australia (Qld)
Level 7 Quay Central
95 North Quay
Brisbane Qld 4000
Contact: Michelle Rizzardini
Tel: 07 3174 5006
Fax: 07 3012 7862
Email: [email protected]