Building a Culture of Customer Service with Krista Coleman and Mike Grego – Enrollment Insights Podcast #67

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In this episode:

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you’ll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students and families, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Krista Coleman and Dr. Michael Grego.

Krista is K12 Insight’s chief customer officer. She’s dedicated to helping K-12 school districts across the United States provide superior customer experiences to families, teachers, staff, and other stakeholders. With over 15 years of senior executive experience in EdTech companies, Krista has been dedicated to helping schools find creative solutions to the wide variety of challenges that they face.

Mike, K12 Insight advocate, is an innovative leader who served in public education in the state of Florida for 42 years, spending the last 10 years of his career as superintendent of Pinellas County Schools. Under Dr. Grego’s leadership, Pinellas County Schools earned districtwide accreditation, achieved record-high graduation rates, and successfully narrowed achievement gaps between minority students and their peers. Twice during his leadership, the district earned the top score in Florida for offering the best choices for parents. Pinellas has also received national recognition for its digital curriculum and exemplary use of technology, and for preparing high school students for success in college, career and life.

In this episode, we talk about the important role that customer service plays in public school districts, K12 Insight’s quarterly report series on customer service in schools, and the tools and strategies that districts can use to create a culture of customer service in their communities.

0:00 – Introduction
3:33 – Changing culture is a team effort
4:04 – “Technology itself isn’t the complete answer.”
6:00 – Balancing daily fires with work that moves your district forward
8:00 – Clarity as the foundation for brainstorming
8:20 – “They need to be more like Chick-fil-A…”
9:58 – Customer service as a competitive differentiator
12:15 – Districts need to compete to be the first choice for their local families
14:30 – “The world has changed for public education but how have we changed to address the needs of it?”
15:55 – You might tell a few friends about a good experience but you’ll tell everyone about a bad one
17:39 – Monitor common questions to find opportunities to create clarity for families
21:35 – Digging into K12 Insight’s Q1 report on customer service in school districts
26:20 – How parents are responding to automation and opportunities for self-service in getting their questions answered
31:04 – Strategies for determining where you stand with customer service
37:51 – How to engage other departments in building a culture of customer service
44:17 – School PR pros—get ready to cheer for Dr. Grego. He gets it!
48:36 – Wrapping up

Additional Resources From the Episode

K12 Insight
K12 Insight’s Reports on Customer Service in Schools