By Scot Kersgaard, JVA Consulting

In the business world, people talk about customer service. As customers of businesses ourselves, we talk about the customer service we get at various establishments. We compare notes with our friends and neighbors about restaurants, car repair shops, plumbers, etc. Even though we may talk about price and quality, a lot of times we seem to center in on service, about the feelings we get when we do business with a certain company.

In the nonprofit world, we’re coming to this particular party a little late, but coming to it we are.

At JVA’s recent Executive Director Academy, we invited four successful nonprofit executives in to talk to the class, and customer service was one of the first things that came up.

“I’m amazed at the lack of training (nonprofits offer their staffs),” said Eric Kornacki, of ReVision International. “You can’t just flip a switch.”

Norma Portnoy, of Kids First Health Care, said her organization makes sure the people who meet clients and the public get customer service training. “We’re very customer service oriented,” she said.

Jim Garcia, who runs Clinica Tepeyac, said when his organization first started it was operating out of what had been an 850-square-foot house. “We stressed that people coming in the door had probably had a terrible experience in the past and that we wanted to make sure we treated them like honored guests in our home.”  He said they still convey that to every new employee.

“You have to be polite. You have to think about the user experience,” Kornacki agreed.

At JVA, we recognize customer service as a major differentiator for our clients, a way for a nonprofit to build capacity in every way, a way for government agencies to shine in the eyes of their constituents. We are presenting a training on Creating a Customer Service Culture at our Sheridan office March 18 from 9 a.m. to noon.