Print Books
Over the last 15 years, I've published five books on how to utilize customer service concepts to help your school retain and attract students and thus improve your school's culture and success. All books can be found on my Amazon author page.
WHO CARES?: Improving Public Schools Through Relationships and Customer Service // 2007
Who Cares? is a call to arms for all proponents of public schools: administrators, teachers, support staff, and unions. It encourages schools to focus on the most important "R" of all relationships.
Many advocate the importance of relationships in a school, but few articulate how to systematically address it. Who Cares? offers hope with real world customer service examples and practices that have been implemented in one public school district in the battle to win back students. Readers can expect to find a variety of tools and resources, including:
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Customer service ideas for all staff members (secretaries, coaches, bus drivers, custodians, cooks)
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Home visits best practice checklist (K-12)
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29 ways for teachers to WOW parents and administrators
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10 of the best customer service practices borrowed from the business world and applied to public education
An intentional focus on customer service, relationships, and making connections will not only positively impact the culture of your school, but will also result in improved academic achievement.
SIMPLY THE BEST: 29 Things Students Say the Best Teachers Do Around Relationships // 2010
Simply the Best: 29 Things Students Say the Best Teachers Do Around Relationships highlights the importance of listening to students to inform our efforts in schools. Research shows that having an intentional focus on developing relationships in schools results in improved academic performance, reduced achievement gaps, safer schools and productive learning environments. Students should be more than passive participants in the educational process. They can articulate teacher behaviors that make a difference for them.
Simply the Best utilizes research to identify practices schools should consider to build better teacher-student relationships and enlists student voice in the form of student focus groups, and surveys, resulting in the identification of twenty-nine practices that characterize the best teachers.
Eighty ideas geared toward relationship building and the development of a customer service mind-set are shared as suggestions for teachers. Simply the Best serves as a reminder of the power of the teacher - the power of their words and actions in shaping students' educational experience. The teacher and student relationship is the foundation for school improvement efforts.
COMPETING FOR KIDS: 21 Customer Service Concepts Public Schools Can Use to Retain and Attract Students // 2018
When was the last time you reflected on the quality of customer service your school gives to your students? As alternate forms of education become more prominent, public education faces the challenge of losing its best and brightest students to the competition.
Competing For Kids is a full-service manual for giving great customer service throughout your school district. It gives examples of great customer service from top companies including The Walt Disney Company, Google, Apple, Southwest Airlines, Amazon and more. In an educational environment where schools have to fight for each student, learning and implementing customer service concepts from those who do it best can improve a school's appeal for current and prospective students.
Competing for Kids teaches:
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How the best companies use customer service to compete at the highest level
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How these twenty-one business concepts can help public schools better compete with other forms of education
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How to develop a district-wide customer service plan for all staff members working in the public school arena
FEED OUR STUDENTS WELL: 18 Customer Service Concepts for Public School Food Service // 2020
Imagine a school district where the cafeteria is the central hub for staff and students to hang out as a respite from normal daily school activities, where food service managers and directors get students excited about the cafeteria on social media, and where parents and students do not even consider bringing a meal from home because of the quality and choices offered in their school cafeteria.
Feed Our Students Well serves up 18 customer service concepts for school leaders and food service employees to deliver the very best nutrition, food service atmosphere and cafeteria facilities to students. In this book, you'll learn:
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How food, employee attitudes, facilities, school culture, and leadership can be given a customer service boost to improve student satisfaction in the cafeteria
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How public schools can learn from industry best practices to compete with the current competitive educational climate
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How customer service in a school's food service department can play a major role in overall student happiness and school culture.
PUBLIC SCHOOL GATEKEEPERS: The Customer Service-Driven School Office Professional // 2021
School office staff are on the front lines of a public school. They answer calls, greet guests, help students, and relay important information to staff and leadership. So why do so many office professionals go without any customer service training? I've spent over 30 years in public education asking this question!
Chock full of insightful tips, tricks, and stories, this handy quick-reference guide will teach you how to put a customer-service spin on your daily tasks, making your job easier by eliminating problems before they start and ensuring your status as "indispensable" to your school's staff and leadership. In this book you'll learn:
· How to turn a disgruntled visitor into a lifelong fan of you and your school
· Quick, easy tips on answering phones, emails and greeting guests
· How to give great service to your boss so you stand out from the rest of the pack
· How to ensure you give off a professional, knowledgeable vibe while also being approachable and friendly
· . . . And more!
These are tried and true methods, borrowed from the best customer service companies, and we've honed them for decades to fit the specific needs of schools. Our office staff swear by them! Are you ready to take your profession to the next level and help your school stand out in this age of competing for kids?