Recently Governing published an online article (The Role of the Customer Experience in the Value of Government) discussing how important it is for government to establish its value by creating a great customer experience and a sense of connection and belonging. The article argues that government can increase its value in an increasingly experience-based economy by offering a positive experience to its community members.  ICMA’s Knowledge Network contains several resources on how to engage citizens and provide a good customer experience:

1. In “Make 'Em Say Wow: 11 Tips for Building a Strong Service Team,” an article in the August 2015 issue of PM magazine,  the author demonstrates that the trick to creating a great customer experience is to develop a skillful customer service team.
2. “The “Ottawa Way” Thrives” (July 2015 issue of PM magazine) describes how and why government officials of Ottawa, Michigan,  trained in “The Disney Way” of providing quality customer service to implement a citizen/customer-centric culture.
3. Core Competencies & Customer Service is a blog post about an interview with Janice Quintana, director of the CharMeck311 Customer Service Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, who believes that customer service—as much as budgeting, public safety, and the like—should be a core competency of local government management. 
4. Performance Measures for Local Government Customer Service answers an important question: How do you measure the performance of customer experience/service in local government?  The comment section of this blog post provides as much information as the post itself!
5. Maricopa County, Arizona, introduced the use of recording kiosks so that residents could scan documents, accept payments, and speak to staff via a webcam—to improve the customer experience. Read all about it and preview the recorder at Staying at the Forefront of Technology – Maricopa County Implements the Electronic Recording Kiosk.

What innovative things are you doing to enhance the customer experience in your community? Share your stories below.

Douglas Shontz

Knowledge Network Intern