Customer Survey/Evaluation

[Rionagh]

We're looking into putting together a survey/questionnaire form that we can send to recent applicants for Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Commission requests to get a better sense of what the community thinks of the job that we're doing. Also a form that we can send to all applicants as a general rule after their case has been heard, just so that we can get some feedback on how they feel about the process and anything that we could do in the future to help streamline or explain things for applicants.

Has anyone done something similar to this? I'm looking for examples of other survey or evaluation forms that you might have...

Thanks,

 

[giff57]

Has anyone done something similar to this? Thanks,

Are you crazy? Asking people how they feel about you?

Sounds like a good idea, I'm just messin with ya

 

[el Guapo]

Walking a fine line.

You will have to be able to separate the frustration they have with having to undergo the process from the overall customer experience. They may have had excellent service, but if the decision didn't go their way they may seek to punish the staff through the survey. This is a kin to surveying a perp on how his experience with the police was.

 

[Cardinal]

I'm in agreement with El Guapo. It seems like you are just giving people a means to strike back at you, and I doubt you would get much constructive criticism.

 

[tsc]

it would be like a dentist asking..."Did you enjoy your visit? or would you rather have been at the beach?"

 

[Rionagh]

I guess some of the background here may be helpful... There's a group of local developers who have been 'bad-mouthing' our staff to the City Manager and City Commission. In general we know that those who are satisfied with their experience do not necessarily think to say something but those who are not satisfied tend to. From comments that I've heard from other applicants and developers, I know that probably most of them are satisfied, even if denied, that we as staff treated them courteously and professionally. We would like to get an idea of the 'real story' if we can. I know that the first question on the survey/evaluation will be to ask if their request was approved or denied. That way we can show that negative comments are tied to those whose requests were denied (if that ends up being the case).

 

[Cardinal]

I would suggest not just limiting your survey to the BZA. Your population for that group are people who have to appeal a rejection of their proposal, even if the BZA later OK's it. If you intend to do a urvey, why not instead survey everyone who has to bring an item befor the plan board. Your results, I suspect, would be exactly what you believe. People who are approved would likely be very favorable, and you could demonstrate the increasingly unfavorable response that you get from people whose plans were denied.

 

[el Guapo]

How about sending a trained customer service guru through the process with a fake application or someone eles's application? Upper management would be the only one in the know.

 

[Rem]

We recently went through this self flagellation exercise with a mail back questionnaire (no mystery shopper for us el Guapo). It was limited to applicants who had lodged applications for commercial or industrial developments only and the sample is small (46 respondents). The work was done by a 2nd year Business/Law student on vacation placement with us. She did a good enough job but there are some survey technique holes (no need to critique it).

I would be happy to send you a Word.doc of the final report if you are interested. It includes details of all questions asked and the results. Just PM me with an email address.

If there is a simpler way I can supply attachments maybe a moderator can let me know.

 

[donk]

I second finding out if the person was approved or denied.

I also think it would be advisable not to do it as a blind / confidential survey, that way you can answer criticisms and maybe know why the negative comments are being made.

The development industry and a high level Civil Servant tried this one on my employer and others in our province and they were basically told to pound sand by the service providers. As always there was our sides of the story (mainly the law and the National Building Code) that when explained to the civil servant made this "customer" service issue go away.

 

[Cardinal]

One of the things that bugs me the most is when I hear complaints about the "city" when in fact it has nothing to do with the city. Last week I had a guy moaning to me about the "city's" requirement for his building. I had to explain to him that what he did not like was part of the state building code, and was not something the "city" told him to do. He might have figured it out from having to submit his building plans to the state for review and having somebody at the state tell him he needed to meet the requirement.

 

[mike gurnee]

Been there. A survey was underway when I arrived on the scene here. The intent was to "get" one or two staff. Fortunately, the thing backfired on the commission. The responses were overwhelmingly (85-93%) positive. Reasons: went to anyone who had contact with the office--Cardinal's point. After is was all over, the commission (one commissioner) would say, "yeah, but one homebuilder sure is not pleased." Go ahead and do it, it will help management deal with negative builders, and you may actually learn something. Our survey was done before computers (it was the 90s), so all I have is a hard copy.

A suggestion given to me a while back: have the boss ask every 20th person to share a cup of java to discuss their front desk experience.

 

[Rionagh]

Thanks everyone - we are planning on sending them to everyone who has been before either the ZBA, Planning Commission or had a site plan review in the past 2 years. I agree that what we'll most likely see is a great deal of positive response with a few negatives (based on verbal feedback I've gotten from the general public).

Rem, I'd love a copy of what you guys did - my e-mail is deb.steenhagen@postman.org. Thank you!

 

[Rem]

Rem, I'd love a copy of what you guys did - my e-mail is ... Thank you!

It's on the way - hope it helps.