The challenge was to “deliver what the customer wants plus one percent” for each customer who visited the Central Library circulation desk. Branches were receiving high praise for personalized service delivery. This level of service is challenging from a larger facility that serves a broad customer base. The opportunity being the Library’s ability to focus on one section of the Central Library, where the most complaints were received. The Library challenged staff to evaluate policies and procedures from a user experience perspective, staff skill sets, and staff training to achieve the “+1%” service.

Key elements of the innovation included keeping logs of reasons staff said “no” to a customer. This provided a baseline to track correlations as changes were made to policies or procedures, and an opportunity for a tool to use to counsel staff. Another key element was coaching staff in soft skills such as eye contact, active listening, tone of voice and body language. The supervisor challenged staff to a Smile Project, where Staff members chose a day during that month to work on their smiles then recorded outcomes following customer interactions. This project received commendation from the City Manager.

As a direct result of the “no logs”, the Library identified pinch points, added services, revised registration policies, and produced creative solutions to get to “yes” answers for customers. To gauge effectiveness of the measures, the Library monitors comments received from customers which have been increasingly positive. What began as a project in the Circulation Section has now expanded into the entire library. The Library’s portal houses a Raving Fans section that includes staff-created video skits of good and bad ways to handle difficult situations and other training tools that guide the Library’s Raving Fans service model.