BETTER PRACTICE
Member
Service Centres
When setting
up a member service centre (whether a number of staff in
a one-stop member experience, or a single staff member
providing member services and record updating), should
this function be part of the Administration/Financial/IT
departments or under the Membership (or Marketing)
department?
The emphasis
of the role has, and rightly so, changed from the
administration of membership records to customer service
(including both the transactional and experiential
aspects).
The focus of
the staff in this role needs to shift from maintenance
of information (requiring members to fit into the
association slot) to caring for the member/customer
(meeting the customer's needs on their terms).
While data
standards and the procurement of information is
important, it needs to be approached from the benefit of
the member/customer rather than for the need and
convenience of the organization.
The process
of creating and delivering value to members (products,
services as well as the delivery experience) needs to
continually improve. This requires a purposeful focus on
adapting for the customer, rather than the customer
adapting to the association's systems and rules.
The bottom
line...the customer service staff are best positioned in
a membership or marketing department where the
member/customer bias should be alive and well. The
financial or technological needs of the organization
cannot drive the customer service experience, but can be
met through the two departments working together.
{Disclaimer
- There are financial managers who are great on customer
service, and there are membership managers who should
not be anywhere near the customer. However, the culture
and thinking of the membership department will typically
be much more customer-centric than the financial or IT
departments.}
Wayne Amundson is president of Association Xpertise
Inc., a consulting firm serving associations and
non-profits. He is also a writer and speaker on
association and non-profit management and governance,
and is editor of The Canadian Association e-zine and
co-author of the new “Primer for Directors of
Not-for-Profit Corporations” published by the Industry
Canada and three non-profit umbrella groups in Canada.
Phone: 403-374-1822 E-mail:
admin@axi.ca Website:
www.axi.ca
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