ServiceElements International

March 2010 Newsletter

chill — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:58:51 +0000

W. Warner Burke, from Columbia University, is an expert in organizational change. Burke’s work with a variety of organizations indicates that for a true change initiative to be successful, focus and change must occur at multiple levels:

Systems level
Work-unit level
Individual level

Through our work at ServiceElements, we have seen many aviation-related companies struggling to breathe life into customer service initiatives, hoping that they will become “part and parcel” of their culture. But it takes more than hope. Inevitably their initiatives failed because they were not addressing all levels of their companies.

So, what within these levels can change?

System Level – The system level includes mission, strategy, service culture, and leadership. Is customer service an explicit strategy that the leadership of the organization agrees upon? Does the overall culture reflect this strategy as a priority?

Work Level – The work-unit level includes standard operating procedures, management practices, reward systems, and strength of teamwork.

Individual Level – The individual level includes training programs for employees, managers, and leaders, and whether the right people are in the right jobs.

The bottom line? Hiring a company to do a one-day workshop on customer service (which means change is being initiated at the individual level only) is doomed to failure. It must be accompanied by critical analysis of the company’s system and work-unit levels. Clearly, the training will do little good if, for example, customer service is not a part of the company’s mission and leadership does not address work-unit level activities such as developing standard operating procedures and reward structures that reinforce the training and the mission.

Sure, training is a natural part of any customer service initiative – but so is assessment. Leaders must be bold enough to assess their organization at all three levels. Companies must understand where they are at now, in terms of customer service, and compare that to where they want to go in the future. It can’t be done without a comprehensive service audit. If service is truly going to differentiate your company, then you must embark on a total solution. Those who address only one of Burke’s levels without addressing the others will never do anything more than just talk the talk…or maybe even worse.

ServiceElements Adding New Division- Survey Research & Performance Metrics for Customers & Employees

chill — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:00:37 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Steve Holstein
August 13, 2009 E-mail: sholstein@ServiceElements.com

ServiceElements Adding New Division—-Survey Research & Performance Metrics for Customers & Employees

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (August 13, 2009) – ServiceElements announced today that it is expanding its services to provide senior management within the aviation industry with a powerful capability for collecting and analyzing market data on which they can build their business.

Spearheading the initiative will be ServiceElements’ Vice President, Survey Research & Performance Metrics, Owen S. Robbins. Through applied research and using propriety software, Mr. Robbins has years of success in generating market data and performance metrics which become the basis for action plans capable of systematically achieving corporate strategic goals.

“Companies looking to make the most of the current market conditions and being at the leading edge of the recovery will receive tremendous benefits from the data and business insights that Owen can bring to them,” said ServiceElements President Bob Hobbi.

Mr. Robbins is a clinical psychologist with 25 years of experience addressing the challenges of developing, managing and advancing corporate enterprises by strategically applying psychological knowledge and expertise. He has developed research-enhancing technology that has been used extensively over the past 15 years to integrate multiple performance measures that become the cornerstone of a company’s planning process.

“Companies that integrate research into their decision making process won’t find this level of research/analysis expertise and industry experience anywhere else,” Hobbi said.

About ServiceElements

ServiceElements, an organizational and behavioral culture enhancement company, awakens the power of excellent service within companies as well as their individual divisions, departments and other organizational groups. Some of the company’s tools for re-focusing service culture and sharpening service delivery skills include, stimulating, highly interactive workshops, seminars and keynote speeches. Clients benefit from ServiceElements’ more than 20 years of experience in business, technical training, service excellence, Six Sigma, ISO 9000, quality management processes, Customer Relationship Management programs and process re-engineering. For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.com.

For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.net

ServiceElements welcomes Owen Robbins to its team as Vice President, Performance Metrics & Research.

chill — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:00:51 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Steve Holstein
July 18, 2009 E-mail: sholstein@ServiceElements.com

ServiceElements welcomes Owen Robbins to its team as Vice President, Performance Metrics & Research.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (March 3, 2009) – He is a clinical psychologist with 25 years of experience addressing the challenges of developing, managing and advancing corporate and entrepreneurial enterprises by strategically applying psychological knowledge and expertise.

Through applied research and propriety software which he has developed, Owen has had tremendous success in helping companies generate market data and performance metrics in order to create action plans for achieving strategic goals.

“Companies looking to make the most of the current market conditions and be at the leading edge of the recovery will receive tremendous benefits from the market information and business insights that Owen can bring to them,” said ServiceElements president Bob Hobbi. “Companies that integrate research into their decision making process won’t find this level of expertise and industry experience anywhere else.”

About ServiceElements

For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.net

ServiceElements Helps Unemployed Flight Department Members Gain Competitive Edge with FREE Customer Service Certification

chill — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:19:14 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Steve Holstein
March 03, 2009 E-mail: sholstein@ServiceElements.com

ServiceElements Helps Unemployed Flight Department Members Gain Competitive Edge with FREE Customer Service Certification

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (March 3, 2009) – “Differentiation is key for job seekers in what is becoming a very tight aviation job market,” said ServiceElements President, Bob Hobbi.

“Because of that, we are helping unemployed members of our industry gain a professional edge through a free customer service training webinar series,” Hobbi said. “Upon completion, they will be able to demonstrate to potential employers their desire and ability to impact customer satisfaction as they carry out their professional responsibilities.”

The specially-created, live webinar series focuses on integrating customer service strategies and skills into key aviation department organizational positions. Through the training, job seekers will be able to enhance their resume with evidence that they are serious about their profession and the people they serve.

The course was first rolled out and successfully completed by pilots from a flight department that was recently closed.

“Customer service has been brought up several times in my interviews, so this training will be invaluable as I continue my career in corporate flying,” Captain Tim Whalen, a Falcon 2000/Fokker70 Pilot

Sessions are held once a week over a four-week period of time with participants receiving course materials prior to each session. A certificate is issued upon course completion.

New webinar series are being established as groups and individuals indicate interest by contacting ServiceElements on the company’s website (www.ServiceElements.com).

“We all need to pitch in and help our industry and our colleagues weather this storm,” Hobbi commented. “We believe that when a person is skilled in managing customers, whether the customer is ‘in the back,’ or a fellow employee, that person will be a very valuable addition to any business organization.”

New Book: Building A Customer Service Culture

chill — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:20:41 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bruce Fabricant
November 10, 2008 Phone 914-669-5430
info@serviceelements.com

New Book: Building A Customer Service Culture
Provides 7-Steps to Transform Your Organization’s Customer Service

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (November 10, 2008) – “There is a critical gap in the resources available to organizations wanting to provide a memorable and positive experience to their customers,” said Mario Martinez, Ph.D. and co-author of the newly published book, Building a Customer Service Culture: The Seven ServiceElements of Customer Success. This book closes that gap.”

“Most customer service books provide general, high-level advice without any direction on implementation,” Martinez noted. “The ideas may sound good, but readers don’t know what to do with them. Building A Customer Service Culture gives readers a true roadmap that employees, managers and executives can follow to transform themselves and their organizations.”

The book’s co-author, Bob Hobbi said, “In these uncertain economic times, one of the most potent tools for all of us is improving and differentiating through service. In customer service, re-work, corrections and unmet needs can prove costly.”

“In this book, we focus on the needs and requirements upstream from the employee/customer transaction. Training is futile if leaders do not foster a culture that is supportive of the required processes, procedures and behaviors necessary to produce excellent customer service. Our book provides “how-to” exercises and tools that leaders and employees can actually use to create the right mindset and execute the appropriate action.”

Building a Customer Service Culture is based on years of experience that the co-authors and others within their company, Scottsdale, Arizona-based ServiceElements, have had in helping hundreds of organizations and thousands of employees on strategies and programs for improving customer service. Many of these companies are within the business and general aviation industry, perhaps one of the most difficult environments for serving a customer constituency with demanding and discerning wants and needs.

The book is $23.95 and can be purchased at: http://www.serviceelements.com/programs-services/books

The book is being published by IAP, Information Age Publishing

About ServiceElements

ServiceElements, an organizational and behavioral culture enhancement company, awakens the power of excellent service within companies as well as their individual divisions, departments and other organizational groups. Some of the company’s tools for re-focus service culture and sharpening service delivery skills include, stimulating, highly interactive workshops, seminars and keynote speeches. Clients benefit from ServiceElements’ more than 20 years of experience in business, technical training, service excellence, Six Sigma, ISO 9000, quality management processes, Customer Relationship Management programs and process re-engineering.

For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.net

ServiceElements Introduces NEW Service Delivery Audit Program

chill — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:22:28 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bruce Fabricant
October 1, 2008 Phone: 914-772-2434

info@serviceelements.com

ServiceElements Introduces NEW Service Delivery Audit Program

Scottsdale, Ariz. – ServiceElements today announced the release of its NEW Service Delivery Audit program, the first of its kind for Business and General Aviation and Aerospace that systematically uncovers service and service delivery issues and helps to define or uncover specific solutions for those problems.

“Auditing service delivery processes has a real impact on financial results while helping flight departments, FBO’s, maintenance shops, MRO’s, charter management companies, fractionals and other members of our service providing community,” said ServiceElements President Bob Hobbi.

“ServiceElements began developing its Service Delivery Audit program more than three years ago in response to its work with many organizations and thousands of Aerospace and Business and General Aviation professionals. ServiceElements has industry subject matter experts as well as organizational development experts. This enables us to deliver a potent audit program.”
Mario Martinez, Vice President of Innovation for ServiceElements added, “We are accustomed to safety and various operational audits in the aviation industry. But one area we have not specifically focused on is customer service integration. A Service Delivery Audit not only brings attention to service but also brings it to the forefront. Technical proficiency is no longer enough in our industry. Service is now a critical issue for survival of your business or organization. In 2008, organizations cannot afford a ‘hit or miss’ approach. Our new Service Delivery Audit program brings out specifics.”

Hobbi pointed out that ServiceElements’ unique audit goes beyond just asking questions. It uses various modes of gathering data: onsite observation, phone and one-on-one interviews with company leadership, management and front line workers, focus groups, voice of the customer and surveys.

“These different methods of gathering information helps us to discover gaps and bottlenecks in an organization’s real purpose which is delivering service,” Hobbi said.

“For example, we will watch the ramp at an FBO and observe interactions between line service, crews and customers/passengers. By interviewing leadership and team members, as well as customers and passengers, we are able to assess perceptions of customer service that may differ. Our feedback and analysis help identify the gaps that affect service when perceptions differ.”

By developing a 360 degree evaluation and audit procedure approach to service delivery, ServiceElements can uncover not so subtle service challenges. “For example, when do you turn the engines on—before or after the passenger boards? Do you and does everyone do it in a consistent way? Hobbi pointed out that passengers notice the difference such as when line service personnel marshal aircraft correctly and consistently. How do they look while marshalling?

About ServiceElements

For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.net

Christopher Crum Joins ServiceElements as New Business Developer and Strategist

chill — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:00:33 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bruce Fabricant
November 10, 2008 Phone 914-669-5430
info@serviceelements.com

Christopher Crum Joins ServiceElements as New Business Developer and Strategist

Scottsdale, Ariz. (XXXX) –ServiceElements, dedicated to helping companies gain a competitive advantage through improved levels of customer service, announced today that business aviation veteran Christopher R. Crum has joined the company as a business developer and strategist.

“For more than 25 years, Chris has been passionate about providing outstanding customer service for numerous organizations in the business aviation industry,” said ServiceElements President Bob Hobbi. “In more than one assignment Chris has led his organization to quickly double its sales by focusing on its service. We are fortunate to have another person with this caliber of expertise joining our team.”

Most recently, he was president and chief executive officer of Royal Jet Group, LLC, an international charter and aviation services company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. While in the Middle East, Crum was a founding board member of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) and primary sponsor of the first MEBA conference.

Crum also was president and chief operating officer of the Stevens Aviation FBO chain and vice president/general manager of Garrett Aviation. While with Allied Signal Engines, now Honeywell, Crum spearheaded the creation and delivery of a division-wide customer service training program and, while living in Germany, he revamped and directed their service and support organization in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Crum has been a military officer and has an MBA degree from Arizona State University.

About ServiceElements

ServiceElements Expands Operations

chill — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:24:29 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2008

ServiceElements Expands Operations

Scottsdale, Arizona-based ServiceElements, dedicated to helping companies gain a competitive advantage through improved levels of customer service, today announced that is expanding its ability to serve the aviation industry through the addition of three people.

“With the softening economy, many in our industry realize that high customer service levels are critical for ensuring that whatever business there is, walks through their doors rather than the competitions’”, said ServiceElements president and CEO, Bob Hobbi. “As a result, we have been gearing up to help those that want to have resiliency now as well as an advantage as things rebound in the future.

“Our clients will greatly benefit from the extensive industry knowledge and experience that all three of these professionals bring to us. We’re better positioned than ever before to help any sector within the business aviation industry improve their operations through the effective application of service skills in working with both internal and external customers.”

Joining ServiceElements as facilitators and strategists are:

John F. Rahilly has nearly 30 years of experience in the aviation industry. He was president of KC Aviation prior to its sale to Gulfstream Aerospace. During his tenure there, KC Aviation received Pro-Pilot Magazine’s “Best Completion Center Award” for 5 consecutive years. John has also held senior management positions with BBA Aviation Inc. the parent company of Signature Flight Support and Dallas Airmotive and most recently as vice president, sales and marketing for the national service centers of Dassault Falcon Jet. He is a member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), Professional Aircraft Maintenance Association (PAMA) and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA).

Lisa Schmitt has more than 20 years experience in general aviation. From 1998-2003, she served as program manager for service excellence training for FlightSafety International, a Berkshire Hathaway Company training over 65,000 aviation professionals annually. In this capacity, she developed and conducted customized service and team-building training programs for Fortune 500 companies as well as multiple in-house locations. Additionally, Lisa was product marketing manager of Falcon training during her 13 year career with FlightSafety’s Learning Center in Teterboro, New Jersey, increasing sales, fostering communication, and long-term customer relationships. Prior to marketing, Lisa was a scheduler for the Teterboro Center’s simulator training programs. A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, she is a certified flight instructor and is fluent in Spanish.

Anthony Palombo has 19 years of experience in the aviation industry, specializing in training programs, policy development, aircraft cabin configuration, and safety and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining ServiceElements, Anthony held a number of positions with US Airways, including manager of cabin safety, safety and regulatory compliance, inflight compliance, inflight systems analyst and training specialist. He also served as co-chair of the Air Transport Association’s Cabin Operations Committee. Anthony holds a bachelor’s of science degree in marketing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s in organizational leadership from Geneva College.

Dassault Falcon’s Customer Service Organization Signs Service Culture Enhancement Agreement with ServiceElements

chill — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:08:09 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bruce Fabricant
August 8, 2007 Phone:914-328-0226

E-mail: bfabric459@aol.com

Dassault Falcon’s Customer Service Organization Signs Service Culture Enhancement Agreement with ServiceElements

Scottsdale, Ariz. August 29, 2007 – Dassault Falcon’s Customer Service organization and ServiceElements of Scottsdale announced completion of the initial phase of a comprehensive Call Quality Improvement Initiative.

Dassault Falcon Technical Help Desk Representatives and Spares Account representatives are all participating in the program, as part of a move by the company to improve customer experience at all levels of contact. Combined, Falcon’s Technical Help Desk Representatives and Spares Account Representatives answer approximately 2,000 phone calls per month from around the globe for technical assistance and spare parts requests.

“Every customer touch-point contributes to the collective customer experience,” said Bob Hobbi, President of ServiceElements. “Falcon’s focus on improving customer service has never been sharper. Improvement at the call-center level is one aspect of multiple improvements they are reviewing in their service culture. We’re proud to be partnering with Dassault as they elevate customer satisfaction at all levels.”

“Our call centers represent a unique window of opportunity for Dassault to exceed our customer’s expectations,” said Gerry Goguen, Sr. Vice President of Dassault. “ServiceElements is playing an important role in this new initiative to deliver superior customer service.”

About ServiceElements

ServiceElements, an organizational and behavioral culture enhancement company, provides stimulating, highly interactive workshops, seminars and keynote speeches to enhance, elevate and awaken the power of excellent service in various industries. Industries include Aviation/Aerospace, Banking, Construction/Home Building, Healthcare, Resort & Hotel, Restaurant and Technology. ServiceElements’ goal is to create a cooperative drive toward customer success, equipping companies and individual departments with tools to re-focus service culture and sharpening service delivery skills. With more than 20 years of experience in business, technical training, service excellence, Six Sigma, ISO 9000, quality management processes, Customer Relationship Management programs and process re-engineering, ServiceElements can provide needed techniques to help serve customers the way they demand, deserve and desire.

For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.com.

About Dassault Falcon

Dassault Falcon is responsible for selling and supporting Falcon business jets throughout the world. It is part of Dassault Aviation, a leading aerospace company with a presence in over 70 countries across 5 continents. Dassault Aviation produces the renowned Mirage and Rafale fighter jets as well as a complete line of Falcon business jets. The company has assembly and production plants in both France and the United States and service facilities on both continents. It employees a total workforce of over 12,000. Since the rollout of the first Falcon 20 in 1963, over 1,650 Falcon jets have been delivered to more than 65 countries worldwide. The family of Falcon jets currently inn production includes the tri-jets – the Falcon 50EX, 900DX, 900EX EASy, and the new 7X – as well as the twin-engine Falcon 2000, and 2000EX EASy.

For additional information on Dassault Falcon, visit www.DassaultFalcon.com

ServiceElements Unveils Initiatives to Help Clients

chill — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:26:25 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bruce Fabricant
April 2, 2007 Phone: 914-328-0226
E-mail: bfabric459@aol.com

ServiceElements Unveils Initiatives to Help Clients
Change Their Performance and Customer Service Culture

Scottsdale, Ariz. – ServiceElements, an organizational and behavioral culture enhancement company, announced new initiatives designed to help clients change their organizational performance and customer service culture.

ServiceElements is investing in new programs that leverage its prowess and deep experience delivering outstanding service solutions This is in addition to hiring additional experts in areas of conflict resolution, diversity and other important work culture related topics.

“To truly change the customer service culture, it is necessary to continuously reinforce the philosophy with various leadership tools,” said Bob Hobbi, president of ServiceElements. “We are adding new tools to enhance our ability to bring more value to our customers.”

The tools are part of ServiceElements focused and ongoing multi-phase approach called “Customer Service Training Series”.

Two new key programs of ServiceElements expanded culture service initiatives include:

1) Customer Satisfaction Surveys. To gain benchmark information on how customers feel about an organization’s service levels as well as provide valuable feedback on the progress of the organization’s service enhance initiatives, ServiceElements is introducing a Customer Satisfaction Survey program.

“We are now working closely with clients to understand what they hope to learn from the survey process and how they will respond to the information once it is collected,” Hobbi said. “

From this, ServiceElements establishes an overall project strategy that covers details such as project timing, method of gathering information, target customers, analysis metrics and measurement tools, and of course, developing the survey questions.

“Question formulation is perhaps one of the most critical aspects of the entire satisfaction survey process,” Hobbi said. “We ensure that the questions going out will produce highly insightful and actionable answers coming back in.”

Hobbi pointed out that another critical aspect of the survey process is making sure the right tools are in place to properly collect and analyze the survey information. “If the data is interpreted improperly, not only has the company’s resources been wasted, but the company may spend additional resources going in the wrong direction.”

While customer satisfaction surveys are excellent tools for determining the service levels of a company they cannot always provide the level of detail that a company wants, Hobbi explained.

Questions such as why did problems happen and how did they happen can only be answered by service professionals anonymously testing a customer’s service systems, asking appropriate questions and taking notes, Hobbi added.

2) Mystery Shopping Program. To measure service provided to customers and obtain valuable customer service feedback about your business, ServiceElements is introducing a “Mystery Shopping” program.

Providing corporate research as an organization’s quality auditor, ServiceElements can now help determine the quality of customer service, selling and up-selling skills, and product knowledge demonstrated in the course of daily business by your most visible and accessible employees.

“’Shopping’ can take place on a random basis or at predetermined times covering very specific locations and scenarios,” Hobbi said. He added that ServiceElements can help develop very successful reward-based programs that reinforce good behaviors and provide ongoing visibility to the company’s service focus.

About ServiceElements
ServiceElements, an organizational and behavioral culture enhancement company, provides stimulating, highly interactive workshops, seminars and keynote speeches to enhance, elevate and awaken the power of excellent service in various industries. Industries include Aviation/Aerospace, Banking, Construction/Home Building, Healthcare, Resort & Hotel, Restaurant and Technology. ServiceElements’ goal is to create a cooperative drive toward customer success, equipping companies and individual departments with tools to re-focus service culture and sharpening service delivery skills. With more than 20 years of experience in business, technical training, service excellence, Six Sigma, ISO 9000, quality management processes, Customer Relationship Management programs and process re-engineering, ServiceElements can provide needed techniques to help serve customers the way they demand, deserve and desire.

For additional information on ServiceElements, visit www.serviceelements.com.