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No More Homeless Pets Forum
June 23, 2003 Customer Service |
Customer service? What does that have to do with our work? Mike Arms, president of Helen Woodward Animal Center, talks about why we need to be concerned about customer service and will answers your questions about how to improve the public perception of your organization.
Introduction from Mike Arms:
Have you ever walked into a department store or a restaurant and walked out angry because the service was bad or nonexistent?Have you ever gotten angry when standing on line to purchase an item and the cashiers were busy talking to each other about personal matters?
Did you ever walk out of a restaurant because it was dirty?
I'm sure you have answered "yes" to one of these questions, and I'm sure you have told others of your negative experience at these establishments.
We in the animal welfare field must be better than any retail or restaurant establishment. The public coming to our facilities must be treated professionally at all times. If we want the public to think of us as professionals, then we must act the part.
Let's chat about it. Give me some of your problems and let's work on solutions.
Questions
Making the shelter smell pleasant
Where to refer when your shelter can't help
Same day adoptions
Helping staff keep a positive outlook
Making the dog kennels more appealing to the public
Employee standards
Running shelters like a business
When shelter staff comes across as uncaring and unmotivated
Being honest with the public
Resisting the pressure to do it all
Training for board members
Setting a plan and showing it to the community
Making the shelter smell pleasant
Question from Tad:
I volunteer at my county shelter. Beyond the obvious courtesies of customer service, which our shelter is lacking in, what can be done to help the place smell more pleasant, especially during the hours between clean-up times? Walking into the shelter, one's senses are assaulted. Isn't this part of the customer service experience? Is it unrealistic to think a shelter could not be offensive to the nose? The building is old and the only ventilation is a big fan and windows.Response from Mike:
I have visited many shelters, and if a shelter is properly cleaned and disinfected using proper disinfectants, the odor is not really offensive. Shelters must maintain a healthy and clean environment. Otherwise the potential adopter will think that this is what their home would smell like and walk away.One suggestion that would probably help dramatically is if they were able to put exhaust vents in the kennel areas. The exhaust vents should be knee-high, pulling the odors out before they reach the potential adopter's nose.
Again, you would not walk into a pet shop and find offensive odors. We should not allow it in our shelters.
Where to refer when your shelter can't help
Question from a member:
I work at the front desk of a humane society and it is really frustrating because we don't offer a lot of programs for the public. We only take in owner surrenders and don't have any spay/neuter programs, behavior programs, or help for sick/injured/stray animals. There are no programs in town for any of these services, other than a dog warden who picks up stray dogs, and one low-cost spay/neuter program.So when people call, we don't have a lot of places to refer them to and they get upset because we aren't helping them or giving them any solutions. A lot of times people end up threatening what they will do, like dumping or hurting stray cats.
When you don't have a lot of resources to offer, what can you do to make people feel like you are helping them with a problem?
Response from Mike:
Tough question. Obviously you are working on a limited budget, but there are many websites that you can refer the public to for help: low-cost spay/neuter programs like Spay USA, sites with information on setting up trap-and-release programs, etc. If the customer does not have a personal computer, most libraries have them for the public's use.What I would do is spend some time on the Internet compiling a list of resources. There's a world of information that you would be able to help people access if you put together a list of websites and phone numbers where they can go for assistance.
Thank you for caring enough about the public's problems to want to help.
Same day adoptions
Question from Joan:
I am feeling that we can do quite a bit more in our customer relations. My main concern is that we seem to be taking too long to approve an adoption and send the pet home. Clients seem frustrated that they cannot be approved the same day, and many are going elsewhere.How can we improve our adoption process to make the customers happy and still place the pet well? What criteria would you suggest to smooth the process? Are personal references really essential? My best friend would certainly say I was a good adopter, if someone called!
Response from Mike:
Remember that only 20 percent of animals in American households come from animal shelters. So what are we doing wrong? Who is our competition?For the most part our competition is backyard breeders (much different than reputable breeders), puppy mills, etc. People wanting pets from them get their pets the same day. In many reputable shelters around the country people get their pets the same day as well. We must keep in mind that good families that come to our shelters—after being properly screened and approved for an adoption—really should be able to take their pet home the same day. Otherwise, why were they approved in the first place? I know that some organizations hold the animal to spay/neuter it prior to sending it home. My suggestion is to spay/neuter prior to placing an animal for adoption.
I do feel that references are important. Normally you should ask for 3 references -- names and phone numbers of folks that are not present at the point of adoption. Start calling in reverse order because if a reference was set up it would always be the first listed. A good rule would be to call their veterinarian if they had a previous pet to find out how that pet was taken care of.
Helping staff keep a positive outlook
Question from Sara:
How can we help our staff, especially those who work directly with the public all day, keep a positive outlook? I work at an open admissions shelter, and some of the excuses we hear from the owners of surrendered animals are pretty sad and pathetic, and it's hard not to become jaded. However, I also understand that we need to treat each and every customer with a basic level of respect and cannot assume the worst about people who are coming in to surrender their pets.As a management team, how can we acknowledge the frustrations and give our employees an opportunity to vent, yet ensure that everyone who enters our shelter is being treated with the utmost respect?
Response from Mike:
What your staff is experiencing is not unique. This goes on at animal shelters not only in this country but pretty much internationally. What we must do for our staff is constantly encourage them and have them understand that what they're seeing for the most part are animal likers. True animal lovers will never relinquish their pets. I don't know where your shelter is located, but if you consider your human population and the number of people who have pets, you'll realize that the number of pets surrendered to you is a small percentage.I understand that the folks working in the shelter are true animal lovers and cannot accept the fact that people would so easily give up the pet that they've had in their home for several years. But we must try to steel our emotions to show the public that may adopt one of our animals that we are warm, caring, and professional. By doing this, word of mouth will help us increase our adoptions, and that always makes us feel better.
I also encourage you to send staff members to national conferences such as No More Homeless Pets. They will find that they are not alone and they will learn from their peers how they cope with it.
Making the dog kennels more appealing to the public
Question from a member:
We have a very old shelter that was not really meant to be a shelter. The worst part is our dog kennels which look like prisons with high gray cement walls and no windows, bad ventilation, and big grates that the dogs are often afraid to walk over to get to the front of their cage. When people walk back there, the barking gets so loud, it turns people off and they leave. We don't have the money to get new kennels or a new shelter at this point so what kinds of things can we do to make our shelter more appealing to the public so that they don't come in and get depressed or leave because it is too loud?Response from Mike:
Let's start with the appearance of the shelter. It sounds like you can definitely use community support. Do you have a local college or high school in the area? I'm sure you do. Speak to the art director to see if the class would take on a project of repainting your facility with murals of animals and if the school would give them extra credit for doing this. This will help brighten the facility. If they agree, ask a local hardware/paint store to donate product. Get the media behind this and it could be a fun and rewarding experience for all.Second, in most shelters the noise level in the dog area is loud and sometimes frightening for parents and children. I have learned that it is very helpful to explain to potential adopters before they visit the adult dog area what to expect. If you put it in terms that children and parents can deal with, it helps greatly. For example, "When you go into the kennel area the dogs will be barking for attention and most of them are just show-offs, but if you see a dog you like, we would be happy to take him out of the kennel to show you what he's really like." Again, if you tell them what to expect it makes it much easier.
Employee standards
Question from a member:
Do you think it is important to have certain standards for employees working in a shelter? For instance, we have an animal care worker who breeds and shows dogs, one who has her dogs ears cropped and tail docked, and another one who does not have her dogs fixed because they are purebreds. I feel that sends the wrong message to the public if we are not "walking the walk" so to speak. Do you think it is fair to have standards in writing that discourage or prohibit these types of activities?Response from Mike:
I strongly believe that when we are hiring staff to work directly with the animals in our facilities we must be sure that they truly care. No one should be handling an animal unless they do it with care and respect. I don't believe anyone in our field is opposed to reputable--and I specify reputable--breeders. In almost all instances they will not sell an animal to anyone they feel does not understand the breed or will not care for the animal for its life. Some of them have policies much more strict than a lot of shelters I visit.I agree that unless employees are highly reputable breeders, their personal pets should be spayed and neutered, setting an example that we ask the public to follow. The most important thing is education. We must educate our staff so that they can educate the public. I believe laws such as those we have in San Diego should be extended all over the nation. Here no animal can leave a shelter unspayed or unneutered unless a medical condition would put the animal's life in jeopardy if surgery were performed.
Running shelters like a business
Question from a member:
I've heard you say at a conference that shelters should think more like businesses in how they run their operations. Can you give some ideas on what you mean or what you do at your shelter?Response from Mike:
In order to be successful, we who run animal welfare organizations must follow the same principles and guidelines as a successful business, i.e., controlling budgets by holding unnecessary expenses and bringing in the income to adequately pay for the work that needs to be done. We must have customer service that's equal to or better than any retail facility in the country. Our facilities must be as clean and sanitary as any well-run hospital.I can go on all day, but you should be able to understand that if we just took the most successful business and modified their great work ethic to fit our organizations, we would be more successful.
When shelter staff comes across as uncaring and unmotivated
Question from a member:
We have a staff that comes across as uncaring, unmotivated, young, and uninterested in customer service (phone and in person). We have had complaints from volunteers, potential adopters, general public and media, and board members, and other staff members for the past 3-4 years.Some folks think that the reason they are uncaring and rude to volunteers is because they are underpaid. That is no excuse.
My philosophy is that they are uneducated, unmotivated, and undirected, and that the best solution would to be to hire a qualified director capable of directing, hiring new staff, motivating, and keeping the staff educated and freshly trained in all aspects of animal care and customer service.
Sure, we are on a budget. But that is no reason to treat volunteers and those who try to help as a hindrance in your kennel cleaning day. For example, we recently received a plea to help get animals placed in foster homes or adoptive homes immediately by the end of the week or they would be euthanized for space.
I immediately called 7 volunteers that I knew would be able to help for a while, and all of them called me with complaints of customer service issues at various levels. It's frustrating to be busting your butt making connections in the community w/caring people and getting them to help at the shelter, only to be met with uncaring faces and attitudes.
What are your thoughts? And how do we do it?
Mike Arm's response:
I can't help but constantly stress the fact that we must run our facilities as businesses in order to be successful. Customer service can make or break any business. It is one thing for a retailer to have poor customer service practices, lose sales, and eventually go out of business. It is far worse for an animal welfare facility to have poor customer service practices, lose adoptions, and eventually lose lives.You are right in your assumption that it starts from the top. If the leader is not self-motivated and demanding the best, then the staff will follow the leader's example. If they feel the leader doesn't care, why should they? In most cases I hold the Board responsible. If they have knowledge that this is what is going on in their facility and take no definitive action to rectify the situation, shame on them. There are plenty of organizations such as ours that are willing to help train Boards and directors to be better at what they should be doing.
Being honest with the public
Question from a member:
I know honesty is usually the best policy, but how honest do you think shelters should be with the public in regards to euthanasia policies or cruelty cases? If someone calls about the status of an animal they surrendered, and it was euthanized, should we tell them? Or what if they surrender an animal they want euthanized but we decide that it can be placed and we re-home it? What about if a friend of a person charged with animal cruelty calls to see what happened to the animals? We want to be honest and upfront but we don't want to upset the public if they don't understand our policies.Response from Mike:
I have been involved in both animal control and limited-access facilities for many years. I demand from my staff and I do set the example to be honest at all times, regardless of what the public outcry may be. The worst thing for any company, be it an animal welfare organization or a private entity, is to lie to the general public and be forced to come up with more lies to cover itself.You were right in your first phrase that you know honesty is usually the best policy, but I would change that and say that honesty should be your only policy. I know it's hard and I know the kinds of repercussions it may cause, but it is the right thing to do.
Resisting the pressure to do it all
Question from Linda:
Some groups are working hard today to be more responsive to their local communities and animals, including getting a lot better at being client (customer) oriented. But what I see is that there are still so few such groups that like Rodney Dangerfield, they "don't get no respect." There is strong pressure from individuals, from other animal groups, and from the business community to "do it all," and to respond to crises, rather than to work a program. How can good, customer-oriented groups resist these pressures? I am thinking particularly of the tendency to look for quick-fix services when all of our data and experience argues that this does not truly solve anything or change things?I see a lot of thinking that "customer service" has to mean we send someone out right away at the first phone call or email and we do everything FOR the caller. But when you do that for someone, what it teaches them is that they cannot do anything for themselves, and they require more and more of your organization's resources, at the expense of the organization's real programs to solve problems and make people feel more empowered. Could you comment on this aspect of customer "service" in the animal welfare world, please?
Response from Mike:
This is one of the hardest things most animal welfare groups have to face-how much can we do and how quickly can we realistically accomplish what needs to be done? I find that what needs to be done--and I keep referring to this--is that your organization needs to be run as a business.Any business will fail if they try to do too much with too little. Your organization has to have a real, defined business plan. You have to realistically say, for example, what you can do in the next year, what you can do three years from now and stick to that game plan.
I know everyone wants to work with their heart rather than their mind, but I find that by doing that you eventually lose both. We in the animal welfare field did not create this environment. We are working very hard to fix what our ancestors have created. So though our hearts must be in the right place, we must work as efficiently and effectively as the best growing business and do only what we realistically can do.
Training for Board members
Question from Judy:
In an earlier post, you said: "There are plenty of organizations such as ours that are willing to help train Boards and directors to be better at what they should be doing." Our shelter has a very detached, remote Board whose members make it a point not to visit the shelter so they don't get "caught up in all the chaos." As a result, we are understaffed and poorly staffed, and have a very poor relationship with our volunteers and the public. Our Board really needs to see the reality of what is happening, rather than their ideal of what should be. They desperately need training! It would be very helpful if you could list which organizations do this. I looked at the Helen Woodward Animal Center website and could not find information on training boards/directors to run better facilities. Please help suggest organizations that can help them, and also how best to present it to the board.Response from Mike:
Most national conferences offer workshops tailored to Board members. For more personalized training, Helen Woodward Animal Center offers free shelter workshops presented by our department managers. I've attached the outline for our August workshop so you can get an idea of the scope of these seminars. Board members from such organizations as MEOW in Washington State and Woodford Humane Society in Kentucky have benefited from attending these workshops.Because attendees have encouraged us to place greater emphasis on Board development, our August workshop will include a session led by a wonderful member of the Center's Board who also sits on several other prestigious Boards of Directors. Among the topics she'll discuss with workshop participants are the role of a Board, what kinds of things Board members should be involved with, and what matters they should not be involved with.
If you tell your Board that a training program is available that costs nothing beyond their transportation and lodging expense, I would hope they care enough about your organization to consider attending.
Setting a plan and showing it to the community
Question from Kelli:
Our rescue was started in February of this year, in an area where the only shelters are animal control and the humane society, both of whom utilize small concrete cages. Our facility is completely outdoors. We have 5 acres of fenced corral areas. We keep 5 to 6 dogs together. The areas are grass and mulch. There are shade screens, doghouses, trees, and wading pools for all of the dogs. We have the correct zoning (agricultural), proper permits, and are complying with all county requirements.My problem is that a significant portion of the community seems to have no comprehension of what we are trying to do. I'm getting constant complaints from people saying that it is cruel to house dogs outdoors, the dogs shouldn't be kept together, there is too much barking, etc. Animal Control in our county is very hostile towards us, although we work closely with Animal Control in neighboring counties. How would you go about overcoming these obstacles and gaining community support?
Response from Mike:
This is a tough one because although I understand what you are trying to do, there are facts left out of your question, such as:How hot does it get this time of year and for the next couple of months?
How cold does it get in the winter?
What laws are in place about the conditions animals are to be housed in?
What laws are in place about multiple housing?
What about spay/neuter?
What about dog fights?
What about sanitation and disease control?
Are the dogs attended to at night?
I realize that you are trying to help enhance the quality of life for orphaned animals, but what is the plan? A community will be more likely to embrace something that has a plan. If you tell the community that this is just a temporary situation for X period of time and that you are working on a plan to have a capital campaign to build a real facility, this could be more acceptable.
Because I am not able to see the situation, I'm unable to say whether what you have is right or wrong, and I'm unable at this time to make further recommendations. Should you desire, you can mail me your game plan with photos of this temporary facility and we can discuss it in further detail.
