SPRINGDALE — Acquiring a business license can take five trips to four city offices.
Mayor Doug Sprouse wants to ensure residents have a good experience conducting business with the city.
AT A GLANCE
Springdale Seeking Feedback
The city will soon have response cards available in every office. Those who fill out the cards can register a complaint, a concern, a comment or a compliment about service. Residents will be asked to sign in and provide contact information. Once a month, a randomly chosen resident will be asked for feedback about his visit. A survey form will also be available at the city’s website, springdalear.gov.
Source: City Of Springdale
Ninety-nine employees will attend classes to improve customer relations. The classes, led by Bob Arthur, are in connection with NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s Business and Community Training Corporate Learning program.
“I feel like we can always use improvement in any contact made between employees and residents,” Sprouse said. “We can’t always help everyone because of the laws. We do want people to feel we did everything we could to help them with their issue.”
Arthur has been teaching classes on improving customer relations since 2007, he said.
“Most of the classes have been in the corporate world,” Arthur said, “but the same principles apply.”
Both private companies and governments want people to be as satisfied as possible after interacting with the people they serve, Arthur said.
Sometimes, during contact with a customer, a situation can arise that creates a defining moment, Arthur said. Those moments, handled right, can create loyalty to the business or city.
“There are things you can do to create those moments,” Arthur said. “Sometimes it comes in direct contact and sometimes it comes from internal customer service.”
The city can improve customer relations internally by not confusing people or sending them from office to office without making progress on their problem, said Clayton Sedberry, planning and GIS coordinator for the planning office. Sedberry attended the first class.
“We can communicate better between departments,” Sedberry said. “We need to be seamless in the information we give people.”
Maria Albarran, owner of Acambaro Restaurant in Springdale, was in the city clerk’s office Friday to pay the restaurant’s sales tax on beer.
“I’m in every month to pay the beer tax and every year to renew our permits,” Albarran said. “They have always been helpful.”
Some residents arrive angry about a citation or a notice they have received, said Marisol Alcaraz, office manager at the city buildings department. Alcaraz and her boss, Mike Chamlee, also attended the first class.
“We were told not to take it personal,” Alcaraz said. “If they come in mad, you still have to help them as much as possible.”
All building department employees will attend the class, Chamlee said.
“Everyone in this office has contact with the public every day,” Chamlee said. “I think it will be a big help to them.”
Representatives from the community college contacted the city about the classes, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration and finance.
The city will pay $2,400 per class of about 15, Morgan said, for a total of $16,800.
“Any time you pay less than $200 per person for any kind of training, it’s a good deal,” Morgan said.
Employees will attend from the mayor, city clerk and city attorney’s offices; the planning, buildings, police, fire, public works, parks and recreation departments; district court; information technology; and animal services.
All department heads, as well as the mayor, will be in the last class together, Sprouse said.
“I think it can help us,” Sprouse said. “After running a small business for 25 years, I know how important it is to keep the customer satisfied.”