Customer Service

Yesterdays playout was a little Eye opener for me where it concerns customer service.

As a programmer and being involved with many projects.. I have learned that if you want your project to be finished in time and on budget avoid offering things to your customers... Unless it is an Item that is necessary or you believe they will need eventually.. never offer them or suggest the possibilities of the program... If you offer it they will want it and you will then suffer from what project managers call "Scope creep", which is the bane of all IT projects.

No I have been applying this basic principle to how I do playouts.. but yesterday I realized (thanks to mummy Mel) that a playout is not a IT project. We are service providers that interact directly and constantly with our customers... It is our jobs to provide a service/product that will satisfy our clients. As a result, to do so, one must be prepared to go the extra mile for them... especially if you wish to leave a good impression with them.... This is much easier said than done. The people you work with are volunteers and as such have no incentive other than their own personal motivation to go that extra mile. One must cognizant of the needs of 20 or so hungry & tired ppl who have been working there ass off for over and hour. You are not paying them and when it comes to it they are free to leave at any given time.

Now the trick is finding this balance. To what extent to you go the extra mile.. for whom do you go the distance .. when do you decide to stop... At what point is going the extra mile being taken advantage of? To what extent do you listen to the players and to what extent do you tell them what needs to be done...
These are just some of the questions I am still learning to answer... all in all I enjoy this post of PRO.. this more than any other position has taught me a great deal and I am still learning....maybe some day I'll even have all the answers...