Company: U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, DC
Company Description: The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a nonprofit organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through energy-saving green buildings. USGBC works toward its mission of market transformation through its third party LEED green building certification program, educational offerings, chapters, Greenbuild Conference, professional credentials, and advocacy.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Team of the Year

Nomination Title: USGBC’s LEED Support Team: Reaching Out To Help Customers Build Green

Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since January 1 2013 year (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

WHAT MAKES OUR TEAM DIFFERENT

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building certification system is a certification program for buildings, homes, and communities. Our customers are professionals in the design, construction, and real estate industries. Therefore, what makes our customer service team – LEED Support – unique is that we are a team consisting of architects, engineers, building scientists, and sustainable development experts that address our customers’ specific, technical questions. We provide our customers with:

-Technical Expertise and Experience: Our LEED Support team offers over 150 years of combined LEED project experience to help project teams navigate the technical complexities of LEED.
-Project Specific Guidance: Since most customer inquiries we receive are highly technical, and are project (building) specific, standard stock responses cannot be used. Rather, our team must research the issue, and often times consult with other staff, in order to deliver a detailed, customized response.
-Personal Connections: We provide direct access between project teams and technical staff to help resolve project related issues and facilitate conference calls. This demonstrates the complexity of the inquiries we receive, and the personal attention we provide.

WHAT MAKES US THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. 90 percent of our customers are happy.

One of our 2013 corporate strategic goals was to measure and improve customer experience. Therefore, in September 2013, our team launched a customer feedback system, which allows customers to provide immediate and simple feedback on email responses we provide with one click. After receiving a response to their inquiries, customers can immediately let us know if they are ‘Happy’, ‘Satisfied’ or ‘Unhappy’, and leave a detailed comment. This system allows us to get consistent customer feedback so that we can quickly respond to their needs. In 2013, we received ratings from nearly 900 customers from our 4,564 emails sent, which is a 19% response rate - higher than typical survey response rates. Ninety percent of customers are ‘Happy’ and 5% are ‘Satisfied’ with our services, meaning the majority of our customers have a positive experience when interacting with our staff

2. We are proactively reaching out to our customers and ‘Coaching’ them along the way.

To further achieve our strategic goal of improving customer experience, in September 2013, we launched a customer service outreach program called LEED Coach. Instead of waiting for customers to contact us with questions, we are now proactively contacting project teams to learn more about their project to help mitigate some of the common challenges that projects face when pursuing LEED. We provide them with a dedicated point of contact – a LEED Coach – to help make their LEED experience a great one. Customers can contact their coach throughout the entire LEED certification process with any questions or issues that may arise.

3. Our services are in high demand.

Our outreach efforts are working, as we have seen a 48 percent increase in the volume of inquiries we receive from customers in 2013. We are celebrating this increase in volume because it means that our customers recognize the valuable service we provide to help them successfully achieve the requirements of LEED.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

As Director of LEED Support at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Megan Ritchie Saffitz creates systems that help project teams successfully navigate the design, construction, and operation of buildings to achieve the requirements of the LEED certification program. Under Megan’s leadership, nearly 300 project teams per week receive support. Prior to joining the USGBC, Megan was a sustainable development consultant with Paladino. She has a Bachelor's in Environmental Science from Scripps College, two Masters from University of Pennsylvania (Landscape Architecture and City & Regional Planning), and an MBA from the University of Washington.

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