All of us use budgets and benchmarks, schedules and milestones as tools to track our progress as a business enterprise – but in the end, success can only be legitimately measured through the satisfaction and perception of the customer.
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Office of Real Estate Services has fully embraced this philosophy, through the development of a customer survey process making use of web-based electronic tools, and continuous improvement strategies based on direct customer feedback.
The results in customer satisfaction have been dramatic. TSA has been asked to share its methodology in several forums this year, and the customer-intensive program has helped TSA achieve a green rating in real estate on the President’s Management Agenda for the last 10 consecutive quarters. The members of the Department of Homeland Security’s Real Property Management Committee have asked TSA to lead discussion as a best-practices agency in the area of real estate customer satisfaction.
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TSA’s success in this area was brought about through a combination of close study and adjustment of business processes, a well-developed customer survey program, and an aggressive survey follow-up that ensures every single issue identified through the customer surveys is discussed, analyzed, addressed and resolved. All too often, customer survey results are simply acknowledged and then put away without action, because it is difficult to face, discuss and resolve the issues. TSA’s customer-oriented program meets the problems head-on and reports back to the customers on specific actions taken to address and resolve their issues.
In the three years since these programs have been implemented, overall real estate customer satisfaction at the TSA field offices has increased by an increment of 43 percent – from a 51 percent satisfaction rate in 2006 to 70 percent in 2007 and yet further to the 73 percent satisfaction level in the recently completed 2008 survey. Particularly rewarding to TSA real estate managers were the customers’ ratings of the performance and professionalism of the real estate staff. Initially, only 47 percent of the respondents in 2006 were satisfied with the real estate staff. Over the next two years, customer perception has improved to yield a 74 percent satisfaction rate in 2008. That represents an incremental improvement of 57 percent in staff performance in only two years.
In each instance, the results of the annual survey have been used to develop corresponding action plans to address deficiencies noted by the customers. The action plans are always shared with the customers so they can monitor progress along with the Office of Real Estate Services. In pursuit of continuous improvement, the survey cycle will repeat every year and will continue as a long-term strategic tool toward ever-improving services in the TSA Office of Real Estate Services.
Contact:
Reinaldo Junquera
Assistant Director
Office of Real Estate Services
Transportation Security Administration
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
rey.junquera@dhs.gov
