Serving you better

By Raymond D. Fowler, PhD
APA Chief Executive Officer

The first responsibility of APA as a professional association is to provide services to its members and to others who look to the world?s largest psychological association for information, publication and other assistance. Over the years, I have gotten many letters commending the staff for their helpfulness, but I occasionally get complaints from members who didn?t get the service they expected.

Feeling in an investigatory mood after one of those complaints, I called APA from home and posed several questions: How do I subscribe to Professional Psychology? Is APA doing anything about child abuse? Can I have my Monitor sent to another address for the summer? If I join a division in midyear, do I only pay half of the division dues and assessment? I stopped at that point because the sounds of distress from the APA operator made it clear that she was already way over her head. She valiantly gave me several extensions to try and I experienced for myself the dreaded 'APA bounce.' The people with whom I talked were cordial (none recognized my voice) but none were able to answer more than one of my questions, so I was bounced from office to office in my quest for information.

What we need, I thought to myself, is one-stop shopping. A person calling APA should be able to talk with a staff member who is broadly familiar with APA?s operations and able to answer most questions without endless referrals. Having identified the problem, I put it in the hands of capable managers and asked them to design a mechanism to provide efficient and cordial service?without bounce.

A member-services center

After reviewing APA member service delivery for over a year, the management group proposed that the membership, subscriptions, book order fulfillment and main switchboard staff members be consolidated into an 'APA Service Center.' With the creation of this center, members will be able to experience one-stop shopping for many of their membership needs, instead of being referred to several different departments.

A core group of about 40 member service representatives is available to answer phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mail. With new computing modules, they will have access to more complete records of the members? transactions regarding dues, fees, publications and address changes. Having this information will enable them to answer questions and update records more easily.

The 'acid test' I gave with my many complex questions overloaded the system, but APA members lead complicated lives, and it is important that we be able to meet their needs. It has always been our intention to provide efficient and effective record updates and product deliveries to every member. But when you consider the volume of transactions APA deals with on a regular basis, it is inevitable that sometimes mistakes will be made and some people don?t get the services they need.

To give you some idea of the size and complexity of the operation, the Service Center staff maintains records on more than 200,000 members, affiliates, libraries, booksellers and nonmember customers. They also handle tens of thousands of inquiries from members each year.

The journals program alone provides a good example of the volume staff are working with. Among the several million individual copies of our periodicals that are mailed each year, only a very small percentage are damaged or lost. However, even a small percentage can add up to several thousand claims filed each year.

Our ?customers? are our ?owners?

Relatively speaking, when considering the volume, there are very few mistakes. However, that fact doesn?t mean much when it?s your request or order that has a problem.

Challenges for the Service Center staff over the next few months and coming year will be considerable. Not only must they become familiar with other activities in APA, but the 1999 membership and subscription renewal season begins this fall. I know that you will expect and receive a high quality of service from the Service Center staff and I will welcome any feedback from experiences you may have with them.

Professional associations such as APA have long benefited from member loyalty and identification to a degree that is envied by corporate America. Unlike other businesses, our 'customers' are also our 'owners,' and they are entitled to the best service possible. I hope the new APA Service Center will do just that. Our goals are to repay this member loyalty with the best service possible, while at the same time providing a healthy and challenging work environment for our employees. I believe that the APA Service Center will enhance our ability to do a better job in both these areas.