How Emory University Turned “No” Into a Better Kind of Customer Service

How Emory University Turned “No” Into a Better Kind of Customer Service

When Emory University’s card office found itself drowning in last-minute requests, student drop-ins, and unrealistic demands from campus partners, Director Kim Pfeiffer decided something had to change.

Her goal wasn’t to deliver less service but to deliver better service by setting realistic expectations.

“Our customers don’t get to dictate our operations,” she said. “We control how we get our business done, and in turn, what the expectations should be.” 

From Chaos to Clarity

Each summer, the EmoryCard team issues thousands of IDs across multiple programs: law, business, medical, public health, and undergrad. Every group has its own orientation schedule, deposit deadlines, and coordinators.

In the past, Pfeffer’s team spent hours answering one-off emails (“Has this student uploaded a photo yet?”) and trying to accommodate late requests. The constant interruptions created burnout and inconsistency.

“We wanted to provide exceptional service,” she said, “but we realized we were teaching people that deadlines didn’t matter.”

That realization led to a culture shift: set expectations, communicate them clearly, and hold to them. 

Here is what that looked like in practice. First, the team wrote down exactly how their service works. Not a vague memo. A real agreement. It explains lead times for new student card batches, what counts as routine, what counts as urgent, and what happens if a department needs to jump the line. If a program wants an accelerated turnaround, there is an expedited pathway with a fee. The document is shared early, reviewed together, and acknowledged in writing by the liaison. It is clear and it is consistent, which means the staff can point to it when the emails start to fly in August.

Next, they tackled the endless status questions. With help from the university’s business intelligence group, the office built a simple dashboard. Coordinators can check whether a student has uploaded a photo, see the most recent print date, and grab the proxy number that some programs need. Instead of pinging the card office for one student at a time, partners can answer their own questions in seconds. People still write now and then, but the response is easy. Here is the link. Here is the quick guide. You have everything you need.

Training also changed. This year Emory hosted one online briefing with recording and slides, then sent a follow up package that included the coordinator guide, the FAQ, the forms, and a short video that shows exactly how to upload photos. Everything lives in one place, so the card office never has to reinvent instructions.

The most important shift was cultural. Kim made staff health a visible priority. The office closes to walk-in traffic during lunch in the summer. There are planned production only days where the team can focus without a line forming at the counter. When partners push for exceptions after missing deadlines, staff know they will be backed up. They are allowed to say no because the office already promised the campus that it would say yes to the plan.

The results are noticeable even to people who have never met the team. Wait times that once stretched to an hour or two are now a fraction of that. New student distribution is calmer because housing receives cards sorted exactly the way they need them. The office’s reputation has improved from "worse than the DMV" to a model of steady service. None of this required new headcount or fancy technology. It required clarity, follow through, and leadership that treated boundaries as a service to everyone.

There are also lessons for any card program that wants to move in the same direction. Document your process in words you are willing to live by. Put status information where partners can find it without calling you. Teach once and give people the recording so you can spend your time doing the work. Protect your team’s focus and energy. When you slip and make too many exceptions, you are training the campus to ignore the plan. When you hold the line, you are teaching the campus how to work with you.

You may be wondering about the inevitable edge cases. What if a program missed the deadline and sends students to the office anyway. Emory’s answer is simple. The student is welcomed. The office checks the record. If the program has a scheduled pickup, the student is asked to wait for that distribution. If a department requests an earlier batch, the office can schedule it within the parameters and can apply the rush fee that was agreed upon. Food access creates special anxiety for students, so dining has a manual process to ensure no one goes hungry while card issues are sorted. Lockouts happen too. Residence halls are issued a small set of temporary cards that get students through the weekend, then expire so the student must come back to replace the card properly. None of these practices conflict with the new approach. They are simply the safety nets that let the plan work without panic.

The human side matters most. Kim asked her team what made them feel supported. Their answers were not complicated. Time to eat lunch. Occasional closures to catch up on production. Clear public rules that leadership actually enforces. Permission to hand a persistent caller the same fair answer a second time. With that foundation, the same people who once stayed late and skipped meals now deliver steadier service with fewer fires.

"Exceptional service does not mean saying yes to every request the instant it arrives. It means saying yes to a well designed process that treats everyone fairly. When the rules are clear and the office follows them, customers get what they need with less drama and the staff who serve them can do their best work."

Set expectations.

Communicate them clearly.

Hold to them.

That is how you turn no into a better kind of yes.

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