Interacting with customers in a friendly, helpful, communicative and collaborative manner

Embracing our roles as facilitators and proactively helping customers navigate the process and meet applicable requirements

Coming to meetings prepared to share detailed and useful info, responsive feedback, and clear guidance about our process and requirements

Offering options to achieve the customer’s goals if their initial proposal is not viable

Being creative, solution oriented, and having a problem-solving mindset

Being viewed by customers as a trusted partner who understands and cares about their goals, point of view, and success

Being accountable to our customers and having a sense of ownership over the work done on their behalf

Responding to all phone calls and emails within one business day

Excellent customer service is at the heart of community transformation. We aren't just processing permits or reviewing applications for the sake of process; we are the gatekeepers to a more affordable, equitable, and vibrant future for Sacramento County.

Defining this customer service culture is vital for several reasons. For our customers, it ensures a consistent and high-quality experience in every interaction. It sets clear expectations and builds trust by demonstrating that we are dedicated to understanding their needs, communicating timely and effectively, and helping them achieve their goals.

For us, clear customer service priorities provide a roadmap for success by creating a shared understanding of what is expected. They empower each team member to take initiative, continuously learn, and support colleagues, ultimately leading to more confident and effective customer service. This customer service guide not only helps us serve our customers better but also fosters a supportive and collaborative work environment for all of us.

OUR BOARD’S DEFINITION OF GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

DEVELOPING

EXCELLENCE

WHY EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE MATTERS

HOW THE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW TEAM

DEFINES EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

As directed by the Board of Supervisors to the Development Review Team in Resolution No. 2023-0104

DEFINING OUR PILLARS

STEP ONE:

Empathy and Understanding Collaboration and AvailabilityCommunication

Consistency

Responsiveness

Clear Communications Problem Solving and Reliability Professionalism and IntegrityHelpfulness and Consistency

Predictability and Efficiency

Metrics and Feedback Clear Expectations and Rewards Collaboration and CoordinationTraining and Meetings

Training and Mentorship Collaboration and Communication Outdated Policies and ProcessesLeadership and Direction

STEP ONE Q2 2025

What are the top things that define excellent customer service?

What do we want the Development Review Team to be known for?

How do we hold each other accountable to great customer service?

What internal factors might be contributing to these barriers?

What are three barriers to providing good customer service?

Mindset and Communication Resources and Policies Staffing and Empowerment Knowledge and Training

Following the customer service vision established by our Board of Supervisors, the Development Review Team set out to turn those goals into reality. We began with a deep dive into our shared values: What do we want to be known for as the Sacramento County Development Review Team, and what kind of impression do we want to leave on our customers? A strong culture of service is built on these shared values, acting as a compass for every customer interaction.

To identify and define our values, we utilized our Q2 2025 Quarterly Meeting to engage in cross-departmental discussions centered on the following prompts:

EMPATHY

EMPOWERMENT

RESPONSIVE ANDTIMELY SERVICE

CLEAR AND

CONSISTENTCOMMUNICATION

CUSTOMER

SERVICE

PILLARS

O U R

All of the Development Review Team’s responses to these questions were collected, compiled, and analyzed to identify our shared values and priorities. Several core themes emerged from the data, forming the foundation of the service-oriented culture we are building together.

The core themes identified were:

Once distilled down to their core values, the themes identified by the Development Review Team became our

Communication Effective communication, both internally and with customers

Consistency and Predictability Consistent and predictable processes build trust and reliability

Training and Knowledge Additional training, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing to better serve customers

Collaboration and Coordination Promote collaboration and coordination between teams; better understand others’ roles

Empathy and Understanding Show empathy, understand the customer’s perspective, and have a solution-oriented mindset

CUSTOMER SERVICE

PILLARS

DEFINING OUR CULTURE

STEP TWO:

The next step built upon our foundational work defining our customer service pillars by shifting our focus to the specific actions and behaviors corresponding to each pillar. By detailing these specific actions, we help bridge the gap between high-level core values and tangible expectations.

Identifying the specific actions and behaviors for each customer service pillar is essential because it:

Ensures Consistency It creates a unified playbook, ensuring our customers experience the same high standard of service during every interaction.

Aligns our Team’s Identity It establishes a shared language around expectations.

Promotes Accountability Clear behavior statements provide a transparent benchmark for success, helping us understand exactly what "exceptional service" looks like in practice.

Builds Trust When our actions are predictable and professional, we strengthen the trust and loyalty of the community we serve.

The actions and behaviors identified for each customer service pillar were synthesized to create our

BEHAVIOR STATEMENTS

During our Q3 2025 Quarterly Meeting, the Development Review Team formed breakout groups to brainstorm lists of specific actions associated with each of our four pillars. We then distilled these ideas into clear, concise behavior statements.

These behavior statements serve as our definitive guide for how we conduct ourselves in our day-to-day roles, ensuring that our customer service aspirations are translated into a consistent, lived reality.

EMPATHY

BEHAVIOR STATEMENT:

We demonstrate empathy by actively listening to understand our customers' concerns, acknowledging their feelings with patience and compassion, visualizing ourselves in their position, and following up to build trust.

RESPONSIVE AND TIMELY SERVICE

BEHAVIOR STATEMENT:

We provide responsive and timely service by promptly communicating updates and timelines, meeting our deadlines, proactively managing scheduling expectations, and providing comprehensive responses.

CLEAR AND CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION

BEHAVIOR STATEMENT:

We demonstrate clear and consistent communication by following standard procedures and setting clear expectations, while being concise, keeping materials current, and asking questions to ensure understanding.

EMPOWERMENT

BEHAVIOR STATEMENT:

We demonstrate empowerment by taking initiative and ownership, using critical thinking to make informed decisions, continuously learning, supporting our colleagues, and providing customers with the tools they need to succeed.

BEHAVIOR STATEMENTS

STEP TWO Q3 2025

IMPLEMENTING OUR CULTURE

STEP THREE:

How do we embed the pillars into our culture so that they become part of our everyday actions?

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Lead By Example

Trainings

Communication and Meetings

Accountability

Recognition and Incentives

Visibility

24%

20%

19%

18%

12%

7%

STEP THREE Q4 2025

How can we accomplish embedding these pillars at an individual level?

And collectively?

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Accountability

Communication and Meetings

Recognition

Trainings

Goal-Setting and Evaluations

Standards, Policies, Procedures

24%

23%

22%

19%

6%

6%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Culture

Project Data

Customer Feedback / Surveys

More Kudos / Fewer Complaints

External Audit

31%

26%

23%

19%

In a year from now, how will we know if we’ve moved toward success?

How can we effectively measure our success?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Recognition and Incentives

Goal-Setting and Evaluations

Communication

Standards, Policies, Procedures

Culture and Training

61%

14%

13%

7%

5%

How should we hold ourselves accountable to a consistent standard?

Building upon our previous steps where we defined what we want to be known for and what that looks like, the final step in defining our customer service culture explored how we plan to ensure it is implemented into our everyday actions. Our goal is to integrate these pillars and behaviors effortlessly into every interaction— both with our customers and each other. We’ll know that we’ve successfully woven our customer service goals into our culture when they move beyond conscious effort and simply become who we are as the Development Review Team.

At our Q4 2025 Quarterly Meeting, groups collaborated to answer the following questions, which have been organized into themes to guide our implementation strategy:

The Department Heads and CEO team are committed to championing our customer service culture through high-level implementation efforts in alignment with the team’s priorities above. We intend to ‘walk the walk’— and we ask you to hold us accountable to that! We also ask you to contemplate how our customer service culture might show up in your own daily interactions—because the heart of our Development Review Team culture is ultimately defined by the collective actions of each of us.

WHAT’S NEXT?

LOOKS LIKE...

GREAT

CUSTOMER

SERVICE

Actively listening to understand our customers’ concerns

Acknowledging others’ feelings with patience and compassion

Visualizing ourselves in the position of our customers

Following up to build a foundation of trust

Promptly communicating updates and timelines to our customers

Meeting deadlines to the extent possible

Proactively managing scheduling expectations

Providing comprehensive responses

Taking initiative and ownership to solve and address challenges

Using critical thinking to make informed decisions

Continuously learning

Supporting colleagues

Providing customers with the tools they need to succeed

EMPATHY RESPONSIVE AND

TIMELY SERVICE

CLEAR AND

CONSISTENT

COMMUNICATION

EMPOWERMENT

FOR US,

Following standard procedures

Setting clear goals and expectations

Being concise and avoiding jargon

Keeping all materials and forms current

Asking questions to ensure understanding