Legislative Effectiveness Standing Committee Meeting

April 14-15, 2011

Constituent Service, Delegate Tim Hugo (Virginia)

In his presentation, Delegate Hugo mentioned:

• Constituent service is the backbone of your office. With constituents, you and your staff have to develop a sympathetic attitude and a “find the answer” mentality. Outstanding constituent service is highly connected to re-election success.

• Constituent service often involves providing help with basic government services. Your office has to develop familiarity and expertise in these recurring problem areas.

• Develop a neighborhood focus in your outreach efforts. Stress the new speed bump in one neighborhood, the power supply issue in another. The key is to target each group with the local issue that is important to them.

• Be creative. Delegate Hugo’s office created a robo-call for constituents on the eve of a major snow storm providing key contact numbers in case people encountered problems the next day. It showed that the delegate cared and had the foresight to get out key information of a practical nature. Constituents said it was the first robo-call that they were actually glad to get.

For further information about Delegate Hugo and his approach to constituent service, please visit his website.