Customer Service Tips for Staffing Agencies
Touting “amazing service” as a point of differentiation?
Branding your organization as an “employer of choice”?
Hanging your hat on delivering an “exceptional customer experience”?
Then you’d better have a customer-centric company culture.
(Now THAT’s a mouthful!)
But what exactly does it mean – and how can your staffing or recruiting agency build one? At its core, a customer-centric culture is one in which everyone in the organization:
- views service experiences through customers’ eyes;
- is empowered to solve customers’ problems, meet their demands and exceed their expectations;
- provides shareworthy service to both external AND internal customers;
- puts customers at the heart of their business.
How can your staffing firm build a customer-centric culture?
These tips will help everyone in your firm align their thinking and behaviors with your mission:
1) Work from the inside out
When designing policies and processes, developing solutions and resolving issues, start with what your clients need to achieve. Not what you want to sell!
2) Lead by example
Holding a customer-service seminar and then dictating action may get your team temporarily hyped, but it won’t bring the change you want. As a leader, you must set an example by doing whatever needs to be done, first. Over time, providing shareworthy service – not just preaching about it – will create momentum for culture change.
3) Create a service mantra
You don’t need to make your team chant, but you do need to craft a single sentence (and yes – it’s harder than you think) that describes your organization’s customer service mission and goals. Remember, your employees aren’t mindreaders. Unless you spell out what your firm stands for, you can’t work together to build the right culture.
4) Empower your team
If you expect your staff to consistently provide amazing service, they must have the authority, training, and resources to satisfy customers. In this earlier post, I share a few practical tips for empowering your employees to create share-worthy experiences, every day.
5) Hire for culture fit
You advise your clients to do this – take your own great advice! When hiring, use behavioral and scenario-based interview questions to gauge candidates’ customer-service mindset and abilities.
6) Train and educate from day one
As you hire new employees, make customer-centric-service training part of your onboarding process (regardless of the position!). Over time, you will build a team that lives out the core values they’re supposed to reflect – because they’ve embraced your mission from day one.
Sound like a tall order?
It is – but it’s worth it. Shaping your culture, services, and processes around your clients makes you a partner in their success. Over time, building a customer-centric culture will strengthen your business relationships and increase the lifetime value of each staffing client.
Want more practical ideas for improving CX?
Check out my Shareworthy Service posts on our Ask Haley blog! It’s full of practical advice your staffing or recruiting firm can use to improve your CX for talent and employers.
About Victoria: Victoria Kenward is the Co-founder & COO of Haley Marketing, a BullhornMarketplace partner, and a leading provider of websites, blog writing, social media, and other marketing services to the staffing industry.
Want more insight and tips for customer service staffing agencies? Check out Toolkit: Resources to Grow Your Staffing Firm from the Ground Up for useful tools and tips you can use to better your firm.