It is highly likely that the companies subscribed to your staffing agency’s services have their own recruitment team. There are different reasons why they approached your company instead of using their own team. Their organization may be scaling for increased demand, or some business decisions may impact their approach to recruitment.
Nevertheless, the challenge of being a recruitment arm for your client is being able to succeed in giving exceptional customer experience. The goal is for them not to say: “We could have just used our in-house recruitment team.”
By itself, reaching an exceptional client experience sounds like an enormous task. But many companies can do it, so why not your staffing agency? For this post, let’s go backward. Let’s envision the different factors that assure your recruitment firm attained customer satisfaction and track the steps to accomplish each. They say that visualizing victory is an effective means to achieve success. Let’s try not only to improve your staffing services but also to leave a lasting impression on your clients.
Related reading: 3 Ways to Provide Your Partner Employers with More Value
Let’s Differentiate First: Customer Service Versus Customer Experiences
Customer service pertains to individual interactions with your client, while customer experience is the entire time you’ve spent with your client. For example, in staffing agencies, customer experience is the client’s request to fill out a workforce, while customer service is every step your agency takes to fulfill the goal of a completed workforce. Individual customer service instances include conversations with the client, processing and onboarding each candidate, and even post-service communications with the client.
Great customer service assures a great customer experience. Conversely, customer service lapses may lead to a bad customer experience. Clients may vary in how they can forgive lapses, and some may generalize the experience based on a single error on your end. Do not fret, however. The basics of exceptional customer service—transparency, expectation setting, and constant communication—are key to reaching your end goal.
How to Tell If You Have Exceptional Client Service
Feedback through consumer reviews and post-service messages speaks well of what the client thinks about your service. However, there is more tangible evidence that will ultimately tell your staffing agency that your services were unprecedented. Visualize these goals, and you’ll find yourself working towards them passionately.
Unique client concerns are met with satisfaction.
In a report by Glance, 70 percent of unhappy customers who end up with solved problems will make a repeat purchase.1 Similar to your prospective clients, they’ll return to your staffing company if they need to hire new workers.
However, this will only happen if their specific problem is addressed. Different companies have unique staffing needs, from the number of employees they need to the slate of skills and experience they require. You have to take good note of this unique profile and personalize your services to a tee.
There’s nothing wrong if a recruitment firm has a general approach to how to look for candidates. But if they refuse to make adjustments for the clients they handle, they might be saying goodbye to customer retention pretty soon. To avoid this, sit down with your client, let them express their specific staffing needs, and set expectations. Clients will appreciate your agency spending time to get to know their unique needs.
Related reading: Leveraging Expectations 101: Inspect What You Expect
Real-time client feedback is the standard.
Earlier, we discussed unhappy customers making a repeat purchase if you met their concerns with action. But when you process customer feedback at a better speed, there is a higher likelihood that the customer will get the service again. In their research, Albrecht and Zemke of Service America said that while around 50 percent of customers will buy again after a closed complaint, the number rises to 90 percent if firms address their complaints immediately.2
Another big factor in providing a great client experience is getting timely feedback on your approach. Don’t be afraid to ask them how your staffing agency is doing in every milestone of the customer journey.
Constant communication is a means to practice transparency for you and the client. Make it a point that clients feel they can communicate freely and honestly with you. If they feel you are open to feedback, they will feel encouraged to speak up if they feel there were snags in the service, and you can apply changes promptly.
Related reading: 9 Out of Every 10 People Have a Flawed Candidate Feedback Strategy. Are You One of Them?
Your relationship with the client achieves longevity.
As mentioned earlier, your client firms likely have their own recruitment team. But if you successfully create an exceptional customer experience, they won’t hesitate to return to you if they need your services again. Achieving longevity in your client relationship is the ultimate sign that you’ve succeeded. Consider how to apply these tips to achieve this longevity:
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- Focus on quality, not pricing. It’s common knowledge that Apple products are pricey but have a loyal customer base. They held 32% of global revenue in mobile products and 66% of profit in the handset industry.3 This is because Apple has proven that its services are unmatched.Can your staffing agency do this too? If your client gets the best bang for their buck, they’ll stay with you. If you decide to raise your service fees, loyal clients will be okay with it. They know what they are paying for because they had the best experience with your staffing company.
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- Check up on them once in a while. Since your recruitment company is the one who processed the application of your client’s new hires, it’s natural for you to check up on them. Send a message to your client occasionally to know how your hires are doing..You can also chat with your client about how they are doing with their new set of workers and take note of pointers in case there are incidents involving your hires. Constant communication is also helpful in letting clients know you haven’t forgotten about them.
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An exceptional client experience won’t be easy to achieve, but at the very least, you can make it a reality one step at a time. With actionable tips delivered in this post, you can ensure that your clients will feel special, and you will gain customer loyalty. As the adage goes, begin with the end in mind. Believe that your staffing agency can deliver great customer support and put enough time and effort into achieving that goal.
BE AT THE OTHER END OF EXCEPTIONAL CLIENT EXPERIENCE THROUGH ALLIED INSIGHT.
Speaking of a wonderful, personalized experience, why not prioritize the creation of your unique brand as a staffing company? We are Allied Insight, a full-stack marketing agency focused on bringing recruitment organizations like yours to a well-realized identity and branding. Our tried and tested services include online content optimization through blogging and SEO, marketing and communication planning, and constant progress monitoring.
Your brand is unique, so let’s tell everyone about it. Contact Allied Insight now.
1 Smith, Mercer. “107 Customer Service Statistics and Facts You Shouldn’t Ignore.” Help Scout. https://www.helpscout.com/75-customer-service-facts-quotes-statistics/. Published last November 29, 2022. Accessed last March 3, 2023.
2 Chambers, Sarah. “The Benefits of Real Time Customer Feedback.” Nicereply. https://www.nicereply.com/blog/real-time-customer-feedback/. Accessed last March 3, 2023.
3 CloudApp. “3 Reasons Customer Leave (And 3 Reasons They Stay).” https://www.getcloudapp.com/blog/3-reasons-customers-leave-and-3-reasons-they-stay/. Accessed last March 3, 2023.
