I know, I know. You’re thinking to yourself:
“I hate New Year’s resolutions.”
Well, generally speaking, so do I!
But when it comes to delivering outstanding customer service, I’m always looking for ways to improve things at Haley Marketing Group. And the New Year provides a unique opportunity to step back, assess what we’ve accomplished and create a fresh plan for creating even better service experiences for our staffing and recruiting clients.
So if the term “New Year’s resolutions” turns you off, think of the following list as “suggestions for improvement” or “ideas for service enhancement.” Frankly, It doesn’t matter what you call them – as long as you put a few on your company’s 2013 to-do list:
- Find out what your customers want. Develop a formal plan for soliciting client feedback. Find out what your customers want, need and expect from you – and why they choose you over your competitors. Insights like these will help you identify new opportunities, solidify relationships and resolve problems you may not have even known about.
- Make it easier for your customers to provide feedback. Even when you reach out to clients, not all of them will respond to you. They’re busy and have other important priorities. But when they do want to get in touch, make sure they have a variety of convenient ways to provide the feedback you need. One suggestion is to keep a service experience feedback form on your website, which clients can complete and submit online.
- Set service benchmarks. How will you define customer service success in 2013? Will you be happy if you reduce client turnover by 5 percent? Do you want to make Inavero’s Best of Staffing Winner’s List? Whatever you want to achieve, you’ll get there faster if you track your progress. So meet with your team to set objectives that you can measure and monitor (think S.M.A.R.T. goals). Create a road map of service benchmarks that will keep you on track throughout the year.
- Have more fun. When it comes to exceptional customer service, attitude is everything. Resolve to create a culture in which every customer – be it a client, a candidate or an internal employee – has a positive service experience, even when things go wrong. If you can find ways to inject more fun and joy into your work, you’ll bring your customers along for the ride – and keep them coming back to you.
Do you have a great customer service resolution for staffing and recruiting firms that’s not listed hear? I’d love to hear it – share your idea below. And from all of us at Haley Marketing Group, Happy New Year!