Employee Matters Client Experience – Part 2

This is the follow on blog on the Employee Matters Client Experience. The intention of this document is to map the client experience that we wish all of our clients to experience during all of their interactions with us. In every phone call, message, face to face meeting, tweet, LinkedIn & Facebook interaction, we need to consider the following:

Be prepared for anything – everyone in business knows that things will go wrong at times. Clients need to be kept in the loop and advised of progress, good or otherwise, especially if there is a likely delay or problem. We own our client’s problem even if it is not our role or fault. We each aim to be their person that gets things sorted. If we can’t, we find someone who can

It’s all about the long term relationship – we are determined to build long term relationships with our clients. For Employee Matters ‘long term’ means ten to twenty years and beyond. We want our clients to recommend us without having to ask, however we will ask for referrals too! We would like our clients to be happy to write testimonials for us

Share our stories – everyone loves a story much more that listening to statistics or benefits; we share our experience with our client through real-life examples. We obviously do not mention names, as this information is confidential and our client must feel confident that our integrity is without question. Shared stories create shared meaning; it also helps the client to understand that it is not just them experiencing this issue; others have and we helped them!

A simple thank you – this is basic good manners but paramount to the way we act and do business. Manners go an exceptionally long way and will be remembered by clients for a long time. A simple thank you, either in words, a gesture, a note or a gift; it’s a great way to remind the client that they really do matter

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

Employee Matters Client Experience – Part 1

The intention of this document is to map the client experience that we wish all of our clients to experience during all of their interactions with us. In every phone call, message, face to face meeting, tweet, LinkedIn & Facebook interaction, we need to consider the following:

It’s all about the client – every interaction and all work that you do must be client-centric. We do not want to see the attitude or behaviour; ‘what’s in it for me or Employee Matters?’  All communication must be centred on the customer and we must ask ‘what’s in it for the client?’  Then we must ask ourselves ‘so what next?’ Everything is tailored to the client and their needs

Get to know our client exceptionally well - it is critical to know our clients well; we need to understand their thoughts, opinions and needs in order to best match our offering and target our level of assistance. We will ensure that we can just talk to them as opposed to selling to them. We share with them important information that perhaps they didn’t know; they will love us for that. (Having said that, building deep and successful relationships with clients takes time so we don’t rush the process!)

Listen more - talk less – when interacting with a client we should be listening 70-80% of the time and asking pertinent questions, when necessary. We practice active listening; this shows the client that we really are listening to them. This listening skill will build the relationship and give us all the information that we need to match our clients’ needs

Don’t over-promise – be realistic when stating what we can achieve for a client. If we can’t do it in the timeframe requested, we say so, and let them know the reason. We advise a more realistic or practical timeframe but ensure that we understand the drivers for the request; maybe we could get part of the project to them more quickly and then follow up afterwards. We never lie to a client.  We do what we say we are going to do; if we tell a client we will ring them tomorrow morning before 10am, we make sure we do just that. (Even if it is to tell them of a delay; bad news is better than no news)

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au