How one company changed the meaning of customer appreciation.
Of the questions I receive from prospects regarding our Profile Evaluation System for job matching, by far the most common is “How do I know it will work?”
Generally, it’s a difficult question to answer for someone who hasn’t experienced the value themselves. If a potential client is truly interested in the system, but has doubts about it’s effectiveness, I’ll often propose that we set up a Profile for them, in order to show them how effective profiling can really be.
If I can get them to sit down and run through our evaluation system (as a future employee would), I know they will be sold! A client of mine once called it “One of the most insightful hours in my entire career.”
In truth however, it doesn’t really matter if it appears to work… What really matters is if it ACTUALLY works.
The following is a wonderful email I received from a long time client, who until not to long ago, was skeptical about our Profile Evaluation System. They truly gave a whole new meaning to customer appreciation.
Client Experience…
“Approximately one year ago we acquired another business. The business was located hundreds of miles away and it was unlikely that any of the employees would be willing to move. For that reason, we needed to hire several individuals, train them in a new application, and have them ready to man a help desk, all within three months. Following our now ‘chiseled in granite’ policy, no offers were made until the individual had been Profiled and the Profile clearly showed the prospective employee met our standards.”
“After six months, we sent a questionnaire to all of our new customers and asked them for their appraisal of our efforts. Below are a few of the comments we received. Of the almost 100 responses we received, there was not one negative comment.”
“I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all of the help and support that has received recently from your organization…
…Additionally, Jim was able to make the batch process run as a cron job. This is something that no one at the ‘old organization’ could ever do. Believe me, this accomplishment was no small feat. Jim is to be commended!”
“I want to express my appreciation of the work that your organization is doing to fix/improve…
…I do not usually compliment vendors. Being responsible for capital investment projects, finding competent vendors is difficult. As far as your organization goes, I am impressed.”
“Much improved communication to your customers (us)”
“Identified issues with software and proactively take steps to inform customers and correct the issue(s) in a timely fashion either through patch(s) or software releases”
“A HelpDesk who actually calls you back when they say they will and not getting a busy signal or voice mail”
“…has never told us ‘I don’t know what to tell you’ which was a standard line from before was the primary support. I actually have a high degree of confidence now in support that I did not have before.”
“Don’t stop what you’re doing now . . . . Its such a good difference we don’t ever want to see anything resembling our old support. We are judging others by standards has demonstrated and continues to display. They’re a tough act to follow”
“These responses tell, far more eloquently than I could, how well our employees are doing. One of the key reasons for hiring these individuals was because of what we saw in their Profiles.”
“If you would like to verify what you have read in this document is true, please ask Rich Lewine for my name and telephone number and call me. I will be happy to talk with you further about our experiences.”
Imagine your company needs to hire a new customer service rep. They’ll need to provide information about products and services to potential customers, as well as resolve problems for existing customers.