As a staffing agency, your number-one goal is to keep your clients happy. After all, a happy customer is a repeat customer – and one who is likely to give you referrals. It’s critical to the health of your firm that you retain your existing clients along with new ones. But what are you to do with a client who just never seems to be satisfied with your services?
Ask For Specifics
When it seems impossible to meet expectations, maybe the problem is you are not clarifying those expectations well enough up front. While it’s not always possible when dealing with human beings, try to get qualifications from your clients that are as quantifiable as possible. How many years of experience do they want? What sort of industry should that experience come from? Are there specific certifications or degrees required?
Listen to Them Vent
Sometimes people just want to be heard. If your client has a complaint, listen with an open mind. Compare what he has to say with what you may have heard from other customers. Are there patterns? Perhaps the problem isn’t an impossible client, but service gaps you have not yet identified. Ask for clarification so you can completely understand the problem before you attempt to fix it.
Offer Options
What would make the client happy? Determine their current pain points, and which options will set things right. Would he work better with a different account manager? Is he unhappy with the quality of your service? Does he want you to be more responsive? Produce results faster? How can you remedy that? Is there a premium service you can offer? Let the client decide what resolution will satisfy them; don’t just jump to offer a “square peg in a round hole” solution.
Should You Part Ways?
Parting ways with any client sounds scary, but sometimes it can be the only solution. If you can’t make them happy after repeated attempts and they are damaging the morale of your staff or any contractors you send to them, it may be time to admit that you will never see eye-to-eye. This is a resolution of last resort, but it could free you to increase revenues from clients who may be a better match for your business philosophy.
About Avionté:
Looking for staffing software solutions that will give you more time to spend taking care of your customers? Avionte can help. At Avionté, we provide solutions for staffing firms that help you to operate more effectively and keep your operational costs down. Our comprehensive staffing software delivers integrated software systems that make it easier to drive growth, maximize profitability and streamline your administrative tasks, so that you can focus on your serving your customers. To learn more about the many benefits of Avionté staffing software, contact us today.