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Good customer engagement is important for any successful business. When, as a company, you ensure optimal customer engagement, it says something about the extent to which you respond to the needs of your customers and how you maintain contact through the various channels. If you have a lot of customer contact, as for example in the role of Contracting Consultant at HeadFirst Group, then you have a decisive role in this. Therefore it is good to know what customer engagement means, how you can increase the involvement of your customers in the contact and which skills are useful in this process.

What is customer engagement and why is it important?

Customer Engagement is the degree to which customers feel engaged with your company. When customers feel valued and understood, they naturally become more engaged. This is a big advantage because it actually pays off: even a small 5% improvement in customer retention can lead to a profit increase of more than 25% (Bain & Company research). Moreover, the more often customers interact with your company, the more insight you gain into their needs and you can better respond to them. This, in turn, can result in strong and long-term customer relationships.

What are practical tips in this area?

So to build a good relationship with customers, it is important to actively engage them, get to know them better and provide them with an optimal experience. How can you ensure this optimal customer engagement? Here are the tips:

1. Provide different contact options for your customers, such as phone, email and live chat and minimize wait time.
2. Always send a receipt with reference number and contact person to let customers know that their query is being processed.
3. Customers want to be helped immediately, so have questions handled immediately by the right person to avoid wasting time.
4. Keep a record of all communications and mail a summary to keep the customer informed of actions taken so they feel valued.
5. Exceed customer expectations and regularly check their satisfaction.
6. Inspire customers and offer new ideas to strengthen their loyalty.
7. Thank customers on various occasions, such as invoices, visits, birthdays and holidays.
8. Recognize that the customer is always right and make every effort to resolve any problems.
9. Deliver what you promise and show that you are willing to go the extra mile.
10. Ask relevant questions to understand their needs and build a relationship of trust.

What are the most important skills within customer engagement?

Finally, here are some skills to consider if your role involves frequent contact with customers:

1. Technology skills: with the rise of artificial intelligence, chatbots and other technologies, it is important to be familiar with these tools.
2. Personal interaction: while automation and self-service options are important, you must be able to provide personal interaction when needed. Show empathy, resolve complaints and support customers in complex situations.
3. Problem solving and creativity: you must be able to come up with creative solutions and solve problems quickly and efficiently. You must be flexible and able to adapt yourself to different situations and customer requests.
4. Communication skills: you need effective communication skills, both written and oral. You must be able to communicate clearly and concisely and be able to understand and help customers regardless of the communication channel chosen.
5. Customer orientation: it goes without saying that you must have a strong customer orientation. You must understand customer needs and expectations and work proactively to provide the best possible experience.

Customer engagement is incredibly important for any business to be successful. It's all about building strong customer relationships, showing appreciation, keeping promises and sometimes even exceeding customer expectations.

Have you ever heard of the power of referral recruitment? Also known as via-via recruitment, it is an extremely effective way to attract new talent. The concept is simple but effective: colleagues are used as ambassadors of the organization and start looking for candidates. In return, they receive nice incentives, extra days off or a nice amount of money as a reward. Why is this such a popular and valuable tool also for you as a recruitment professional? And how can it help you realize your hires? In this article we explain it to you.

In the search for the best candidates, companies are increasingly relying on innovative recruitment techniques. One of the most successful methods is leveraging internal networks. Turn your colleagues or mediated candidates into true recruiters and have them scour their own networks for the perfect candidate. Rewards can be endlessly creative: from a weekend getaway or an adventurous balloon ride to a brand new iPad or tickets to an amusement park or zoo. The possibilities are endless, and it works! Why? Because their own employees are often the best judges of whether someone would be a good fit for the company. In order not to risk their reputation, employees usually proceed very carefully. Are your colleagues also real proud ambassadors of the company? Then definitely get started with referral recruitment.

Why exactly can this work for you?

First, it contributes to staff retention. When colleagues recommend candidates from their own network, they often already have a good understanding of the company culture and values. This increases the likelihood that the recommended candidates will be a better fit for the organization. A good cultural fit reduces the chance of early departure because new employees quickly feel at home and thrive better in the work environment. So a huge boost for your employer brand. Moreover, your own employees have an enormous reach through their social media channels. So as an employer, you can achieve a lot and achieve a high conversion rate by turning your own employees into ambassadors.

What does it provide?

More importantly, how do you convince management to embrace it? Let's start with cost savings. Traditional recruitment processes are expensive and time-consuming. With referral recruitment, the cost per hire is significantly lower. Through the network of your colleagues or mediated candidates, you reach a relevant audience efficiently, without large investments in media campaigns or advertisements on online job boards. Although you reward colleagues with a recruitment bonus, you generally spend less than with other recruitment methods and it is a cost-effective way of attracting talent.

Traditional recruitment often requires a lot of time and resources to screen large numbers of applicants. With referral recruitment, this process can be significantly shortened. Vacancies can be filled more quickly, which in turn also brings cost savings, as the time a position remains unfilled is reduced.

In addition, referral recruitment increases the engagement and ownership of your employees. By actively involving them in recruiting new colleagues, they feel more connected to the organization. They experience a sense of pride and responsibility for the company's success. This strengthens the team spirit and positive work environment.

How do you apply this practically?

It all starts with enticing your colleagues with attractive rewards. Without a substantial reward, a referral program will not be successful. How high or attractive you make the reward is up to you, but make sure employees get excited about it and that it is still a lot cheaper than posting expensive ads on job boards. Tip: Talk to them and ask how they want to be rewarded. In some organizations, a team reward works better than an individual bonus.

Also, make sure the job posting is visible internally. Getting noticed is crucial if you want to reach new employees through referral recruitment. For example, you can add an element of competition by opting for a team bonus. Organize a fun competition among staff, which is guaranteed to create atmosphere and enthusiasm. This encourages engagement and makes the recruitment process even more fun.

Referral recruitment: a valuable tool

In short, referral recruitment is a valuable tool in a labor market where candidates are in control. It enables companies to attract qualified candidates, increase the confidence of potential candidates, improve the candidate experience, speed up the hiring process and save costs. By implementing a solid referral recruitment program and ensuring that all candidates are given fair opportunities, you can take advantage of its benefits in attracting top talent.

Every year, our content partner HRcommunity organizes the HRtop100 event, which this year took place on March 23. HRtop100 gives extra attention to topics that play a role in society and affect HR. Together with experts and HR leaders they discuss these topics. HRcommunity rewards leaders and organizations that lead and inspire with an award, in three categories (Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion, People Development). For this edition, we were a partner of the event, which meant that all nominees were interviewed at our headquarters. These videos were used in the battle to win the Category Awards.

Issues on topics such as D&I, people development and sustainability were also discussed with Joke de Graaf, Head of HR & Organization of our organization. Curious about her vision? Then watch the video >> https://youtu.be/6UeSNPdH60o

Source: HRCommunity