Why Your Customers Should Be Training Your New Employees

Hiring expenses are on the rise, with even small businesses often shelling out five figures for each new hire. Contributing factors include persistently low unemployment rates, an aging workforce, and a growing preference for freelance work. So when you finally find the right person for the role, it’s essential to onboard them quickly but effectively to make good on your substantial investment.

A recent Harvard Business Review article suggests that the best way to do this is to connect the new recruit with your existing employees — a good idea, if not an obvious one. But the article focuses on training the new hire internally. There is no mention of engaging them with the customer — arguably the highest value point for the organization they’re now a part of.

It’s true that new employees are likely in the honeymoon phase with your company. After all, they just landed a new job. They don’t know much, which is something you need to deal with. But their lack of knowledge is also a certain kind of advantage. They have a fresh, unbiased perspective on your business. When a new employee attends their first staff meeting, ask their perspective on the meeting. Their relatively objective perspective is invaluable, and so is letting them know that they have a voice. Be sure to thank them for their input and, if possible, act on it. But this is still an internal process.

Externally, you have a powerful opportunity. Get your new employee on the phone with your customers. You’ll start by drafting a list of people who have bought from you in the past or who are currently doing business with you. Then you’ll provide a script — something like the one below — to your new employees.

CUSTOMER: _______    DATE: _______

CONTACT: ________    PHONE #: _______

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH YOU. WE’RE CONTINUALLY LOOKING TO IMPROVE OUR BUSINESS. TO THAT END, WE WOULD LIKE TO GET YOUR INPUT AND ADVICE ON A FEW QUICK QUESTIONS:

1. GIVEN THE WORK WE HAVE DONE FOR YOU IN THE PAST, WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO ENTHUSIASTICALLY REFER US TO A FRIEND OR COLLEAGUE?
2. WHY? (PROBE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE OPERATIONAL SPECIFICS, SO YOU HAVE A GOOD IDEA OF WHAT THEY REALLY VALUE AND THEY RELIVE WHAT THEY LOVED ABOUT YOUR WORK.) 
3. DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO WOULD VALUE THE SAME THINGS THAT YOU VALUED IN OUR WORK?
4. ARE THERE ANY OTHER SERVICES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE US OFFER?

I APPRECIATE YOUR TIME, AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SERVING YOU IN THE FUTURE. PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US.

The second question — “Why?” — will almost certainly spark an informative conversation about what the customer liked and disliked about doing business with you. And if your employee is devoted to understanding the why, your company will have more detailed insight and your customer will feel especially valued. If this calls to mind Fred Reichheld’s Net Promoter System, that’s correct. But Reichheld developed his system for large multinational organizations. Smaller, privately-owned companies can draw on the same basic ideas with even simpler execution.

We wrote about this topic a few years ago, but this is the tangible application. It requires some amount of work to gather the customer information and prepare the new employee, but soon the practice should become second nature. Don’t forget to close the loop: Employees should report back what they learned. Then it’s your turn to resolve any service failures. Everyone on your team can brainstorm ways to deliver more of what the customer seems to value most — and less of what customers don’t like. Capture this data and use it as you develop plans.

The benefits of this exercise cannot be overstated. One is that you’re likely to get some repeat and referral business right away. Customers who liked their experience will relive it, reminding them of what you can provide them. Sometimes immediate opportunities arise, or problems that are often easily resolved, that would have otherwise gone unchecked. At a remodeling business in Los Angeles where I am part owner, 70 percent of the company’s business comes from repeat or referral clients. The marketing cost per sale is the lowest of any sales channel. The rule of thumb is that every 10 customer interviews generate one or two referrals.

The list goes on. Over time, all employees have the shared experience of speaking with customers, a common focus that creates a customer-centric culture and a powerful competitive advantage, since few companies do this. Your interview also buys you immediate market information that nobody else has, for free. The new employee gets an operational level of training, hearing about the specific value of the business directly from customers. Because they lack preconceived notions, the interviewer is more objective, garnering more candid responses. By putting new employees directly in touch with your customers, they are shown a level of trust that typically takes a while to earn, putting them on the path to be valuable partners in the business.

Much of my writing centers on this idea — employee partnership — which transforms your hired hands into trusted partners. But it can be just as helpful to think of your customers as key business partners too. If they were your partners, you would naturally ask them for their input and follow up on their insight. The most efficient path to both employee partnership and customer partnership is to pair the two — engaging your employees in serving the customer. What better way to connect your new employee to the purpose of your business than to connect them to your customer, the reason for its existence?