In a tough economy, a company’s customer experience is more important than ever. Your customers’ experience with your product or service is the deciding factor between returning or trying something else.
As I sit in Starbucks writing this very blog, I know why I choose to come here regularly. The customer service is unlike any other. No matter where my laptop and I travel, there is always a Starbucks waiting to welcome me. The baristas are the friendliest, the atmosphere is warm and trendy, and the company makes its mission clear, “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” 
A recent blog post says developing a customer centric culture all starts with the people you bring in the door, from a recruiting and hiring standpoint. Hiring the right people from the get-go, those who have a customer-focused attitude and passion, will be the difference in a consumer-oriented company.
Below are four ways firms use recruitment and hiring to build a customer-centric culture:
1. Begin with the materials
Amongst the expectations of your next hire should be a required commitment to customer experience. Finding a candidate well-qualified for the position is the easy part, but guaranteeing their passion to serve your customers gets a little tricky. By incorporating customer experience expectations in the job description and recruiting materials, your applicants will be pre-exposed to the company’s mission.
2. Hire people you want to be surrounded by
As a hiring manager, if you are bored during an interview, your customers are most likely going to feel the same way about the person you are interviewing. An enthusiastic and easy communicator is capable of delivering great service on the job. Pleasurable characteristic traits are very telling of how the potential new hire will fit in with your customer-focused company culture.
3. Recruit your customers
By recruiting your customers, you will know from the start their passion for the product or service. Customers as new hires are the best brand ambassadors for your company. They will have a unique understanding of the company from the very beginning and are more open to adopting the company’s mission as their own.
4. Assess motivation
It is important to be sure the job candidate is proficient at all of the necessary skills for completing the job responsibilities. Once all of the crucial skills are checked from the list, seeking those with a “passion to serve” is a way to analyze their potential to properly serve customers. Skills such as active listening, responding with empathy, and authenticity can further differentiate your job applicants.
A well thought out hiring strategy is multi-faceted, as you know. But, by evaluating the potential for passionately serving customers with precursors during the recruitment process, you will be on your way to developing a customer-focused company culture.
For hiring managers, how can you better develop a customer-oriented company culture? For employees, is the importance of customer service enforced at your workplace? Share your comments below!
