Vitamin T, the talent agency for digital creatives, has been working with ClearlyRated since 2011 to measure the experience of their clients and placed talent. Utilizing the Net Promoter® Score to monitor and improve client service, the Vitamin T team has generated increasing levels of customer value and service quality year-over-year since the brand’s inception. In this blog post, Susie Hall, President of Customer & Community Engagement at Aquent, and Simon Lusty, President of Vitamin T share the team’s NPS story – from brand inception to world class service. The Beginning: The role of NPS in Vitamin T’s inception “NPS was a core component of the brand launch strategy for Vitamin T. It was critical for us to have a way to measure how well we were delivering customer value.” – Susie Hall When the team at Aquent began to plan for a new division and brand in 2011, they knew that it was critical to deliver the same levels of service their customers had come to expect. Additionally, they were looking for reassurance that the Vitamin T offering would resonate with their target clientele, and that they could reasonably expect to retain customers even as they transitioned to Vitamin T delivery model. Optimizing the feedback loop for a new clientele “Vitamin T serves a very specific type of customer. These businesses have more cyclical talent needs, so asking for feedback regularly is our best opportunity to create value.” – Simon Lusty When Vitamin T launched as its own brand, they conducted an annual NPS survey to measure and improve the quality of service they provide to clients and placed talent. But as the new business model took off, it became clear that surveying just one time per year wasn’t the perfect fit, as there was often a meaningful lag between the time a placement was made and when a client would be invited to provide feedback. “We realized that a more strategic approach would be to survey this specific audience more frequently, closing the gap between the time the match is made and when we receive feedback.” – Susie Hall Vitamin T’s world class service score is born of a culture of continuous improvement In 2016, Vitamin T began to survey their clients on a quarterly basis, asking for feedback from anyone who had been serviced in the past 3 months. A more regular survey cadence improved their overall NPS scores, and helped to create more regular opportunities for the Vitamin T team to follow up with clients on recent placements. Speaking with Susie and Simon makes it incredibly clear how much the Aquent culture informs Vitamin T’s priorities around client service and NPS. “Across the Aquent organization, our goal is not to be good but to be better. We have a stated commitment to relentlessly pursue consumer value. How could we possibly know that we’re making improvements with our clients if we’re not measuring their experience in a systematic, actionable way?” -Simon Lusty That culture of continuous improvement, fueled by client feedback, has driven process and product improvements geared towards creating a remarkable client experience. “We are always looking to improve. By connecting regularly with customers to understand our value, we’ve been able to offer brand new services that enable customers to make better hiring decisions faster.” – Susie Hall Here are a few ways that client feedback has fueled the flywheel of continuous improvement at Vitamin T: Improving client-facing technology. Vitamin T and Aquent created a customized online tool so that clients have access to back-office tasks (like approving time cards and invoicing) in the same portal where they review candidate profiles and oversee the hiring process. Systematizing the client intake process. The Vitamin T team implemented an intake process that ensures they capture consistent information from every client about the skills and experience needed, as well as the business goals related to the hire. This information helps the client and the AM clarify expectations and define success, serving as a common touchstone as they move through the hiring process. Making hiring manager feedback visible in candidate profiles. Vitamin T has built a feedback loop that empowers their customers to view information about candidates from other hiring managers who have worked with them. Clients can view both a star rating for a given candidate as well as written feedback from hiring managers who have worked with the candidate on past assignments to help assess their potential fit with the open position. Investing in free online trainings to help talent build new skills. Creating value for clients has a lot to do with the caliber of talent that Vitamin T has in their pipeline. Similarly, creating value for candidates means helping them grow in their careers. By making free online trainings available to candidates, Vitamin T helps talent build new skills and have more success with their placements. We think Vitamin T is amazing; but you don’t have to take our word for it One of the many benefits of Vitamin T’s NPS program is their ability to share validated client feedback with prospective buyers and job seekers. Not only have they earned the Best of Staffing award for client satisfaction for the last 6 years in a row, they also have star ratings and testimonials available on their ClearlyRated profile. Interested in implementing a Net Promoter Score program at your firm? ClearlyRated would love to help! Learn about the ClearlyRated NPS program. Browse our helpful NPS blog posts. Contact us to speak with one of our NPS consultants.
