Customer and Employee Onboarding in the Public Sector

Plenty has been written on the role of customer and employee onboarding in fields such as marketing and sales. The bigger the organization and the more complicated the product or service, the greater the need for a guiding tool, to enable users to adopt and then use the system properly and to their satisfaction.

However, upon consideration it may become clear that some of the biggest organizations and the most complicated systems may be found in the public sector rather than in the private market. To be sure, the majority of public sector organizations are not geared towards profit making, and yet, there is plenty to be said for the need to treat service recipients as clients, and service providers as sales-people.

ALL SERVICE IS SALES

In marketing and sales, the importance of service and its end goal are clear: better service makes for more satisfied customers. More satisfied customers generate more business and more revenues. In the public sector, however, the service users don’t pay (at least not directly), and the end goal isn’t profit. Therefore, the beneficiality of investing in the best and most updated service systems it’s a little less clear. More often than not, there is also little to no competition from other service providers.

And yet, the efficiency and user-friendliness of service in nonprofit and public organizations can also have a dramatic impact on their financial stability and security. Guides, troubleshooting databases, online and telephone based support, all improve the users’ experience, but they also facilitate efficiency which translates into saving time, money, human resources etc. And since even nonprofit organizations operate on a budget, implementing effective service practices–of the kind we expect to find in sales-oriented service–is of great importance.

LEAVE NONE BEHIND

One of the major problems nonprofit and public organizations face has to do with long-time employees, and their ability and motivation to adopt new technologies and tools, such as today’s advanced CRMs and Human Resources management systems. What makes matters more challenging is the understandable misgivings veteran employees may have, that the NEW undermines the authority and relevance of the old. Investing in employee training in general and in walkthrough guiding tools in particular serves at least two purposes:

First, it sends a message to employees that their organization still invests in them, would not do so if they were about to get laid-off. It also sends the message that professionalism is important – important enough for the organization to invest in. It means that nobody has to be left behind. True, not all employees are prone to cooperate. Then again, not not investing in the training of existing employees is no less than a statement of intent.

Second, walkthrough guides allow employees to adopt and get used to new conditions, and to do so independently, with little to no human involvement. Not only does this do away with the potential embarrassment, but it also empowers workers to advance as far as they wish, at their own pace.

Alternatively, it gives them individual access to whatever tools they need, when they need them, even after their training is done. To be sure, no amount of training will impose knowledge upon a reluctant employee, but for those who are willing, tools used for sales training may, with little adjustments be used as a bridge to allow experienced but less technologically inclined employees to maintain their ability to contribute to the organization. At the same time, organizations profit from retaining knowledge and experience, which may otherwise be lost.