When HR Tech Claims to be Using Customer Service and Success to Rise Above the Noise

Michael Campion, Ph.D.

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Why are Buyers So Hesitant to Purchase New HR Technology?

There are a number of reasons why buyers of HR Technology hesitate to purchase new technology — even if the technology appears to solve their problem. These reasons include: (1) lack of understanding, (2) not believing the technology will move the needle enough, (3) belief that the technology will just complicate their lives (and those of their employees’) further, etc. In many cases, these buyers are right!

In this article, I am going to talk about a very specific issue at the foundation of seller paralysis — unmet customer service and success expectations in previous deals. The root cause in this case (as it almost always is) is information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. In other words, buyers typically have very little information about a seller’s future performance when it comes to customer service and success.

The Ingredients Managers and Employees Should Be Tasting

It is the thesis of this article that information asymmetry in this case can be reduced when buyers pay attention to key “signaling behaviors” of sellers. In other words, although there are many ways to bake a cake, and while preferences for buyers do differ, there are a number of items sellers should consider when trying to make a purchase decision regarding HR Technology.

A Pledge or Promise of Some Kind.

To begin with, a seller should provide some sort of indication of their customer service and success philosophy. This should not be a simple summary statement. Rather, it should include a well-thought out list of principles by which the seller organization “lives by.” This indicates that, at the very least, some initial thought was put into how a seller intends to treat its customers.

A Cogent Timeline with Clear Deliverables.

Secondarily, a buyer should expect to never have questions about what deliverables are expected and at what time. A cogent timeline with clear deliverables for onboarding and implementation provides a good indication of what is to come moving forward with a given seller.

A Scientifically Based Readiness Survey.

Thirdly, given the complexity of products on the market nowadays onboarding and implementation can be quite a concern for many buyers. As well it should be. As such, sellers should use diagnostic tools that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this process.

A readiness survey, particularly one based on sound principles from behavioral science provides direction in a number of ways. First, it enables the seller to diagnose the overall readiness of all stakeholders (and their job characteristics) for adoption. Second, it highlights potential issues to avoid and/or focus on. Third, and most importantly when done well, it provides the foundation for training efforts.

Evidence of a Relational Approach.

Lastly, HR Technology sellers throughout the sales cycle should be behaving in a manner that strongly suggests they adopt a relational approach to working with their customers. This is in contrast to what we so often see in this current era — a transactional approach.

A relational approach can best be described as a focus on building long-term relationships. Inherent in this approach is a focus on answering customer questions as clearly as possible, remaining empathetic to customer situations, clearly attempting to understand pain points and context around them (as well as root causes), and empathy. Going above and beyond also characterizes this approach.

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