Every company should have a unique “voice”. Customers want brands that speak to them and align with their needs and values. How you structure your marketing messages, communicate with your customers, and engage with clients should all be carefully considered and planned.
To get those things right, you need to educate your staff on brand voice, and while this can be more challenging with on-demand workers, there are some simple solutions.
Quick Brand Introduction Methods
Put yourself in the shoes of a temporary worker.
You’re starting at a new company, getting used to how they do things, meeting with bosses and colleagues, and trying to adapt to the company culture. In the midst of this uncertainty, a manager ushers you into a meeting room, drops a 100-page company bible in your lap, and then spends two hours lecturing you on company values.
The manager might think they’re doing their job and getting all the pertinent points across, but how much of that information will actually be digested?
Probably very little.
Rather than overwhelming your new temporary staff members with endless information, get the most important points across initially and drip-feed them the rest.
Keep it simple. A hotel can tell an employee that they should be upbeat and pleasant, but they don’t need to follow this instruction with verbose prose highlighting the importance of positivity.
Condense everything down into as few words as possible, using adjectives like “supportive”, “professional”, and “helpful.”
Key Messaging for Temporary Staff
Your messaging should be relevant to each staff member. If you’re hiring cleaning staff, they don’t need to know how to greet customers at the front desk or handle telephone calls, just as your front desk team doesn’t need to be prompted on cleaning rooms.
Show them examples of your brand voicein action, including:
- Online comments and reviews that praise or criticize the staff
- Social media interactions
- Blog posts written in the brand voice
- Promotional videos that use your brand voice to communicate directly with customers
Role-Playing Exercises
A little role playing can help to drum certain tenets into your new employees. It’s more interesting and engaging than simply reading a document, and you can see how they apply your brand voice in practical situations.
Ask other staff members to act as customers and run through a few scenarios they are likely to encounter. If they’re doing something wrong, tell them, but be constructive and fair. Remember, they’re new; they’re still learning how you do things, so mistakes are forgivable.
Brand Standards Cheat Sheets
After role-playing some scenarios, create cheat sheets that your on-demand workers can reference when they get stuck and need specific advice. A hotel, for instance, may create a cheat sheet that includes:
- How to greet guests at the front desk
- How to deal with an angry guest unhappy about their experience
- How to respond to a frustrated guest on the phone
- What to say to a guest when you can’t fulfill their request
- How to act when there is a delay and a queue at the front desk
Again, you don’t need to go into specifics here. Keep it simple. Make the information readable, digestible, and memorable.
Monitoring Brand Consistency
It doesn’t matter how much time you spend creating presentations, running role-playing scenarios, and making brand voice cheat sheets—eventually, your instructions will slip. Staff members may get stuck in a rut and revert to practices and standards that don’t match your brand voice.
So, monitor their progress and make sure they are following your instructions at all times. Ask guests for their feedback, chat with your employees, and watch your temporary staff interact with customers.
Hire Experienced and Qualified On-Demand Workers
If your on-demand staff already have experience within your industry, they’ll likely adapt to your way of doing things much quicker.
At GravyWork, you can find experienced and qualified on-demand workers with various skill sets. We have thousands of professionals waiting to be hired, and they are all fully vetted and insured, so you’re always guaranteed the best employees for the job, whatever that job may be.
Get started by creating a free business account.
Feedback and Improvement Systems
Give feedback to your on-demand workers. Tell them when they’re doing a good job and push them in the right direction if they veer off course.
Identify their strengths and weaknesses, praising the former while providing guidance on the latter. There are a few things that might help them learn your brand voice and stay on the right track:
- Recognize and celebrate: Whether they’ve been with you for days, weeks, or months, you should always recognize and celebrate the achievements of your staff. If you slip, then they might follow, so don’t stop showing your appreciation.
- Ratings and reviews: Encourage guests/customers to leave reviews and discuss their experiences. They’ll tell you what you need to know about staff competency and professionalism.
- Analytics: Everything from staff response time to turnover rates can be monitored and analyzed. Use technology to your advantage and keep tabs on how they are implementing your instructions and benefiting your business.
- Communicate clearly and openly: Communication should work both ways. Be direct with your employees when they do things right or wrong, and let them know that they can express their concerns if they are unhappy with something. They shouldn’t bottle things up.
- Incentivize them: Reward your staff when they do well. A few kind words and a metaphorical pat on the back can go a long way, but some workers need real incentives, whether it’s an Employee of the Month bonus or a promise to take everyone out for a meal when they attain certain objectives.
Give them a Mentor
Finally, one of the best ways to train new on-demand workers in your brand voice is to pair them with a more experienced staff member who knows your brand voice inside and out. Choose someone who can act as a spokesperson for your brand and ask the on-demand employee to shadow them.
They’ll learn how to deal with customers and how to perform their daily duties. More importantly, their education will be practical, making it easy for them to integrate into your workforce.
