Sometimes it can seem like staffing has its own language. If you and your partners know the language, it’s easier to communicate. If one party doesn’t know it, solving problems can be an exercise in frustration. Doubletree Personnel discovered the difference a partner who knows staffing can make.
Doubletree Personnel, Inc. started providing clerical and industrial employees to businesses in Goldsboro, NC, in 1999. Judy Payne and Sabrina Paphitis grew the business at a steady pace, “and then got this great idea that two offices would be better than one,” Sabrina says. The two opened their second office in 2003 in Selma, North Carolina. “In our planning process we realized that our current software was not going to grow with us,” Sabrina says, “so we starting researching and along came COATS Staffing Software.”
As her business grew, co-founder Sabrina Paphitis discovered that her staffing software didn’t always make things easier. “The company we used before was very technical,” Sabrina says, and the jargon the company’s representatives used would make solving problems confusing and frustrating. “We needed someone who could speak the same language we do,” she says.
Sabrina also needed software that could grow with her company. “At the time we had just one office, but we were thinking about adding another,” she says, “so we wanted a company that could grow with us.”
Doubletree needed staffing software that was easy to use, that could handle multiple offices and that was backed by a company that knew staffing. The logical choice was COATS Staffing Software. “When we found that COATS also owns a staffing service, we got that sense of common goals,” Sabrina says. “They came from the same place we came from, they were looking for the same things we were looking for. That was a very big attraction for us, that they had been where we were.”
“COATS helps us solve our problems because they’re in our industry and can relate to our concerns,” Sabrina says, “while someone who’s not in our industry might say ‘What do you need that for?’ It’s much easier to explain the problems that we’re having and the things we’re looking for.”
Doubletree began using COATS Standard in March 2003 and shifted to COATSsql in June 2005. Making that change gave Sabrina some insight into COATS’s customer service when Doubletree experienced a nightmare for a time-sensitive industry: their hardware provider sent the wrong server.
Sabrina spoke to Tom Sarach, the founder of COATS Staffing Software. “I was literally on the verge of tears, saying, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to do our payroll.’ And I remember him saying, ‘If we can’t get this fixed, we’ll do your payroll for you. Whatever we need to do to make this right, we’ll do.’ And it wasn’t even COATS’s fault, it was the fault of the company we ordered the server from. But he had that stance of ‘whatever we need to do to make this right, we’ll do it.’ That was such a relief.”
Sabrina’s experiences with COATS technical support on more minor issues have been helpful as well. “They’ve always been great about calling us back and not just leaving us hanging,” Sabrina says. “I don’t think I’ve ever waited more than 2 hours for somebody to call back and ask what they can do to help. And a lot of times, someone will be available to talk to us right then.”
“There are certainly times of the year when it’s busier, like the end of the year,” she continues, “but we’ve always felt like we got our questions answered.” When tech support representatives don’t immediately know how to fix a problem, Sabrina says, they tell her they don’t know and consult with their fellow techs to find a solution. “They’ve worked together as a good team to resolve any issues that we’ve had,” she says.
This exchange of issues, concerns and ideas has also resulted in regular software updates, an unexpected benefit for Sabrina. “We didn’t realize that was going to happen, that it would constantly be getting better and better, and that they would take things that we had concerns about and incorporate them,” she says.
COATS’s interaction with companies like Doubletree doesn’t stop at tech support. A monthly newsletter, a blog updated at least weekly and booth presence at many conferences all help COATS keep staffing companies informed on issues important to them. “I like getting the newsletter,” says Sabrina. “I like that they’re on top of the tax increases and changes in healthcare.” Like Doubletree Personnel, COATS is a member of TempNet, a national association of independent staffing firms, and attends their annual conference.
COATS also helps Doubletree work with clients, due to its customizable searches. “We tell clients that we can enter their specific needs into COATS and search directly for candidates who meet those needs,” Sabrina says. “We use those capabilities as a selling tool.”
Efficiency is another benefit of Doubletree’s partnership with COATS Staffing Software. Sabrina cites the search functions and online applications as ways to save time and energy. “We used to have to sit and enter in application after application,” she says. “It takes maybe 5 minutes now to finish an application, whereas before, it would take 15 to 20 minutes to put everything in. It’s a great time-saver.”
Doubletree has also gotten value through working with COATS’s integrated partners, including Advance Payroll and Global Cash Card. “We were working with Advance before COATS partnered with them,” using Advance for funding, Sabrina says. Once Advance joined the COATS integrated partners program, Doubletree found working with them even easier, because the common COATS interface made sharing and accessing information much easier.
By comparison, Doubletree is relatively new to Global Cash Card. “COATS did their homework and researched to find who would be best for them and who they could partner with best,” Sabrina says. “And I never thought we’d switch, but we did end up with Global, and it’s been great.”
For Sabrina and Doubletree, working with COATS has been like a partnership. “If I have a problem, I can call and say, ‘Hey, can you do this’ or they’ll call me and we’ll discuss things like the Global Cash Card,” she says. “It feels like we’re all working together to benefit everybody. They want us to grow and do well just as much as we do.”
Want a success story as great as Sabrina’s? Contact COATS and learn how we can help your business grow!