The Human Element

The Difference Maker at Strongsuit

Many who know us at Strongsuit understand what we are about, how we pride ourselves on putting our members first, relieving the mental load, and hearing how our members have been given back the gift of time from our help. But what makes us so special? There are plenty of other ways out there to get assistance with household tasks, so why Strongsuit?

I recently had the pleasure of working with a couple with many (very valid) questions about security and their personal information. It was something that in my own life I take seriously. Throughout having detailed conversations with this couple I had this lightbulb moment and thought “How would they ever be able to trust me if I weren’t a genuine human being able to share my own experiences and perspectives?”

That’s when I realized that what Strongsuit has above all the rest is the human element. Yes, we are tech-enabled, sure we use AI technology to assist in some of the research and platform usage. However, I can tell you that one of my members is allergic to mushrooms so I would never recommend a mushroom-based recipe for her weekly dinner selection. Another member, whose mom is her best friend, will go the extra mile for gifts every year so I know how important that gift choice is. How about the member who specifically likes to support small businesses during the holiday season and would be appalled at a gift suggestion from Amazon or a big box store? 

Being able to put personality, tendencies, and preferences behind every one of our members is the human experience you won’t find anywhere else. It's through working with our members over a period of time that we get to know them and how they operate. Which in turn helps us find out how we can operate best for them.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Gwen about this topic. She is one of our most seasoned Member Success Specialists at Strongsuit. Gwen stands behind the power of a Zoom call. She expressed how recently she had a new member and that their first conversation was over the phone. She could hear the frustration and confusion in her member’s voice. Gwen recommended they reschedule and meet over Zoom. This allowed Gwen to step her member through our portal and get her comfortable with how to use it. Taking the time to slow down and meet the members where they are at, is crucial in developing a positive working relationship. 

Another wonderful example Gwen had, was when a member reached out for a quick huddle over Zoom. She wanted to know more about safe and age-appropriate media for her daughter to watch. Gwen was able to share anecdotes about her own life and doing the same thing for her daughter when she was younger. This immediately put the member at ease knowing that Gwen not only understood but lived it as well. When it comes to children’s safety, as a parent, you want to know that anyone in your village takes it as seriously as you do. Luckily, Strongsuit gets to be a small part of our members’ villages.

“We have that empathy for parents, we are all working parents ourselves. We all want them to be the heroes to their kids” Gwen says. Nothing has rang more true than those words and the work that we do.

I say all of this to point out how our service really is different and that we, as employees, get to put our humanity and our own experience as working parents into serving our members. That type of trust isn't built overnight but I assure you that it has come with time for our Member Success Specialists and many of our clientele. The human element is our difference maker.