I started my career at a global luxury hotel chain working the front desk. And when I first arrived there was so much untapped potential and my operational brain got to work. My organisation & optimisation skills soon got me noticed and I made manager of the entire reception. As the reception was the hub of the business, my impact started to feed into all other areas of the business; house-keeping, concierge & even higher management. Before I knew it, I found myself being invited to dial into executive meetings to discuss how my input could benefit the business on a larger scale.
Throughout my time working and managing with this Company I learnt so much. At reception especially, we were a customers first impression upon their arrival and their last interaction before they left. We were there for them day and night; answering queries, making sure needs were met, accepting praise and compliments and even receiving the odd complaint. And through this experience, alongside building my own business. One thing that is now ingrained in me is that customer experience is EVERYTHING. And boy do I know what makes (and breaks) a great one.
What is client experience?
You’re client experience is quite literally everything. It is every interaction an individual has with you and/or your business from the moment they enquire to their off-boarding and even sometimes further. It’s not just about practicality and convenience, or “pushing them through the pipeline” as I often hear. (Although these things do help). It’s about the feelings you cultivate for them along the way.
Why is it growing increasingly important in the online space?
In this digital day and age, there’s not much that your laptop, smartphone or apps can’t do for you. Therefore never has it been more important to understand your client experience and how you can utilise tech to support you. As an operator at heart I love helping scaling CEO’s understand and implement automations and online platforms to support them in providing an excellent client experience. However, as great the capabilities of the digital world are for reducing manual labour and removing human error. As the online space continues to grow I truly believe that it is the personal touches that going to set apart a good client experience from the great one.
How do I make my client experience great?
As we’ve discussed above, it is important you understand your own customer journey and the experience you’re looking to provide. Therefore today I’m going to dive into the 5 key aspects of your client journey and the things you should consider to each to make each one great.
Enquiry
Depending on the sector of business you’re in, a clients journey often starts with an enquiry. And first impressions count.
You could argue that this is the most important step in your clients experience, as this pivotal first interaction is going to determine whether or not that clients journey will progress to a sale and/or a meaningful connection. My top advice for hitting the ground running in cultivating an excellent client experience is to start how you mean to go on. Don’t meet your potential client with a higher or lower vibration than you intend to show up to your programs/offers with.
It’s also important at this stage to make sure that the individual enquiring (if they choose to continue) is the right match. Because if they end up partaking in an offer/program that isn’t aligned with them or their needs, they won’t be able to fully immerse themselves in the experience and won’t feel the full extent of the experience you’re providing.
Onboarding
Many clients I’ve worked with have come to me spending HOURS a week onboarding new clients, because they don’t want to lose the “personal touch” doing it themselves adds. However they also come to me feeling burnt out, telling me they don’t have enough hours in the day and constantly stressing about managing all of the moving parts. Therefore I love that I’m able to come in and show them how they can implement systems and tech to automate their onboarding and give them back hours in their week, whilst still keeping that personal touch.
I personally believe that a key aspect to creating an excellent client experience is efficiency. Therefore automating your onboarding is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your clients. It allows you to preserve your own time and energy, so that you can show up to support them as the best version of yourself. And it allows them to be able to onboard themselves at whatever time wherever they are in the world, without having to rely or wait on you to send form, contracts, welcoming packages etc.
Boundaries & Communication
Your client’s experience is going to be completely dependant on how the time they spend with you matches their expectations. Therefore it’s so important that from the get go you have your boundaries in place and that these boundaries are communicated clearly throughout the clients journey. Boundaries and communication are the key to cultivating a happy, healthy and productive working environment for you and your clients.
So if you’re looking to build a great client experience get clear on your own needs. Get clear on which of your clients needs you’re looking to support with and which you are NOT. Then put boundaries in place for this and define communication channels for these boundaries to be shared in no uncertain terms from day dot.
Offer/Program
Your offers/programs are so so important. They are the thing your clients are investing their time/money/energy into, and are likely going to make up the majority of the interaction you have with them over the duration of their journey with you. There are several points you should consider when creating your offers/programs if you want your clients to have an excellent experience.
- Who is your offer/program for? – Make sure you’re super clear on who you’re trying to serve. Who is your ideal client? What stage are they at in their business? What problems are they currently facing?
- What problem are you looking to solve? – Which of your ideal clients problems are you looking to help them solve, and how?
- What capacity do you have to dedicate to it? – How much time & energy do you realistically have to dedicate to this offer/program? And does it match how much time/energy you ACTUALLY need to facilitate it?
Off-boarding & Aftercare
This is a step I often see getting overlooked. Once a clients time in the program or offer is up, busy CEO’s can often disregard that client prematurely. (Out of sight out of mind, if you know what I mean). But off-boarding and aftercare is a vital stage in your clients journey and has a large part to play in dictating your future relationship with that client. Therefore if you’re looking to build lasting connection with clients and up your re-sign rate this is something you should definitely be paying attention too.
All of the best client experiences I’ve come across have one thing in common. Their client experience is a top priority and they put just as much effort into their off-boarding as they as they do their onboarding and offers/programs. What sets them apart is they make the client feel just as seen, heard and valued upon them leaving the space as they did through the rest of their journey. If re-signs and lasting relationships is something you wish to cultivate in your business then it’s important to check in and maintain relationships with clients even after they’ve exited your immediate world.
Where can I find support with building an excellent client experience?
If after reading this you still feel overwhelmed, like you still have unanswered questions or just like you’d benefit from some ongoing advice/support then you’re not alone. You can explore further support by heading over to our website today.
