EP: 93 - The Ultimate Customer Experience ...

“We see our clients as invited guests to the party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of their experience a little bit better.” 
~ Jeff Bezos

Welcome to Episode 93: The Ultimate Customer Experience ...
 
We’re baaaack …. with ONE MORE “untangling” episode for the year. And while we had much to ponder on this year in the realm of topics, we wanted to end 2022 off with something WE ALL deal with every. single. day.

Our CLIENTS!

Whether in your day job or working in your own business, have you ever run into a slump of working with the “wrong” people? 

Clients who don’t understand your personality? Value your traits or expertise? Take you for granted? Expect you to be available on all devices at every hour of the day? And just plain ‘ol drain you emotionally? 

These pain points can be a real downer. And sometimes make one wonder … why even bother? (*le sigh!) I could sit here all day and share all Virtually Untangled’s client “horror stories” with you from over the years -- and many more from my time in the land of 9-5 -- but then this would turn into an award-winning novel. (HaHa!). So instead, I am going to take the hard-earned lessons from those stories and share some details alongside a list of the greatest tips you will ever need to know in order to help you create the ultimate customer experience for your clients – which will in then turn make your life much easier too. 

Here's what we will be untangling in this episode ...

• How to treat your clients like partners
• How to empower your team to deliver ideally
• Setting clear roles and responsibilities
• Setting clear boundaries (with examples)
• Why mindset matters – to everyone
• How to exceed THEIR expectations, not your own
• Considering their complaints as gifts 

Are you ready?
Pop in your awesome earbuds and let's dive in!

Transcript

Hey there Digital Glue “Untanglers”!

We’re baaaack …. with ONE MORE “untangling” episode for the year. And while we had much to ponder on this year in the realm of topics, we wanted to end 2022 off with something WE ALL deal with every. single. day.

Our CLIENTS!

Whether in your day job or working in your own business, have you ever run into a slump of working with the “wrong” people? 

Clients who don’t understand your personality? Value your traits or expertise? Take you for granted? Expect you to be available on all devices at every hour of the day? And just plain ‘ol drain you emotionally? 

These pain points can be a real downer. And sometimes make one wonder … why even bother? (*le sigh!)

I could sit here all day and share all Virtually Untangled’s client “horror stories” with you from over the years -- and many more from my time in the land of 9-5 -- but then this would turn into an award-winning novel. (HaHa!). So instead, I am going to take you through the hard-earned lessons from those stories and share some details alongside a list of the greatest tips you will ever need to know in order to help you create the ultimate customer experience for your clients – which will then in turn make your life much easier too. Ready?

Let’s go …

TREAT YOUR CLIENTS LIKE PARTNERS.
Your clients are the lifeline of your business. They are not your enemy nor your boss. You want to treat one another as an extension of the team, not as an outsider. So, try to get not only them but their whole team involved. It will help when it comes time for project work plus, they may all have truly great creative ideas to help you land your client’s needs on time and in style!

EMPOWER YOUR TEAM TO DELIVER IDEALLY AS YOU DO.
Considering that you've done your due diligence and hired only those with a customer focused mindset like yourself, the next step is to train and empower your team to deliver that very same ideal customer experience. We live in a society where leadership still has an issue with letting team members think for themselves and make decisions. But we’re on the forefront of all this as collaboration and connection is truly what drives a good team. A #DreamTeam if you will.

So, what I’m getting at here is to ensure to train the best service experience desired. Let your team know what the service expectations are for your business as a whole and how they fit into that ideal. Once they know what the expectations are and have the knowledge on how to deliver it, then set them free to make the best decisions for your clients using their own best judgement.

This pays off in many ways. Your clients will gain immediate results in all aspects of the interaction without waiting for “management” approval. And above all, your team will feel empowered, and things will line up as they come to act in the best interest of everyone as if they owned the business themselves.
 

SET CLEAR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.
Just because your new client may have worked with an agency or freelancer before, it doesn’t mean they know how to work with YOU and YOUR business. 

You may do things differently than what they are used to -- and vice versa. So, when onboarding, explain to them how to best work with you and what they can expect from that process. And from you, personally.

Let them know who the main point of contact is, what they can expect from deliverables, what will be presented and when, what forms of contact you prefer (or allow -- *ahem!* boundaries) and the process for providing revisions – or any other items that may be relevant to your business. 

Timelines and expectations are extremely important. If you think about it … the clearer the ground rules, the smoother the process.

SET CLEAR BOUNDARIES.
While you wear many hats as an entrepreneur, setting boundaries can not only save you time but they will safeguard your personal life from sinking into everything business. Setting clear boundaries will allow you time to do the “work” you need to do and take the time you need think of how you can grow the business. 

However, setting boundaries during the initial phase of onboarding a new dream client can sometimes be challenging -- and feel kinda scary -- since your focus is building a client base and portfolio for your business. You don’t want to deter people based upon how you run things. But you also don’t want to set a precedent for people to take advantage and walk all over you.

Here’s a few clear expectations we like to set, right from the get-go …

• What we offer alongside how our pricing options work -- since we’re kind of a virtual buffet of offerings and packages to suit everyone’s needs.
  
  
• How we prefer to communicate -- we are all about a few select places to keep things organized and running smoothly. No DMing, texting or unannounced phone calls allowed. If communication gets shot in different directions things tend to get missed, lost, or possibly even forgotten. So, keep things simple.
  
  
• What our virtual office hours are -- we are not machines, and we are not our business. We need quiet time during work hours to get things done so we are unable to be glued to our inbox or Zoom rooms at all times. But we always ensure our clients know they will receive a response in 24 hours or less.
  
  We also need time to work on our business too – otherwise how can we best help the client get “untangled” if we’re all tangled? We also have “unplug” hours (which in our case is evenings and weekends) so we can focus on self-care and virtual detox in preparation for the week to come.
  
  
• What our strengths and weaknesses are – we’re not a guru at everything even though we’d love to be. We have offerings of “secret sauce” (which are things we LOVE to do and are an expert at) then we have offerings of “virtual sauce” (which are mainly VA related) then sometimes we have to say “no” as some things we don’t have full knowledge to confidently take on or things that don’t bring us joy -- and we don’t do (or make anyone else on our team) things they don’t like or want. And to some, this may seem like silly talk … But business dreams are built on passion, and if one isn’t passionate about something, there’s probably a better fit with someone who is.
  
  Don’t get me wrong, we’re always willing to learn new things and new platforms, but sometimes, the “thing” just isn’t what we do. 

MINDSET MATTERS – TO EVERYONE.
The ultimate customer experience focuses on the mindset of solving pain points (aka. your service offerings). So, as a business owner you need to be sure that everything that is said and done for your clients is done with the intent to give them extraordinary service. Most businesses today, no matter the size, simply "process" their clients through their systems. But "serving" your clients is a mindset of treating them well, making them feel special, engaging with them (personally and professionally), to do what's right, to work in the customer's best interest.

This mindset point is where most businesses fail today. Understanding this, this is why and where your business can beat your competitors and thrive. So, make sure you’re your leadership not only embraces this concept, but shares it with the rest of your team, at all levels. 

Now, why not take things one step further?

Successful leaders tend to adopt this “mindset matters” of service to not only their internal clients but their virtual audience as well. So, create a culture of mind over matter … feel it, embrace it, and deliver it.
 

EXCEED THEIR EXPECTATIONS, NOT YOUR OWN.
You already know your clients pain points, what they need or expect during every moment of contact with you. Now you can work towards investigating, analyzing, and approaching these “untangling” moments with more precision, intentionally, and care. And realize that by doing just a little bit more, making the moment just a little more special, you are already delighting your clients with a stellar positive experience. But don’t overdo it initially. Take baby steps at first. If you go all out right away, it might be difficult to outshine yourself during the next interaction. However, if you’re feeling confident, and want to achieve a huge instant advantage over your competitors, take the leap and go for it -- your customers will love you for it!

And last but certainly not least on today’s mini list … 

CONSIDER THEIR COMPLAINTS AS GIFTS.
Room for improvement if you will.

The hard reality is that not everything will go 100% the first time around. Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. And we’re all human. 

What matters to your clients is how you handle those mistakes or hiccups.

It’s all about being honest, taking their feedback or complaints seriously, communicating openly and proactively about them, then fixing them.  

Lifelong ambassadors guaranteed! And pure client zen. 

People simply tend to talk more about negative issues and how they have been resolved, rather than discussing the good service they usually receive from you. 

By the way, these mistakes can also provide valuable feedback. For example, something recently went wrong with one of my clients pre-designed websites. Things got a little bonkers and mid fix on our end; she went on a weeklong holiday and was out of reach. So, instead of the planned one week’s lapse between communications, we took things upon ourselves to keep the virtual motor running. However, we ran into tech hiccup after tech hiccup to the point where we needed something, and things came to a grinding halt. But we kept her informed and worked on “lighter” things until she was able to get back to us so we could bring things back to full speed. 

Win-win! 

To round things off today, I just wanted to share with you how much I absolutely love being an entrepreneur. I can work from anywhere and have the pleasure of making my own schedule. I am finally boss-less! But, we don’t always get to live in the “honeymoon” phase with our clients, and we may sometimes come across some levels of uncertainty (my team and I like to call them “pain points”). And even though becoming an entrepreneur has truly been the single biggest “course” I have ever taken on self-discipline, self-improvement, and self-discovery … it’s still the very best job in the world!

So, whether it’s a loyal customer who has supported your business for a long period of time or a new client who has just discovered your greatness and is already telling their friends, their family, their cat, and even their neighbour “Karen” about you -- the relationships through your customer experiences are essential to your long-term growth and success.

No matter how amazing your clients are, your relationship with them will not last if you do not continue to deliver outstanding service and results on an ongoing basis. Being consistently excellent is honestly the smartest marketing strategy of all.

No matter what you do, what you offer, where you live and work … it’s all about the hustle and the grind of pushing your business to the next level by prioritizing your clients and your relationships with them à by making them the HEART and SOUL of your business.

HAPPY end of December and soon to be new year to you all!

See you in 2023!