When a new client comes on board, one of the areas that we look at fairly early on in the coaching process, is what their offer is to their potential clients, and how can they best position this offer to bring in new clients to their list. 

Let's continue our conversation, feel free to jump over and leave your comments and ideas around what your offers are on our blog.

Jenny Towers from Customer Service Specialist, in her Business Building Block's presentation on "The WOW Factor", provided research results conducted by American Express about customer service.  In the results it showed that Australia had the highest number of respondents who believe companies are 'helpful, but don't do anything extra to keep their business', with 46% believing this is true.

When speaking about client satisfaction, people often remark, that really it's just customer service.  Many people don't see that there is a difference, but I believe the difference between customer service and client satisfaction is all in the terminology. I personally think it is time to move the focus from service into satisfaction.

I recently heard a great distinction between these two terms: customer service is more of a reactive attitude, whilst client satisfaction is seen as adopting a proactive attitude. Being proactive in your business and with your clients is much easier than being reactive, and as we all know, it is less expensive and less time consuming for us to keep our current clients rather than go in search of new clients all the time.

Dynamic Business Magazine published an article I wrote about Client Satisfaction, and I thought I would re-post here for you part of the article.

Five Steps to that Buried Treasure of Extraordinary Client Satisfaction, that:

Discover Treasure#1: Be really clear on who your ideal clients are.

You can never really know too much about your clients.  Understand the underlying drivers of your ideal clients.  Underlying drivers are the beliefs, feelings, and desires that drive your clients’ buying behaviour.  Once you understand this, and I mean really understand this, you will not only begin to speak the language of your ideal clients, but they will hear and understand what you can do for them.  They will know that you are the person who will help them solve their issues or challenges.  They will realise this because not only do you know these people, but you are also clear on the benefits your products or services provide.  If you have been following me for a while now, you will know that I am constantly talking about how you need to be clear on the benefits and results your products and services provide. This is not new, but what we often forget is that while clients will buy the product for the benefit, they will stay for the experience. You want to make sure the experience they have with you is worth staying for.  Think about ways in which you can continue to provide your clients with an extraordinary experience.

Discover Treasure#2:  Make sure that your clients’ expectations are always met.

What are the expectations your clients have of you or your services?  Do you really know, or do you simply presume you know?  When was the last time you asked a client what they really expected from you?  These are all great questions to consider, because when you are clear on these expectations, this is when the extraordinary client experience can really kick in.  Not only are you satisfying your clients’ initial needs, but also you have taken the time and effort to further understand them.  The experience you then provide them can be different from anything they have previously experienced. 

Discover Treasure#3: Re-affirm that the decision to buy from you was the correct decision.

A simple way to do this is by not over committing. Once a client has decided to buy your product or service, don’t forget about them.  Put in place a strong communication strategy that will support your client and the relationship you want to build.  Be responsible for the types of communication that are being sent, and be aware that it is your responsibility to ensure your clients understand your messages.   And remember, once they have made that initial purchase, don’t forget about them.  A great technique to consider is to check in with them 24 hours after the initial purchase, and answer any questions they may have about the product or service you provided. Another way is to use your client testimonials for retention, not just in the initial pre-purchasing stage.  Again, include some of your testimonials in your initial follow up emails, to remind the client that they have made the right decision in wanting to purchase from you and your business.

Discover Treasure#4: Treat each client as an individual, and take the time to find out who your best clients are.

By understanding this, you can increase the lifetime value of these clients. You spend so much time bringing these clients in, so why not do what you can to keep them? Really get to know your clients – find out about them and keep up to date with what is happening for them.  Understand what they want from you.  It might be that they don’t need to receive a discount on a current product, what they may need is a more advanced course or product to keep them moving forward.  They may need to work with you exclusively, or they may need you to refer them to some one who can better meet their needs at this point in time.  Be willing to do what you can to serve your clients at the level they deserve.

Discover Treasure #5: Deal with complaints – Immediately!
When a client contacts you to complain about a product or service, look at it as a blessing in disguise.  For every client who may complain, there are probably many who don’t, but who may spread negative comments about your business.  So in the situations where you might receive a complaint, deal with it immediately and deal with it honestly.  If you need to give a refund, exchange a product or do a repair, ensure that you do this as soon as possible. Seeking client satisfaction benefits your business in the long run.  In addition, why not offer the client a special offer or bonus on another product or service as well? Show your clients that you value their business.  And remember, once you have dealt with the complaint, take the time to rectify the problem. It is in your best interest to solve any problems as soon as you possibly can, and learn from the issues that came to light to make sure they don’t happen again.

Ten Treasure Filled Ideas For Extraordinary Client Satisfaction:

1.  Never take your clients for granted.  Be thankful for each one of them.
2.  Think outside the box, and go the extra mile for your clients.
3.  Stop and listen to what your clients are saying, and understand what they really need.  Don't presume you know what they need.
4.  Always put yourself in the same playing field: Never think you are more important than anyone else.
5.  Communicate clearly.  In fact, why not over-communicate!
6.  Ask for feedback, and be willing to accept what your clients are feeding back to you. Make the necessary changes if required.
7.  Work with clients you want to work with!
8.  Host a client appreciation event.
9.  Take the time to really know your clients.  Be able to tell a story about them.
10.  At the end of the day - have fun with your clients.  Isn't that why you are in business?

Let's continue our conversation, feel free to jump over and leave your comments and ideas around what you do to provide the WOW factor on our blog.

As part of their presentation, they’ll include all of the information that I’ve provided to them over the past eight weeks in our training webinars.  For me, this is such an important part of the learning process that is often forgotten. Asking participants to use all of this information and present it back to the group further embeds the learning process, and reinforces how you can use the information and make it relevant to you.

One of the areas that we have been looking at continually through this process is that of their ideal clients.  Understanding who your ideal clients are is something that as a business owner you don't want to take lightly  , and I thought it might be nice to do a refresher and look again at who your ideal clients are…

1.  Make a list of all of your clients and note down some things about them.  For the activity, let’s focus on the demographic profile of your ideal clients.  Start with looking at questions like: What they do, how much they spend with you, what you like about them. Are they all from a certain industry or profession?  Are you passionate about their issues or challenges?

Then look at the psychographic profile of your ideal clients.  What are their beliefs, their attitude, what do they think about, how are they feeling about their current situation.  How do they make decisions?

2.  From this list, look for what patterns are occurring and who is sitting in the top 20% - is it professional woman who run their own small businesses; male engineers; contracts with government agencies; new mums; start ups etc. 

3.  Focus your efforts on this top 20%.  Research this group and find out more about what they need, what issues they are facing, where they hang out, are they willing to spend money on services and products?

4.  Now armed with this information - ask yourself: How can you reach them?  What can you do to be more visible to this market?  Once you research your market, develop your message and be clear on what you can do to solve their challenges.  You can begin to write articles, speak at their industry conferences, and become the go-to person for these people.

Your challenge is to spend your time focusing and working with this top 20%, let go of the other 80% and watch what happens to your bottom line and to your own passion and excitement. You will find that your message becomes more clear, and your clients will better understand what you do and how you can support them.

To further support you learning transfer, feel free to share with me your responses to these questions.

You’ve done all of the background work, you’re clear on who your ideal clients are, the results you deliver, and the solutions you provide to their challenges and issues.  This provides you with a very solid base for client growth and retention.  Lead generation at its best.

However, one of the key mistakes I see some business owners make is that they do all this work, and then use the “If you build it, they will come” model of business.  Absolutely, if you build it, people will come – but it will be slow and painful. You need to get out there and let people know about you, your business and the problems you solve. Period!

At DebPilgrim.com we are constantly reminding our clients that no matter how brilliant you are technically, you really are in the business of marketing.  I want to share with you that you need to be spending a solid part of your day marketing your business. 

Your clients need to be in a continual marketing campaign. 

Now if the word ‘marketing’ freaks you out or doesn’t sit well with you – change it!  Use a term that works better for you, call it ‘relationship building’, but make sure you engage in it.  The important thing to remember is that 'relationship building' doesn’t need to be pushy or in your face; it needs to be congruent with who you are and be true to your business model.

Building relationships, understanding your clients, knowing what they need, and delivering results will build loyalty.  It’s this type of loyalty that you want to continue to develop.

When looking at your current client list, here’s a breakdown of four types of current customers you have within your business:

a)    Active customers:  They’ve bought at least once in the last twelve months and are  more likely to buy again soon.

b)    Inactive customers:  These are your clients who have not purchased from you in the last one to two years.

c)     Sleeping/dormant customers:  These are your clients who have gone quiet.   They don’t buy your products or services any more, and they’ve stopped interacting with you and your brand.

d)   New customers:  This one is pretty self-explanatory…

It’s often said that it’s easier and more cost effective to spend your time and money focusing on your current clients rather than looking at bringing new clients in. And I agree with this statement, these clients know you and know what you can do for them – it’s the perfect place to expend your time, money and energy…

So let’s not give up on them, and by ‘them’ I mean your sleeping/dormant customers.  They may have gone quiet, but there was a stage when they were active and engaged in your business.  You just need to find out how to re-engage them and bring them back to an active status.

Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

Idea 1:  Find out and understand why they’ve gone silent.

Idea 2:  Develop a marketing campaign that focuses specifically on bringing them back into an active status.  Offer them something that is worth coming back for.

Idea 3:  Remind them about the results you deliver for your customers.  Show them what you can do for them.

But above all else, be proactive and consistent in your messages and offers to this group.  As I mentioned earlier, it is worth your time, energy and money to re-engage this type of customer.

We would love for you to share with us here, what you currently do to re-engage your dormant customers…