Expand Your Fempire Podcast #34 Transcript

Eight Areas to Upgrade to Enhance Your Client’s Experience

Welcome to Expand your Fempire with Caterina Rando, the podcast for women in business on a mission. Sharing ideas to support you to grow and thrive. Now here’s your host, Caterina Rando.

Caterina Rando: [00:00:26] HI, my friends, Caterina Rando here. Very excited to talk to you about some important hot topics today.  And what this hot topic is, is that, you know, we think about client attraction. We think about client retention. Well, what I’ve done is I’ve really broken down for you many of the different aspects of the client experience or the client cycle.

[00:00:54] And I want to support you in shining the spotlight on each one in looking at how you can do it better.

[00:01:03] Now, first let’s identify the different aspects of the client experience. I’m going to go through all of them. I’m going to share all of them with you. You’re going to want to write this down, if you have a pencil and paper. And then we’ll go back and look at each one.

[00:01:21] So number one, client attraction.

[00:01:24] Number two, client acquisition. This is the sale.

[00:01:29] Number three, client onboarding.

[00:01:33] Number four, client engagement.

[00:01:37] Five is client fulfillment.

[00:01:40] Six is client appreciation.

[00:01:43] Seven is client celebration and

[00:01:47] Eight is client retention.

[00:01:50] Now those are all of the different aspects of the client experience that we want to look at together right now.

[00:01:59] Here’s what I also want to say. You may or may not be having a checklist and standard operating procedures for each one of these. But you know what? We’re going to create them right now, because this is going to support you in having more productivity, more efficiency in the operational aspect of client management. But also, it’s going to support you in being more focused and productive in client attraction, client onboarding, and client acquisition. And what that equals is more sales.

[00:02:39] Okay. Now let’s look at each one of these because I want you to make decisions about each one. I want you to write them down because once they’re written down you can improve them. You can upgrade them. You can see what’s working, what’s not working. You can make adjustments and improvements.

[00:02:58] The other thing is that you can delegate some of these tasks. But if it’s not written down, sorry for you, you’re probably not going to be able to delegate.

[00:03:08] Okay. Let’s start with client attraction. Client attraction is cultivating your prospects. I want to invite you to not use only what I would call spaghetti marketing. Spaghetti marketing’s where you’re trying all kinds of things. And I want you to identify the top three ways of attracting clients that really work for you.

[00:03:36] But you know what? The only way you know what’s working for you to attract clients, is when you track where your clients are coming from.

[00:03:49] Now, the shortest distance between you and a full client base…in my opinion, the shortest, the fastest way to get a whole bunch of new clients… three ways: speaking, networking, and referrals.

[00:04:08] Now, number four, I would say is social media, but that’s not always quite as fast. I would also say if you have not checked out Clubhouse, that is my new favorite thing.

[00:04:21] And I do encourage you to check it out because I do feel that it’s a great way to cultivate new relationships or further the relationships that you already have. Okay. That’s a sidebar though.

But as you know, when we’re speaking we’re building insta-influence. When we’re networking, when we’re getting referrals, we still need to build influence with those people. -Caterina Rando

[00:04:37] Speaking, networking, and referrals. But as you know, when we’re speaking we’re building insta-influence. When we’re networking, when we’re getting referrals, we still need to build influence with those people. So, it’s not as insta for gaining clients.

[00:04:55] When you speak, though, you can give a speech and get some insta-clients. And let me say to you, if you are not doing your virtual Zoom thing once a month or twice a month, where you are doing a one hour, something that you always have a one hour, something to invite people to. It’s time for you to run, don’t walk, to get going on it, okay? We are almost a year into the pandemic and it is a gold rush opportunity for those of us that have embraced Zoom.

[00:05:32] Let me tell you something. Many of my clients had their best year ever as a result of embracing Zoom.

[00:05:40] Always have something to invite people to. Always be embracing speaking. This will help you have a steady flow for client attraction.

[00:05:49] But guess what? Attraction is not acquisition. When you speak, when you do your social media, when you put together your free, opt-in all those things you do.

[00:06:03] Well, my friend, guess what? All of that is letting people know how awesome and amazing you are. None of it is asking someone to be your client.

[00:06:15] And that is necessary for you to get a client. You have to actually have a conversation with them, okay? And that’s what I want for you.

[00:06:24] Well, in order to have a conversation with them, you have to schedule time for sales. And I’m hoping that you have time set aside every week for sales and that you have time after every workshop, you have time for follow-up. You have time before the workshop, you have time at the end of the month for sales, that you have put together a regular sales schedule for yourself.

[00:06:54] And not only that, but you are paying attention – how many conversations does it take for me to get a client?

[00:07:02] Now, let me give you a little starting point. If you’re making an easy invitation, $197, $297, and you’ve already built influence, you can probably get most of those decisions in one conversation.

[00:07:18] If you’re looking at a larger investment, if you’re looking at someone investing $2,000, $4,000, $10,000 – might take two or three conversations. And I’m speaking from experience here. The lower the ask, the easier the buying decision. That’s what I want for you.

[00:07:39] Recognize, you want to pay attention to, tracking how many conversations do I need to have to get 5 new clients, to get 10 new clients? And then you have to make sure you have enough time on your calendar to have those conversations.

[00:07:53] But there’s something that comes before the conversations. And that’s what we call, reach-outs. Reach out to get the conversations. Because just like you’ve heard me say, when you want to fill your virtual events, a personal invitation works a thousand times better than promotion – emails, social media, et cetera.

[00:08:17] It’s the same thing with sales. You can announce at your workshop, “Hey, I’ve got this great three-month or, or 10-week program,” whatever it is, you can announce it. You can say, “please let me know if you’re interested,” but none of that necessarily evokes a buying decision.

[00:08:35] Sometimes we get people that sign up insta – bing, bing! That’s always nice when we don’t even have to talk to them. They say, yes, I’m in.

[00:08:42] That doesn’t happen for most types of people. They want to have a conversation. And it’s our job to invite them to have a conversation after we have built influence, this is an important part of client acquisition.

[00:08:59] Okay. We’ve got client attraction, we’ve got client acquisition. And now there’s, let’s say you have the new client, now, what do you do? Well, you onboard that client. Client onboarding is a whole ‘nother area.

[00:09:14] Now, what is client onboarding? It’s what you do when you get a new client to bring them into service with you. And there are a lot of little details that you want to pay attention to.

[00:09:28] You want to make sure, of course, you have their contact information, correct. Their billing information. You’ve got their agreement back. You want to make sure they’re your friend on Facebook and connected to you on LinkedIn. You want to make sure you know what their website is. Of course, you want to make sure you know what their business is or their personal situation.

[00:09:48] Maybe you have a new client form that you have them fill out. You want to know of course what their birthday is. All of this is client onboarding.

[00:09:57] Now you may send out a welcome card or for our Thrive at Sales group. We send out a welcome box with the binder, with a notebook, with chocolates, with pens. So, when somebody signs up for that class, they have to be sent the welcome box for that program when they’re a new client and there needs to be a process for that.

[00:10:21] So all of these, these are logistical things. These are admin things that are all part of onboarding a new client. But you know what else you might do? You might give them a second phone call, after they’ve agreed to be your client. Well, maybe they’re going to get a customer care call that talks to them about all the amazing benefits and bonuses or where they get this and how do they get the recordings and where are the links and all of those things that are going to upgrade and improve their client experience.

[00:10:55] Now, this is something for you to look at. Do you have an onboarding client checklist with all of the big and little things that you want to do to effectively onboard that client?

[00:11:05] Because if they’re not onboarded well, then we’re going to miss out on the next part, which is client engagement.

[00:11:16] Client engagement is them taking advantage of being your client and utilizing all of the aspects that they now have the right and the privilege to because they’re your client.

[00:11:29] But let’s talk a little bit about why a client insta-engagement is so important. For example, right now, I am inviting ladies to join our next Bliss Retreat, which will be several months from now. In fact, 11 months from now. I just signed up someone yesterday, not in any programs with me this whole year. She signed up just for the retreat. Now, do you think I’m going to say to her, “Hey Sheila, meet me at the dock in 11 months and we’ll have a good time?”

[00:12:06] Or am I going to say, “Hey, Sheila, I’m so excited you’re coming on the bliss retreat in 11 months. And here’s all these ways that you can engage with me and the community right now. Come to our pop-up sales blitzes that we’re doing once a week for the next six weeks. Come to our monthly networking event called Thriving Business Boost. Oh, by the way, we have quarterly planning before Q2, Q3 and Q4. We will have a quarterly planning session that you’re invited to. Oh, by the way, you get to come to any workshops, or seminars, or summits for the whole year at no cost because you’re VIP. And, by the way, we also will promote two events a month for you. And have you joined the Facebook group?”

… it’s very important that we have people insta-engage as soon as they make their buying decision. -Caterina Rando

[00:13:04] All of these ways for a new client to engage that has nothing to do with any particular program that they’ve signed up for. Because it’s very important that we have people insta-engage as soon as they make their buying decision because you know what happens? You sign someone up for a program that starts in three months or six months. Well guess what? You’re way more exciting today than you’re going to be in six months. If they haven’t engaged with you. And then they’re going to say, “well, I changed my mind.”

[00:13:43] Now you might say, well, “Hey, I have a contract.” But here’s what I want to tell you. I am not interested in taking people’s money if they’re not genuinely interested in having me serve them. So, I avoid, and I want you to avoid, these kinds of ladies changing their mind because they’re getting insta-engaged in our community. And they’re getting so much value in addition to whatever program they signed up for, that they wouldn’t dream of changing their mind because they’re, they’re getting way more than they ever thought they were going to get. This is what I want for you.

[00:14:25] So this idea of insta- client engagement and having other ways for people to engage with you, not just with their program or their coaching package, is going to support you in having them have a much richer client experience and that’s what we want. We want them to have a much richer client experience.

[00:14:53] Okay. So, so far we’ve talked about client attraction, client acquisition, client onboarding, client engagement, and now let’s continue with client fulfillment.

[00:15:08] Now what’s, what’s the difference between engagement and fulfillment? Well, engagement is having them engage with you and the community in a variety of ways, having them take advantage of all the bonuses or other ways to connect.

[00:15:23] Client fulfillment is delivering everything you said you were going to deliver for whatever they’ve signed up for. For a coaching package, for a program.

[00:15:36] Now here’s the other thing, I’m sure you’ve been taught under-promise and over-deliver. And what that means is that, of course, you’re going to fulfill every promise of what you said you were going to give them, but also you want to look for what else can you do above and beyond?

[00:16:02] Because when you do more than your clients were expecting, that makes them happy. That makes them feel like they’re getting a great deal working with you. Makes them feel good about their investment. And you know, what happens when they feel good about their investment? Bing bing! They’re open to investing with you more.

[00:16:27] I don’t want you just to have clients. We’re having this discussion today because I want you to have long-term and life-long clients.

[00:16:39] I’ve got ladies have come on every single one of my retreats that we’ve done. Nine retreats over 10 or 12, 10, maybe 11 years, nine retreats. Every single one, come on five, come on eight. And you know what happens when they come? They also see what else is going on. And then they sign up for other things.

[00:17:03] We want your clients to keep coming back and you running your business with an attitude of under promise and over deliver as a guiding principle, will support them in feeling great about their investment.

[00:17:17] Because it’s not about the first sale or the second sale. It’s about the 3rd through the 25th sale. We want them to keep coming back and blissing to be doing business with you.

[00:17:31] That’s what I want – that for you, for me. I want your clients to be blissing to work with you. And if they’re not, then this discussion that we’re having today is a key place for you to look. Or if you want them to be blissing more, this conversation we’re having is a key place for you to look.

[00:17:53] Well, make sure you write down every single thing that you said you’re going to do for your clients for any particular program or package, make sure you have a system for delivering all of that, any additional things aside from any meetings. And let’s say you have to make an adjustment. Let’s say you add a vacation or something or something comes up. There’s an illness and you’re not able to do every single thing you said.

[00:18:19] Then you want to go above and beyond to make up for that. Very, very important. Okay. Take a deep breath with me. Ah.

[00:18:29] So we’ve talked about client attraction, client acquisition, client onboarding, client engagement, client fulfillment. And now we’re going to talk about bing, bing, bing probably my favorite, client appreciation!

[00:18:49] My friends, if people do not feel that you appreciate their business, then they’re not going to feel as good about continuing to write you checks.

[00:19:02] If they don’t feel you appreciate working with them, then their client experience is not as rich.

[00:19:12] I want you to look at: What am I doing? What is my client appreciation plan? Not just, “Oh, I’m going to be appreciative.” What is your plan? But I want you to have a checklist, SOPs around client appreciation.

[00:19:32] Let me tell you a few things we do in my business, in our community. First thing I host two events a year just for client appreciation. I host in the summer I host what we call our Summer Success Splurge. And now because we’re living the pandemic lifestyle, which has also expanded my business to have clients all over the country, we do that virtual. It’s a virtual half-day event.

[00:19:59] We have featured ladies from our community speak. I appreciate my clients. And usually, they get a little gift. And I tell them how much I appreciate their business. I facilitate networking. They connect. It’s a very uplifting time. We do that in the summer.

[00:20:17] In December, we host our Annual Goals Gathering where we do the same thing, thank them for their business for the year. I appreciate them. They get a gift. we love on them. Give them some great programming. That’s an SOP standard operating procedure every year.

[00:20:36] Also I personally have high attention on personally acknowledging my clients and celebrating their wins whenever possible. Now that’s more of an organic thing. It’s not a part of the client appreciation plan. That’s something I’m very hyper-aware of, that I’m looking for opportunities to authentically acknowledge my clients.

[00:21:03] Also we send them a gift at usually some point during the year. We send gifts for our referral partners. I’m always looking for what can I do to love on my clients? Because remember the five love languages: physical touch, acts of service, quality time, words of appreciation and acknowledgement, and gifts.

[00:21:26] And, during the year, I’ll do pop-up meetings, which are only for ladies that are clients to give them more value, to have more quality time with me to under promise and over deliver. So, these are what we call a “VIP all community pop-ups.”

[00:21:43] That’s on our list of what we do to have more engagement and also appreciate our clients more because every time I’m in a Zoom room with my clients, I tell them how much I love and appreciate them, which is absolutely true.

[00:21:58] And here’s what I want you to also note as a guiding principle. I want you to wear your heart, not on your sleeve. I want you to wear it all over your business. I want you to wear your heart all over your business. Love your clients. Embrace the five love languages. This is all part of client appreciation.

[00:22:19] But what I’m saying to you also is make it standard operating procedure. Have it written out what you’re going to do to appreciate your clients. Okay. But we’ve got two more categories.

[00:22:31] The next one is client celebration. Now, I will tell you that for the last many years of my business, I have not been that great at doing birthdays. But I will tell you that we have finally put together what I feel is an amazing birthday program. Which is on your birthday month, we are going to send you a box with a little gift inside with a birthday card and a happy birthday sticker on the box.

[00:23:04] And this year I’m not missing anybody’s birthday. Now I know it’s not the beginning of the year right now. But I will tell you we’re backing up and we’re going to send belated gifts to anybody whose birthday we’ve missed so far this year, because we finally have our program in place.

[00:23:21] Because you know why? I wanted to do something custom. I thought about brownies or popcorn or cookies but wanted to do something that the ladies could keep forever. That was custom and branded to our business. So, I’m not going to tell you what it is because it’s a secret right now, but we have a very special gift. That I know the ladies will love. That’s very branded to our business that is part of our birthday program to celebrate our client’s birthdays.

[00:23:51] Now, when I talk about client celebration, birthdays are only one part of it. The best part of client celebration is you one-on-one or you in front of a group in a Zoom room, when you have a meeting or a gathering, celebrating your client wins with them.

[00:24:15] Somebody just did their first workshop bing, bing, we’re blissing. Somebody just filled their group bing, bing, we are celebrating. Someone has upgraded their self-care and they’re feeling great. We’re celebrating. Make sure that celebrating client wins is standard operating procedure in your business.

[00:24:41] In fact, for all of our client zoom meetings, the first thing we do is start with a win. I want to hear the ladies’ wins. And as a result, their being witnessed in their success, they’re being witnessed in their celebration. And as a result, they’re blissing more and everybody’s blissing because we get to celebrate everybody’s wins.

[00:25:03] Now, in addition to that standard operating procedure, that happens all the time for celebrating client’s accomplishments and wins and successes, we also usually do something at the end of a program where I personally acknowledge them and the success that they’ve had.

[00:25:25] They get to say whatever they want. Sometimes depending if it’s a bigger program, we send them graduation certificates and gold frames with a gift. For the smaller programs we don’t send out a big thing, but we still celebrate their accomplishments. And that is standard operating procedure for client celebration.

[00:25:46] And I want to make sure that you have made decisions “well, what am I going to do? These ladies are finishing this program. They’re graduating. What am I going to do to celebrate their wins?”

[00:25:56] And that is what I want you to decide, because the more you do it, the better you’re going to get at it and you’ll continue to upgrade it. And then when you do that, you get the next thing.

[00:26:10] But let’s recap, before we go to the next thing. Client attraction. Client acquisition. Client onboarding. Client engagement. Client fulfillment. Client appreciation client celebration. And the last one, when you do all those things well then you know what you get?

[00:26:32] Bing, bing, bing, you get client retention. And that is what I want for you. I want you to have consistent client retention.

[00:26:44] Now, you know what happens to get consistent client retention? You have to invite them to do the next thing. “Hey, you just did this. How about joining me for this? Hey, you’ve just graduated from this. This would be the great next step for you. Would you like to talk about it?”

[00:27:03] Now, even though you might just think of client retention as, Hey, I just invite them to the next thing. I want to say that if you’ve done a great job at client appreciation, client celebration, they’re very open to staying with you, but you still have to ask them. You still have to ask them if they want to continue with you.

[00:27:27] And I will tell you, somebody said to me recently that they were in a program and the year’s over, and they got an email with the contract for another year. And that is an example of a business being too high-tech.

[00:27:43] I want your business to be high-tech, automate where you can, but I also want it to be high touch. When you’re inviting someone to be your client or continue as your client, that requires a personal phone call.

I want your business to be high-tech, automate where you can, but I also want it to be high touch. When you’re inviting someone to be your client or continue as your client, that requires a personal phone call. -Caterina Rando

[00:28:00] Do not be so high-tech in your business, and also don’t be so arrogant to assume that everyone just wants to continue. Even if you know you’ve given massive value. You still want to make that call. You want to appreciate them verbally, and then you want to ask them if they want to continue.

[00:28:18] By the way, if we were in the fundraising business and I know that today, we’re talking about your business, not your philanthropy. I will say that in the philanthropy business, when someone makes a donation, you thank them seven times. You thank them in the newsletter. You thank them at the event. You send them a personal thank you. You make a personal thank you phone call. You thank them the next time you see them. You say thank you seven times. Maybe you send them a gift. Say thank you, seven times.

[00:28:55] I want to make sure that you recognize that you cannot appreciate your clients too much. Nobody in my many years of doing business and in my life, nobody ever said you appreciate me too much.

[00:29:12] No. What you’re going to see is people light up like a Christmas tree. People are always happy to hear some appreciation. And the more you get masterful at appreciating your clients, the more you are going to have client retention.

[00:29:30] Do not make the assumption that clients are going to continue. You want to have on your schedule time for that client retention. And at the time that you schedule your calendar for the year and you’re scheduling, okay, this is the last date for this. Well, even before that last date, you want to have some other days, where you’re going to invite people to continue. Bing bing.

[00:29:53] Here’s what I want you to know. You have massive value to bring. Now all of these things we’ve discussed, the more you can make decisions about each part of what we’ve discussed, the more you can not only get good at them, but you can have that be automatically happening. And you can get support for your team around them so that you can stay focused on those things that are your job: speaking, or teaching, selling, serving your clients, strategy and self- care.

[00:30:26] That’s your job. And the more support you can get, the more you’re going to be blissing in your business, the more ease you’re going to have in your business.

[00:30:35] Now, some of these things you absolutely have to do. In my opinion, you’re the one that invites people to be your client. At the same time, you can get some support for the client acquisition. You can get some support for the onboarding and all of these different things so that you’re doing what brings you bliss in your business.

[00:30:55] But you know what else this is happening? What else happening is that your clients are blissing to be with you and that’s going to keep them coming back.

[00:31:05] Bing bing my friends. So happy to be with you today. I’m hoping that you took lots of notes. You can watch this again. I want to invite you if you haven’t already come to join me coming up very soon, we have our Selling with Ease and Authenticity free workshop. And then we have a three-hour Set Yourself Up to Thrive at Sales workshop coming up in a couple of weeks as well.

[00:31:29] I would love to have you join me for those. Because they will be more massive value for you. And we’re not going to really talk about what we discussed today. This is a special hot topic that I knew would bring you some value and support you to thrive and bliss in your business.

[00:31:45] Bing, Bing, Bing. Can’t wait to be with you again. Thanks, my friends.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Expand Your Fempire with Caterina Rando.