In my last post, I introduced the many benefits of the Client Journey Map and how it could double your income. Hopefully, I’ve piqued your curiosity, and you’re already thinking about how you could design and implement this in your business. This post is about giving you the framework around the Client Journey Workflows that support your business. One of the other reasons this process is so valuable is that it allows you to dig deep into your outbound communications. Great service is all about the little details and ensures that doing business is done with ease, concise with high personalization, and always moving one step ahead of the client. This is your chance to gather all the client preferences as you listen in to their responses, giving you the advantage to anticipate their needs and set the priorities to deliver a memorable client experience.

GIVE YOUR CLIENT THE BEST SERVICE OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL

The real result here is that you can truly streamline your business by getting rid of the clutter, disjointed steps, tools that don’t meet your needs and make your business run smoothly. Remember, the more touchpoints Customer Journey has, the more complex it is to manage.

I’m going to show you now are 5 easy steps to follow and create the workflow of a Customer Journey, going back to the basics related to service delivery.

1. PRE-PLANNING YOUR CLIENT JOURNEY WORKFLOW

The Planning phase is first and can be as easy as pen and paper with boxes or graphically through Google Slides, graphic creation with  Canva or flowchart creation with  Whimsical. Or even a numbered list. Give yourself a day to review everything you do for complete service delivery in your business. Believe me; it’s not as easy as you think because a lot of your process is in your head and built on reflex. You’ve probably never even written it down. You’ll do this process for each one of your services if you offer multiple services/packages.

Overall Business Review: Start first with thinking about your business and the service you deliver. What’s working well and what feels clunky is a total frustration because it’s a sticking point. Are there deadlines that are constantly flexing or being missed altogether? Where are you spending too much time?

Sales Process: Is your pipeline full of inquiries with a steady flow of clients being onboarded into your business? Have you gathered feedback from every client to better understand their overall experience of working with you? Do you have a collection of testimonials to use in your business?

Service Delivery: Is the process of onboarding your client smooth and seamless? Do you have complete business records and documents? Do you get paid on time? Are you dealing with clients that are unhappy with certain aspects of the experience?

2. TOUCHPOINTS AND ESSENTIALS THAT MAKE A BRILLIANT WORKFLOW

A well thought out Client Journey inside client service covers all the touchpoints and is based on a system of:

• Triggers to Activate (i.e. a completed contact form from your website is a trigger that starts a flow of communications)
• Responses or Actions that happen to move the client forward (either from the client or from your business)
• Precise Timing delivers every response at exactly the right time, so the client never falls between the cracks and service doesn’t come to a grinding halt.
• Communications that are personalized, intuitive and address the needs of the client. 

As you’re thinking about the workflow of how your service is delivered, the helpful question is, “What happens next?”

Here’s an example of what a fully completed Client Journey Workflow looks like for one service:

3. MAPPING THE FULL CLIENT JOURNEY

Every business tends to have specific phases of the Client Journey that can be easily used to organize the steps, as shown in the example above:

1. Lead (include Yes / Undecided, branches)
2. Onboarding
3. Current Client
4. Offboarding
5. Upsell / Referral

With each phase, write down every step that happens along the way and colour code as you organize and categorize what needs to happen next.

You can use something like:

BLUE: marks the beginning of the phase

GREEN: action step (like an email, form, etc.)

YELLOW: pause workflow / wait for a response

RED: action task, before next step can occur

ORANGE: end of the workflow

 

4. BUILDING & IMPLEMENTATION

Now that you’ve made it through the full planning phase, it’s now time for development and implementation using online tools to help automate the process.

I’m a fan of tools that can multitask inside a business. A one-stop shop where you can create an entire process with just a few apps. It reduces the margin for error, and there are certainly fewer headaches and stress to managing all the details.

These are just a few of the all-in-one tools that can help you run your online business with smooth automation and includes online scheduling, invoicing and payment processing, forms and contracts, as well as basic bookkeeping functions, and some have a private client portal with Zoom integration.  Also, you can use Zapier to integrate and sync with other tools (project management, customer service, email marketing, etc.) in your business. The use of smart fields makes personalization easy.

17Hats

Dubsado

Honeybook

SuiteDash

Bonsai

Plutio

Zoho 

5. FOREVER MAINTAIN AND REFINE

After the complete set-up, testing and implementation, be sure to set a regular time to review your Client Journey Workflow. As your business grows and evolves, you’ll begin to refine the workflow, systems and processes. Don’t become complacent about this step; it’s just as important as an annual financial review to ensure that you’re not leaving any money on the table. Never underestimate the power and competitive advantage that brilliant service delivery brings. Leave your clients happy, satisfied, eager to work with you and always telling everyone they know to do the same.

There you have it! I hope this post has inspired you to create your own Client Journey Map and implement a workflow that will make business easier. I’m confident that with this system in place, your business will have no other place to go but up.

Disclosure Notice: This post contains affiliate links to products and services. If you click on the link and decide to purchase through this dedicated link, I will receive a small commission. It’s never about the money but always about recommending tools that I have either personally used in my business or have found to be of quality and make business more efficient. 

 

Would you love to have your clients beautifully supported in concert with your business values and vision? Our partnership can create a plan to care for your clients, grow your business while balancing your business activities so you can shift your focus to creating a freedom-based lifestyle. Get in touch to schedule a complimentary consultation with me today.

I’ve always loved client service. It’s something that comes naturally to me. Throughout my working career and into entrepreneurship, it’s become my benchmark and signature that I bring to my work.

I’ve come to see client service as an art form.

I’ve worked for many companies in the past that either:

• Paid no attention to the value or impact an exceptional client service experience can bring to a business;
• Were quite complacent about the actual need to plan and train for it.

 

Very fortuitously, I’ve also had the pleasure of working for global brands that are iconically steeped in the science of delivering the ultimate service experience. To this day, I still draw upon the ethics, principles and philosophies that were instilled in me.

My favourite service experiences can be found often in the higher end hospitality and travel sectors. The foundation is based on a high level of quality, consistency, extreme attention to detail combined with sharp awareness, listening and intuitive thinking. The focus is on delivering a personalized, seamless client experience.

Ultimately, it’s taking the familiar and every day and turning it into extraordinary. As a consumer, I’m often on the lookout for this type of service or a hybrid of it. When it’s not part of the experience, it’s glaring to me.

Lost opportunities to practice an effective client service strategy can dictate business’ longevity.

I haven’t met a person in my lifetime yet that doesn’t find enjoyment in experiencing great service, by being made to feel special when someone has remembered their name. Small touches like the simple remembrance of personal preferences go along way. Almost as far as the satisfaction felt when receiving precisely what you wanted, how you wanted it and on time.

If the service experience makes you feel good about your investment, yourself or using it in your lifestyle, and it’s created a moment in your memory, then you’ll want to engage with the service provider repeatedly.

People buy from people they trust.

This type of high-touch experience can be a challenge in the high tech world when the human element of a voice or physical contact is rapidly being replaced by artificial intelligence. While using automation speeds up transactions and increases convenience, the client journey should still be considered for these self-serve transactions.

Recently, I had a rather excellent online purchase that made an impact (and inspired this post). The entrepreneur that offers this product had very clearly and painstakingly thought about the big picture and all the fine details in between: from product and packaging right through to the purchase and fulfilment.

I hopped online to begin my purchase, but first I had a question. I clicked the online chat and, within moments, a member of the lovely support team appeared to answer everything I wanted to know with professionalism and warmth.

The buying process was clean, convenient and straightforward. Perfect! And it automatically created an account for me and notified me by email how to access it if I needed to.

I really had no expectations about the fulfilment, logistics, shipping and delivery of my item because it was making its way to me from England to the West Coast of Canada – and this was in December. I also knew that the company was experiencing a hectic period in shipping out a vast quantity of pre-orders. Having a dedicated following that’s lining up to purchase your product before it even hits production – that in itself is a statement.

Halfway through my workday on the very same day I ordered, I received the courier notification that my package was on its way. I was quite surprised and delighted! I thought, once again, that I’d perhaps see its arrival later in the month. Yet a week later my product arrived and this, too, was seamless.

That client service that so impressed me was evident in the product, as well.

Elegantly wrapped in completely custom packaging with a keepsake box and warm notes of welcome tucked inside; the item itself did not disappoint. It was beautiful and inspiring to the eye and the touch. I received precisely what was promised and, even though it was without the face-to-face exchange, I felt valued as a client.

This experience was so lovely! The branding without question spoke volumes and exactly matched the entrepreneur that designed it. Not once did I feel as though I left the client process until the end of the cycle. Yes, it was seamless.

Rest assured, I’ll return though this time in the summer to pre-order in advance. I’ll be telling my circle of influence about my experience and recommending they consider purchasing one, too.

This type of design and system is created to curate a particular client and speak to them directly which comes from a place of desiring to serve.

It’s about being incredibly invested in the end result which if done correctly, should cultivate loyalty and even more powerful, marketing by word of mouth = raving fans.

I suppose you might be wondering what I purchased that was so extraordinary and considered high end. I think you’ll be surprised to learn that it was my Perfectly Planned 2022 Business Planner. Yes, ordering stationery can be this enjoyable 🙂

I’m a bit planner obsessed as I’m always striving to improve productivity and remain focused on my goals. I’ve tried quite a few these past few years, and nothing has clicked with the way I think, create and work in my business and lifestyle – until now, that is.

Carrie Green is the founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association, one of the largest global communities for female entrepreneurs. When I first was preparing to start my business, I discovered her group, and I’ve been a member for a few years; it’s been a valuable experience. She is a gorgeous powerhouse with a superhero team that creates, in my opinion, outstanding content to help support female entrepreneurs and a brilliant community. I’d highly recommend checking it out.

One caveat, based on the happy responses and repeat business I’ve seen from other clients that have ordered this planner, I would say the service experience is consistent. I think what set my experience apart was my initial level of expectation. I could have been super fortunate at the timing of my order as well for it to arrive so promptly. So if you’re like me and plan to order one for 2020, and it takes a little longer to get to you, be patient…it’s worth the wait!

Designing a client service process can help you curate a particular client and speak to them directly. When they see your evident desire to serve, your client will also see you are incredibly invested in their service satisfaction resulting in cultivating loyalty and the even more powerful marketing of referrals.

Trends come and go, but a remarkable client experience will never go out of style.

So, something elementary as investing in a tool for my business and time management has turned me into a loyal client and a raving fan for that business.

It takes time, commitment and a heart of service to make a difference in the world. Isn’t that what being an entrepreneur is? The freedom to create a bespoke experience for your clients?

Any entrepreneur or size of business can offer this level of service and grow their business with it. It does take time and deep listening as well as creativity, constant measurement and fluidity until you get it right.

 

 

Would you love to have your clients beautifully supported in concert with your business values and vision? I’m currently accepting applications from high-level entrepreneurs seeking Virtual Business Support services.  Our partnership can create a plan to care for your clients, grow your business while balancing your business activities so you can shift your focus to creating a freedom-based lifestyle. Get in touch to schedule a complimentary consultation with me today.