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.

 

It’s crystal clear that I’ve been an entrepreneur at heart for most of my life. Looking back, I can see all the moments in my education and employee life that have nudged me toward it. The constant narrowing of my eyes seeking every opportunity to find better ways to be more efficient, productive and maximize the bottom line. Always thinking differently. The “go-big-or-go-home” creative drive when planning events and launches.

Even in the corporate world, I had an entrepreneurial perspective.

I know, without a doubt, that I drove one or two of my co-workers to the brink. They were stuck in the land of “that’s the way we always do it”. I wanted to push out of that comfort zone with new and better methods.

It wasn’t until I hung my own shingle out that I finally accepted my thirst for innovation. I embraced my natural intuitiveness and progressive vision. I came to understand that in my chest beats the heart of an entrepreneur.

As I’ve travelled this path and accepted myself, I’ve also discovered a few mindsets, behaviours and habits that I needed to let go of and a few more that I needed to take hold:

• Trust in myself to take the necessary risks and push the boat out to follow the dream of being my own boss.
• Feel the fear and do it afraid.
• Believe and build confidence within me to create a life by my design.

 

I’ve come to understand that mindset work is a daily programme of maintenance in the arena of business.

Here’s how I successfully made the transition and changed my mindset from employee to Entrepreneur:

1. Goodbye Employee Mindset

   In the corporate world, I couldn’t leave my desk for too long or work remotely for fear of looking like I was slacking. I rarely took a day off or a sick day because it would affect my employee standing. I left behind the strict, time-punching schedule I spent so many years perfecting. I’ve finally embraced the critical importance of wellness and balance over wearing some sad badge of honour dragging myself to my desk to put in a few more hours to look good. I’m of no use to my clients if I don’t take care of myself.

2. Hello Boundaries

   As an employee, I had very little wriggle room to say no. I signed on to a job description that someone else created and was expected to complete it all, no matter where my talents lay and even those ‘other tasks as assigned’. It was unthinkable that I would decline in any situation unless it was unethical or illegal. I carried this thinking right into my first year of business with my second client before I realized I was performing a disservice to my client. Saying yes to everything and responding to emails at all hours set the stage for frustration, miscommunication and unreasonable expectations.

3. Welcome Failure

   When I began my business, I used to have this overarching anxiety to persist to perfection. As an entrepreneur, there are few places to hide imperfection. What’s more important is accountability and integrity. Keeping my word and taking the opportunity to acknowledge and fix an error is the best value I can offer my clients.

4. Good Riddance, Homogenization

   Leaving the corporate world allowed me to shed the chameleon skin I wore in my work life to constantly fit in or be more acceptable. I no longer had to be the same, but better, and could finally escape the constant competition amongst the employee culture. As an entrepreneur, I have the opportunity to shape my business to authentically reflect the person I am with the experiences and values I’ve developed. It’s about finding like-minded people to work with and help them to realize their dreams.

5. Come On In, Collaboration

   In my old work life, I hesitated to network and create relationships with people that felt out of reach or lined up in a hierarchy of titles. Now if I want to get to know a leader in my field, I can and do reach out to connect. It’s truly refreshing. I can seek out prospective clients, leaders, influencers and mentors that I’d like to get to know. The opportunity to be personally coached is a reality and no longer a pecking order ritual. It takes time to build the relationship and a bit of confidence but it’s now a lateral conversation and an important factor in my professional and personal development.

6. Glad to Have Free Will

   I can finally pursue the experiences and skills that I want to in order to grow my business. To serve my clients at the highest level, I can continually refine, educate and better myself. I absolutely love that I can learn a new app or skill at my whim whether to benefit a client or just for my own personal knowledge.  This alone has given me such empowerment and endless opportunity to help my clients. 

As an entrepreneur, as cliche, as it sounds, the world is truly my oyster.

It’s incredibly challenging, pushes and stretches me like no other experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything….well, maybe for a week at Necker Island, I would!

 

 

I help entrepreneurs just like you achieve balance and fulfillment in their business. Our virtual partnership can help shift your focus, intentions and ideas to creating a lifestyle that perfectly fits your dreams for your life and business. Learn more.