Creating a standard client experience for your business gives your clients more confidence in you and your capabilities.
If clients don’t know from one meeting to the next how they will be treated, says Sara Gilbert, founder of Strategist in Montreal, they will start to feel insecure and uncertain about their relationship with you.
Follow these steps to create a standard client experience for your business:
> Segment your clients
Dividing your clients into categories will make the process more manageable.
Clients can be placed into your top-client — or “A” client — segment, based on asset levels or how well they fit your target market. Remaining clients can be placed in your “B” and “C” categories.
These categories will determine the service level each client receives from your business.
> Set a standard
Write out what services you will offer each segment of your client base.
Consider, for example, how many in-person meetings you will have with members of each segment each year, Gilbert says. How many phone calls will you make to members of each client group? How many seminars will you host for these clients?
> Create a process
Draw up a plan, Gilbert says, of exactly what needs to happen for you to provide the best client meeting for your clients.
For example, instructions for a client meeting might look as follows:
Step 1. Send an agenda to the client a week before the meeting. Include a magazine article on a topic you want to introduce to them.
Step 2. On the day of the meeting, make sure the office is stocked with the client’s favourite tea or coffee. Spend time going over your notes from the previous meeting with the client.
Step 3. After the meeting, take 15 minutes to write a note to the client to thank him or her for attending the meeting.
Create similar instructions for providing the best newsletter, seminar and whatever other client-communication activities you use.
Make sure both you and your team members understand and follow those directions.
> Stay organized
Automate your task list, says Gilbert, and prevent any details from falling through the cracks.
Use a client-relationship management system to keep track of all the details of a client experience, she says. You can use the “recurring task” feature on your Outlook program to ensure you never miss a meeting or a phone call. Also, use the “journal” option to keep detailed notes about meetings and the services you offer clients.
This is the first installment in a two-part series on creating a standard client experience. Next: keeping your process manageable and up to date.