Lessons

Lesson Info

Providing Extreme Client Care

Let's dive in we are in page forty five of the workbook design your business blueprint is the class were in in case you don't know, and we are providing extreme client care and are cartoon has a man pointing at a chart with an audience of business people and he says so as you can see, customer satisfaction is up considerably since phasing out the complaint forms again that you do not get to phase out complaint forms in your business. You may not have complaint forms in your business, but you can't just ignore unhappy client and we're going to dive into how you can avoid ever having an unhappy client and what to do if you get one in this segment. So let us take a look at that. All right? This is about providing extreme client care and what I would love to hear as we move through this I love to have our online audience sharing stories of extreme client service that they have received from other service vendors that they've worked with could be a hotel could be a restaurant could be a dep...

artment store and online place. We all know zappos is the king of customer care, and lots of zappos stories abound, but let's hear someone's from some other vendors, so I'll be checking in with chris from time to time share their stories at any time during this this segment here one dive into question number one how do you determine your client's innermost needs relevant to your working relationship? And this goes right back to what we discussed in the last pace about creating an inviting intake that excites your client about working with you the intake should excite them, energize them and get them in the place where they're like, wow, I am so glad I'm going to be working with this provider because she really knows her stuff, so the intake form I like to have the fill it out before they're on board. Other people wait till they're after onboard. Either way, you want it to be an affirmation of your credibility, your knowledge, your expertise and the trust they're going to place in you if they haven't already climbed on board, it should be a vehicle to get them closer to that signing on the dotted line with you that's really what you're creating here, so the reality is you don't really know who they are. Your client is a mystery until you ask them what you need to know and all too often, we as business owners and creatives get caught up in our process and are thinking, well, I gotta do this and I got to the other thing and I got this whole list over here and I'll be able to do this for them and we forget the most important person in this is our client and if we're not asking the right questions, we're not going to have the right knowledge teau lead us down the path of success with them and we're going to derail and that's going to be ugly, so you really have tio become a bit of a sherlock holmes in this you've got to uncover the smallest nuance, the hot buttons that things that your mom and dad can push on you and have been able to for decades you've gotta learn those about your client, so you either avoid them or you know how to use them to get more of what you need from your client, okay, we all have them. We all have pains and priorities and pleasure points, and you want to learn the specifics of what's important to your client beyond the obvious because this stuff it's really going to make the relationship work and really get a land you with a lot of profit isn't the obvious stuff at all, so you've got to ask the right questions um little things like if you're an interior designer, what you base your project on and that might sound a little strange but my best job ever my client I spoke for one hour on the phone before I went out to meet her I knew I already had her from our phone call that was easy, she found me online. So those of you in the creative pursuits being online can be very beneficial. I've gotten all of my largest clients in my design career from my online portal. My website makes a huge difference, but she found me online. She called me, we talked, I found out she had a cat will I have two cats on a cat lover and she had a really affection for her cat had been with her for I think natasha was twenty one or two close to it, which is very old for key cat. She was gray charcoal gray with lime green eyes. I based the entire project on that, and ninety days later I delivered it and she was floored, absolutely blown away walked behind me as I let her through her new home, because I did the whole home in ninety days, including down to the studs renovation. I'm very fast, it's, one of my difference makers, and as I walked her through now, she was a techie. She had built and sold a tech company, she'd never done anything like this for herself, and I could hear her behind me very softly, because techies don't often get super excited in a way that a lot of extroverts duke she's, very introverted, and she was saying I can't believe this is mine. I can't believe this mine now, so I don't get in trouble with justin, my producer. She actually said, I can't believe this is mine because I'm not allowed to whisper up here, but it was so rewarding toe have that little voice coming behind me the whole time I'm walking her through her home, she was like in a state of awe and wonder, and the coolest text happened about two weeks later because she did a fair amount of traveling at this point, she has created the opportunity where she doesn't have tio work again if she doesn't want tio, she set up scholarships for people, and she is exploring other avenues. But she's doing a lot of travel, and she sent me a text and she said, you've ruined me for five star hotels, which was singularly one of the greatest compliments I could ever received from a client. So, um, pay attention if I hadn't paid attention to not just the fact that she had a cat, but that she really doted on her cat and better cat was has important to her as mine are to me, and how cool would it be the what if I just springboard the whole theme off of that? Because I had the creative freedom to do that and that's essential is having to create a freedom to deliver what your client doesn't even know they want and being able to ask those questions so that you could find out what they most want without them even realizing it. And in another instance, I was working with a guy on the business side who was in commercial real estate. He was really good at it. He didn't love it, what he loved. It was local history of atlanta. He had an extraordinary ability to be able to, based on the history of any given piece of property, he could tell you how a business would perform, and I said, rob, you could do that. You need to tie that directly into your commercial real estate work. It had never occurred to him to do that, and he was also working for this father's firm, and I think he felt like he wanted to get out on his own. So within just three months of our conversations in our coaching, he found himself speaking two to three times a month, which he loved to do about the history of atlanta to various groups and organizations, and he switched companies because the new company had a slot where they wanted to leverage his knowledge of atlanta history and places and how it would impact. Sales for clients so really a cool story of my paying extra attention and going that extra mile and not just saying oh, well we can redesign you know, your life in commercial real estate no that's not what he wanted he wanted something bigger than that and I was willing to find out that his true not only core passion but poor expertise to be ableto literally give him an address anywhere in the city he could give me the history of it and based on that history he could tell me how a new business would perform in that spot was extraordinary so get those tidbits from your client they will set you apart and the work that you do in extraordinary ways this gets down and what we touch down once before the difference between a need and a must have or a want finals into a must have so if you remember we went through they might need a chair but what they want is that leather wing back for three thousand dollars if they just need a chair and you think oh, I'll get him a chair you might throw something in there that's three hundred dollars when they were willing to invest three thousand dollars so you've got to close that gap between needs and wants to find that not only the must has but must invest in this is about investing in your services in your products what must they invest in? Because you hit there want beyond their need. Okay, so this is about maybe assessments they could be a very valuable tool. The beautiful part of that assessment says you can either create your own or you can use an established assessment tool instead of creating your own. I actually have my own assessment. It's free to take. If you're curious, you can go to triple w your prosperity, acceleration, dot com that's, your prosperity, acceleration, dot com and you can take the short assessment. You will get the report of findings that will tell you your score in your business about where your prosperity level is and give you some suggestions of what you need to dio along with some cool bonuses and, depending on your level of commitment, a chance to talk with may further about your business. So that's another way that you can get in touch with may um, assessments can be extremely helpful. And again, you don't have to design your own. There are a lot of them in the marketplace. If you design your own it's more original it's, more personal, it's, more fun and it's more valuable for you. Um, I think most people at this stage of the game have taken myers briggs it's an assessment a lot of people run around knowing their initials I don't know my myers briggs initials when people say, you know, what's your myers briggs as a p d x q j and they go that's his briggs and I'm like probably not I don't want to be labeled in boxed, so I prefer to have created my own assessment you can do what works best for you this is about bringing them from the storm from the challenge into the light and it's about doing it in a place where you establish now where they are. You got to know what now where they are your clients or pre you, whether it's a piece of artwork you're creating it's going to inspire them a new amazing ways whether it's a fitness program you're developing for them, whether it's a room that you're going to deliver that's going to transform the relationships in their family, you've got to know where they are now pre you because this is about taking them over the rainbow you're taking them over the rainbow you're taking them to their pot of gold on what they most want into their future and the key to this is you've got to work with him on it and you've got to make this a sensory experience as creatives were uniquely gifted to do that, so you want to bring them to a place where they can see it here it taste it, feel it and smell it from where they are now to where they're going to bay. That gap is where your work comes in, but you've got to let them paint that future picture so you know where they want to go and they're excited about getting there and they understand how necessary there work with you is going to be whether it's a commission art piece or designing a room or writing a book with, um or branding them or tracing their ancestry tree and understanding how to do that. So you've got to be of like, mind you coming from opposite sides and you've got emerge your minds together and go in the same direction and this is not always easy, but it is necessary because here's the challenge if you both decide where they're going, you both clear on that, but you have different routes to get there. You are not going to have a happy relationship. I just happened with a pr gal once I think I think we were both going to the same destination ultimately, but her path for getting me there was completely not what I had in my mind as her client and we wound up parting ways and it was pretty uncomfortable for a couple of years and then we got past it, but you've got to be on the same page you have got to no not only where they're going but you've got to be willing to share with them the steps they're going to take to get there make sure those of the steps they want to take to get there okay comes down that expectation piece again that we discussed in the last module so make very clear the start the finish and the steps between and that this is about going over the rainbow because that's the gorgeous part about this you are the bridge builder they've got to step out in faith just like you here with me are stepping out in faith that when you act on the strategies I'm sharing with you when you act on the tools I've shared with you when you implement the steps you'll see results I'm building that bridge for you you get to build a bridge for your clients and it's also about you have the solution to their problems so you clean up their questions with answers yeah you're indulging me a little bit on my marketing cleverness every now and then I go down the path of clever not that often you are the vehicle so you have a choice what kind of vehicle do you want to be? Do you want to be a bright shiny beautiful new luxury vehicle to get them there or are you not quite showing up that way in your business and instead you look a wee bit like an old clunker not too pretty. Okay, so what kind of vehicle are you to get your client from where they are now to where they want to bay and I'd love to hear those answers from our online audience as well as from my real time audience, right? What kind of vehicle are you now? What kind of vehicle are you going to grow into being if you're not the vehicle that you think is the best one for your client right now? Yes, catherine, I feel like now I'm weird. Composite ah, a good vehicle like a nice vehicle with a really bad pete job like I need tio we're becoming all all the nice luxury, getting all the bells and whistles and added on exact excellent okay, anybody shining in online on that one, vehicles are starting to come in slowly, but I do want to share when we're asking about these clients stories and the different customer service experiences. This is a great one from s e r n m and they say bed bath and beyond has wonderful customer service. For example, my mom didn't like a coffee maker that she had purchased many years before she only used it twice, a sales person asked we needed help, we told her about the coffee maker we didn't like bottom line they took it back even though it wasn't in their computer anymore but we had the box they took it and they gave us a twenty percent off coupon for a new coffee maker too yeah that does an amazing job they've been really terrific with may piggybacking on that story I was shocked when I I went in and I was done a recent move one of my many moves and I said oh I'm looking for some new draperies the ones that I have that I bought from you guys a couple years ago what worked for these windows and they said why don't you bring them back and I said excuse me I said they're all out of the pakistan used to pull my windows is that that's okay you can bring them back eight hundred dollars asshole holy smokes it was better than me on those and they suggested this I didn't try it out didn't occur to me I could do that I just thought it was the wildest thing I have heard and so now obviously when I buy things there I'm like ok uh it helps even more if you do keep the packaging and I certainly keep all my receipts but it's kind of like I guess you're kind of renting it I don't know because there's no feeding you for you I'm not sure they realize how gracious their employees are yes what kind of vehicle I feel like a box with all the parts in the box ready to be assembled ok that's your cartier you're ready? Just simple that's how to get that got all the good parts this is the glue. Yes, this is the glue. Yes for shell I'm a jag x I expect no less in my jury business, I've one hundred percent guarantee that's lifetime and, um I stand behind everything I make I have I have a benefactor and she is so hard on her jewelry and I have made pieces umpteen times over for her without any charge and anything that goes out with my name on it they're heirlooms in the making and as they get passed down to the generations they could be sent back to me and I will customize them for the next generation until I am no longer alive and wow, I don't know of anybody else who stands behind their work like that, but it has my name on it I don't know either and I'm I'm wondering if there is no way you could structure some of that it's not guaranteed for loss it's guaranteed workmanship right? If a class of breaks I'll repair it but that's not there there postage! I'll cover posters and things like that but that's not my workmanship if it's something that I've made out of silver that's my workmanship that's faulty or something like that that's on me, okay but if if something is break something breaks and needs to be restrung or something like that that's just good common sense business I got that but the thing that the customization you're customizing pieces that you created for one person you're customizing it for somebody else generationally different I would have a charge in there for that I really would I think it's very gracious of you but I think on a business level that's an operative a lost off activity that's that's my gift to the person that I worked on in the beginning as an heirloom that's something because tradition is so important to me and because heirlooms air lost to this next generation that's my gift to the future and that's advertise this at all but it's in my new marketing okay how would you say you definitely want that front center your market yeah it's in my new marketing when I'm my whole marketing is in transition right now and so that's in it's gone from I'm not going to elaborate on that but yes it's in my new market yeah good good awesome now we know what kind of vehicle you are way had any doubt whatsoever way have more vehicles going here I love these analogies tim says that he's a freight train strong steady, dependable but occasionally derails way have some other car analogies indigo says they're an audi luxury power nimble handling but a little outside the box and carol j says I agree with catherine I feel like I'm in need of a new paint job that's great yeah compared to vehicle makes the easy because we all are driving vehicles we all see them all the time and you really do want to be aware of what you're presenting and if it needs a new coat of paint if it needs to be glued together assembled you know you're in rt a we won't say the flipside at which is a katie and knock down that makes a big difference it really does look forward to hearing more those going forward this is about being gracious it's it's about really coming from place of loving your clients and I've been in places where I loved all my clients that I've been in places where wasn't so crazy about a few of them and boy when I got him out of my life everything looked a whole lot better it really did you have a choice and who you work with you get to choose who you want to spend your time with who you want to spend your talents with and make those choices wisely police don't go at this from a place of hungry and desperate it's uncomfortable and most people can sense it so let's look at the ways you can go the extra mile for your client and we're going to apply something called blue ocean strategy to your client and your business based on the industry competition okay, blue ocean is really a cool concept it really is not just going the extra mile because that's kind of dura ger it's more about creating a whole new way to take the journey and we're going to dive deeply into that um as we go through this it's also about standing head and shoulders no, your sweater won't be mafia eaten, but I love the fact that there's a billy goat wearing a red sweater and none of his brethren are wearing sweaters a tall so it is about standing out from the herd or I don't know goats are herded are they flocks? I'm not sure about that were herded ok, but it's a flock of sheep and they're in the same family are they the goats are bullheaded oh ok I got it it's also about being a black swan it's about being a black swan hang onto your uniqueness. I remember when I was growing up and I remember thinking I just want to be like everybody else. I just want to be normal like just one of the ordinary I hated being different, I hated it and it took me until I was probably in my mid thirties to appreciate it it really did take an incredibly long time because being different felt difficulty and I didn't fit in and it was uncomfortable and this is a place in your life when you want to revel in your differences. You want to bring those to the surface, and you want to leverage them. You really do. What makes you different makes you special, makes you extraordinary and makes you someone that we need here on earth to contribute your uniqueness to the rest of us while we're here, if you were just like everybody else, and nobody actually is like anybody else, everybody is unique on a level, and then no one's special, either. So it's, just incredibly complicated, but be that blacks one, be willing to step out from the flock, and when you follow the flock, you end up a lamb chop. You don't want to follow the flock.