One of the most important parts of having a sustainable business or practice is to have a solid and rich client experience.

When you have an amazing client experience, client turnover is minimal and it takes much less effort to maintain a full practice. Since most of my clients are coaches or entrepreneurs that are “coach like” in their approach, we usually start creating their client experience by looking at creating a solid process that to moves their Divine Ideal Client through the transformation my clients help provide, and creating an accompanying tool box of exercises, tools, and workbooks to help deepen the clients’ experience, learning, and growth. Furthermore, having a well designed process and toolbox creates a huge differentiating factor between you and other coaches.

This is what I call the overt client experience…meaning that these are elements of the client experience that should be woven into your value proposition, your messaging and your overall marketing. It will help attract clients to you, as well as help you hold a strong container for creating the transformation and change you’ve been hired to provide.

I also believe in creating a covert client experience to help build long term client satisfaction and retention.

Why covert? Because it feels more special and magical to the client when there are pieces to your client experience that aren’t expected. These make them feel special and grateful for working with you. As an example, create an underlying process for how you will handle client birthdays, anniversaries, and major milestones that doesn’t necessarily feel like a “process” on the receiving side.

Here are some examples that my clients have used in their covert client experience:

• Sending a hand written card to a client when they start with you.
• Sending a video to a client on their birthday and/or a gift that feels really special.
• Sending an e-card on St Patrick’s day to say how lucky you are to work with them.
• Sending a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant when they refer a friend to you.
• Calling a client after a big event to ask how it went.
• Going to a funeral when a family member has passed away.
• Showing up at a client’s speaking event in support of them.
• Offer a special bonus call or retreat just for your clients.
• Sending a baby gift when they have a birth of a child.
• Send a birthday present that is meaningful to that person.
• Invite clients to come with you to events (sports, art, business) that they would enjoy.
• Celebrating their anniversary of working with you with a gift, video or card.
• Creating a certification of completion when they complete your program.

Remember that part of what makes the client feel special is when they feel that something was done especially for them. If you have a small client base, then it is relatively easy to do this without putting much formal process in place. If you have a larger client base, think of how you could put some processes in place that makes this easy and repeatable, but still feels special and magical on the receiving end. Let’s face it, in this day and age, whenever you get a handwritten note, it is special. Your client doesn’t need to know that your assistant or you put a reminder in your calendar to write a handwritten note to that client on that day.

I encourage you to sit down and map out your current client experience. Where are there areas of opportunity to create a richer, deeper and better client experience? Then list out what you would like to do – both in your overt and your covert client experience – to make your client experience even better. What do you need to do/shift/create to make it even better? What resources can you use to make your new process simple, elegant and meaningful?

I’d love to hear some of the things that you do in your business to create an amazing client experience!

Please share! And, as always, I appreciate your comments and feedback.

With appreciation,