Your Client Experience vs The Average Client Experience

Did you know that the average client experience is mostly forgettable and occasionally remarkable?

Mostly forgettable. Occasionally remarkable. 

Forgettable. The average client experience is forgettable. 

Maybe our initial reaction to that is “no way!”. But I'd challenge you to think about the last 5 times you've been out somewhere as a customer. How many of those experiences carry a strong, unforgettable memory with them? Probably none. Maybe one. And to add, we are more likely to remember a negative experience than an average, normal one. I asked you the last 5 experiences because if I asked you the last 25 you probably would not be able to remember where you were for those…see? Forgettable!

If we are committed to excellence in our businesses, we must care about our client experience. Whether we interact with clients once a week or once a year - we can elevate their experience. We can make it memorable.

If we are intentional about our client experience, we give ourselves the best chance at it becoming memorable. Memorable moments are shareable moments.

How might we hit the outcomes we want to hit with our clients WHILE creating memorable moments? How can we regularly interact with customers without things ever going stale? 

While there are many ways we could focus on elevating our client experience, I'd suggest we all start by Breaking The Script.

We've got routines and scripts we use with our clients. Patterns we follow. Cycles of how we meet, when we meet, what we do when we meet, what we say and how we take next steps. Round and round it goes. If we want to cultivate memorable client experiences we have to be willing to break the script sometimes. 

To do things outside of the norm. To slow down when we normally speed up. Or speed up when we normally slow down. To provide moments of head tilting; experiences that don't just bring the basic emotions of happy, sad or mad. Things that would transcend “that meeting was good" or “things went fine, as expected”. Elevate your client experience by bringing forth a richness of emotion and experience (think surprise, introspection, awe, wonder, stillness and delight). 

Instead of a simple fact finder meeting - what if you provided your prospect with a few moments to sit quietly and write out what they want their legacy to be. You may allow them to share or encourage them to take it home and place it somewhere special to them. Or what would it mean to your clients to write a letter to themselves to read a year from now - where are they, how do they feel in the areas of finance/faith/routine/community/business in this moment? Address it and mail it in a year. What if instead of simply hearing about their story in your meetings, you took it one step further and sent a special gift that's personal to their story? 

How might you bring the element of surprise to your clients? 

How might you enable moments of introspection and reflection during your time with clients?

What can you get your clients to wonder about?

Is there a story of significance within your own life that you'd be willing to share with clients?

How can you create stillness in your process?

This isn't an overhaul of your process - it's a way to occasionally elevate it. Creating moments with clients will not come without intention and action. So, what if you took the rest of September and committed to creating memorable experiences for key clients? To breaking the script? To elevating your client experience? 

Your current script has the blueprint for creating memorable moments - it's up to you to activate those moments.

P.S. The inspiration for this message comes from a book that a client gifted me called The Power of Moments, written by Chip and Dan Heath. I'm sorry if this makes you cringe, but the book is now scribbled with my notes ALL OVER IT. I am that kind of book consumer. But, so far, I give the book a 10/10. It's educational and informative. It simply shares data and ideas around what makes moments and what elevates experiences. It's been a tremendous catalyst in helping me think differently about systems and processes. For your business and mine.