are you being served?

Four Pillars of Business Series - Part 2: Client Experience

Read here for Part 1: Culture

'They don't know what I want."

"That company doesn't get what real customer service is."

"They don't care."

And so you, the customer, stop caring. You seek another company, with a better experience, better service, where you feel they care.

And your business profits drop, marketshare is lost, internal staff cuts to save the companies bottom line, customer service drops, more customers leave. A vicious cycle.

You may have members, clients, customers or stakeholders. Whatever you call the people who purchase your product our service, they have expectations that are often unstated and invisible, but vital for the relationship to continue and flourish.

Client experience is built on five major elements:

Belonging - everyone wants to know they belong somewhere. People will go a long way to know that when they interact with you, they will be treated as a valued member of that community.

Significance - people want to be 'wowed' and made to feel special. It's not enough to simply belong; we want to know we matter too.

Making a Difference - we will stay if we know that we are part of something that is making a difference, something bigger than us. We love to know that because of our involvement, something special is created.

Momentum - we love to be involved in a story worth telling. We love seeing the story unfold, even better when there is a character to admire, and because we're in the story, we are entertained and emotionally satiated.

Content - lastly, we want to know that what we purchase is awesome, different, unique and special. The more special, the better.

Remember the first product that you bought that made you feel special? How cool the company was, how the product disrupted the market and you were one of the early adopters that was part of something that moved ahead of the market? Perhaps the CEO had an interesting and colourful backstory, came back from the brink more than once, succeeded nonetheless, a true hero you could identify with.

How many garage to millionaire stories do we have? How many of those companies til today are the rock starts of having a culture that creates a client experience, we all want to be a part of?

Because of the focus you place on the culture in your business, you can attract the best people - the high performers who love being part of something that matters - so they will provide this experience for your clients.

Everyone wants to feel these emotions.

We want to know we belong to something that's bigger than us. We want to know we matter. It matters that we are contributing to something more than someone's bottom line. We love to be part of something where the story is unfolding. We love to be entertained. And we love to know we're getting value for our investment of our money and time.

We will condemn any business that treats us like a fool, or takes advantage of us.

People talk about how a business makes them feel.

Make your clients feel the feelings of belonging, significance, and contribution. Give them moments to experience you. Let them know you, behind the logo and the branding.

You get the best clients.

Christiane is an Agile Coach, Meta Dynamics Coach and Visual Facilitator. She joined The Coaching Institutes’ Professional Master Coach Program in order to gain deep knowledge of human behaviour and business success. She works with businesses, teams and individuals on developing high performance, connected relationships and reaching business outcomes. You can follow her on Twitter under @agiledynamics