Crafting a Great Client Experience—From Mediocre to Memorable

Summary

Dans cette présentation, Gigi partage son expérience de transformation de l'expérience client et son impact sur sa business. Elle explique comment revoir entièrement son processus, des premiers contacts à la livraison de projets et au-delà, a permis d'augmenter son chiffre d'affaires par client de 40% et de doubler son taux de recommandation. Elle propose une stratégie en cinq étapes pour créer une expérience client exceptionnelle et souligne l'importance de la nutrition de l'expérience client après la livraison des projets pour maintenir des relations solides avec des clients existants et augmenter le taux de rétention et de recommandation.

Takeaways

• 🚀 L'expérience client est un élément clé pour la croissance d'une entreprise, elle peut augmenter la satisfaction et les recommandations.
• 💡 Il est important de repenser et d'améliorer continuellement l'expérience client pour se différencier de la concurrence.
• 📈 L'amélioration de l'expérience client peut entraîner une augmentation significative des revenus et des taux de recommandation.
• 🔍 Mener des recherches pour comprendre ce qui est vraiment important pour les clients et adapter l'expérience en conséquence.
• 💭 Analyser attentivement chaque étape de l'expérience client pour identifier les points d'amélioration et les opportunités d'optimisation.
• 🛠️ Mettre en place des processus et des outils pour rendre l'expérience client plus efficace et personnalisée.
• 🎉 Ajouter des éléments surpris et délicats dans l'expérience client pour créer des moments mémorables et renforcer les liens avec les clients.
• 🔄 Utiliser les retours d'expérience des clients pour itérer et améliorer continuellement l'offre de services.
• 🤝 Entretenir des relations solides avec les clients après la fin des projets pour encourager les rétentions et les recommandations.
• 📊 Mesurer et suivre les indicateurs clés de performance (KPI) de l'expérience client pour orienter les améliorations.
• 🌟 Offrir une expérience client exceptionnelle pour se démarquer et créer une véritable différenciation sur le marché.

Q & A

Quelle est la profession de Gigi avant de devenir indépendante ?

Avant de devenir indépendante, Gigi travaillait en tant que cadre supérieur en branding à Londres.

Comment Gigi a-t-elle décidé de pivoter vers l'éducation en branding et en gestion d'entreprise ?

Gigi a décidé de pivoter vers l'éducation en branding et en gestion d'entreprise en 2020, lorsque le côté design de son entreprise s'est un peu calmé à cause de la pandémie et que beaucoup de clients étaient inquiets de l'avenir.

Quel est l'effet que l'expérience des clients a eu sur le chiffre d'affaires de Gigi ?

L'expérience des clients a eu un effet significatif sur le chiffre d'affaires de Gigi, avec une augmentation de 40% des revenus par client et une augmentation du taux de recommandation double.

Quelle est l'importance de l'expérience des clients dans le business selon Gigi ?

Selon Gigi, l'expérience des clients est cruciale pour le succès d'un business. Elle peut changer la perception que les clients ont de leur travail et peut conduire à une augmentation des revenus et des recommandations.

Comment Gigi a-t-elle restructuré son expérience client pour améliorer son business ?

Gigi a restructuré son expérience client en repensant chaque étape de l'interaction avec les clients, de la première contact à la livraison de projet et au-delà. Elle a cherché à améliorer et innover à chaque étape pour répondre aux besoins de ses clients.

Quels sont les avantages de l'automatisation et de la templatisation des processus pour un business ?

L'automatisation et la templatisation des processus peuvent aider à gagner du temps, à rationaliser les tâches et à améliorer l'efficacité globale du business. Cela peut également contribuer à une meilleure expérience client en offrant une service plus cohérent et professionnel.

Quelle est la différence entre l'expérience des clients et l'expérience de nurturing d'un client selon Gigi ?

L'expérience des clients se réfère à l'ensemble des interactions qu'un client a avec une entreprise, tandis que l'expérience de nurturing d'un client se concentre sur les interactions après la fin d'un projet pour maintenir une relation avec le client et potentiellement augmenter les revenus à moyen et long terme.

Comment les marques peuvent-elles utiliser les réseaux sociaux pour améliorer l'expérience des clients ?

Les marques peuvent utiliser les réseaux sociaux pour interagir avec les clients, partager du contenu pertinent, célébrer les réussites des clients et offrir un soutien supplémentaire. Cela peut renforcer la relation avec les clients et augmenter la visibilité de l'entreprise.

Quelle est la stratégie recommandée par Gigi pour améliorer l'expérience des clients ?

Gigi recommande une stratégie en cinq étapes pour améliorer l'expérience des clients : recherche pour comprendre ce qui est important pour les clients, analyse du processus existant, mise en œuvre de changements, ajout de petits éléments surpris pour delight les clients et révision pour amélioration continue.

Comment les entreprises peuvent-elles maintenir une relation avec les clients après la fin d'un projet ?

Les entreprises peuvent maintenir une relation avec les clients en créant une séquence de nurturing, en envoyant des emails de suivi réguliers, en célébrant les réussites des clients sur les réseaux sociaux et en offrant un soutien continu.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 L'importance de l'expérience client pour la croissance de l'entreprise

Le paragraphe 1 met en évidence la transformation de l'expérience client et son impact sur la croissance de l'entreprise. L'orateure raconte comment elle a révolutionné son expérience client de la première interaction à la livraison de projet et au-delà, ce qui a conduit à une augmentation de 40% de revenus par client et à une augmentation du taux de recommandation. L'histoire personnelle est utilisée pour montrer l'importance de l'expérience client et comment elle peut être un élément clé de la réussite commerciale.

05:00

🎨 Présentation de Gigi et introduction à l'expérience client

Dans le paragraphe 2, Gigi se présente et explique l'importance de l'expérience client pour transformer son entreprise. Elle partage son parcours professionnel, passant d'être une executive de marque à un designer indépendant et à un éducateur en entreprise et en marketing. Elle souligne comment le pivot de son entreprise pendant la pandémie pour enseigner des compétences commerciales aux designers a été crucial. L'objectif de la présentation est de discuter de l'expérience client, souvent négligée, et de montrer comment elle peut changer la dynamique de l'entreprise.

10:03

💡 L'expérience client qui a changé le cours de l'entreprise

Le paragraphe 3 présente l'histoire de l'expérience client qui a été un tournant pour l'entreprise de Gigi. Elle raconte comment un projet important l'a poussée à améliorer sa proposition et son approche professionnelle. L'interaction positive avec un client important lui a fait réaliser l'impact de l'expérience client et comment cela peut attirer des recommandations et des clients récurrents. Elle explique comment cette prise de conscience l'a amenée à repenser son expérience client de bout en bout.

15:04

🛠️ Comment construire une expérience client exceptionnelle

Dans le paragraphe 4, Gigi aborde les cinq étapes pour construire une expérience client exceptionnelle. Elle commence par la recherche pour comprendre ce qui est important pour les clients, suivi de l'analyse pour optimiser le processus existant. Elle souligne l'importance de la personnalisation et des interactions minuscules qui peuvent avoir un impact significatif sur l'expérience globale. Gigi encourage à dépasser les attentes des clients pour créer une expérience mémorable et à utiliser l'expérience client comme une arme secrète pour développer l'entreprise sans perdre la tête.

20:06

📈 Amélioration continue de l'expérience client

Le paragraphe 5 met l'accent sur l'importance de l'amélioration continue de l'expérience client. Gigi explique comment identifier les étapes inutiles du processus, les aspects qui peuvent être rationalisés, automatisés ou délégués, et les éléments qui peuvent être éliminés. Elle partagent son expérience personnelle de simplification du processus de vente, de création de modèles pour les documents et les e-mails, et de gestion des situations difficiles. L'objectif est de rendre le processus plus efficace et de libérer du temps pour se concentrer sur la qualité du travail et de l'expérience client.

25:07

🎁 Ajouter des éléments surpris et délicats à l'expérience client

Dans le paragraphe 6, Gigi discute de la phase de délice, où il s'agit d'ajouter des touches supplémentaires et surpris à l'expérience client. Elle utilise l'exemple d'un restaurant haut de gamme pour illustrer comment les petits détails peuvent faire la différence entre une expérience satisfaisante et une expérience mémorable. Elle suggère des idées pour rendre l'expérience plus personnalisée et mémorable, comme l'envoi de notes manuscrites, des cartes Starbucks ou de vidéos de teaser de marque. L'objectif est de créer des moments inoubliables qui renforcent la relation avec le client et augmentent la probabilité de recommandations et de travail répété.

30:09

🔄 Rétroaction et amélioration continue de l'expérience client

Le paragraphe 7 traite de la phase de révélation, où il est important de recueillir des retours des clients et de faire une revue interne du projet pour identifier les aspects à améliorer. Gigi souligne l'importance de la réflexion personnelle sur l'expérience de travail, les limites et les domaines d'amélioration. Elle propose un modèle de document de revue de projet pour aider à structurer cette rétroaction. L'objectif est de tirer des leçons de chaque expérience client pour améliorer continuellement l'approche et éviter les erreurs précédentes.

35:10

🌱 Nurturing Experience : L'expérience client après la livraison du projet

Dans le paragraphe 8, Gigi explique l'importance de la nurturing experience, c'est-à-dire de maintenir et de renforcer les relations avec les clients après la fin du projet. Elle suggère de créer une séquence d'interactions régulières pour rester en contact avec les clients et montrer qu'on se soucie d'eux au-delà de la simple réalisation d'un projet. Des idées telles que l'envoi de messages de suivi, de célébrer les réussites des clients sur les réseaux sociaux ou d'envoyer des cartes d'anniversaire de marque sont proposées pour maintenir une relation forte et augmenter les chances de recommandations et de travail répété.

40:12

💬 Conclusion et encouragement à créer une expérience client exceptionnelle

Dans le paragraphe 9, Gigi conclut en soulignant à nouveau l'importance de l'expérience client et comment elle peut devenir un avantage concurrentiel dans un monde où les interactions humaines deviennent de plus en plus rares. Elle encourage les gens à réfléchir à leur propre expérience client et à la façon dont ils peuvent l'améliorer. Elle partage son expérience personnelle et les résultats positifs qu'elle a obtenus en mettant l'accent sur l'expérience client, y compris une augmentation des revenus et des taux de recommandation. Elle invite les gens à la suivre sur Instagram pour en apprendre davantage et à échanger sur l'expérience client.

Keywords

💡Client experience

L'expérience du client est un concept central dans le script, qui se réfère à l'ensemble des interactions et des perceptions qu'un client a lorsqu'il interagit avec une entreprise ou un professionnel. Elle englobe tout, desde el primer contacto hasta la entrega del proyecto y más allá. La qualité de cette expérience peut avoir un impact significatif sur la satisfaction des clients, leur loyauté et leur probabilité de recommander les services. Dans le script, l'amélioration de l'expérience client est présentée comme un élément clé pour la croissance et le succès d'un business.

💡Re-engineering

Le re-engineering, ou l'ingénierie inverse en français, est le processus de réexamen et de réorganisation complète d'un système ou d'un processus pour améliorer son efficacité, sa performance ou sa satisfaction client. Dans le contexte du script, cela implique de repenser et d'optimiser la manière dont les clients sont traités, de la première interaction à la fin du projet et au-delà.

💡Referral rates

Le taux de recommandation ou de renvoi fait référence à la fréquence avec laquelle les clients satisfaits recommandent un service ou un produit à d'autres personnes. Cela peut être un indicateur important de la réussite d'une entreprise, car les recommandations peuvent attirer de nouveaux clients et augmenter les revenus.

💡Revenue per client

Le revenu par client est une mesure de la valeur générée par chaque client unique pour une entreprise. Il est calculé en divisant le revenu total d'une entreprise par le nombre de clients. Un revenu par client élevé indique que les clients sont satisfaits et prêts à payer plus pour les produits ou services, ce qui est bénéfique pour la croissance et la rentabilité de l'entreprise.

💡Brand educator

Un educateur de marque est un professionnel qui se concentre sur l'éducation et le développement des marques, en aidant les entreprises à comprendre et à mettre en œuvre des stratégies efficaces pour construire et maintenir une image de marque forte. Cela implique souvent de partager des connaissances sur la création de contenu, la gestion de la réputation en ligne et le développement de relations avec les clients.

💡Freelancing

Le freelancing est une forme de travail où un professionnel travaille indépendamment, généralement sans être employé de manière permanente par une entreprise spécifique. Les freelances offrent leurs services à divers clients pour des projets ou des contrats temporaires. Cela leur permet de travailler avec une variété de clients et de projets, tout en ayant la flexibilité de choisir leurs propres horaires et projets.

💡Solo Design Studio

Un studio de design solo est une entreprise de design opérée par un seul individu, sans employés supplémentaires. Cela implique que la personne est seule responsable de toutes les tâches liées au design, à la gestion et au développement de l'entreprise. Les studios de design solo sont couramment utilisés par les freelances qui souhaitent travailler indépendamment et avoir un contrôle total sur leurs projets.

💡Pivoting

Le pivot est un terme utilisé pour décrire un changement stratégique dans les affaires, où une entreprise modifie ou ajuste son modèle de business, son marché cible ou son offre de produits pour répondre à des changements de marché, des besoins des clients ou d'autres facteurs externes. Le pivot est souvent nécessaire pour la survie et la croissance d'une entreprise.

💡Streamlining processes

La rationalisation des processus implique l'amélioration et l'optimisation des activités et des procédures pour rendre les opérations plus efficaces et moins coûteuses. Cela peut inclure la réduction des étapes inutiles, l'automatisation des tâches répétitives et la standardisation des processus pour éviter les erreurs et économiser du temps.

💡Networking

Le réseautage est l'acte de créer, de maintenir et de développer des relations professionnelles avec d'autres personnes dans le même domaine ou dans des domaines connexes. Cela peut inclure la participation à des événements, la création de liens en ligne via les réseaux sociaux ou les forums, et l'échange d'informations et d'expériences avec d'autres professionnels.

💡Personal branding

Le branding personnel fait référence à la création et au développement d'une image et d'une réputation distinctes pour un individu, qui peut aider à établir une présence et une crédibilité dans son domaine professionnel. Cela implique souvent la création d'une histoire, des valeurs et d'un style uniques qui reflètent les compétences et les passions de la personne.

Highlights

The power of a standout client experience on business growth and revenue.

Re-engineering the entire client experience from first contact to project delivery and beyond.

Increasing revenue per client by 40% through improved client experience.

Doubling referral rates due to a focus on client experience.

The importance of client experience often overlooked in business.

Transformative experience through a large project that challenged comfort levels.

The impact of professional presentation on client perception.

Rebuilding the proposal process to better reflect the value of high-end services.

Client feedback as a pivotal moment of realization for the importance of client experience.

The role of micro-interactions in shaping the overall client experience.

Exceeding client expectations to create a memorable and positive experience.

The misconception that client experience only matters during the project timeline.

The significance of nurturing client relationships post-project for continued growth.

The five-step framework for building a standout client experience.

The importance of research and understanding what clients truly value.

Analyzing and streamlining the client journey to improve efficiency and client satisfaction.

Implementation of the client experience framework and the iterative process of refinement.

Incorporating delight elements into the client experience to create memorable touchpoints.

The benefits of conducting an internal project review for continuous improvement.

Transcripts

and that's when I started seeing the

power a stand out Cent experience can

actually have on your business I began

re-engineering my entire client

experience from the first Contact to the

project delivery and Beyond and then

with each client I would try to tweak

and improve and innovate and therefore

my Revenue per client was higher and

actually increased by 40% at that point

my referral rates double because almost

every client I worked with would

actually refer me to one or more

[Music]

people hey everybody what's up we have

Gigi on the show and she's got an

awesome presentation to share with us on

many different topics so without further

Ado Gigi could you please just introduce

yourself tell us a little story and then

tell us what we're going to learn today

of course thanks for having me Chris so

I'm Gigi uh just before we hit record I

told uh Chris that actually my full name

is yvena De rash and I'm not going to

force him to try and pronounce it it's a

little bit of a tongue twister so that's

why most people call me Gigi I'm a brand

and web designer I've been running my

solo Design Studio W6 creative since

about 2017 I say about because it's a

little hard to actually pinpoint exactly

when I fully committed to freelancing I

quit my corporate job working as a brand

executive in London back in 2016 and it

took me some time to really figure out

what I wanted to do because I'm not

really a designer I'm self-taught

designer graduate of YouTube University

uh and really commit to doing this

full-time and then I'm also a brand

educator business educator so that's a

pivot I actually made in 2020 when the

pandemic hit and the design side of my

business kind of quiet down a little bit

a lot of clients get scared of what's

going to happen Etc so I decided to take

a step back and see I can pivot a little

bit in my business and use my experience

in business and in management and

marketing for my corporate uh era and

basically start teaching designers those

business skills so they can confidently

you know sell their services and Market

themselves raise their prices and

ultimately build a design business all

right what are we going to learn from

you today today I actually want to talk

about client experience because client

experience is something that really

change my business and it's one of those

things that is often

forgotten uh something that a lot of

people don't really focus on because it

seems very natural it seems very obvious

like of course we want our clients to

have a really great experience of

working with us who wouldn't right but a

lot of people don't make the conscious

effort of actually focusing on client

experience and so before you kind of

roll your eyes at me and you think about

oh my God this is just another thing I'm

going to have to add to you to my plate

another thing that I'm going to have to

to work on I want to tell you really

quick story of how client experien

changed my business so the year I

believe it's about

2018 uh late 2018 and I'm working at

this point full-time as a freelancer

designer and I have a few returning

retainer clients but I'm hustling

hardcore you know I really try my best

to get my name out there I'm on social

media I'm networking I'm going to all

these events my internal um my internal

introvert is dying because I can't go

and meet so many people so I'm really

like hustling hardcore and and I

realized that I am yet to hit a project

that is the project you know we all have

like that one project that changes the

entire route of our career that lights

this light bulb uh on our path and so

one day I get an inquiry from this

business owner

and it's it's the biggest project to

date and I get really excited I really

want to get this project but then I'm

also terrified because the project

really challenges me to push my prices

Way Beyond my comfort level like back

then I was charging maybe 2 3K on

average per project and I think my

highest project back then was around 4K

and this was a 12K project and so I

suddenly have this major freakout moment

and realize oh crap I need to up my game

because I really want to show up like

you know the kind of business that

charges 10K without really making a big

deal out of it cuz when I was working

corporate I remember we I worked with

this consultancy that worked with high

netw worth clients Cent net with

individuals and so presentation always

really mattered I mean I'm talking from

The Proposal you sent to the client to

the brand of tea you're going to serve

at the client meeting it really mattered

so here I was looking at this client and

this client for me was my kind of high

net worth client and I'm looking at my

word do contract and my Frankenstein

proposal

realizing that this is not really how I

want to be perceived and so I spent 2

days completely rebuilding my proposal I

remember I even changed my email

signature to look more professional and

I end up Landing this client we have a

great time we have a really great

project lots of Lessons Learned uh

trying to get a project well beyond my

scope and on the final call on the

wrap-up call as part of her feedback she

tells me Gigi I work with a lot of

contract actors in my business but this

was by far the more thoughtful fun

personalized and easy experience I even

I ever had and for me this was that

moment this is the moment when the light

bulb turns on but I didn't really know

what to make of it and so a couple of

days later I get an email from one of

her friends and she tells me hey Justin

told me so much about you and what

you've done for her can we jump on a

call and so I land another

client and that's when I started seeing

seeing the power a stand out client

experience can actually have on your

business and after that I basically

began reengineering my entire client

experience from the first Contact to the

project delivery and Beyond and then

with each client I would try to tweak

and improve and innovate and really

learn about what are the things that my

clients actually care about and that was

a game changer for my business because

not only I was actually spending less

time on the admin side especially on my

business because I streamlined and

automated and basically templatized a

lot of different areas of my process but

my clients were happier and therefore my

Revenue per client was higher and

actually increased by 40% and clients

started to become repeat clients and my

referral rate doubl at that point

because almost every client I worked

with would actually refer me to one or

more people so that's why I wanted to

chat about today and funny enough

earlier today one of my clients actually

sent me a testimonial so this is a

project we just launched recently this

is a really great example of how clients

are impressed in the Moment by your

technical skills of course you know the

beautiful designs you're going to create

for them but what they're going to

remember is your

experience so imagine if you know you

could also increase your your revenue

and reclaim your time at the same time

and instead of spending hours trying to

figure out blog post to write or what to

post on Instagram you actually let your

clients do the marketing for you because

that's the real power of a stand on

client experience and so today I want to

really break this down break down the in

and outs of leveraging your client

experience and how to use that as your

secret weapon so to say for scaling your

design business without losing your

sanity and I think we need a we need a

little bit of a drinking game here

Counting how many times I'm gonna say

client experience because it's gonna be

a

lot just drink water everybody but you

can drink every single time she says

client

experience

yes so with that we know that client

experience is basically all of the

interactions that your clients will have

with you and your brand right so that

would be things like visiting your

website filling out your inquire or your

contact form jumping on a sales call all

those things but it's also and a lot of

people forget that it's also all those

micro interactions that people have with

your brand those tiny almost invisible

touch points that may not seem like a

huge deal in the moment but can

significantly contribute to the overall

client experience so this could be

things like for example your contact

form email confirmation is your client

just getting a general thanks will be in

touch message or or do they get a more

personalized confirmation from you with

for example a time frame so they know

when to expect a reply from you and

maybe some next steps or maybe even some

resources that they could check out in

the meantime or for example this could

be interactions that you have with your

client on social media even so do you

engage with them there do you share

about them on your own profile and as a

result drive more eyeballs to their

business so obviously I'm not telling

you that you need to go and completely

change your email confirmation and go

and harass your clients on social media

but what I do mean is that those more

details they're going to matter and

they're going to contribute to their

overall experience every client is going

to have some sort of level of

expectation that needs to be met in

order for them to have a good experience

of working with you but it's once you

actually exceed those expectations that

magic really happens let's say you're

walking into a high-end restaurant right

for a very special occasion and the

obvious interactions that you're going

to expect from a place like this are for

example the host is going to greet you

hopefully they're going to smile at you

uh you're going to expect the place to

be clean you will expect the food to be

good as well and those are all essential

and expected in a fine dining setting

for you to be satisfied but now imagine

that at some point the chef comes out

and personally greets you and maybe even

offers you an appetizer and then the

waiter sees that you're struggling to

choose between two desserts and he

proposes how about I bring you a plate

with small portions of both desserts and

then recently we went to this restaurant

and they gave us cookies when they left

just for the road now Chris would you go

back to a place like this of course

exactly and would you tell people about

it yes exactly because while you

expected good service it's those small

details that leave us not just s

satisfied but delighted and far more

likely to return and refer others as

well and the same thing can be applied

to our design business as well now the

mistake that I see a lot is that people

think that client experience Matters

from the project start to the project

endend like this is how most people

think about client experience and often

the level of care we provide to our

clients actually starts really strong at

the beginning right because we're super

excited about the project and then it

gradually d down towards the end to the

point where sometimes we just can't wait

to wrap up the project and move on to

something else but in reality your

client experience begins way earlier

from the very first interaction with

your brand and that could be you know

someone landing on your website for the

first time from a Google search for

example but it could also be someone

telling someone about you so maybe you

know it's a ex-client or maybe just

someone who saw your Tik Tok St and

decided to share it with a friend

already at that point their perception

of you is going to form and that will be

the beginning of their experience with

you and your brand so it happens way

before the project actually starts just

like with our example of the restaurant

the table reservation process could

easily Make It or Break It for you so

recently we went to Turkey and we saw

this restaurant that we really wanted to

go to as a family but their booking

process was horrendous you needed to

contact them through WhatsApp fine but

on their website instead of having for

example a button to be redirected to

Whatsapp or at least to have the phone

number so you can save it and then go

into WhatsApp and start a chat they put

a picture of the phone number so

obviously would didn't end up going to

this restaurant because it took me

forever to try to memorize the number or

get another phone the experience

mattered and as a result we ended up

going somewhere else and they ended up

losing their customers the real goal of

the client experience is somewhere else

do you want to take a guess where I have

no idea well actually it's in the client

nurturing it's what happens after the

project is over and once the project is

over as I mentioned earlier a lot of the

time we just forget about the project

we'll move on to the next thing to the

next client but this is actually where

you can add additional brand touch

points that a lot of people completely

ignore this by the way to actually grow

your client relationship and as a result

grow your Revenue as well so we'll talk

about that in more detail a little later

on all right now before we dive into the

Practical part of this where we're

actually going to look at how you can

build your own standout client

experience uh because really that's my

goal for you after this to be so pumped

and so fared up to actually want and and

apply all of that and create your own

amazing standout experience but I do

have some really awesome resources for

you to follow along so I have this

workbook that you can download There's a

link there it's 1 sixc creative.com

slthe future and you can download the

main workbook there I break down

everything step by step so whether

you're listening to this watching their

workshop or actually decide to do this

later on you can uh you can follow along

super we'll include the links in the

description for anybody that's watching

this uh just check the description below

all right so let's dive into how to

actually build your own standout client

experience and there really five steps

to actually achieve this the first one

is research you need to understand what

actually matters to your clients because

people are going to Value all sorts of

things some will value time some money

some communication some efficiency some

will value speed over quality or maybe

they're really big on communication or

maybe they actually don't care how long

it's going to take as long as the

quality is like really really high and

instead of making assumptions and

thinking well my clients need all those

things you need to have conversations

with your past clients and listen to

what actually matters to them and what

made a difference for them during your

project why did they choose you so some

of the questions you could ask them are

what initially LED you to actually

choose me over someone else or what

aspects of the project did you find most

valuable or is there something that I

did particularly well that impressed you

or you remember or was there anything

you wish that had been done differently

this will actually give you a starting

point for your client experience and

showcase what truly matters to your

clients when I was re-engineering my own

client experience at the very beginning

I talked to my clients and I was

surprised that the

majority of my clients prefer to do a

this strategy call live versus filling

out a questionnaire so with some clients

I would basically send them a really

long questionnaire with tons of

questions about their business their

goal their target market all of that but

with others with bigger projects I was

actually jump on a call with them and do

this Workshop style do it live and what

I found is that live strategy clients

all raved about spending two hours or 3

hours sometimes on this Workshop whereas

questioner clients most of them said

that they actually found this activity

really daunting and really difficult and

also very timeconsuming for them and

then when I was analyzing my process

which we'll do in a moment together I

realized that while I was thinking that

the questionnaire is going to save me

time it was actually taking almost

double the time because I had to review

the client answers I then had to reach

out because there was missing

information or needed clarification then

we ended up actually still jumping on a

call together and spending an hour going

through their answers so it wasn't

actually saving me time so to me it was

a clear message that I needed to let go

of this questionnaire and just offer

those workshops and position it in a way

where the client sees the value so I can

increase my prices as well for the extra

time and now it's actually one of my

favorite parts of the process because I

get to really show up for my clients and

I get to really connect with them which

definitely adds extra brownie points to

uh to our relationship but then of

course you also need to consider what

are you actually naturally good at and

what can you deliver based on your

current resources because for example if

you're currently only freelancing

part-time and you know maybe you have

two kids at home and you only have about

3 hours a day to actually dedicate to

project work then speed is probably prob

not going to be your selling point of

your client experience it's just not

something that you can actually

physically deliver on so ideally you

want to avoid attracting the type of

clients that value speed above

everything else because you're not going

to be able to do that and that's okay as

I said before you don't actually need to

deliver on every single thing you don't

need to hit every single spot you need

to be aware of what you're capable of

and also what you enjoy doing and based

on that you can grow grow and expand

your client's experience the next phase

of this framework is to analyze this is

actually the fun part at least for me

because the purpose of this is to

outline your entire process step by step

and start analyzing it so I created a

little fig Jam template for you that you

can actually copy and use to create your

own process the purpose here is to

outline every single step that your

client and and you go through throughout

your project so starting from the

inquiry the sale experience the

onboarding experience project and then

as we talked about offboarding and

nurture the idea as set is to outline

every single step and also the different

scenarios so for example during the

inquiry you can get an inquiry that

could be a good fit and a bat fit what

happens in case of both what happens if

the client doesn't sign the contract and

however you do this by the way you can

obviously you can use technology amazing

fig Jam but my very first one it was

just pen and paper this is this was from

2018 I literally sat down took pen and

paper and started writing it so it

doesn't matter how you do it whatever

you do I recommend categorizing it so

you can see what are the emails that you

send what are the documents or the

templates that you actually sent to your

clients where are the revision routs

where are the client calls and then once

you have all of this you will take a

look at this and you're going to decide

on four things what are the things that

you can streamline so shorten the

process what are the things that you can

automate what are the things that you

delegate to a VA a team member and what

are the things that you can get rid of

altogether because there's going to be a

lot of that so for example back then my

process and this is just an example

process but my process from the inquiry

to actually Landing the client was I'm

going to have a sales call with them I'm

going to send them a proposal I'm going

to get them to confirm that they're

happy with the proposal send them a

contract get them to sign it send them

the deposit invoice get them to pay it

and only then they're going to become a

client right and back then it made total

sense back then I thought okay you know

it worked pretty logical until I

actually put it down on paper and real

realized that all of that could be

shortened into one email or just one

document you know I could just send a

proposal with the tnc's and they could

be directly you know I could have an

automation that transfer them to the

invoice after the sign or what I do now

most of the time is to close the client

on the sales call and then just send

them quickly to the tnc's they sign them

they pay the invoice and that's it and I

get the client within 30 minutes whereas

back in 2018 this would take me days if

not weeks but it seemed to make so much

sense back then it makes a lot of sense

and there's a lot of people going to

listen to that's my process right now in

case you're wondering what tncs are

terms and conditions yes thanks thank

you your contract thank you for clarify

if the process works it works but at

some point if you want to increase the

amount of clients that you want to take

on for example and you realize that you

just don't have the BWI and you realize

that you're spending weeks waiting on a

client to go from sales call to actually

closing decline something's got to

change cuz you will realize suddenly

your process is going to be way shorter

not because you're shorting it on

purpose but because you made it more

efficient so the other thing I actually

realized again once I put this all down

on paper one thing I realized as well is

that I was spending hours crafting

proposals and presentations for my

clients and every time I was dreading

doing that because I knew that it was

going to take me so long one of the

first things I did is that I created

templates for for every single one of

those documents templates that it could

update in 30 minutes to an hour send it

off and of course this was a time

commitment at first but especially as a

solo Design Studio without having

especially back that any extra help I

needed to make my process more efficient

now at the end of the project when we

need to actually create the brand style

guide I can send it out to my VA and she

just needs to follow the instruction we

have exactly the same structure every

single time and we don't need to worry

too much about that and the other big

big thing that I realized and

templatized was actually all of my

emails I was shocked when I saw how many

emails do I send for every single

project they were taking me so much time

and they would always be the same email

but I would constantly type it from

scratch where's the logic in that so I

create this massive Google doc with all

of my process emails from you know this

is a good fit this is not a good fit

this is a reminder to sign your contract

this is your welcome email then I would

actually bring them into my email app

and add them as templates in there so it

would only take me a click and then

changing a couple of links changing my

client's name and the email is ready but

the bigger game Cher when it comes to

emails was actually creating emails to

deal with those uncomfortable situations

as a people pleaser I would spend hours

crafting the perfect email to tell the

client to politely back off with the

let's make it pop request and direct

them to the contract and I was realizing

that I was actually it was having an

impact on my mental health as well

because I would spend days thinking

about that email over the years I've

definitely had my fair share of

difficult client situations lots of

lessons but I would just sit so long on

writing that one email thinking you know

what to write and then rewrite and send

it off and immediately regret everything

I wrote and when I actually templatized

those emergency emails I was saving time

but I was also saving my sanity in a way

it was a huge help so on the web page I

mentioned earlier 1 sixc creative.com

thee future I actually shared a couple

of resources for various email templates

that you can also swipe but I really

encourage you to start building your own

library for your own type of clients

your own process your own situations

whether you know it's actually like

documents or it's process emails that

you send for your clients every single

time all right moving on to the next

stage of that framework is the

implementation and we kind of talked

about this already but I want to mention

here is to avoid completely changing

your entire process and your entire

customer experience at once start by

deleting unnecessary steps in your

process and then focus on all right what

are the things that I can streamline

what are the things I can automate

delegate before you actually even start

adding anything new and try to

prioritize the things that you believe

will actually make the biggest

difference for you and your clients

you're not going to transform your

client experience all at once it's all

about implementing refining testing

reviewing it's always a work in progress

kind of like a designer's website you're

never really done you're always working

on it

so don't overwhelm yourself focus on one

thing at a time and see how it works out

with you know a couple of clients before

actually making it permanent I love

following Adam maseri on Instagram and

he has a broadcast channel where he

shares about Instagram updates new

features and all of that and they never

roll out features all at once across the

globe you know they always pick a couple

roll it out in certain areas

and see how that works they test it out

uh see if it's a good idea sometimes

it's not and they decide to go with

something else and the same goes for

your client experience don't roll out

all of those changes at once because

it's going to overwhelm your clients

it's also going to overwhelm you and

it's going to get messy the next stage

and I love this one is the Delight phase

this is where you sprinkle those little

surprise and Delight elements into your

customer experience going back to our

example with the restaurant the little

additional touches that I mentioned so

you know the appetizer the uh desserts

the cookies at the end these are all

surprise and Delight elements that

elevate your dining experience going

back to Fig Jam if you look at your

process you can start thinking about

okay so what are the small unexpected

touches that I can make in my client's

journey to make it a little bit more

rememberable so for example you could

send a handwritten note when they become

a client uh maybe and I love this one I

actually do this with my clients maybe

at some point halfway through you send

them a Starbucks card you know like a

little a little pickme up halfway

through to just say hey we halfway there

let's power through maybe you can

surprise them later on when you're done

with their brand maybe you can surprise

them with a brand teaser video you know

it may not have been been included in

your deliverables when you agreed to it

so this is going to come as a surprise

to them but you already have a template

for that that you prepared in advance so

it's only going to take you you know a

short amount of time to actually do it

or in the same way you could create you

know a launch graphic or a video for

their website launch so they can

actually share it on their social media

and it's also actually an opportunity

for them to kind of give you a shout out

and promote your services so it's a

little bit of a win-win here or and you

don't need to do all of these things I'm

just giving you ideas here kind of like

food for thought you could send them a

little card for their brand versary

brand versary for me I mean the laun the

one year birthday after their brand or

their website launch you could send them

a little note saying hey it's been a

year since we launched a new brand

congratulations or maybe it can even be

a happy birthday email even if you're

you know not working together with your

client anymore surprising the Light

Elements they don't need to be like

those grand or expensive gesture there

are small unexpected moments that will

surprise your clients and this is

actually the kind of stuff that clients

are going to remember and talk about

because I'm sure that if you get a

cookie at the end of your dinner you're

going to go and you're going to tell

your friends about it you're going to

post a story on Instagram about it

because it was unexpected it was

surprising and finally the very last

stage of the framework is to reveal so

in addition to actually asking your

client for feedback maybe you know you

do a little wrap-up call uh maybe you

send them a short survey you also want

to do an internal project review for

yourself to see how the project actually

went what are the things that you're

proud about what are the things that you

believe could have gone better and again

I really equipped you with everything

you need here I included a resource for

you so it's a really simple two-page PDF

uh where you can add some details about

the project you can outline the project

goals whether you've met them or not

what was the client's overall feedback

also and I usually like to give myself a

little rating for the project right so

how do I feel about the onboarding

process how was the communication from

the client side from my side uh what do

I believe went well what do I believe I

could have gone better because it's not

always about what how your client

interpreted it but also you a lot of the

time especially if we have a difficult

client for example we put on a brave

face we do our best work and maybe the

client is really happy in the end and

they gave you like five stars in every

single category but for you it was a

complete disaster you were disorganized

you lost some files you forgot to save

something uh you did not respect your

own boundaries so it's important for you

as well to take some time and before you

go and jump into the next project to

actually take a step back reflect and

see what you can improve on for the next

project that's good it's good to include

your own Reflections and your notes uh

because it's not just about what the

clients's think can feel it's about how

you feel about your own experience you

can look for ways to improve or to

Define different boundaries often times

when when you have a bad client

experience it's it's a opportunity for

you to learn so that the next time you

hear the same kinds of things in your

prospect you could say look I've heard

this before and I want to know how

you're going to respond to X and then

depending on their answer you could

decide to accept them as a client or not

absolutely and I think with every

reflection your own boundaries toughen

up you realize what are the things that

you actually enjoyed in this project

personally and what do you need to seek

in your future potential clients or what

are the red flags that you miss with

this client that you need to be aware of

for the next time so absolutely

reflection will also help you SL better

clients that you enjoy next time and

then of course guess what you do it all

over

again because as I said your client

experience is a constant work in

progress It's not like you went through

all of these five steps you created your

client experience and you can forget

about it it never really stops you

review you reflect you adapt you try you

test it out you try incorporating

something you that didn't really work

out or it was too demanding from your

side you uh you you didn't think that it

would be so complicated maybe you tried

a new tool and it didn't work out you

can try something else or you go back to

a simple Google dog uh to I don't know

create your experience in there whatever

works for you so in a nutshell these are

the five steps to kind of create your

client experience this is what the

client experience is all about uh of

course as I said it's not going to

transform overnight but it does have

compounding effect sort of speak in the

long run on on your client Lifest value

through repeat work and through

referrals speaking of which I do want to

talk about the nurture experience I know

I seized it a little bit the nurture

experience may be that I don't want to

say a magic one because I don't believe

that there is anything like that in

business but it could be that missing

piece that can really transform the way

that you work with clients and also just

in general your client relationship sh

so it sees the importance of that

earlier and this in combination with

project experience is what really helped

me significantly grow my own design

business by maintaining those strong

relationships with existing clients and

increasing their client rotation rate um

increasing the repeat project and

doubling that referral rate thanks to

client satisfaction so let's give this a

little closer look a lot of the time

what happens as we saw earlier is that

our level of care client experience

often dies down towards the end of the

project right we're so in a rush to get

to the next thing to land the next

client we're basically constantly

chasing that next opportunity chasing

that next lead forgetting to actually

nurture and leverage the relationships

that we already have when in reality

with minimal effort we could completely

change that so instead of just cutting

ties with your client at the end of the

project create a nurture sequence where

you're going to check in with your

client a couple of times throughout the

next 6 8 12 months the frequency and the

time frame don't really matter this is

completely up to you but the whole idea

is that throughout the next few months

after launching the project you're going

to casually check in with your client to

really stay top of mind so that's that

means for example sending a quick

check-in email after one month and just

see you know say hey how you doing how's

your website treating you did you get

any cool results did you hit your goals

and then you can actually take that

information and update their testimonial

or the case study use that for

marketing then let's say after a few

weeks you'll see I don't know they

landed a feature in a magazine in

Business Insider or in Forbes

so you celebrate that with them on

social media maybe you even share their

news on your stories and say oh my God

I'm so proud of the clients I'm working

with and use this opportunity to also

share that case study and share about

their Rebrand experience so at the same

time you're promoting your services

you're showing social proof and you're

supporting your past clients staying top

of Mind once again then after that

you're going to check in with them let's

say three maybe 6 months in in whatever

it is and you check in with them just to

see how things are going maybe you sell

on social media that they're preparing

for I don't know for some launch maybe

they're launching a new service so you

just check in with them say hey I saw

this post I saw that you're launching a

new service congrats so glad of all so

happy with all the things that you're

doing so proud of you is there anything

I can do to help and then at some point

later on you send them a referral and

then mention you know one year in you

send them a brand versary card now with

these extra interactions you're

basically showing your client that

you're in their Corner you're there

you're cheering them on you're the

person that they're going to think about

when they actually need help or there

someone who needs what you have to offer

because so many times I had situations

when I would send a quick checkin or a

quick followup with a past client asking

if they need help with anything and they

will come back to me saying gosh yes I'm

so glad you reached out I wasn't sure if

you were actually taking on new clients

I thought you were too busy we can't

just expect our clients to think of us

all the time because they don't they

have their own lives they're doing their

own things they're not thinking of you

you need to be proactive and take that

step forward for them and when you do

that something really amazing happens

this extra

Revenue so suddenly the 10K project that

you just wrapped up is bringing you an

extra 7,000 through client referrals and

repeat work now of course maybe you know

you would have gotten some extra work

anyway from them you would have maybe

down the line they would have been the

one to reach out to you and maybe send

you a referral Etc but for my experience

the more thoughtful I am about

proactively nurturing my client

relationships the client relationships I

have with past clients the more likely

they are to come to me and refer me to

other people take some time to think

about about what that nurture experience

could look like for you and your client

and start to test it out you don't need

to go all in straight away and I've

actually included some nurture email

templates in the workbook as well

another reason to download it so you

have something to start with but if you

don't currently for example work with

clients that you can test out this

nurture SE uh sequence with you can also

just reach out to past clients check in

with them you probably have clients that

you haven't talked to in ages thinking

but why are they not referring me why

are they not coming back you know for

repeat work probably because they're

busy running their own business and

doing their own thing but if you reach

out if you get into the spotlight if you

become top of Mind who knows maybe they

actually need your help so ask them how

are they doing how's their business is

there anything I can help you with don't

go in with expectations you know don't

say hey I'm opening my books I need

clients give me some work make it casual

maybe you can go on their website see if

anything is broken maybe you can offer

to fix that for them I had a client once

who tried to set up a popup on her

website by herself and I was just

randomly looking through client websites

it wasn't really you know anything that

I wasn't even thinking of reaching out

to her I just landed on her site saw

that there was a broken popup reached

out to her offered to help it for free

actually because it was an easy fix but

she probably forgot about it and it

turned out into a 5k project because she

actually wanted to refresh that entire

page just couldn't find the time don't

take your past client relationships for

granted they are your

Salesforce if they love working with you

they will sing praises about you and

especially if you're an introvert like

myself and so you know going out there

there and pitching and networking it

just takes a lot out of you this is the

perfect marketing strategy because your

clients will be doing that for you

anyway so I hope that this gives you for

some food for thought and actually gets

you really pumped about creating your

own standout client experience and

especially in today's world you know

when human interactions are so valued

and they become more and more rare you

know with the rise of technology and Ai

and the service industry is becoming so

saturated this can actually become your

competitive Advantage if every single

client of yours says that working with

Tom is the best thing you'll ever do his

experience is phenomenal and he says

that to every single one of his friends

all of his you know startup friends and

people who are thinking about starting a

business the experience is what clients

are going to remember and Rave about so

as I said hopefully this gives you some

food for thought you can now take some

time to review your own process review

your current client experience talk to

past clients as them what are the things

that they value what are the things they

loved about working with you and how can

you amplify that in your current client

experience wonderful Gigi thanks for

sharing this process something that I

admit I'm not very good at doing to my

own detriment luckily I have a team that

does this and I've had to learn over the

years as I've noticed other service

providers providing an amazing customer

experience especially after delivery

thanks for sharing the resources if

people want to find out more about you

where should they go probably on my

Instagram so that would be 16 creative

this is where I hang out daily share

tips and behind the scenes of M business

but also mostly I talk to other

designers out there so that's another

thing once I really hon down into the

client experience part I that was also

around the time where I pivoted in my

own business and actually started

focusing more on the education side uh

started talking more to designers on

social media so I kind of gradually

stopped promoting my design business Al

together but the revenue that that side

of the business brings hasn't decreased

it increased because as I said the

clients are doing the marketing for me

yes of course I will share you know here

is a really cool project we just

launched we just dropped working with

this person and for example next week

I'm having actually podcast interviews

with some of my past clients it's also a

marketing strategy where we actually

talk about their client experience but I

stopped constantly daily think about how

can I reach my clients on Instagram

because the clients were marketing for

me so once you really transform your

client experience you focus on your

client's experience

and you create this amazing client

Journey you can also I don't want to say

take a step back but you can also relax

a little bit when it comes to trying to

be everywhere everywhere at the same

time but yes you can go and check out my

Instagram at6 creative wonderful so if

you've enjoyed this presentation if you

got some value go give Gigi a follow at6

creative on Instagram you can learn a

lot more she's probably got a lot more

resources for you on her Instagram feed

Gigi thanks very much for being on the

show thank you I appreciate

it