Co-Founder Taliferro
Introduction
The perfect client experience is essential to create and maintain, but how do you know what it looks like? And how can you ensure that every client who walks through your doors has a positive experience? The answer is communication. You need to communicate with clients on a personal level and develop relationships with them, so they know they're valued as individuals.
Create a culture of service
To create the perfect client experience, you must have a culture of service. This means that you need to:
- Create a culture of service. The key is ensuring everyone who works for your company knows what "service" means and how it can be applied in their daily work. The best way to do this is by creating a customer service standard that defines what excellent customer service looks like for your organization and specific examples of how different employees can deliver on those standards. Using these standards, you can train all employees to provide excellent client experiences from the moment they walk through your door until they leave with their vehicle ready for its next owner or driver.
- Create a culture of ownership. In addition to being able to provide great customer service when clients come into contact with individual employees, it's also important that your entire team feels responsible for delivering excellent experiences throughout every interaction with each client—whether in person or over the phone or email—and not just when clients first walk through the door at your location. This will help ensure that everyone treats each client as if they were their responsibility; no matter what happens during any stage of their work together (beyond normal circumstances), no one should ever blame another employee if something doesn't go quite right because they're all working toward achieving one goal: making sure each customer receives amazing treatment from everyone involved with her case.
Own your mistakes
When something goes wrong, we all tend to make excuses. We'll say things like: "I didn't see that they had a meeting scheduled on the same day," or "They should've told me about their deadline sooner." Instead of making excuses, own up to your mistake by saying something like "I'm sorry for not noticing their scheduling conflict," and then explain what you could do differently next time. Or better yet: ask them what they'd like from you next time so that it doesn't happen again. But in doing so, you're avoiding the real issue and making yourself look bad.
Under promise, over deliver
We all know that customer service is a vital part of the sales process, but what exactly does it mean to provide excellent customer service? The best way to do that is by putting yourself in your client's shoes and understanding their needs. As a real estate agent, there are certain things about the experience that you can control and others you can't—but even if your client has unreasonable expectations or an agenda of their own, there's still plenty you can do to make them feel like they got exactly what they wanted. Here are some tips:
- Always under promise, over deliver.
- Communicate clearly with paperwork.
Follow up and follow through
Following up with clients is essential to developing positive relationships. It's also a great way to ensure that you're doing right by your customers and that they are satisfied with their experience.
You should follow through on any promises or commitments you make—and if you don't, apologize and rectify the situation immediately.
Get to know your clients on a personal level
As a rule, it's essential to get to know your clients on a personal level. Get to know their families and interests, ask them about their hobbies and interests, their dreams and aspirations, and their favorite things to do and places they like.
This is one of the most effective ways of humanizing your business and making the client feel comfortable with you as an individual who genuinely wants to help them achieve whatever goals they have set for themselves.
Stay in touch
Now you've got their attention, and it's time to keep it. Don't wait for your client to come back to you with a problem—this gives them the power and puts you on the defensive. Instead, stay in touch by emailing or contacting your client regularly—at least once or twice a month—to see how things are going and if there's anything else you can do for them. You'll be surprised at how much this simple gesture will build positive relationships with your clients and show them that you care about their businesses as much as they do.
When communicating via social media sites, try sending out personal messages instead of generic posts such as "I hope everyone has a great weekend!" Nobody wants to feel like they're part of an automated marketing campaign! Instead, take advantage of the fact that these platforms allow users' interests and preferences when crafting messages so you can tailor them better towards each user based on what they've liked/viewed/commented on.
You can create a great experience for clients through communication and caring about them as individuals.
Good communication is vital. Your clients want to know that you're always available, even to answer questions or give them peace of mind.
Follow up, follow through, and stay in touch with your new customers! It's important to let clients know that you appreciate their business and are there for them if anything goes wrong (like shipping delays). If something goes wrong, apologize sincerely so that they don't feel like they wasted their money on your company because it doesn't care about its customers' satisfaction level.
Conclusion
So, how can you create the perfect client experience? Simply put, it's about doing everything you can to ensure your clients feel cared for and valued. It's about being friendly, respectful, and professional with them, so they feel comfortable in your company. It's also about keeping in touch with them after the sale is complete so they feel like part of your team rather than simply another number on an invoice. This doesn't just happen overnight—it takes time and effort—but if you follow these principles closely enough, there's no doubt in my mind that someday soon, someone will say something similar about how wonderful working with your business has been.
Tyrone Showers