Our VP of Coaching & Consulting, Sarah M. Cain, recently had a tooth extraction. She was nervous and had a lot of anxiety going into the procedure. But the oral surgeon she found to do the procedure made it a positive experience—from the pre- to the post-op.
“Everyone there made me feel so comfortable,” Cain said in a recent episode of the Framework podcast. “When I told them I was anxious about the procedure, they were like, ‘No worries. Everyone gets anxious and we do this all the time.’”
The surgeon and the team eased her fears and made her feel cared for every step of the way.
“Now I’m telling everyone, ‘If you ever have to get a tooth extracted—which I hope you don’t—you should go here,’” Cain said.
While what you do might not be as physically painful as a tooth extraction, talking about finances might still be anxiety-inducing for your clients. And you want to make them feel so at ease and taken care of that they’ll tell everybody about you.
The client experience you, your team and your firm provide affects how clients feel about you and whether they’ll recommend you to others.
Cain notes that to deliver an exceptional and “world-class” client experience, you have to go “beyond the basics of what your clients expect.”
“You have to make them feel special and like they matter and delight them so they can’t wait to talk about you,” Cain said.
Client experience is an overall feeling that your client has in and after their interactions with you. And there are so many things that impact that experience, but we have pinpointed 10 things you should focus on:
- Service model
- Onboarding
- Reviews
- Appreciation
- Communication
- Technology
- Education
- Service
- Feedback
- Environment
In this article, I’ll focus on how you can create an intentional action plan to upgrade your client experience based off how you’re currently performing in those 10 areas.
Step 1: Rate Yourself on the 10 Components of a World-Class Client Experience
Look at that list of the 10 components above and ask yourself: How good or not good are we in these areas? You can use this checklist to make this process easier.
But whether you use the checklist or not, you want to rate your client experience in each of these components on a scale of one to 10 with:
- 1 meaning you’re not confident you provide a great experience in this area; and
- 10 meaning you’re very confident you provide a great experience in this area.
It might be hard, but be honest about the things you need to improve upon during this exercise.
Step 2: Gather Input
Sometimes when we’re rating ourselves on things, we have a personal bias for picking things that we’re most familiar with and like to work on the most. For example, you might like technology and think, “If I just spend more money on technology, it’s going to make everything great.” But if you were to ask your clients, they might say your technology is doing just fine and you actually need to work on your office environment.
Plus, as leaders, we have blind spots. Research from the Consulting Psychology Journal1 found that senior executives had a big discrepancy in how they rated their own performance and how others rated them. And you might have blind spots when it comes to how your clients and your team view your client experience. As such, I recommend that after you rate yourself on the 10 components of a world-class client experience, you solicit input from your team and advisory council.
It’s always a good idea to ask your advisory council what they think to guide your decision on what needs the most work. You want to be able to view your client experience through the lens of your ideal clients and improve the things they think need improvement. So if you don’t yet have a client advisory council, it might be the time to start one.
Have both your team and your client advisory council members rate your firm on a similar scale of 1 to 10 with:
- 1 meaning the firm needs improvement in this area; and
- 10 meaning the firm excels in this area.
This will help you identify the one to three areas all three parties—you, your team and your clients—feel need improvement.
Step 3: Pick Top Areas for Improvement
In this step, you’re going to start narrowing down the list of things on which to build your action plan. During step one, which areas of the client experience did you rate your firm lowest? Which areas did your team and your client advisory council rate your firm lowest? You can ignore the things that were rated an 8 and above, and focus on the things that were rated lower than an 8.
From this list, pick the common areas that need the most improvement. Ask yourself:
- Which of these improvements is going to take the most work?
- Which improvements—even if they’re hardest—need the most work?
- How much time and budget can we reasonably accommodate to complete these improvements?
- In what areas can we impact client engagement the most?
Some of these areas could be quite robust to tackle and improve, and you don’t want to take on too much, so focus on two or three maximum for your action plan.
And if you pick a particularly challenging area, it’s perfectly alright to just to focus on that one. Because your answers to the questions above will help you gauge how much work this improvement will take, what time capacity your team has and what other projects you have planned for the foreseeable future.
Step 4: Put Together a Draft Action Plan
Then we go into actually filling out a draft of the action plan with SMAC (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Compatible) goals. Use our resource to make the job easier.
For example, let’s say your two chosen areas for improvement were appreciation, with an average rating of 5, and environment, with an average rating of 6.
Creating the action plan is simple: Write down three areas within client appreciation and three areas within environment that need improvement. Then write down three ideas for each component that you can implement to start leveling up your client experience in these areas.
When it comes to appreciation, let’s say your client advisory council and team have decided that you need to reach out more to clients throughout the year. You can list ideas like: (1) send clients a birthday gift, like a cooler or Bluetooth speaker; (2) send clients a random act of kindness gift, like a gift card for coffee; or (3) send clients a holiday gift for their most important holiday, like Hanukkah or Christmas.
When it comes to environment, let’s say your clients say you need to upgrade some things around the office to make it more hospitable. You can (1) ask them specifically what things need upgrading or bring in an outsider to look at your office with fresh eyes; (2) identify a few things that you can feasibly upgrade, like your blinds and curtains; and (3) give yourself a deadline to make the upgrades.
Then you can take time to thoroughly prepare a draft and how you will communicate it to your team (which is step 5). A well-prepared draft conveys the purpose of the plan and generates excitement about the improvements, thus securing team buy-in.
To set yourself up for success when drafting the plan:
- Identify your key opportunities for enhancing the client experience. Be ready to articulate why the priorities you’ve chosen are the most impactful.
- Figure out what might be holding your team back. Are there current processes, workloads or gaps in resources that could hinder progress? Understanding these obstacles is critical.
- Think through your rationale. Think through how you’ll explain the “why” behind the plan, the importance of your team’s roles and how these changes align with your shared goals. Anticipate questions or concerns that might arise and rehearse how to address them openly and constructively.
Step 5: Get Team Input and Buy-In
Once your action plan is drafted, the next key step is engaging your team input to ensure their buy-in and highest probability of success. Leveling up your client experience should be a collective effort, where every team member understands why it’s important and their role in making it happen.
Here’s how to conduct and follow up on a team meeting designed to maximize meaningful input and buy-in for the plan:
When the day arrives, use your team meeting to both present the plan and foster collaboration. Remember, the goal is not just to inform your team, but also to engage them:
- Present your vision and priorities tactfully. Explain why each improvement was chosen, what role each team member will play and how their efforts contribute to measurable outcomes.
- Welcome concerns and feedback. Changes often feel like extra work at first, so it’s important to create a safe space where your team can express their thoughts. Reassure them that you’re open to reprioritizing certain tasks to ensure their workload remains manageable.
- Leverage your team’s insights. Your team members are often on the front lines and may be aware of hurdles or possible roadblocks you’re not privy to. Encourage them to share insights, as their input could strengthen your plan and its execution.
Step 6: Finalize the Plan and Regularly Monitor Progress
Once you conduct your team meeting, refine your action plan based on the input you received. Include clear dates, timelines and responsibilities for each action item. Distribute the updated plan to the team to ensure alignment and accountability.
From here, ongoing follow-up is essential:
- Monitor progress regularly. Add the action plan as a standing item on your regular team meeting agenda. Check in on status updates, discuss any challenges and celebrate wins as you move closer to implementing all the action items.
- Maintain accountability. Ensure everyone understands their role in executing the plan and institute a policy that if anyone is going to miss an assigned deadline, they notify the team in your regular meetings and renegotiate a new timeframe.
- Celebrate milestones. Whether it’s big wins or small progress, recognizing efforts keeps your team motivated and reinforces the new client experience habits and processes.
By taking these steps, you demonstrate strong leadership, foster collaboration and increase your team’s investment in enhancing the client experience.
Making Meaningful Connections
Improving your client experience isn’t just about making incremental changes—it’s about creating a meaningful connection that makes your clients feel valued and cared for.
By following these six steps, you’ll start delivering an experience that meets and exceeds your clients’ expectations.
You want to provide that level of service—not only because it’s the right thing to do for your clients, but also so that your clients are out there telling everybody about you.
Remember, every small improvement builds toward a bigger impact. Take action today, and soon, your clients will become your most vocal advocates, sharing your excellence with the world. Start upgrading your firm’s client experience—because your clients deserve nothing less than the best.
Resources
- Executive Blind Spots: Discrepancies Between Self- and Other-Ratings, Consulting Psychology Journal Practice and Research, October 2003, p. 222-229.
