{"id":69,"date":"2014-10-29T12:41:30","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T02:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/17\/?p=69"},"modified":"2014-10-31T09:02:11","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T23:02:11","slug":"turning-happy-clients-into-ambassadors-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/17\/turning-happy-clients-into-ambassadors-for-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Happy Clients into Ambassadors for your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While many advice businesses believe they are delivering great service to their clients, they are still failing to generate sufficient referrals to take their business to the next level. Founder and Director of The Customer Experience Academy, Cameron Brown, says the secret is to turn clients into ambassadors\u2026<\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\n

I speak to a lot of advisers, and many of them truly believe that they offer their clients a great service experience. When I speak to them they say: \u201cMy clients are happy\u201d, or \u201cI get great feedback in client surveys\u201d, or \u201cI\u2019ve never lost a client\u201d.<\/p>\n

While I find that they generally do have good customer service practices, and their clients do like them, these advisers invariably say that they are not getting as many referrals from these clients as they would like.<\/p>\n

A lot of the time, this is because the customer experience they\u2019re delivering simply isn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n

Yes, they\u2019ve got happy clients, and they\u2019re happy to talk to their adviser about how satisfied they are. But to take the business to the next level, the adviser needs to get those clients to talk to others about how good their adviser is. That\u2019s the level we want to get to, and it\u2019s about a lot more than simply providing good customer service.<\/p>\n

What are your clients saying about you?<\/h2>\n

Studies from around the world, across all kinds of industries, have shown that 80% of businesses believe that they provide superior customer service. But just 8% of their customers agree.<\/p>\n

That is clearly a massive gap, and while advisers may believe their clients are receiving a good service, the only way to be sure is to ask them.<\/p>\n

A number of businesses do this by conducting customer surveys. These are often done online, with a small number of questions designed to identify how satisfied clients are with the services on offer, and inviting them to comment on any areas they feel the business could improve upon.<\/p>\n

While surveys are valuable, to be able to deliver an outstanding customer experience \u2013 the kind that turns clients into ambassadors and drives referrals \u2013 you need to take this one step further.<\/p>\n

You need to understand what your clients are currently thinking and feeling when they deal with you and your team, and what they want to think and feel as a result of doing business with you. I recommend that you to create what\u2019s called a Customer Journey Map, which captures each and every touchpoint with the client, as well as the thoughts and emotions they experience at each step. A great way to start this process is to interview your clients one-on-one. If you don\u2019t get that kind of depth of understanding about your clients\u2019 experience, then you\u2019re just going to be guessing as to the areas in which you need to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have hundreds of clients \u2013 I don\u2019t have time to do this with everyone!\u201d<\/p>\n

The good news is that you don\u2019t have to conduct a customer experience interview with every single client. Instead, you need to identify your \u2018ideal client\u2019. What are their attributes? Why do you like working with them? Once you\u2019ve worked out who your ideal client is, use their profile to determine a sample of people from your client base to interview. You may find it valuable to have someone external to your business conduct these interviews so that the client feels more comfortable expressing their experience fully, instead of just filling you in on the parts that are already working well.<\/p>\n

Through this process you will find there are some elements that are entirely specific to the individual, but you will also get an overarching view of what your ideal client needs, thinks and feels, and that\u2019s what you can use to shape your service. (You\u2019ll also find that you then start to attract more of your ideal clients to your business.)<\/p>\n

The Hierarchy of Experiences<\/h2>\n

All decisions are based on emotions. Every single touchpoint is the adviser\u2019s opportunity to wow their client in a way that has them taking another emotional step on the journey to becoming an ambassador. Every touchpoint that doesn\u2019t do this moves them away from this goal.<\/p>\n

If all you\u2019re doing at each point is simply keeping them satisfied, or even making them happy, then they\u2019re not going to move further along the path to becoming an ambassador. If you\u2019re only delivering a satisfactory experience, then you\u2019ll struggle to generate the referrals you want because your clients won\u2019t be instigating the conversation about how great your service is.<\/p>\n

No one is ever going to say to their friends: \u201cGuess what? I just had a satisfying experience, I must tell you all about it!\u201d<\/p>\n

This leads us to the model I\u2019ve developed called the Hierarchy of Experiences.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s start at the bottom, with the Venter. This is a client who has an experience that is much worse than they expected. They are likely to be angry, and will want to vent their frustration, perhaps on social media, or to their friends at work, or even to other parents standing on the sideline of their children\u2019s sporting match! And they will say: \u201cDon\u2019t ever go to this place!\u201d Ideally you would hope never to have any clients in this position.<\/p>\n

The next level, the Retreater, is someone who gets less than they expected from the service. They won\u2019t return to you in the future, and they may not even tell you that they were dissatisfied \u2013 they\u2019ll just disappear. While less likely to volunteer their experience with their friends and family, if anyone asks, they\u2019ll say: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t go there if I were you\u201d.<\/p>\n

The third level is the Alternator. They\u2019ll get what\u2019s expected from the service, and nothing else. Their experience is totally neutral. This means they\u2019re more likely to alternate between you and someone else. For example, in the case of an adviser, they might get insurance from one financial advice provider, but then get their super advice through their fund. If somebody asks them, they\u2019ll say: \u2018You could go there, or you could go somewhere else as well\u2019.<\/p>\n

Moving towards the top of the pyramid, we come to the Follower. This person receives a little more than expected. They are going to return to you, but deliver less than expected the next time and they won\u2019t stick around for long. You may see some referrals come from this level, but only if they\u2019re asked.<\/p>\n

If you can take your service to the next level, you\u2019ll have someone who is completely loyal to your brand, and they\u2019ll be a lifelong client. And if anyone asks, they\u2019ll say: \u2018Yes, you should definitely go there. I\u2019ve been going there for a long time, and I wouldn\u2019t go anywhere else\u2019.<\/p>\n

But they still haven\u2019t reached the Ambassador level. This is where the referrals really start flowing. This is about delivering the unexpected. This is anticipating their needs, before they do, because you know your clients better than they know themselves. Personalised experiences are what is key here. If you get to that level, where you\u2019re delivering not only what your clients want but the unexpected as well, then they\u2019ll say: \u2018You must go there!\u2019<\/p>\n

Ambassadorship only comes from understanding your clients and their emotions and feelings, and designing a customer experience around what you want them to think and feel at each point in the process.<\/p>\n

For each individual touchpoint, you need to sit down and determine:<\/p>\n