A Quick Word on Last Week’s Post & Then Onto Our Topic As Usual!
Now if you got the chance to read last week’s post, you saw that I revealed the Secret Summer Sale (and if you had a big white hole in your emailed post, I apologize! It was supposed to be an embedded video on “The Exceptional Experience” but for some reason it wasn’t compatible with Mailchimp. If you’d still like to see it, you can do that here.) And although ALL of the sales are amazing ($300 Off the Consultation & Coaching, $200 Off the Consultation alone, & $100 Off “The Exceptional Experience!”), I have to admit that I have a favorite. And my favorite is “The Exceptional Experience.” I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s 6 classes, all LIVE, all intensive, and all jam packed full of value. And not to mention the downloads, the talking scripts, the feedback, getting your burning questions answered, and so much more!
There have also been questions from those who can’t attend this time because of their busy schedules, if there will be another one offered soon as they don’t want to miss out! Right now I’m actually not 100% sure if there will be another offered as it just depends on my workload for the rest of the year. So, if you are at all available and do have the time and attention to give to this, I encourage you to register now to make sure you don’t miss out! I did extend the Early Bird Pricing for one more day, but it does end tonight! So reserve your spot here and I’ll see you when we start next week on the 11th!
Become an Expert in Your Clients
Now let’s get on with it! Here in St. Louis the county libraries have all been under major renovations over the last few years. Each one will shut down for around a year, get its individual makeover with its unique focus, and then re-open. And one of those makeovers was pretty epic. It’s a two story library that has dedicated its entire lower level to the children’s section, and half of the level is an out of this world, totally unbelievable, I can’t imagine how much they spent on this, play area. To be fair, it’s really a fusion between a playground, a Children’s Museum, a library, and a technology center, all rolled into one. It’s pretty intense, but it’s also pretty awesome.
Now, one of the most popular features of this epic children’s section is a series of interconnecting tubes that have a high speed air blower that kids will put huge pom poms and scarves in. The tubes will suck them up, send them through the tubular maze, and spit them out so they can have another round of a wild ride. The kids can’t get enough of it, and frankly I can see why. But if you notice, there’s a real glitch to the system.
The kids hate the scarves. The scarves don’t move quickly through the maze, they don’t get thrown out with the velocity that the giant pom poms do, they don’t get easily sucked up by the tube, and the kids have to spend way too long fighting the air blower as half the scarf hangs out of the tube and half of the scarf is in. The result? The kids regularly fight each other to be able to get their hands on those few precious pom poms while mass amounts of unloved scarves are left on the floor, totally trampled on.
And unfortunately the library has either failed to notice, or failed to adapt. Now they’ve noticed other things (or maybe parents have told them), but this one for some reason just hasn’t gotten any attention. Despite the fact that it regularly causes fights and arguments.
But they need to continually watch. They need to continually observe their clients, which in this case are small children. They need to walk, observe, and see how their clients are interacting with their products and services, make note, and adjust. They should consistently take an active role in learning what their clients use, and what they don’t use, what is appreciated, and what is not appreciated, what should be increased, and what should be eliminated.
Observe Your Clients like You Would Observe a Room
The same goes with your clients. When you’re creating a client experience, creating Welcome Packet documents, and adapting your design process to make sure it’s client friendly, it’s important to observe. It’s important to notice and watch, what are your clients using? What documents are they drawn to? What documents do they pass over? What do they ask lots of questions about? What is there a lot of confusion about? If you give them a gift, do you often notice it being used? Or do you usually notice it stuffed in a drawer somewhere?
You can (and should) become an expert in your clients, by simply observing, watching, and noting. Try to become curious and dare I even say fascinated, by client behavior. Clients will show you what they want and what they need, if you only take the time to really notice them. Just as you do when designing a space.
I don’t remember the quote exactly or unfortunately who said it (if you do, please share in the comments below!) but a famous interior designer once said that wherever chairs are at the end of a party, is where they should be placed for the rest of the time. Because the guests are showing you how to create a cozy conversation area.
Study What Your Clients Do
The same goes with clients. The kids at the library are telling the library, we don’t like these scarves, we don’t want them, and will actually knock down four other kids to get to the 1 pom pom while simultaneously passing over 20 scarves.
Your clients might be doing the same thing. If you notice that clients aren’t using your contact form but instead calling you directly, try and find out why. Is the contact form too lengthy? Is your clientele older and still prefers the phone? Or maybe the contact form isn’t working?
Get in the habit of observing and specializing in your clients. Specialize in understanding how they experience your process. Specialize in understanding how they work with your firm. And I guarantee you, you will learn an enormous amount of useful information that will make things easier and more efficient for both you, and your clients.
Your Clients Leave You Clues About How They Want to Be Treated
Your clients are going to have quite a few similarities with one another, as they’ve all chosen to work with you. Therefore they’re also going to have quite a few similarities in their needs, their wants, and how they experience your design process. So listen, watch, wait, and see how you can adapt. If they’re regularly not following along in your process, or not using the design software that you want them to, take the time to really study it and find out why.
Your clients are leaving you clues each and every day on how you can specialize in delivering a spectacular client experience. You just have to be willing to pick up on the clues and use them to solve the mystery of working with human beings.
If you’d like even more ideas on how to provide the kind of client service that gets you higher fees and profits, take a look at “The Exceptional Experience” to learn more!
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