S1: Welcome back to work, woman. As always, I'm just excited
S1: to get to talk to you today. I am deep
S1: in the throes of annual planning. It is the first
S1: week of September, and that is when annual planning starts
S1: for us. Because we need to get the financials in place.
S1: We need to figure out what the marketing plan is.
S1: We need to figure out our hiring strategy and all
S1: that has to be figured out before we share with
S1: our team what the plan is in order to actually
S1: execute on these things starting in January. So in the
S1: middle of all of that, what I also do as
S1: like a side part of my job. But I think
S1: that this is going to resonate with most of you because, yes,
S1: annual planning is like the main priority to of what
S1: I need to get accomplished over the next about week
S1: and a half. However, then shit happens. Then I go
S1: on to our website and a link is broken. Or
S1: I try to subscribe to something and it doesn't work.
S1: Or a client had an experience that they needed to
S1: get resolved. This actually came up for me over the
S1: weekend because just like you, I invest in myself from
S1: a development standpoint. And so I had signed up. I
S1: finally like everything fricking worked for this individual's marketing campaign.
S1: I saw an ad, I looked on Instagram, I got
S1: more information about this event. It was a three day event.
S1: I was so excited about it. I dabbled for maybe
S1: like five minutes. And then I saw another ad and
S1: I was like, okay, I'm just going to buy this event.
S1: It was like a $500, three day virtual conference. I
S1: bought this on Saturday morning, and the event started at
S1: like 10 a.m. on Saturday. I bought at 6 a.m.
S1: event started at 10 a.m. I never received my login
S1: for the event here. I had just spent, I had. Finally,
S1: I've stocked this company and this person for like two
S1: years and never made a purchase. I finally made the
S1: decision think about me as a customer. I finally made
S1: the decision to move forward and to go to this event,
S1: and I was interested in some of the offerings that
S1: they had. Everything finally worked. It's a business owner's dream
S1: to make this happen. I sign up at 6:00 and
S1: I never receive my login. Never received it. I still,
S1: it's four days later, still haven't received the login. I
S1: emailed them one hour into the event. A very nice email. Hey,
S1: I know I'm sure things are stressful because we run
S1: virtual events. I know things are stressful, I know things
S1: are stressful, but I'm, you know, looking forward to being
S1: able to get the access link. Can I send it
S1: or can you send it over to me? I didn't
S1: hear anything back later that night. Then I go back
S1: on there, I'm like, hey! And I'm sure day one
S1: was great. Wish I could have seen it. Could you
S1: send me the login so that I can watch it
S1: and get caught up here again? We're four days out
S1: and I still haven't received this. I paid $500 for it.
S1: It was the second to the top tier. The top
S1: tier would have been me being in person, which I
S1: couldn't have done. But I am a qualified buyer. They
S1: have been. I am a target audience and their business
S1: operations failed me. Now am I going to be, you know,
S1: pissed off and upset and write horrible reviews? No, I
S1: will never be that person. However, when things happen like this,
S1: all of a sudden it makes me think. I wonder
S1: what type of experiences our clients are having that are
S1: like that. And I want to start with a mindset
S1: thing around this, because this is what I can promise you.
S1: I have certainty that even though we try to check
S1: every detail, and even though we coordinate things and have
S1: meetings about stuff, I am certain that there are things
S1: that fall through the cracks in our organization. And that
S1: is okay because we are moving at light speed. But
S1: if I'm not willing to ask the question initially of man,
S1: I wonder what's going wrong, and then have a framework
S1: for how I figure out what's going wrong, what's the
S1: first thing I should focus on versus things that maybe
S1: aren't as important, but still should be touched at some point?
S1: Then I'm lost as a business owner as to how
S1: to fix that, because what I don't want to do
S1: is spend all of this money in marketing and think
S1: that nobody's interested in my product, and then just give up,
S1: because the operations wouldn't actually support what all of the
S1: great idea and creativity was that went into it. And
S1: so today, I really want to talk to you about
S1: why you're losing clients and how to put a framework
S1: in place in order to solve this. Because you work
S1: really hard to make your business what it is. And
S1: to the extent that you don't have this in place,
S1: what I what I know is that if you don't
S1: feel confident about the structure, you're not going to be
S1: willing to confront the difficult things that are taking place
S1: in your business. If all of it just feels random,
S1: and you have this client that has this request and
S1: another client over here and your team member, you know
S1: that they're not handling certain things, but you don't have
S1: a plan in place for when you're going to be
S1: handling that. You're not going to ever figure out how
S1: to coordinate this effort to make it what you're actually wanting,
S1: which is to fulfill your brand promise, whatever that is.
S1: For us, our brand promise is to help our clients
S1: achieve their personal, professional and financial goals through the growth
S1: of their businesses. So every single touchpoint that I'm about
S1: to go through has to be followed through with that lens.
S1: Is this thing helping our clients achieve their goals? If
S1: it's not helping them achieve their goals, then we're not
S1: going to do it. And so as you think about
S1: your own customer journey, what I want you to be
S1: thinking with is what is the brand promise that you say?
S1: Maybe if you're a dental practice, you deliver the highest
S1: quality patient experience and make people feel comfortable in a
S1: situation that they're normally terrified of. Okay. So then as
S1: I'm looking at the greeting process or I'm looking at
S1: the form intake, or I'm looking at the language on
S1: the website, how am I using that brand promise that
S1: framework to say, oh, this form looks like every other
S1: dental form. Well, it really shouldn't look like every other
S1: dental form if I'm different, because I care that the
S1: patient is likely scared. So what way can I make
S1: that less scary? Maybe instead of it being white with
S1: like those three triplicate I think is what it's called.
S1: Maybe instead of having it be like a triplicate, you
S1: could put some imagery on there of people who are happy,
S1: or you could make it a different color or the phrasing,
S1: instead of it saying client intake form. It's like not
S1: to be cheesy, but like client happiness form or client
S1: something like whatever fits with your brand. And I don't
S1: know what your brand is, but I know what our
S1: brand is, and I know how I think about these touchpoints,
S1: and hopefully these will give you some ideas as to
S1: how you can take this model and mimic it, but
S1: make slight deviations based on how you talk to your
S1: customers and what you're ultimately looking to do. So first
S1: place to start with mapping out your client journey. I
S1: like to think of this on like this linear, almost
S1: like a timeline. So you're thinking with the very first
S1: interactions that your client has all the way through the
S1: timeline of ideally them becoming an advocate of your business,
S1: like them going from hearing about what you do to
S1: actually making the decision to purchase, to being onboarded with
S1: your product and service, to maybe buying a second or
S1: a third, hopefully buying a second or a third. And
S1: if you don't have a second or third, how do
S1: you get them to. And then on the tail end,
S1: how do you get them to become advocates and referrals
S1: and get testimonials? So as you think about those as
S1: like these major buckets in your organization, I went through
S1: this big project. Gosh, when was that? It must have
S1: been 20, 2017. I went through this big project for
S1: our dental company for all of the touchpoints and the process,
S1: the framework that I'm going to introduce you to now
S1: is slightly different from that. But I'm marrying the best
S1: of both worlds. Back then, I used to think of
S1: the first bucket as being introduced to the business. Like
S1: how do you introduce a client through a website? They
S1: might hear about you through social media, through and get
S1: granular with social media, because the YouTube introduction is very
S1: different than TikTok introduction, which is going to be different
S1: than Instagram or Facebook. How else could they hear about you? Maybe, uh,
S1: a sign outside your your business is vibrant and that's
S1: how clients are knowing, oh, that storage unit is right there.
S1: Or this new biotech company just popped up here. So
S1: all of these different touch points are literal touch points
S1: of your brand promise or who you are. That's how
S1: a client hears about you. So what are the processes
S1: around each one of those things? In episode 33, I
S1: go deep into how you actually document processes, but this
S1: is the overarching framework of where to start with your
S1: process documentation. So if I'm thinking of Introduce Me or
S1: how a client is introduced, the way that I now
S1: talk about this instead of an introduction, I use the
S1: word awareness. So like what are every single awareness touchpoint
S1: in your business. So your first bucket on like this
S1: linear timeline like awareness would be the starting point. And
S1: then underneath it you would have bucketed all of these
S1: individual things. There could be as few as I would.
S1: I would say you have at least eight ways that
S1: somebody could have awareness about you word of mouth referrals,
S1: all of the social media platforms, your website, some of
S1: you might have 20, some of you might have 30.
S1: The more awareness touchpoints you have, the more clarity you
S1: need to have as to where you're driving traffic to
S1: and why. Certain people are going into certain places, which
S1: will then help you set up the next touchpoint consideration.
S1: So awareness first bucket. Second bucket consideration in the consideration phase.
S1: What is every client touchpoint when somebody is considering making
S1: a purchase with you? So for me, with this event
S1: that I just purchased my consideration, those touch points would
S1: have been the sequential ads that they continued to send me.
S1: If they would have just sent one ad I wouldn't
S1: have purchased. I didn't make the decision at that point.
S1: If they would have only been posting for social media
S1: to social media on Instagram, I would have not been
S1: re-engaged with them when on YouTube when I was on YouTube.
S1: But they did do YouTube. So these consideration touchpoints have
S1: to be mapped out to say, okay, I first am
S1: aware of the brand over here, but then I'm now
S1: in this second phase as a client as to to
S1: be considering. So when a client is in this consideration,
S1: what things do you want them experiencing? Do you want
S1: them to be receiving emails? Do you want them to
S1: be ads? Do you want them to see you on stories?
S1: Do you? If your sales cycle is more so on
S1: a phone, what does the follow up process look like
S1: during that consideration time frame? Now, ideally, the customer cycle
S1: does not end during consideration, and you have to be
S1: good stewards of keeping the consideration alive. If they don't
S1: say yes the first time and the reality is, very
S1: few people say yes the first time. So knowing that
S1: this consideration phase is something that you have to build
S1: out all of a sudden makes you and your sales
S1: team feel more confident because, hey, nobody buys on the
S1: first time and that's okay. We're going to continue to
S1: follow up because we know that our product is the
S1: right product. Once they move out of consideration, they move
S1: into the decision. So think about this. I made this decision.
S1: I'm going to give two examples. The one that failed
S1: miserably over this last week. And then in Cartoon Ventures,
S1: what we do around the decision making process. So once
S1: I've made the decision, I have put my credit card
S1: information in. I have received an email. In the email
S1: that I received, it gave me three blanket options because
S1: they didn't think about the client journey. They gave me option.
S1: Option number one, if you purchased a workbook, you will
S1: find a link in the below section for you to
S1: get access to your workbook. I didn't buy a workbook
S1: if you bought an online course. Uh, your course credentials
S1: will be sent in a separate email. I didn't buy
S1: an online course. If you bought a live event ticket,
S1: you will be receiving your notification within the next. I
S1: think it said 12 hours. I'm like, okay, I gave
S1: it 12 hours. The one smart thing that they did
S1: do is in that event piece, they gave me an
S1: email address. If you have any issues getting your event ticket,
S1: then email hello at whatever the site was called. Well
S1: then I emailed that. So that was a good client
S1: touch point because they know in their process as they're
S1: engineering this, they know, hey, wait a second, people might
S1: not get their tickets. So where do they go? Okay, great.
S1: They're going to they're going to put that person or
S1: they're going to put that email there. However, if you
S1: give people the option to email somebody or to give
S1: you a phone call, what then do you have to
S1: plan for to have somebody answer the fricking email or
S1: pick up the phone? Like it's not good enough just
S1: to have an email that says, oh, send an email
S1: because it's still not handled at that point. Now, for
S1: this company, they should have just put in the checklist. Hey,
S1: when we have an event, we have somebody checking the
S1: email for the first five hours of the event in
S1: case we get any last minute sales or think about this.
S1: I'm getting really technical on this one, but they shouldn't
S1: have continued to run ads for an event if they
S1: actually didn't want me to purchase it the morning of.
S1: Like if they're like, you know, we cannot take people past, uh,
S1: Thursday at 2:00 because our system needs XYZ amount of
S1: time in order to get them properly registered. That's fine.
S1: But then kill the ad spend because now you have
S1: a client who did purchase it based off an ad
S1: that was run thinking that I could purchase it when
S1: really the operations were shut off. You're starting to get
S1: this clicking when it comes to your client journey. Like
S1: how do you actually want the journey and how do
S1: how do you want it to unfold? But then how
S1: do you want to properly set up your operations in
S1: order to fulfill upon the journey that you have very
S1: intentionally created? So that's one type of decision making process.
S1: Another type of decision making. Maybe you have contracts that
S1: you have people sign. I've been publishing a book, and
S1: the book publisher that I moved forward with sent me
S1: this contract. But then they were quirky in the way
S1: that they put the contract together, and they acknowledged that
S1: a lot of publishers do this wrong because they put
S1: language in that nobody understands and take the rights of
S1: the book owner or the book writer. And so by
S1: them calling that out, that actually made me trust them more.
S1: I don't want to be taken advantage of as somebody
S1: who's writing a book and they know that that's a problem.
S1: So in their contract, they're addressing what those problems are
S1: and making me move forward in wanting to refer people,
S1: which goes later into the client life cycle. But you
S1: have to be thinking about that decision making point as
S1: how do you double down on the trust and the confidence? Well,
S1: you look at the things that you have in front
S1: of them, the payment processing, the contracts, any sort of
S1: materials that you're giving as literal touch points to enhance
S1: what they're about to experience in the service touch point.
S1: So the next bucket being the services component. Now services
S1: depending on your business model can entirely vary. An e-comm
S1: business is going to have a smaller services bucket, potentially
S1: because it doesn't need to be broken out into a
S1: long client journey. It's the fulfillment of whatever somebody has purchased.
S1: Not that it's not important, but it's not going to
S1: need to. Like let's say with Cartoon Ventures, we have
S1: a full onboarding process as part of the services. Then
S1: we have an ongoing services, part of the services, and
S1: then we have an onboarding, because some clients might choose
S1: to not continue to move forward through onboarding, uh, ongoing and,
S1: you know, continue down. So we have to know what
S1: if somebody quits? What is the process for that? Are
S1: we pissed off? Are we angry or are we happy
S1: that they joined us and want to make sure that
S1: that relationship moves forward? If you don't have these things
S1: documented as you're hiring brand new team members and bringing
S1: them into the environment, as you scale and grow, you're
S1: really going to be challenged with being able to have
S1: the continuity of that brand promise. Because if back to
S1: the dental office example, if you want people to feel comfortable,
S1: but heaven forbid a hygienist makes somebody feel very uncomfortable
S1: and something actually goes wrong, potentially during the cleaning, and
S1: they experience a lot of pain, well, you could be
S1: upset with the patient that they experience pain and decided
S1: to go somewhere else. No. But in that moment, you
S1: might be frustrated that that's what took place, and they
S1: might have a bad experience when the client is trying
S1: to or the patient is trying to go to another
S1: dental practice. So as you're thinking about okay services, it's yes,
S1: how somebody starts to engage with the service once they've
S1: made the decision, like what are those first initial touch points.
S1: But then also if something goes wrong, how are we
S1: handling it? How are we addressing it? What are we
S1: doing to confront it? In an ideal scene, after the
S1: services bucket takes place, what you might find about your
S1: client journey is you only have 1 or 2 products
S1: for people to be able to engage with, and then
S1: the client cycle drops off. Well, your business should have
S1: a continuous stream of things that you're offering your clients
S1: to be able to solve their problems. Because if you've
S1: been able to solve 1 or 2 problems, why can't
S1: you solve 3 or 4 or 5 or 20 if
S1: you're not quite there yet and you're like, man, I'm
S1: just starting to get my first couple of clients and
S1: I'm not quite ready to start adding additional pieces. You
S1: should be focusing on this final bucket, which the final
S1: bucket is advocacy. So how do you get those clients
S1: who have bought one thing, or maybe two things, to
S1: turn into advocates of your brand? What are you asking for?
S1: Are you saying you want a video testimonial and when
S1: they send it to you, do you send them chocolates
S1: that are branded to you? Or if they're if you
S1: ask them to refer a friend, do they get $10
S1: off their next service, whatever that looks like for your business?
S1: You have to be thinking with each individual point under advocacy.
S1: It shouldn't just be 1 or 2 ways. There should
S1: be 15 or 20 different ways that a client could
S1: advocate for you. Maybe they send their kid to intern
S1: with your organization. That is a form of advocacy. I
S1: really think of it almost visually, like an org chart
S1: where these top line, like the timeline is at the
S1: is at the very top, and all of these touchpoints
S1: just cascade down. And as you're going through and trying
S1: to navigate which things to start with and which things,
S1: maybe somebody else could start doing process documentation around or
S1: which pieces you need to add in order to grow
S1: this org chart, like Client Journey, will take you to
S1: where there are issues and where there might not be
S1: issues today. But in order to scale and grow, you're
S1: going to need to bolt on an additional product or
S1: service that ties into how somebody is aware of you,
S1: but that ultimately will help get you to the growth
S1: goals that you have. This is all tying back around
S1: to annual planning, because if we think about the client
S1: journey as it is today and today's state, and let's
S1: say your business is doing 2 million in revenue, okay.
S1: With this client journey, our ability to hit financial targets
S1: is 2 million. Well, if I'm at maximum capacity at
S1: 2 million with this client journey, but my goals are
S1: to have a $5 million business. What additional services do
S1: I need to add? How much more spend do I
S1: need to create on the awareness side, all of a
S1: sudden you get to visually see this almost like levers.
S1: You get to pull levers into the business to be
S1: able to add things on and see if this works.
S1: And if it doesn't work, remove it. But you still
S1: have the core of the business of how the client
S1: is moving from point to point. And ultimately when you
S1: have issues like the issue that I ran into over
S1: this weekend, I don't want the person to be upset
S1: at their team for missing an email like that. The
S1: intention is not, oh, clients are pissed off and I
S1: would never want any business owner to feel completely overwhelmed
S1: because I had a bad experience with a tiny little
S1: touch point, because that's all it is. But the tiniest
S1: touch points can lead to, hey, I'm likely going to
S1: ask for a refund because I wasn't able to see
S1: the event and I didn't get access to any of it.
S1: So $500 is removed from the revenue that they generated,
S1: and it's something that's so small as answering the email
S1: on the day of an event. So as those things happen,
S1: my greatest hope is that instead of being irritated or frustrated, sure,
S1: it's $500 lost, but ideally that gains this individual thousands,
S1: if not tens of thousands, hopefully hundreds of thousands in
S1: the future as they're able to scale and grow because
S1: they have that piece handled, and then they can go
S1: on to adding bigger and better things and more courses
S1: and and feel really confident in the way that the
S1: client cycle and the client life cycle is progressing and
S1: adding value to their clients. With that, I am very
S1: passionate about all of this and mapping and really helping
S1: people understand, okay, what leverage points are in the business
S1: that maybe could be turned on or heightened or slowed
S1: down a little bit in order to be able to
S1: really hit their goals and to scale with their businesses.
S1: So at the ten x 360, this is something that
S1: I just go crazy over, like I am at lunch
S1: helping people map out their client journeys. I would love
S1: to see you at a ten x 360 and be
S1: able to help you map these things out so you
S1: don't miss out on lost revenue. With that, go to
S1: Cardone ventures.com/events to attend our next Ten-x 360. And I
S1: cannot wait to see you on the next Work Woman podcast.