Having an unhappy team and expecting clients to be satisfied is far distant from a possible reality.
This is no bueno, a no go.
I’ve been there and it can be delusional to even imagine a business made of raving fans (clients who spend their day promoting you) but then you have a team made of order takers, complacent, and demotivated people.
It just doesn’t work. So in today’s blog post, I want to go through a few principles that can help you dial in the team, and the psychology, for a sustainable business.
I will ask for permission to share a bit more about our story and how we operate internally so that you can understand some of these principles in action.
Raving Fans, Raving Team Members, and the Flywheel Effect
If there is something we care a lot is serving every single one of our clients well. We need to embody what we teach them and help them implement, not only because we care but because this is what inception looks like.
When they experience it, it’s hard for them to “unsee” what has been seen and experienced now.
This is how we got the biggest names in the online industry endorsing us as the go-to experts on customer experience and success.
But it doesn’t mean it’s because of me (Jay) or Ben. It’s because of how we all operate as a whole, our amazing team included. We care as much about our team as we care about our clients. And this is reflected in our culture, values, and mutual respect.
This also shaped our offers to where they are now!
We have 2 active (soon to be three) offers available based on what we’ve seen to be the most successful levers to take your business to the next level:
- Raving Fan Formula: Where we revamp all the systems needed to create a predictable journey for your clients that makes them happy and channels their desire to stay with you for longer
- Ethical Scaling Recruiting: Where we find, vet, and train your customer success people to run the effective (and soon to be efficient) system, as we don’t want the owner to get stuck in the weeds.
- Customer Success AI Software: Soon to be released it does complement the two points above.
So basically in order to maximize profits and client lifetime value you need the right system with the right people and the right tracking software.
Now that you understand how we do what we do, how can you apply the same principles?
Avoid Operating in Silos
This is what caused me the most pain and frustration when I went all in and started auditing online businesses that were scaling (more than 120+ different ones so far).
There is a common disconnect between departments. Feels like everyone operates inside a micro company within the main business. Not only this affect culture massively it will also make clients feel like they’re working with 10 different contractors or white-labeled departments.
Unless we all row in the same direction and with full transparency, your employee experience won’t carry over to the customer experience.
Principle #1: allow transparent communication between departments, foster relationships and connections, and create an environment for productive feedback among team members.
Your Customer Knows What You Did Last Summer
Jokes aside, your customers are paying attention to every interaction when they get any of your services to gauge how much they trust you.
They are always looking for three ingredients to be fully bought in and take the necessary action to be successful:
- They’re looking for signs of trust
- They’re looking for signs of hope
- They’re looking for certainty
When your clients trust you, feel hopeful, and certain, aren’t they easy to serve?
I can tell you from experience companies that embody those 3 above (and by having their employees doubling down on that), have a much higher lifetime value, testimonials, and referrals.
Also, the owners I’ve met who do this the best are not happy with what they have. They’re not discontent, but they understand innovation will always be needed if they want to become the biggest market shareholder.
Principle #2: Don’t focus on overcomplicating processes or micromanaging your team members, when you understand for a great Customer Experience there are only three main ingredients, you just need to train your people to embody them.
Lack of Ownership
Every company we’ve worked with so far, plus hundreds of others we’re lucky to have met, has very solid foundations.
Sales Managers, Marketing Directors, Financial Assistants, and COOs.
But we haven’t met a team who have a dedicated person who oversees Customer Experience, and Employee Experience.
The way we normally address this is by training the Client Success Director to become this person, and suddenly the owners understand the power that was just unlocked. But this isn’t enough.
As we talked about before we don’t need or want silos, so this responsibility should go beyond them to actually be shared with Marketing and Sales Directors to create a congruent client journey.
Principle #3: When the customer experience role is shared across three different departments, you’re sending a subliminal message to the CEO that every department can be responsible for growth and money. Customer Success and the Fulfillment department can indeed generate money and shouldn’t be seen as a cost.
What does your team say about you?
When was the last time you got on a meeting with your team to collect transparent feedback? Maybe even go on a 1:1 setting and figure out what needs are being met and what not.
That’s one thing we do a lot with teams we work with, we meet them where they are and we collect expectations. Most of the time, the expectations are not even unrealistic but the lack of communication doesn’t let the decision-makers know what they need to know till it’s too late.
Principle #4: If your employees are your “who” and they will help you and your company to accomplish the pre-determined goals, can you be your employees’ “who” helping them accomplish what they want?
People who feel safe at work operate much better.
It Needs to be Measured
On the client side of things, I’ve written plenty of blog posts about it. No need to keep beating the dead broccoli.
But how are you measuring your employee experience?
When was the last time you asked your employees what they think about your offerings, services & products, and leadership?
Principle #5: With a minimum of every quarter this information should be collected, shared publicly with the team, organized by order of severity, and an action plan on what’s going to be fixed by when. This makes them feel seen, heard, and empowered to share their feedback.
Conclusion
I hope you’re not overwhelmed, that wasn’t the goal. And I know this can feel like a lot.
Overseeing sales, marketing, operations, money-related stuff, and then customer service?
That’s a lot on your plate. But this is the critical part of your business if you don’t want to get in trouble handling unhappy clients.
Happy team >> happy clients.
If you feel like we could help you train them, the leaders, revamp the system, and be your trusted advisor throughout this journey, fill in the app on our website and we’ll contact you.
Talk soon
Jay
