Focusing on providing an excellent client experience will set you apart from the crowd. As coaches, customer satisfaction and experience is essential to our business. We don’t offer tangible goods for sale, so the core of our business isn’t about impressing customers with a functional or aesthetically pleasing product.
As coaches, our product is intangible. Our “product” is the relationships we establish with our clients — the bond allowing these individuals to grow and reach their goals.
We’ll explain the exact customer experience definition and teach you how to foster a unique one in your coaching business.
What is customer experience?
Customer experience is the umbrella term referring to clients’ interactions with a service provider, brand, or company. In our world, we could call it the “coachee experience.”
As companies want customers to have positive experiences, this term often points to the initiatives and tools businesses use to make lasting impressions and client relationships as smooth as possible.
8 tips for fostering a great customer experience and standing out from the crowd
1. Create personalized experiences for your clients
Here’s an analogy: coaching companies aren’t clothing stores; they’re tailor shops. Just like a tailor makes bespoke garments for clients, coaches create unique experiences for coachees. We can’t sell one-size-fits-all solutions because each client comes to us with different traits, challenges, and goals. Focus on a customized experience to make individuals feel safe and seen.
2. Implement customer feedback
Feedback is one of the most valuable assets we have as coaches. We’re constantly doling it out, but we need to take it, too. Listen to your clients about what they found powerful in their experience working with you, and follow up with them for honest commentary about what you can improve. Implement solutions to critical feedback as quickly as possible to avoid any negative experiences.
3. Engage with your customers every step of the way
Coaches exist to motivate and empower, so we can’t leave our clients hanging. From the moment a client reaches out to learn more about our services to the end of their program, we must stay engaged. Be present and prepared, listen to your client’s changing needs, remind them of their successes, and never stop learning from them. Engage with your clients between sessions through tools like Practice’s chat portals to keep conversations and accountability flowing.
4. Implement customer loyalty programs
Do you have clients who keep coming back for more? Then, you’re already doing something right in your customer experience strategy. Reward these loyal customers with perks like discounts, access to exclusive programs, or just an old-school handwritten note to show them how appreciative you are and incentivize them to continue working with you.
5. Develop an omnichannel customer experience strategy
Just like there isn’t one coaching strategy that will work for all of your clients, there isn’t one way to interact with them. Whether you’re sending marketing emails or communicating with your current coachees about logistics, give your clients options for how they prefer to be contacted. Some coachees may opt for virtual sessions and booking through Practice’s platform. Others may prefer face-to-face interactions and a reminder call before an upcoming session.
6. Leverage customer data as much as possible
Customer feedback is your friend, and so is data. Track progress in your interactions with your clients by using a ready-made customer relationship management (CRM) tool or your own system. Assess the success of your marketing campaigns and automation, web traffic, social media stats, and other data on the frequency, duration, and quality of customer interactions. Smart business owners take this data and use it to improve customer experience. This data also helps grow your business; if you notice your onboarding email open rates are low, you can adjust your subject line or send this information through other platforms.
7. Start with the end goal in mind
Reverse engineer your clients’ goals as you form a strategy moving forward. If you start without a plan, you’re sure to get lost along the way and lose time during sessions. Once you identify goals, set expectations with your clients. Then, try to surpass those expectations by implementing a coaching strategy that’s both proactive and reactive.
8. Understand your clients’ pain points
As you listen to and learn from your clients, you’ll better understand what makes them tick. Use this valuable knowledge of customer touchpoints to shift your focus before the next session and brainstorm ways to guide your coachees toward their own solutions. We need to learn our clients inside and out, listening to what they’re really telling us instead of imposing our own ideas on them.
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Perception is everything: the importance of customer experience
Customer experience is all about how clients perceive a business. First impressions matter, as do second, third, and final ones.
Establish a strategy that brings clients in and satisfies them, keeping them (and their friends and colleagues) coming back to you for more. Positive customer experiences and perceptions are sure to lead to high customer retention, powerful word-of-mouth marketing, and new customers.
If you think your coaching business would benefit from any of the customer-centric strategies above, why not try implementing one and learning from the experience? Measure your results and analyze how these differentiators aid your business and relationships with clients. You can’t go wrong with any of these techniques because they all have clients’ happiness and well-being in mind. As coaches, we’re all about that.
Sign up for Practice to optimize your clients’ customer experience and grow your business. Try our CRM tools to ensure you can solely focus on building relationships with your clients and providing them with unbeatable service.
