I keep getting the question, ”How do I design a customer journey?” Let me answer that question by using my Find Freedom in 2017 program as an example.
How are people attracted?
Small business owners are attracted to working with me, because they have met me, or someone who knows me tells them to meet me. They resonate with the story I tell. The way I approach business is different from most other business consultants. People know quickly whether I am speaking to them or not.
I blog, write articles and do live events. I talk about the success of my small business owners. I also use my business as an example of how I embody what I preach.
What attracts your ideal customer to you?
How do people engage?
Small business owners who are attracted to my story, sign up for my newsletter and/or attend one of my events. They get a sense of how I work, my approach and how comfortable they may be with me. They learn that what I bring is a wide breadth of knowledge across many industries. I am very flexible in how I work with people and I have a deep knowledge about how business works and how small business owners work.
They get a sense that if they need someone to motivate them by holding their feet to the fire, I am not the person. If they need someone who can help them motivate themselves by looking at the deeper issues, I am the one.
How can you make those first encounters easy?
How are people Served & Delighted?
My goal isn’t to make the sale, but to support my clients to use the program to get the results they want.
If knowledge were all we needed we would all be billionaires with perfect abs.
The way we work together is carefully designed to give results. There is a beginning, a process and an outcome.
Our path together starts with an orientation, baseline analysis and clarification of your goals with an action plan. We will do that process together as a group guided by me. At the end of that process, we will know exactly which modules will help the most and how we want our schedule to work. I will complete the design of the program at that point to get each member of our little group to the outcome they want. We have a structure we work within while being flexible enough to respond to life.
More people don’t complete a program than complete it. That doesn’t work for me, so I designed this program to take you by the hand and guide you to completion. I am trained in adult education and I have researched learning science and motivation. I can help you keep moving until you get where you want to go, because I have done it for me,for others and I can do it for you.
Sometimes there is a very good reason to not complete. You get the key to a missing piece and you choose to step out of the program to follow that new piece. In that case you got what you needed from the program
Here are several reasons why you might fall behind and how this program is designed to keep you moving forward.
You come up against a time crunch
- How you spend your time is a reflection of your priorities. How do I put this? When the going gets tough, we are more easily distracted. Trust me, I can spend days not doing what I need to do. There re several accountability elements woven through this program. We are always able to find the time for important things. I have methods to keep you on track.
- Things happen in business. I build slack and responsiveness into the program. I know enough about statistics to know that over 6 months each person will deal with at least one crisis. A program that moves along relentlessly, will leave you behind. I build slack into the program so you can step back, when needed and pick back up when you are ready. I help you by staying with you when you step back and being there for you.
- Businesses and people have natural rhythms. A program that tries to force a steady cadence doesn’t take those ebbs and flows into account. My program is responsive and has slack built in. That slack will get taken up when you are stressed and rebuilt when you aren’t. I have many tools to help you, not get stressed and to help when you do.
You get stuck
- I will be there for you. I have helped business owners through every type of stuckness and I will be there for you.
- You realize the path you chose isn’t working out the way you want. I can help you examine whether it is the strategy, the tactics or the execution that needs tweaking. You may be in the Dip, or you may be on the wrong path. We can figure that out together.
- You aren’t sure how to execute on a tactic in your business. You may know a tactic will work well, you may know how to do it, but there may be a tweak you need for it to apply to your situation. It may be wording, it may be framing, it may be design. I have adapted many tactics for all kinds of businesses and I can help you personalize what you want to do so it works best for your business.
You will get what you need so you can reach the outcome you choose. My aim is to make you feel Served & Delighted.
What will make your customers feel Served & Delighted?
How do people experience your business?
I am a small business owner and I have worked closely with 100s of small business owners. You want to feel you can trust what I offer you. You want to feel like you are getting exactly what you need when you need it. You want to know that if something comes up, you won’t get left behind. You want to feel like you are making progress towards your outcome.
Knowing that, I built this program to be responsive and to have slack.
How do you want your customers to feel and how can you make that happen?
How does your environment work for everyone?
The group I attract to this program are not necessarily digital natives, we tend to prefer working face to face. We also appreciate diversity, which may mean we can’t all get in one place at the same time. We are all comfortable online, so much of the delivery and interaction can be online. My job will be to make sure we are all comfortable with the solutions we choose.
What can you do to make your environment work for you?
What is your value exchange?
To make this work for both of us, it is important that I charge enough that I am comfortable being there for you. It doesn’t serve either of us if I am resentful of the time required.
You know how the world works, you won’t trust a program that isn’t priced high enough so you are confident that I can afford to give you the support you need.
The more you pay for a program, the more you will dig into it. The first piece of accountability is the price.
Some people are interested in this program to start the process of preparing their business for sale. I know that if this program helps you make your business more independent of you it will increase your selling price. The program is clearly worth that difference in price. It’s a little hard to know what it would have been worth if you hadn’t done that work.
How much is free time worth to you? How much is it worth to you to have your business able to function without you? How much is 2 months off a year worth to you? Especially if you come back more creative and raring to go.
The work we do to allow you to step away from your business will mean your business is more efficient. That will make it more profitable. I am confident you will make the cost of this program back in increased profit.
Are you clear on all the value you offer?
Your customer takes a journey through your business. They come to you because they have a problem they think you can solve. Your job is to attract the ones you can help the most, to welcome them in and to solve their problem so they are delighted. There is a known arc, a known series of steps, a common experience. Own that, double down on it and make it work for your customers.