Entrepreneurs in all industries have many obstacles to overcome in the early years, before the business is stable enough to compete with larger market leaders. One way to gain a quick competitive edge over other companies is to develop a unique and outstanding client experience strategy that aims to pro-actively address consumer questions, concerns or complaints before they can be expressed. When resources are in place to meet the needs, demands and preferences of the clientele, loyalty and satisfaction tend to increase, driving revenue and market share.
A financial advisory firm, for example, must maintain a happy and satisfied client base to stay afloat. When a client has an unsatisfactory or subpar interaction with the brand, he or she may choose to confront the situation, while others will take their business elsewhere. A company with superior client experience management in place will attract new sources of revenue as well as pick up the disgruntled clients who were let down by other companies failing to offer client-focused services. Financial advisory firms are service-based businesses whose bread and butter are clients and those they refer to the company. When revenue is directly tied to client satisfaction, experience management must be incorporated into all aspects of operations to drive constant improvements and long-term sustainability.
How focused is your company on the client experience? What expectations have you set with clients in your service level agreements? What losses do you stand to swallow if the experience is sub-par?
Happy Client, Happy Revenue
An Oracle global research study revealed brands are susceptible to losing up to 20% of total revenue when clients suffer poor experiences during interactions with the company. Despite statistics illustrating the potential for significant loss in revenue when clients are unhappy, many companies continue to struggle developing strategies to address client concerns and establish strategies to improve offerings for an optimal experience. The Oracle study made many points on how important maintaining and improving the client experience is for brands of all industries including:
- Clients Are Key Worldwide:
- 97% of executives believe delivering strong client experiences is critical to business advantage and results
- 20% of revenue can be lost when brands FAIL to present a positive, consistent and brand-relevant client experience to all individuals
- Businesses Are Stuck, Unable To Improve The Experience:
- 93% of executives consider improving the client experience to be one of the top 3 priorities of the company over the next 2 years
- 91% of executives want to be a client experience leader in their industries, understanding what earning potential that will bring
- Yet, 37% of executives have just started formal client experience initiatives
- Just 20% consider their client experience efforts to be advanced
- Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder:
- Business executives tend to underestimate the importance of the client experience on purchasing behaviour
- 49% of executives said clients will likely work with another brand if they have a bad experience
- 89% of clients have switched brands after a poor interaction with a company
- Social Tools Improve Experiences:
- Client preferences and needs are made more apparent through social media tools, providing keen insight into the client experience for young companies
- 81% of executives believe a strong client experience can be achieved when you leverage social media
- But 35% do not currently operate social media in a sales environment
- 35% have no social media channels in place to collect and respond to client feedback and service demands
Lessons Learned
To improve a company’s client experience, all staff must be on board with a fundamental strategy to change operations to offer more client-centric services. The client experience includes a company’s people, processes and technology, underscoring the need to consider the client’s mindset, needs and preferences in all operations. Successful client experience initiatives:
- Build training programs and incentives to increase staff engagement with the client experience
- Update company core values to include client experience objectives
- Implement specific technology advancements to directly impact client service efforts
Don’t let a bad review or sub-par interaction drive down revenue and hurt long-term sustainability for your firm.
