E12 Creating Amazing Client Service Delivery Experiences: Giving clients what they need, when they need it, the way they need it

Leanne Woff: [00:00:00] hello. Hello. Welcome to another episode of The Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne Woff and [00:01:00] today we are talking creating amazing client service delivery experiences, giving clients what they need, when they need it, the way they need it. So I wanted to tackle this as part of our Creating Amazing Experiences series.

And so we’ve covered why we need to do it. We’ve covered the onboarding experience to create, now we’re looking at service delivery. So this is the part where you actually do the work, where you deliver, right? So the first thing that we are going to do is map out our delivery process. Now, what I mean by this is look at your service, look at the service you have sold your client, and I want you to really think about the steps that you take [00:02:00] to complete that service and what you need to be able to do it well.

So the information that you need, and it might be assets that you need from clients, but just do a map of that because these are our known factors, right? So we always start there. Let’s map them out. Now you can do this using timelines or using milestones. So depending on how you work, if you know that. You know, it usually takes you a week to do a certain thing or two weeks to do a certain thing.

You could map out your delivery based on that time, or you can do it based on outcome. Okay? Once I’ve taken the brief, that’s this milestone, then I do the first draft, then I, and create your milestones. So either way is fine. We just wanna get some of our [00:03:00] known quantities down right. Now, once we know the things that have to happen and we know the things that we need to make them happen, I want you to think about communication.

I want you to think about. What ways could we possibly get all of those assets or get that information sooner in the journey? So I know that I spoke to you in our last episode about my onboarding process and how I ended up creating this massive client onboarding form, but I didn’t explain what really led me to do that.

And it was when I was looking at my service delivery and I was looking at. Where are the delay points or where are the bits where we’re asking for more things or I can’t make a decision and then I have to go back to the client, and it was [00:04:00] these places where I didn’t have enough information and I thought if I could just have all of that information upfront, then when I get into delivery, I have my foundation knowledge, but I also have the exact pieces that I need from the client already, and then I can just keep going.

Because here’s the thing, right? If you are working on something and you are getting some traction and it feels good, everything is making sense, you wanna keep doing that, you don’t want to stop that boulder from rolling. You wanna keep going and get it done. And if we stop and start all the time, we’re actually less efficient because we have to get back into understanding what it is we’re working on, where we stopped, what we left off, and we switched to something else.

So we are context switching too much. So it was that that caused me to make that big form. I actually looked at each step [00:05:00] of my, each step of my process so that I could then get what I needed. And the whole project would run smoother and it worked. The other things. So not only asking for pieces of information, but the other type of communication I want you to think about is how your client is feeling as you progress through this journey.

What are they thinking about? What are they feeling? What are their questions? And what is their perception? Of what you are doing. Because I know if I work with a supplier and they say to me, yep, cool, it’s gonna take one month to do it. And then I sign off and they do the engagement, and then I don’t hear from them for three of those weeks.

I start to get a little bit nervous. Are they still doing it? Have they forgotten about me? Don’t they need my [00:06:00] logo? And I create all of these questions in my head, that might not be true at all, purely because I’ve not heard anything. And then I feel the need as a customer to email and go, just checking you haven’t forgotten. And then hope they don’t get offended. And I really think that this is something that we need to tackle better in our OBM businesses, is thinking about what is the client’s perception here? Because I know I said to them, I’m going to deliver this thing in two weeks, and no, it hasn’t been two weeks yet, but maybe I need to give them an update before that two weeks is up, even if it is a, Hey, I’m just checking in.

I wanted to let you know that I’ve done phase one of this job. It’s looking good, and I’ll be back in touch if I need something more. None of this has to be super impressive or, like lots of detail. It is more [00:07:00] about easing some of those concerns and answering some of those questions your clients might have.

So I want you to think about the important messages along that journey, along that delivery process you just mapped out. And you might have a few different ones of these depending on what services you offer, right? And it’s not always going to be the same thing. If your service changes, the process changes.

And some of this will translate across, but not always. So you might need a few. So let’s map those important messages, answer the important questions. Think about our clients. Another thing I want you to do is start to really think about the frequency of your communication. So we work quite closely with clients.

We’re online business managers. And it might be okay if you were an accountant and you spoke to your clients once a fortnight or once a month [00:08:00] and you had, a regular meeting scheduled in and every quarter you did their tax. And that might work well and that might be all your clients need. But for OBMS, that’s not the case.

We are in, in, in businesses and we need our connection with our clients to thrive, for their businesses to thrive. So our communication has to be much more frequent. And the more frequent means it needs to be more purposeful. And what I mean by that is we don’t wanna just send messages to say, hi, how are you?

Hi, how are you? And it doesn’t actually have any substance. We wanna communicate clearly. We want to go to them with clear objectives or clear discussion points, so we are not wasting their time, especially if we need to talk to them a lot. And obviously we still want the friendly approach, but we don’t just want conversation for no purpose.[00:09:00] 

So if you are working with OBM clients, think about how you communicate, what form, what mode of communication? Do you meet with them in person? Do you WhatsApp? Do you have a Task Management System? Do you do Zoom calls? Because if you’re frequently talking to someone, the likelihood is you need different modes of communication.

You don’t wanna sit on Zoom all day every day just to get a question answered. So I really want you to think about the different ways you can talk to your clients and how frequently they want information from you and how frequently they actually wanna see the progress and how they wanna see it, because that matters.

So we’re looking at, and I know a lot of this is unknown, you might not know the answers to these. I don’t know how [00:10:00] my clients want me to talk to them. I don’t know how often. I don’t know if they want me to update them when I finished every phase or when I finished three phases. It’s always gonna change and there is no exact answer.

The best thing. That you can do is ask them. And that’s what I did. And that’s how I built out my delivery process. The next thing that I want you to factor in is the points where you’re going to need sign off or you’re going to need, permission to proceed to the next step. So if you are looking at your process and you’re like, okay, here I like, here is a clear cut draft one is finished before I do draft two, I’m going to need it signed off.

And then I want you to factor in when you could possibly start communicating that [00:11:00] with your client so that they know, hey, when we get to this stage, this time, this date, I’m gonna need you to set aside some time to review this. Here’s how much time I think. Here’s what it is. Here is the impact. If we don’t get it done on time.

Now this is a big one. Sometimes we forget to explain why we need it, and we assume the client knows. “Well, they know if they don’t do their bit, I can’t do my bit.” Yes, you’re correct. They absolutely do know that, but they don’t know the impact on the project as a whole because they’re not in it. They’re not looking at the whole timeline because that’s your job.

So we need to explain to them, Hey, if I can’t do this bit on time, it means this piece is gonna be delayed. We’re not gonna get to the printer in time, and then we won’t be able to have this asset at all. [00:12:00] So try and be as clear as you can just to create that full understanding. The less guessing our clients have to do the better.

Okay, next thing, factor in, surprise and delight. Now this bit is my favorite. So we looked at our process, we’ve mapped out when we’re talking to clients, what we’re talking to them about, the different things that we might need from them, the different points that they need to be aware of, that we need them to keep some time aside for us, how we’re communicating with them.

Do we have an email nurture? Do we have a process where we send a text message? Is it client calls? What does this look like? Now we get to our ‘surprise and delight’, and that’s where I look at the process and I go; right, now what other [00:13:00] ways and what other things can I implement to make them feel good or to make this journey easier?

And that’s when I start sending gift boxes or pencils or I remember I used to send my clients sprout pencils, so it’s like a gray lead pencil, and once you’re finished using it, you put it in a pot with soil and it turns into a herb. It grows. Just different things depending on what your clients like and need.

It might be that you work with a lot of a D H D clients. And so instead of sending them sprout pencils, you might send them, an A D H D organizer planner. There’s so many different things you can do that will make your client’s journey easier and just give that little bit of a perk for them.

The, hey, they’ve really thought about this and they thought about me and this [00:14:00] is amazing. And just keep, as long as we’re delivering everything we need to deliver. We’re communicating and then we’ve got this extra thing, like the experience is amazing. Like we’re trying to not just do the mediocre experience that anyone could do.

We’re trying to be amazing, and I think that this is a really easy way to do it. The other thing I want you to think about is points of personalization. Now, what I mean here is life is not linear. And it’s not like that for our clients either. And so it doesn’t matter how much we plan, sometimes our plans aren’t going to come off the way we want them to, and we can’t account for every situation that will ever occur.

So for instance, in OBM Academy, one of my students, her dad passed away. [00:15:00] And I could have just continued on my way delivering the content and going above and beyond and trying to make sure everybody understood what we were doing and make sure they were progressing and they were getting the results they needed.

But right then, this student didn’t need that. What she needed was someone to see her and appreciate her and recognize what she was going through. And so instead, I sent her flowers and she was completely surprised and amazed because I thought about it and because there is no way I could have assumed that was gonna happen and I did what I thought I could do that might make it just the teeniest, tiniest bit easier, or for her to feel less alone.

And so that’s what I’m saying, have. What you could have is like a backup list, okay? If we know that someone’s sick or having a hard time, here’s a list [00:16:00] of different things or different suppliers where we can source something and send it to them. Or it could be a card. It could be a special pack you have in your office.

It could be, okay, if I have a client and they’re going to have a birthday, this is what we’re gonna do. If I have a client and they’re getting married, this is the kind of thing I wanna do. So look for, some of those points where it might not be clear cut, but you know, you want the human element of you to come out there.

All right. And then the final thing, this is a really big one, are you listening? It is. Listen closely. Listen closely. A lot of the time, our clients are telling us what they need, but we’re not hearing it. And filling that need will [00:17:00] make the experience amazing for them. So if they’re repeating something like, ‘I’m really, really visual’, and you keep sending them emails that are written, they’re going to be frustrated that entire time, not because you’ve done something wrong.

But because you missed the opportunity to present something in the way they needed it to make it feel amazing. If they’re saying to you, I’m just wondering where this is up to. I’m just wondering where this is up to. Do you need anything from me? That’s telling you, you’re not communicating enough. So I want you just to listen to the things that aren’t being said or the things that are being said.

But we’re not paying enough attention to them because we’re so involved in meeting our deliverables and just getting it done. So if we can look for things like that and be aware and pay more attention and then put in place some things to [00:18:00] improve those, your experience will be amazing. So, I hope that that has helped and it has given you an understanding of how you can craft an intentional, amazing client service delivery experience with you.

So not only do you deliver exceptional work, but they feel incredible the whole time. Thanks for listening. I’ll chat to you next week.

 [00:19:00] 

Creating Amazing Client Onboarding Experiences – How to get clients to love you from the get-go

[00:00:00] Hello. Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne Woff, and today we are [00:01:00] continuing our series on client experiences. Today’s focus is creating amazing client onboarding experiences, how to get clients to love you from the get-go. Is it possible? Yes, it is. How do I know? Because I’ve seen it before.

So I wanna start this episode by sharing a story and I believe that client onboarding, Is the process that can make or break an entire relationship with a client. And this story highlights why. So I remember I had a new client, this is a few years ago, and they were wonderful, lovely, lovely new client, really awesome human.

And I was in the onboarding phase with this [00:02:00] client and I was just following my process. The way I’ve done every other time and focusing on what we needed to do, when we needed to do it, how we needed to do it and chatting to this client. So we moved through the onboarding process through all of my predefined deliverables in my process, and my client says to me, ah, I’ve referred you to one of my business friends.

I don’t know if it’ll be a great fit, but she needs someone. And I thought of you and I gave her your details. I hope that’s okay. And I was surprised and was just like, yes. This is incredible. Thank you so much. And then I ended up speaking to the contact and I actually [00:03:00] onboarded that client’s friend as well.

Now, the reason this has significance here is because I hadn’t actually done any work yet. We were just doing the onboarding process and my client was already referring me, and that had never happened to me before. So after that happened, I had to do a little audit myself to go, what? What did I do that was so good in this situation and how do I do that more?

And it was the onboarding experience because the tone of the relationship for the rest of the time was always positive and appreciative, and I really think it’s because of how much effort I put in front. And the time and the energy that I put into crafting what this onboarding experience would be and the things it should include and the things it shouldn’t, and the [00:04:00] time that I had taken to refine it as I went.

So that’s the purpose of today’s episode, is to give you some of the tools to create an onboarding process that rocks. So let’s look at what the purpose of a great onboarding experience is. I believe your onboarding process should do three things. One, make your clients feel seen. Two, make your clients feel heard, and three, make your clients feel secure.

We’re human beings, right? So we all want. To feel safe, heard, secure, seen, noticed, appreciated, validated. They’re just our nature and [00:05:00] we’re all built with those things inside. And I think if we can give people the security and stability that they need from the very beginning, that will flow through to everything else.

So it’s really important. That we pay attention in our onboarding process. Here is the time to get to know the people you are working with, to identify what really matters here, and to give them what they need to set the tone for the rest of the relationship. So how do we do that? How do we make clients feel, seen, heard, and secure?

It’s a nice thing to say, but in reality, what does that look like? Well, we do this by being informative, so we need to put our authority cap on and we need to be the guide. We need to tell people what to [00:06:00] expect. We wanna let them know what’s coming up and how this is going to work. We want to tell our clients how things are going to progress and when.

Explaining what we’re going to need from them and when, and keeping the process as clear and concise as we can. We do not want to overwhelm people from the very beginning, especially because we’re online business managers, so we can do process and we can manage lots of information. But generally our clients are coming to us, so they don’t have to do all of that.

They want someone who’s gonna do it with them and make it a little bit easier, and you are thinking at that level so they don’t have to. So it’s really important that that shines through here. Okay, so if we know that that’s what we have to do, what [00:07:00] steps do we take to get there? When I went through my audit of how I got this extra client, this referral from onboarding.

I mapped out what I did to create that process, and there were six things. If I sum it all up, there are about six things. And it’s a really great way to get started if you don’t have something in place or you are looking to improve your onboarding experience right now. So the first one is to map out your onboarding process at a high level so we can get overwhelmed if we try and think too deeply, or we try and plan too many things at once.

So the first step is to put down the rocks. What are the [00:08:00] things that have to happen that may not be glamorous, but you know, they need to happen? So it might be, I need to get details for a work agreement. It might be I need to create the work agreement. I need to get the client to sign the work agreement.

I need to work out invoicing. I need to have a kickoff call. List out all of those things, and at this point it’s gonna be a little bit messy, and that’s fine because this is just our planning phase.

Once we’ve had a look at it, when it’s all mapped out in front of us, you should be able to see where you can reign it in a little bit, and you’ll also be able to identify which pieces are for you and which are for your clients. This is going to help you then inform your client what’s going to be needed from there.

So we are looking high level. Once you’ve done that, [00:09:00] group that process into a few stages. So it might be okay. First we do all of the administration piece, then we do a deep dive call, and then we start taking action. Once you’ve done that, because it’s a lot clearer now, right? There’s only three things your client needs to see that’s happening and that’s easy to consume, and it’s, they’re easy to understand what those things are because they’re general things.

Don’t forget that onboarding isn’t a really strange unfamiliar process no-one follows. We do onboarding in our lives on a regular basis. It’s just called all different things. So we wanna give them things that they can relate to and connect to. Once we’ve done that, we wanna turn those stages, those groups in your process into a marketing tool.

[00:10:00] So a really great way when you are onboarding is to do the pre-onboarding in your marketing. And so if you start talking about, Hey guys, I’m an OBM. I work with rockstar Empire Builders, and when I get a new lead in, this is what it looks like. We go through three main phases. The first one is to sort out all the admin, get our contracts in place so everybody is covered legally, and we don’t have to think about that anymore.

Then we create a plan through a deep dive call, and we get to know all the ins and outs. Of our clients’ business, we get to know each other a little bit better, and we set some goals so that we can always be headed in a strategic, purposeful direction. And then this is the best bit. This is when the magic happens.

We start getting things done. [00:11:00] See how now it’s a marketing pitch, but if someone hears that and then they come to work with you, They already know a little bit about what to expect, and they’re excited. It doesn’t feel scary. It doesn’t feel intimidating. You’ve already told them, and that’s before they’ve even contacted you.

So we wanna build it in and use it as a marketing tool. The third thing is to put your onboarding process on your sales page. So you can do it in three chunks like that you can break it down into a little bit more detail. You can turn it into a story, but the idea here is to show a visual kind of map something people can see and it’s another way that they can feel secure.

It’s another way to cement. This is what’s gonna happen. This is what I can [00:12:00] expect. It’s not scary. It’s easy. Three quick steps and we’re in. That feels great. And it’s a simple way to do it. It just takes a little bit of thought in how you wanna articulate or how you wanna phrase that process, and don’t overthink it.

Sometimes. Simple is all you need. The biggest objective here is to make sure it’s clear and understandable, because we wanna make it feel easy – and complex never feels easy. So once you’ve done your process map or your three stages or your story, put it on your sales page, ‘cos again, you’re using it to help nurture those leads in your marketing.

The fourth thing I did is I created minimal onboarding documents. I found [00:13:00] that. When I first was an OBM, I had all these different forms or all these different things that needed to be done. I had a work agreement. I had a client onboarding form, and I had an email that went out to get different information from the client.

I had a list of tools I was going to need access to, and I just found that it was a lot, each of the pieces were necessary. But to be getting four different emails or five different emails with all these different things that you have to do, it is overwhelming and it is confusing, and I didn’t like it. I never had a client complain about it, but I didn’t like it.

It felt messy for me, and that is not the kind of experience I wanted to deliver. So I looked at each of these pieces and I looked at the purpose of them. And then I looked at my process map of when things happen and why, to see what could be consolidated, [00:14:00] what could happen maybe a bit later or in a different way.

And I recreated it. And I tell you now, I ended up with a client onboarding, like deep dive form, and it takes my clients at least an hour to complete it. And I tell them that upfront and because I’ve told them, they go, they expect it to take that long. The feedback I get from that form is amazing. Every time it is,

Oh, that form made me really think. I had to really think. And then I thought well, why aren’t I doing this? And maybe I do need to do this. Because my time and energy has gone into that form and I ask specific things to get my clients thinking so they can get results at the same time is giving me all that information that I needed.

And so that’s [00:15:00] become a really successful thing, even though it seems like, oh, but I could have had five little things or one big thing. Mm. It’s a lot of time to invest in filling in a form. I have all these stories in my head of why it could be a bad idea, but it has worked really well, and it means that then there’s less admin for me, less admin for them, and it flows really well.

All right. Number five, once you’ve done all of those things, So we’re using our process in our marketing. We’re sharing our process as a visual on our sales page. We’ve streamlined our collection of information and we’re looking at our high level map of what our onboarding process [00:16:00] is. Now, we wanna consider.

What opportunities we might have missed. So if we’re looking at this process and we see, hmm, we do these three things and then there is a gap for 60 days. Yes, I’m being highly exaggerative. There’s a gap for 60 days that probably doesn’t feel very good. What can we do? To pull that 60 days forward. Can we take something out from later and bring it forward a little bit?

What makes sense for this to flow a little bit better? What things can I be saying at a different time? What could we be doing in a different way? How can we make our client feel really great? And part of it is the [00:17:00] “surprise and delight piece” is we want to factor in not only the process and those practical things that need to happen, but things that we put in purely to help our client and to make them feel valued and valuable.

And so for me, When I’m doing this and I’m looking at my own processes, I think about where along the onboarding journey we are, what our, what my clients might be thinking, feeling, and based on the service, what it is that might help them in their journey. 

 And then once we’ve highlighted all our gaps, considered our missed opportunities, created a plan to maybe fill some of those opportunities. The final thing we need to do is review our communication. Now, this is a big one. [00:18:00] Communication is something that I think goes wrong a lot of the time just because it’s not thought out well enough.

And it doesn’t take a lot to improve it and to clarify things and to make the journey smoother, which is the purpose of this. We wanna look at that map we’ve created. And look at the different kinds of communication we have, what we’re communicating, when we’re communicating it, and how we could do that better.

So maybe instead of if we’ve got five emails in a row, maybe we need to have a phone call somewhere in there, or maybe we can send a text message or maybe we can put that information into a beautiful brochure. How can we upgrade the experience and the communication and are we communicating clearly what’s going to happen next for [00:19:00] every step?

You are never going to go wrong by giving your client a heads up about what’s coming. So great. Thanks so much for sending me this. I’ll be in touch in three days so that we can book in our call where we’re going to go through all of our goals and objectives, and then we’re going to get started. So it is just about reminding them and keeping them up to date so that they don’t have to try and remember everything, or they don’t have to dig through their email to work out what’s going on and what happens next when if you can preplan it, it’ll be quite easy for you.

And then you implement that as a process and they will love it. Let me know if this has helped you with your onboarding process, and I would be really, really interested to hear how you go [00:20:00] when you are reviewing it all. Have you found some gaps? Has it given you a different perspective? You can find me on Instagram at Leanne Woff, on Facebook, on LinkedIn.

But yeah, connect. Say hi. Let me know how you’re going. I would love, love to know. Next week we’ll be back and we will be talking about creating an amazing client service delivery experience. Speak to you then. Bye.

 [00:21:00] 

Creating amazing client experiences – What they are and why every OBM needs them

[00:00:00] 

Hey. Welcome to the next episode of the Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne Woff, and [00:01:00] today we are talking creating amazing client experiences, what they are and why every OBM needs them. Let’s dive in. 

So if we’re going to be covering why I believe that every OBM needs to invest in client experiences first, we need to understand what it is I mean by that.

So what does client experience mean from an OBM standpoint? The way I look at it is based on your senses. So if you think about your interactions with clients: 

How are they perceiving this experience? 

What do they see? What do they think? 

What do they feel? 

What do they hear? 

It’s looking at it from their point of view and their perspective.

[00:02:00] So it’s trying to sit in their seat and make sure that it is a pleasant or an exceptional experience, because I don’t think any of us really want it to be a negative experience. At least that’s never how I ran my business. 

Okay, so we know what, now let’s think about why. Does creating client experiences generate revenue?

Do you get an immediate ROI in terms of money?

And the short answer is no, you don’t. It’s not like you build this experience and then bang, you’ve got extra money in your account. You don’t charge for this experience. So why would we do it then? And then if we pull another layer, not only do we [00:03:00] not make instant money back from doing this activity, it actually costs us.

So what are the cost considerations when it comes to creating client experiences?

From my standpoint, the biggest cost is actually time. We all know we’ve got a finite amount of time. We have the same amount of time, and we have to use it wisely. So why should we spend some of our valuable time planning out client experiences? Because there’s only one of you. So that is a big cost for you. The other cost, which I believe is less than the time investment, is the investment of money. Now this one is somewhat more flexible because you can control it and there’s lots of different avenues you can go down and you get to choose whether it will be very expensive or [00:04:00] not so expensive.

So our costs are time. And money. And again, if we’re spending time and money and we’re not making immediate revenue back, why should we bother? I’ve been thinking about it and it’s something that we dive deeper into in O B M Academy, but to give you a taster, these are the five benefits to transforming from managing.

Client transactions to creating client experiences. So I’ll walk you through the five things and that will help create a picture of why I believe every OBM needs to do this. This is all under the premise of stop being a checkout chick. We want to create experiences so [00:05:00] you can be the person that is just taking transaction by transaction, following a process, ticking a box standing at the checkout, processing the sale, and then off you go.

Or you can build relationship and connection with people and start creating an actual experience rather than just, hi, I did the thing. You’ve got the thing now pay me my money. See you later. All right, so number one,

creating client experiences will help you stand out and it will help you create connection. Now, what is it that makes you different from other OBMs and how can you get people to notice this difference. A really easy way to do it is in your experience. If you are interacting with clients [00:06:00] in a certain way and it feels good for them, they’re going to remember that feeling and they’re going to say, “Ooh, I’ve not done this way before.

This is quite nice”, and they attach their memories and their feelings to that interaction with you. And so they feel a little bit more connected in creating experiences. We’re building security with our clients, we’re investing in them, and it does, it makes them feel secure and valued, which then helps them feel connected to you and makes you stand out in their minds.

Number two. It will help increase your brand reputation and your authority. So what do I mean by that? We wanna control somewhat how people perceive our [00:07:00] brands, how we do the things that we do, why we stand out, what the face is behind the name, and. Creating exceptional experiences is a really great way to do this because it is practicing what you preach right now when you are developing client experiences, especially if you’re doing it purposefully and not just guessing or doing it on the fly.

It takes a lot of thought. And as you create these experiences and implement them, that thought shines through. Clients see it and they feel it, and it shows that you’ve invested already in this. This is something you are doing with intent. It’s taken effort, it’s taken time. It’s not just something you are [00:08:00] doing to get a quick win.

It’s well thought out. And the fact that you’ve gone to that level of thought, effort, energy shows, you know what you’re doing. You have some authority here, otherwise you would just be haphazard. So it increases some stability. It builds our reputation with our consistent processes. And the perception of, oh, they made me feel really good, and they seem to do it so easily, and it increases your authority as you guide clients through these interactions with you.

Number three, it will help you create an ecosystem for organic referrals. Now, what do I mean by that? Can you imagine [00:09:00] if you ran an OBM business, A business you adored, and it was successful, and you didn’t feel like you had to constantly beg for sales or to get your clients to refer you to other people that they know By creating experiences your clients, Are going to do it automatically.

They’ll do it organically. Why? Because they’re enjoying that experience. They’re seeing the difference. They feel good, and so they talk to their friends. And then if their friends have an issue or are experiencing a problem that they need a solution to or just have a need in general. They want to achieve something and they need support.

Your clients are going to recommend you because we’ve [00:10:00] already built in that memory connection and feeling for them. If you want someone who is invested, that will help you achieve the goals you’ve laid out and who will go the extra mile, think about it deeply and be invested. You need my OBM because that’s what I’m experiencing right now.

And they do it organically. So it’s not a tailored conversation. It’s not something that’s been asked for. It’s something that as they go about their daily lives, you come into the picture because you are making an impact on them, and then the referrals flow through. And then you get to spend less time and money on marketing to cold prospects because your clients are doing the selling for you because you’ve put the initial time and energy into making them feel good.[00:11:00] 

Now, number four, it opens the opportunity for you to be able to charge higher rates. Now, why does it do that? How do we validate that? The reasoning is simple. You are creating something that is more desirable. You are not just creating a set me a task and I’ll email it back to you. Job done. It’s a whole relationship and connection.

It’s an experience. It’s the reason that you pay extra if you wanna get something hand delivered to someone, rather than just dropped off in, their mailbox. It’s about the feeling. It’s the tactical, tangible component. And as people, the higher we perceive the experience, or the more valuable we do, the more [00:12:00] we are willing to pay for it.

And so if we start building a reputation, For really investing and knowing our clients and making sure that they’re cared for and that their wants and desires are met when they need to be met, that level of consideration is worth more money, to work with someone who just gets you, is worth more money.

It’s the experience and it shows that. All of the effort you’ve put in, here’s the payoff guys, and why would you charge less if you’re delivering far more than the person next to you who’s doing the bare minimum? And people see it, and as long as it is all centered around what your clients really need and what they [00:13:00] really desire, it’s not even a battle.

They’re going to choose that cos they’re going to get results quicker and they’re going to feel better doing it

now. The last one, happy clients equals happy you. I don’t know about you, but when I work with people that I care about and that I’ve spent a lot of time investing into and getting to know, building that relationship. And knowing that they trust me. My days are happier when my clients are happier and we can have great conversations and we can achieve the things we’ve set out to generally, they’re happier and I’m happier.

And I think that is a reason on its own for you to invest a little bit of your time and your money. Into thinking about these experiences [00:14:00] because if we can make business easy and profitable and enjoyable, then I think we’ve won, like we’ve officially created a business and not just a job. And creating amazing experiences is one way that it can help you do just that.

So we’ve covered off why we should bother, what the benefits are of going through this exercise and this effort, and now we’re gonna look at how do you create these exceptional client experiences To do that, I like to split them into. Different categories or different statuses, you wanna meet people where they’re at.

That is always step one when creating any kind of journey or experiences. [00:15:00] It’s where is the client sitting right now? What are they thinking, feeling, hearing, seeing, and what do they need to be thinking, feeling, hearing, seeing, and how can we get them to do that? How do we give them what they need? So when a client is in the onboarding phase, they need different things to when you’re in delivery mode or when you’re in offboarding mode.

And we need to consider what those differences are, what those needs are, and how they change from one stage to the next. Because then we can start mapping how we’re going to fulfill those needs. So we wanna first. Map out the bare necessities. So at a very minimum, this is what a client needs for each of these phases.

Then we’re going to start adding layers for connection on top of that. So we might add our [00:16:00] communications layer and we might add a gift layer or an experience layer, or a surprise and delight, or a connection layer. There’s all these different layers and you slowly build up, until you’ve got this awesome holistic client experience.

Then you implement it and test drive it. And you know what? Everything else, it’s never finished because as you do this and you see the feedback that you get, You’re going to change what your experience is and you’re going to improve it and tweak it, and that is gonna make clients love you more because again, you’re adjusting based on them and what it does for them.

So I hope that gives you a really good overview of what creating Amazing Client experiences is all about, and I [00:17:00] hope now you understand. Why I’m asking you to spend a little bit of time investing into creating these experiences, it will change your OBM business for the better. It really will. Now, over the next few weeks, I’m actually going to go through each of the stages in more depth.

So we’ll cover onboarding, we’ll cover delivery, we’ll cover offboarding. And I’ll tell you some of the things that I did to enhance the experience for each of these stages. So be sure to tune in and I will talk to you next week. Thanks everybody.

 I would love for this to be a two-way conversation. Have a great week, guys. See you next week. [00:18:00] 

The biggest mistake I’ve made as an OBM. 

 [00:00:00] Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to this week’s episode of the Audacious OBM, and [00:01:00] yes, I just clapped because I’m excited. Today’s episode, I am going to be sharing with you the biggest mistake I made as an OBM not only did I make this mistake once, I made it repeatedly, and I’m still tempted to make it. I have not fully learned.

So what is this mistake? Why is it so elusive, and why haven’t I been able to master not doing it yet? Today, I am going to share this with you so that you don’t have to follow my ways. Learn from my mistakes and become a better OBM.

Without further ado, this mistake is changing my process for clients. I don’t know about you, but [00:02:00] there’s been many times where I’ve had clients come up to me and say, uh, can’t we just do it this way? Or I would really prefer if we did this, this, and this first, then did that, or this one you’ll love. Can I just give you the draft or just these three pieces and then when I’ve done the other three, I’ll give those to and we can just update as we go.

Now in each of these circumstances, my answer should have been, no, sorry, I can’t. And here’s why, but I didn’t. I second guessed myself. I second guessed my expertise and I thought, Hey, we’ll give it a go. Has not turned out well for me, even once. I wanna share some of the benefits and the consequences of each of these [00:03:00] decisions and why I believe I keep coming back to this mistake.

So first benefit I want to share is it makes clients happy. Usually this is only short term though. They feel appreciated. They feel like you’ve been a little bit flexible. You’re making allowances for them. They’re getting the thing that they asked for. It makes them happy, but does it really get them the outcome that they wanted?

Because my guess is if they could do it themselves to the level that you could, they wouldn’t need you. So it doesn’t make much sense for the client to control the process. Sure. Input into the process. But if it goes against your experience or your expertise, explain that. Don’t just say yes and change it [00:04:00] because it has the consequence of the client having to do more. You can’t just follow your usual steps or identify the patterns and rhythms that you have before for the things you’ve seen and done over and over, and your client ends up having to lead whatever the change is, if you’re going about things differently and your client is the one that has requested it be done that way.

Generally, they’re going to know more than you do about this thing, and then all of a sudden the responsibility is on them to help you do it, which generally isn’t what we want. It also has the benefit of being seen as open-minded and flexible. We’re humans. And we want people, especially our clients, [00:05:00] to see good in us and to think that we are good people and we are trying hard and we are invested.

And we think that being open-minded and flexible will help create that picture of us. There is room and time and place to be flexible and open to ideas and to be able to leverage multiple opinions to come to the best outcome. But in terms of process, in terms of things that you have done and done repeatedly that you are confident in.

More times than not, it is detrimental to your client to just do the thing that has been suggested just because it’s easier to [00:06:00] agree or you think it will make them happier. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if right now it’s a little bit easier, if it doesn’t get the outcome in the end. What you are doing by just saying, “Yes, okay I’ll be flexible. I’ll do it this way and that way”, not only are you crossing your own boundaries, (if you haven’t read Dr. Rebecca Ray’s Setting Boundaries book, please do. Full disclosure, she’s one of my clients and I adore her, but genuinely, the book is really good.) You’re crossing boundaries.

It also has the consequence of throwing away all of your experience. You’ve spent your life building up your tools and your thought process and the way that you go about things. And the second that you just say, okay, [00:07:00] we’ll do it your way, you’re, automatically discounting, all of that experience and that experience and that expertise, and the fact that you have done this before and seen this time and time again is really valuable.

And if you are not using that experience and expertise to build up your client’s businesses and to help them, then you are doing them an injustice.

The next benefit. This might be very specific to me, but I love to learn and generally if someone is saying to me, “Hey, have you seen this or have you tried doing it this way?” I get excited and I want to learn the new thing, which is all good and well. I have built a business that [00:08:00] has always had the purpose of allowing me to learn and to learn and to learn some more, because I value that and I like that, and it brings me joy.

That does not mean I necessarily have to change my processes when delivering things for clients to serve my need for learning. That’s a desire. It’s not a necessity and although I’m inclined to say yes because I like to learn or I wanna see how it would look, it has the consequence of a really large time investment, which could then put projects at risk. More time needed, because it’s not what we’ve experienced before, we face different problems. We can’t foresee the hurdles quite as well. All of a sudden that fun thing that when you [00:09:00] were asked, “can’t we just do this?”, has backfired

Now, we will come to the very biggest issue with saying yes and changing what you do or going against what you believe is the best option. And that is, it leaves all the risk on you. You are the service provider. You are the online business manager, and every time I have changed my process or done this a little differently, and I go against my better judgment and try and please the client.

It has backfired and when it backfires, my clients end up unhappy and somehow [00:10:00] it’s all my fault. And it’s not something I argue with, and it’s not something that I hold a grudge with, but it has taught me that there are things that you can be flexible with and things that you really shouldn’t be flexible with.

And the second that I hear come out of my mouth, we don’t usually do it that way. Now it’s an indicator I need to think really carefully before I commit to anything because there has to be logic, reason, solid evidence of why I should do it a different way, if all of my experience and expertise is saying the opposite, because history has told me that usually my process is correct and that trying to please other people only ends [00:11:00] up getting my clients a worse result, or with them being unhappy than instead having an incredible experience.

And if I learn to have the harder conversation upfront and explain why I do it the way that I do it, or why I don’t think it is a good idea to change that path,

I could end up with a very unhappy client instead of a very happy client. And it’s not a great exchange , if I’m honest. So, please don’t this mistake. And if you do, please do what I have done. And try again and try again. And remember, if you’re going to change the way you operate, have solid reasoning as to why.

And if you’re not confident in changing the way you operate about [00:12:00] something, communicate that to the client and explain that you are not trying to be inflexible, but your experience tells you, this way will give a far better result because at the end of the day, clients want you on board and to partner with you and for your experience to be added into this equation.

They know they want an outcome and usually they’re more than happy to share how to get to that outcome because they wanna do it with you, but it’s not in exchange for your advice and experience, it’s to be brought together. So that is my biggest mistake, and I will continue to try and not make this same mistake.

But I hope that has helped you and maybe helped you [00:13:00] identify some patterns that you have in your own business or brought clarity to why you’ve had unhappy clients in the past, possibly. Let me know in the comments. Otherwise, thank you for joining me on today’s episode. I will see you next week.

And if you want more insight, head to www.audaciousempires.com/roadmap, where you will find my Nine Steps to becoming a 6 Figure OBM Roadmap. Bye guys.

 [00:14:00] 

Leanne Woff: [00:00:00] Hello. Welcome to today’s episode of The Audacious OBM. Today we are [00:01:00] talking about all things “What do I need to know and what experience do I need to call myself an OBM?” Today we are answering a question that has come from one of our listeners. They have written in, I think I have the right skills to become an online business manager, but I don’t have the experience.

What do I do? This is a very, very good question and it’s more common than you might think.

The most crucial part of my answer to this is it’s important not just to tack the label online business manager onto the end of your name if you don’t have the prereqs. To do the job. There are far too many people in the industry who [00:02:00] aren’t quite sure, and they don’t ask this question, and then they call themselves an online business manager, and then they find themselves shocked and getting poor feedback from clients because they don’t quite have what’s needed to do the role yet.

I’m not saying they can’t learn, I’m just saying learn first. Alright. Outside of that, what do I do to come up with a really good answer? For this, we actually need to come down to the very core. Of what an online business manager does if you are just tuning in an online business manager’s main objectives, are operations management and project management, that is the core. I’m not saying [00:03:00] that’s all we do, and I’m not saying we need to do more, but I am saying those are the core functions.

Of an online business management role, you need to be able to manage operations and coordinate. You need to be able to project manage, which takes a certain kind of person. Now, once we have ascertained that, I can tell you that experience when you’re looking at calling yourself an online business manager isn’t what you might think it is.

There is no set criteria. There’s assumed criteria, and I can definitely, definitely give you the pointers that will lead to success, but this isn’t like a college degree or a university degree, where you have to have done [00:04:00] modules one, two, and three to be able to do number four. It doesn’t work like that.

So what do we do when we’re in a situation like this? I can’t just have a checklist and tick off, yes, I’ve got this, I’ve got this. How do I know? What I want you to do is look at both work experience and life experience. Both are relevant experience. You might have been an operations manager or are an operations manager.

Or a really skilled project manager. If you have those talents, the likelihood is you’ll be successful as an online business manager because they share the same skill base and then you can adapt and grow in the role life experience. Now, I want to share with you [00:05:00] what I call the printer story. Now, I’ve actually said this so many times about Chloe.

Chloe is on my team. She’s been on my team forever. She is my mini me, my fake sister. She’s incredible. One thing I learned very quickly about Chloe is that she’d never worked in a corporate reception environment and therefore, Had never had to be the go-to person to fix the printer. Anybody who has been in that kind of role knows the woes and the tales of fixing the printer.

It’s one of the crucial parts of the job, and although you may not be mechanical in mind or an it geek, Somehow receptionists get lumped with the job of being the printer technician. [00:06:00] And it’s something that I’ve had to do before. Recently we had to do some, we had to send out gift packs to lots of clients and.

I’ve just thought, okay, I’m gonna do a mail marriage and I’m going to put envelopes and print them through the printer and then just fill the envelopes and send them off. As I started to do this process, Chloe’s eyes nearly fell out of her head and she was like, what is this witchcraft you are doing?

She had never seen anything like it. Her approach would’ve been to either get sticky labels and write those on, or hand write all the envelopes. Never in her wildest dreams did she think it was possible to merge data and print them directly onto envelopes, because she never had to be the corporate reception printer technician.[00:07:00] 

And so now when the printer breaks. I automatically make it Chloe’s job to fix the printer because it teaches you all these skills, their skills that you didn’t know could even have existed. And it’s not about fixing a printer. It’s about that every time you try and fix a printer, it’s never the, it’s never the problem you thought it was, and therefore you need to find a different answer.

And even if it’s doing the same thing it did yesterday, the problem that is causing it is an entirely different problem. And so you get really good at problem solving and at thinking outside of the box and keeping your cool when you’re frustrated and all of a sudden you are learning new tactical skills as well as new personal skills.

It is not always the experience that you think that will be [00:08:00] beneficial to being an online business manager. It’s all different kinds of experience in work and in life. It’s my opinion that if you’re an online business manager, you’re an online business manager from birth, I believe it is built in to your personality.

And you’ll be able to look back and you’ll be able to see that there are some common factors here. Whether that is you’ve always been the planner in your friendship circle, in your family, it is you people rely on to coordinate the event. And to get everybody together to work out where it is and how many people we have to feed or how we’re going to get there.

You are the person that remembers the birthdays or knows you can’t do an event on this date because it will clash with [00:09:00] something else. You have an ability to plan, to think and to execute. Those are natural abilities. Yes, you can learn them. And I’m not saying if you haven’t been that kind of person since birth, then you can’t be an online business manager.

But from my experience, the OBMs I’ve worked with have been these people, they’re naturally inclined to do these things and think this way, which then makes it really easy for them in their roles of doing that in businesses.

Another thing you need is to sharpen some of your soft skills. Now, a lot of people will focus on developing hard skills, technical skills, but in the role of online business manager, I think soft skills are more important. The things that. [00:10:00] You know, you don’t walk away with a certificate for, but will change the way you operate and businesses operate.

Are you organized? Do you have a practical approach? Are you forward thinking? All of these things are soft skills, and if you naturally operate in these manners, in this manner, then. The likelihood is you’ll be more successful as an online business manager. So I know that I’m not directly answering your question in terms of, here are the four things you need to be able to do confidently and you’ll be fine.

But I’m giving you the tools to identify the different areas that you can already go. Yep, that’s me. Or, Ooh, no, not really. And it’s either something you can work on and increase so [00:11:00] that you can step into the role, or it’s something where you go, I did not know that that’s what an online business manager did or was, and I’m so not interested.

Either way is fine, but I’m hoping it’s giving you a bigger picture. The next thing is communication skills. These are crucial. You need to be able to unite a team. As an online business manager, you are the coordinator of the team. You are interacting with people all the time. You are the keeper of the project schedules, and you need to be able to work with these people to get an incredible outcome.

So you need to be able to communicate. Clearly you need to be able to hand over tasks in simple, clear language as well as set clear expectations, but not seem like you are just controlling and commanding. [00:12:00] You need to unite the team, support the team, and as a team unit, lead them to incredible results.

And usually this comes down to communication, open, honest, clear communication. And I really do believe that that is something that you need to be an online business manager. And it’s not something you’re ever finished with. No one is ever going to say to you, that’s it. I’ve learned all of the communication skills now.

There is no more growth in communication I can ever do. I am the queen. That doesn’t exist. It’s something that we are always working on and building, and as we grow, it’ll continue to grow. So as long as it is a focus and you’re building to your communication toolkit, then you’ll be fine. Okay. The final thing is [00:13:00] hard skills.

So this one you can get your checklist out and do. Tick off as you go. I’m going to share with you what I call the operations trifecta. So there’s three core tools you need to be across, and they are more categories of tools. So number one, You need to be confident in a document suite. So whether that is Microsoft and its suite of documents, or whether that is Google and the Google suite of documents, you need to be able to navigate confidently in them.

And generally, if you know one, you’ll know the other. You’ll be able to work it out with enough confidence, but that’s crucial In running operations generally, you’re gonna need some kind of document. System and be able to help other people use that system or create processes that include aspects of those systems.[00:14:00] 

Number two, a project management system. With this one I want you to really understand one online project management tool, Asana. Click up Monday, Trello, whichever one it is. As long as you know one really, really well, you’ll understand the principles enough that you can translate across to others if needed.

Not necessarily to be the person that builds or presents or knows how to adapt to those systems, but enough for you to confidently use it and to help the team with it. So you need to have a project management system under your belt.

And a communications tool. So very rarely now do we just pick up the phone and we definitely do not wanna use email as our primary form of communication because [00:15:00] stuff gets lost. Misinterpreted, things get lost. Well, I already said that. See? Really lost. So lost that. I don’t even remember saying it. So you need another comms tool.

And you can use it in all different ways. So whether it’s a way that connects through to your project management system and you can keep notes that way, or whether it’s to have easier communication with a team or easier communication with your clients. Look at the different communication tools that are available and learn how to use one or two of them.

They’re not hard. They’re easy to set up and they will make your job as an online business manager much easier. And my bonus tool for you is Google. You cannot be an incredible online business manager [00:16:00] if you don’t know how to Google. No, it doesn’t matter which search engine you use, but seriously, the amount of times I have to say, have you Googled it?

Because the chances are if you are facing a problem, someone else has faced that problem. So why, start from scratch, leverage what someone else has done. But funnily enough, it’s not just an inherent skill. People need to learn to Google. So if you are not confident on how to Google and how to change your search terms, if you can’t find the answer straight away, practice some Googling.

Anyway, they’re the things that I think you do need to know and the experience that you do need to have to call yourself an OBM, so there is no shiny certificate. And the chances are if you are sitting there and you are thinking about [00:17:00] whether or not you can call yourself an OBM, usually the answer is you can, because generally people don’t actually think in that manner or that way unless they’re an OBM because it’s a whole way of being.

And the fact that you are thinking about it shows that you’re invested and you care enough. And that tells me you are more likely to be successful than most. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you want more guidance like this, head to www.audaciousempires.com/roadmap and you can get my Nine Steps to Becoming a Six Figure OBM, it’s free. 

You’ll love it, I promise. See you next week.

 [00:18:00]