Just another Friday. Oh, I’m love on Friday. Oh, just another on Friday. Hey guys, it’s Meredith Canaan here and I am alive on Friday and I can’t decide if I want my glasses on or off. So anyway, welcome to 48. If you didn’t know that I just celebrated my birthday this past week. Woo. Another year into my life.
And that’s not what we’re talking about today.
So today we are talking about keeping and retaining happy clients. And one of the things that can be really important in your business is having those systems set up so that when you spend your time and effort, expanding your reach, nurturing your clients, giving and taking care of that relationship.
By the time you have all of those efforts out there, that when you get them, you take really good care of them.
Especially for my heart centered folks. We want to make sure that we’re delivering amazing services and you may or may not know this, but I used to be a content management and program delivery expert. Yes I did those things for somebody else. And so I have some bit of a systems type mind.
Mindmap for Success
It’s not my super strength, but it can be very helpful. My super strength is designing these systems with our relationships in mind. Yes, it is. That’s where it goes. And I just wanted to let you know that I have this amazing free gift that I have just come up with and I just created it. And it’s super pretty to help you understand the systems.
So I’m going to pop a link in the, in the chat box so that you guys can see it because it’s new. It’s fancy. Oh, and guys it’s clickable. So I have designed this, make sure I can get this in the chat box. It’s a super easy, I have this really beautiful mind map for those of you that like the visuals, of course, you guys know my husband helped me design the visual part of the mind map Meredithcanaan.com/mindmap.
But it also comes with a very awesome checklist. And it’s clickable. I love a clickable checklist because having those systems to support clients.
Creating Lasting Relationships with Your Clients
So hint, number one, the relationship with your clients, the success of it can be determined within the first 30 days of bringing them on.
Having that experience is so important. Whether it’s inside a program, a membership, private, one to one work, all of these things, having those systems set up can make all of the difference in the world from the time that you grab their money and say, yes, I want to work with you.
You want to make sure that they feel loved,honored, and taken care of from the moment they deepen that relationship with you. It’s not one of those things where they’re like, Hey, we got your money. And I’m out of here. That’s not very heart-centered. It does not feel very good to have somebody take your money. And then, then be like, okay, yeah, just it’s a, self-study go do what you need.
Take good care of your clients, have good client relationships and have the systems that can absolutely support them. So I have a five-step system that is designed to help you keep and retain happy clients. And it starts with preparation.
Stage 1 – Systems for Great Experiences
Stage one is making sure that all of your systems are set up in a way that give them that good experience.
So part of that is making sure that, for example, if you’re onboarding private clients, that once they purchase, they get something that says, Hey, thank you so much for purchasing. I’m so excited to have you join me. How do you continue to design and nurture that? Do you send them a welcome video? Do you have them in a place where they can get their own personal links?
My private clients come on board and some stuff happens manually. I create a Google doc for them, but then I have a page for them that they automatically get sent to. That gives them easy access to schedule their next session, easy access, to get paperwork in and out of their Google form for us to look at what they’re creating and what they’re working on.
All of it’s set up in a really nice system so that they can find it. It’s their own personal little page inside, inside their membership area. And there are all of these things that are included in there. Like here’s the contract, here are the things here’s a nice way to do this. And I’m always looking at improving the systems, especially when you’re just getting started, making sure that your clients know, Hey, how do I schedule my next session? Hey, how do I do all this stuff? If you don’t do a personal onboarding conversation, you want to look at the systems. And if you’re doing personal onboarding conversations, you can look at this checklist to see what are the things that they need to help keep and cultivate that relationship. Because once they give you money and again, making sure that they’re powerfully set up.
So that’s the first thing you want to think about? How do I powerfully set them up for success? And again, this checklist could be a really great starting point, even for free things that you’re doing. If you’re running a challenge, what are the things you want? Hey, here’s access to the challenge materials. Hey, here’s access to the community and the Facebook group where we’re running the challenge. Hey, thank you for joining me and signing up.
Make sure that they can get your emails. Nobody wants to sign up for something and be like, I didn’t get anything. I can’t find it. I keep going and I’m lost. How do you help them? Set them up powerfully so that it’s a good experience so they can find these things. So those are part of stage one inside our preparations, making sure that they can get access to you, that they can find you, that they can have all of those wonderful things to be able to reach you.
That’s step one.
Step 2 – Welcome Them
Step two is really welcoming them, onboarding, making sure that they can get to everything. Preparations is all those things that they get. If you’re making sure that when you have your payment system set, that those things follow suit and in the onboarding and the welcoming. Making sure that they can find the things they need to find.
If you’ve got a program or a membership. And it’s one of those fancy ones that sends them a username and password, make sure that it’s clearly spelled out, Hey, you’re the one that’s going to set up your password, or you’re going to go to this system here. This is the page, bookmark this link, make sure it’s taken care of and go here.
Also let them know where to find things. Here’s where we have this. Here’s how you find the calendar of all the events. I know. I think I’m having a problem with my Google calendar. At the moment. I have some new clients that have just joined the membership and the something’s not working in my Google calendar. So they have the link, but I’m not sure that they’re getting that information it’s downloading. So I gotta check it.
But you want to make sure that if there’s events and people can join them, that they know where to find them, how to find them, how to get the Google link, or if they’re an iCal people, I am a Mac for the most part, but I do use Google calendar. How many of those are you guys who here’s a Mac, I’m a Mac, not a PC anyway.
And then if it’s a program or a membership that has an ongoing basis. What are the things that you need to tell them again? So they’re set up for success. Are you giving them a heads up that says, Hey, this week inside the membership, we’re doing this. And, oh, here’s the reminder. A half hour before or 20 minutes before today, we’re doing this. Don’t miss it. If you want to come live and oh wait, did you miss it? Would you like to find the recordings? This is how you find where this stuff is in the system.
So that you’re getting the things that you signed up for. You’re getting the things that you paid for. So that you’re getting the support that you need.
So that’s section two, which is kind of the core delivery. We want to make sure that we give everybody a heads up to what’s coming. Hey, here’s the thing we said that was coming. And oh my goodness, we did it. And did you want to catch the replay again?
This works for anything, whether it’s a free workshop, a paid workshop, a one-to-one service, et cetera, this delivery system. When people give you their money, email, et cetera, gives them what they need to be fully supported.
Then one thing that can really, really help in keeping and retaining, because guys, it’s so much better for you to keep your clients that you have built a beautiful relationship with.
Stage 3 – Clients Retention
Keep them happy and have them coming back month, over month, year after year. Guys, I have a relatively full one-to-one private VIP roster. It’s almost always full, very rarely at the moment. I actually have two spaces available, but I very rarely have a VIP spots open. Because my clients get taken really good care of. And they stay year after year after year, I have some clients who’ve been with me for five years and I tell them that I’m keeping you forever because that’s my intention. So I want to make sure that they’re happy and they’re getting results. Clearly they are because they don’t leave.
But one of the things that you can do that can be very helpful to getting and retaining clients is helping them see that process progress. So inside of your course, membership free workshop, free challenge, page challenge, whatever it is that you’re offering people, you want to make sure that they have an opportunity to celebrate good times. Come on.
Stage 4 – Celebrations!!!
So stage four is really about celebrating the progress, acknowledging the progress and moving through it. So A) they can see the results that they’re getting and B) so they can see where their future might be going. If I’m making this type of progress, what would happen if I stay, I can continue to make progress step after step.
So celebrations A) help them see what they’ve achieved B) it helps them see what’s possible. That’s next? And so inside this stage, stage four, we also want to make those opportunities available for them for them.
And so it could be that if you’re doing a six week course or an eight week course, this is where you would offer. First you celebrate, look at all the progress we made. Would you like to make more progress? I might have this next offer. That could be the right fit for you. Whether it’s a back-end membership that came after a course or a VIP Workday or whatever the offer is assuming they’re happy because we have used this checklist and we have delivered amazing results and they are seeing the future.
They will likely say yes, some of them won’t and we honor and thank them for their no. And some of them will say yes and say, I absolutely want to take this next step with you. And so you want to make sure that we celebrate. And if there’s an opportunity for what’s next that on the heels of the celebration, on the heels of that progress, we let them know if you want to continue to make progress at whatever pace it is, here’s this offer. You want to do it faster. Here’s our high end VIP offer, whatever the choice is, you want to just be fully supported. Here’s our nice, cool chill member, whatever that is, that’s stage four.
Stage 5 – End of Relationship Processes
Stage five is what happens when people are like, well, I’m not sure this is right for me. Or I’m confronted by something. So technically I’m not really sure.
Stage five could kind of, some of it could be over here and some of it could be over here, but needless to say, it’s the things we need to think about. For example, you may actually have somebody who wants to get a refund. I know you’re amazing. Why would they want to get a refund? Because your stuff is awesome. It could be that it’s not a fit. They don’t like a coach who sings out every five minutes or they don’t like the style of your delivery. You’re doing webinars style. You’re doing lots of slides or you’re not doing any slides. And you’re just having a conversation, whatever it is.
We want to make sure that if they ask for a refund, that they are honored, that they are loved in their choice to say that we have boundaries around it, we have set our terms. I just had a conversation with my lawyer this morning about terms of service. We have set their terms of service.
Refund Policy and Procedures
We can let them know this was the agreement you said, this was the refund period we established. Here are the boundaries we are holding to. And inside that system, there’s things that say, Hey, yes, you’re inside your refund, period. Here you go. And here’s your refund. And here are the steps to that.
Or there’s a, Hey, you’re outside the window. We told you upfront, this was the refund period. And you missed it. And how can we help you with the fact that you missed it? Because one of the things I want to point out is in this stage five, there are so many opportunities for you to show up compassionately with empathy and still from a place of service, how do I serve you best? Well, what is it that you didn’t like?
And this is the opportunity since it’s whose business, your business to figure out how you could best serve them. Maybe you have another product or service that might work better for them. Maybe you could put the balance towards VIP one-to-one work. Cause they don’t like being in group and they just want to have a conversation.
Could you do that? That’s up to you.
So designing that system to set them up for success, even if they want a refund or set them up for success, even if they’re canceling, it might be one of those things like, Hey, I understand you want to cancel the membership. That’s great. And I’m so happy to cancel it for you.
That’s why I have a membership. So you can come in and out as you want. I just want to remind you the price went up. And so if you come back, you’re coming back in at this price. If you’re having real difficulty reach out to me and maybe we can work out something. This is your opportunity to provide support for what’s going on.
It’s also for those of you who are coaches, an opportunity to see how you can stand for them in the face of maybe they’re up against a mindset block, maybe they’re up against a performance block. They’re up against something. This is your opportunity to provide that support for what they’re up against to see if you want to see if having them stay is the right fit for them and their situation.
It may absolutely be the wrong fit. It may be the wrong time. Life might’ve happened in throwing them a curve ball. And they got to say, bye-bye. Send them away with love and support. That’s why we love then lead.
But people often think, well, why do I have to set up a cancellation process or a refund process? Or I feel like there’s a third one that I’m not thinking of, but it’s so helpful to have this stuff set up in advance so that you know how to handle something. When something comes your way and you’re not just thrown for a curve ball.
I had somebody ask for a refund. I know real surprised. It was for my program. I thought I had the system set up and it just wouldn’t pull her out of it.
I was like, you know, clearly the universe wants you to have the content because I can’t seem to pull you out of the system properly. I’m sorry that you’re getting the issues and trying to not send her all of the stuff that she had changed her mind and said it wasn’t the right time. But at least in the process, I kept communicating and saying, Hey, I hear you. I love that. You’re in integrity. And that you keep telling me that you keep getting it, even though you’ve asked for it and I’ve sent you.
We had a great relationship in this refund. It’s very possible that at some point she’s going to come back and be like, I loved it, went down and I’m really interested in this current offer or now I ready for the program. And I jumped the gun because I wasn’t ready before, whatever it is, these are those opportunities to shine in service for the people that need to say goodbye, send them lovingly a part of me in my snarkiness. And I might do it. Cause you guys know how much I love to sing.
I feel like in my cancellation process, I want to have the song from Hamilton, from the king. That’s his pick. Just you’ll see. You will miss being loved from me. I don’t know if it’s snarky and people will find it funny or not. I’m, I’m still debating about it, but it could be fun.
Be Yourself
And bring your personality to all of these things. Some of these are benchmarks and ideas.
So again, if you’re interested in having some of these setups guys, I gave you this fancy little mind map. So you can look at the things that you want to set up and a nice little clickable checklist. So check it out. Meredithcanaan.com/mindmap. It’s a nice, pretty page is very simple one.
So that you can, because guys, I know so many of you guys spend a lot of time trying to increase your reach and increase your attraction process and all of these things that you’re getting people, but you forget to take care of them once they pay you. And we want to make sure that they’re really well-served.
Because if you’re going to get them to say,yes, let’s take brilliant, you did such a good job attracting them. You did such a good job getting, building that relationship, nurturing it let’s make sure that it continues even more. So once they sign up and say, yes, this is where we lean in and serve them. And having them set up powerfully is such an important thing.
So hopefully this helps you understand the power of a delivery system. And I think this little mind map and checklist can really help you out again. And it works for anything, whether it’s a free, opt-in taking good care of them, they’ll taking good care of them. Then we’ll help you continue to get them into the yes for the sale. And then having a process.
Once they say yes, and you have done a beautiful job, converting them, having their first 30 days, joining your program or membership or private coaching or whatever your offer is, having them set up powerfully. We’ll have them continue to have amazing results. And then we celebrate them.
My private coaching sessions, guys, we start every call with a celebration inside the membership.We start everything with celebration so that people can see the progress so that they can see that they’re making an effort, that things are working and to help understand that they’re enjoying the process.
All right guys, hopefully this was very, very helpful. Hopefully, you can see the power of having a system to take care of your clients. It’s sometimes this can be the thing that brings the most money into your business because you have happy clients. And they’re just going to keep saying yes to you. You take good care of them and they’ll just, they’ll get more. They’ll buy more opportunities. They’ll take more offers. They’ll go from private one to one sessions to half day VIP days, they’ll go from a course or a membership. They’ll go from a course to a membership, to an ongoing something or other.
There’s so many different ways we can serve in our businesses and having those systems to support them.Maybe it’s just because I love program delivery. Because I lived as a program delivery manager for four years, five years, six years, something like that, that I love to teach it. But I think this system can make a big difference. And again, it’s clickable. So mind map and it’s each stage of the system has one stage might have two pages, but it’s five stages of a fancy checklist.
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