Client Experience Essentials: The 5 Layers You Actually Need

Colie: 00:00:26

Hello, hello, and welcome back to another solo episode

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of Business First Creatives.

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Today we're gonna get into something

that has literally been tugging

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at me for months and I figured it

out 10 minutes ago, and so I am

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making this podcast episode now.

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I just got off of an offer, hot seat with

Seals Lockley, um, and it was amazing.

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But when she finished giving me my

feedback as the fourth person was

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going, I was scribbling down notes

and figuring out what I wanted to talk

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about inside of this podcast episode.

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As someone who's been living and

breathing backend systems for years,

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it made total sense that automation

and workflows were my entry point.

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I've taught a lot of photographers and

other creatives how to clean up their

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CRM, streamline their booking process

and stop babysitting their inbox.

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Lately I've been rethinking what

truly makes a client experience

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unforgettable, consistent, and

easy for you, and more importantly,

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what it takes to make it work.

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So today after my offer Hot Seat, I sat

down and I mapped out what I'm calling

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the client Experience Essentials.

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These are five foundational layers

that work together to help you book

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dream clients faster, deliver a

more seamless experience, and stop

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dropping balls behind the scenes.

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So before we dive into a deeper

debate about where to start, let

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me give you the full picture.

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Here are the five layers.

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Number one is client communication.

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That's your voice, your tone and

clarity in every email and touchpoint.

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The second is your booking

and onboarding processes.

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The smooth handoff from I'm in to,

we're officially working together.

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Number three is your customer

journey design, a fully mapped out

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experience from inquiry to delivery.

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The fourth are your workflow automations.

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I mean, that's what I've been

talking about this whole time.

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This is the backend system

that runs the process for you.

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And number five are your offer

delivery systems, how your service

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is fulfilled, completed, and

followed up with professionalism.

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And while most people would

assume you start with a map.

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I did initially, the customer

journey design, if you will.

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I'm here to make the case

for something different.

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Today I'm going to tell you why.

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The real foundation of your client

experience isn't workflows your

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automation or even your customer journey.

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It's your client communication.

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Now, Let's start with a metaphor.

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Your client experience is a house.

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The customer journey.

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Design is your blueprint.

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It's your plan.

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It's where each room goes

and what the flow should be.

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Those things that I used to talk about,

your booking systems, your automations,

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your delivery processes, those are your

framing, your plumbing, your electrical.

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They make the house function.

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But your client communication, that's the

foundation, that's the slab, that is the

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thing that everything else is built on.

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You can't put walls on dirt, and you

sure as hell can't decorate a house

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that's not built on something solid.

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So this is why I think

client communication is

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layer one in this process.

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It's your handshake, your storefront,

your first impression, or a nice

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warm hug if that's your thing.

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If it's confusing, slow or stiff,

you've lost them before you even

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introduce yourself or your offer.

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And here's the kicker, most people lose

trust here without even knowing it.

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You think your proposal is the problem.

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You think your pricing is the problem,

but really your communication didn't build

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enough trust for the client to say yes and

proceed to the next step in your process.

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Now that communication

powers every other layer.

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Your booking process runs

on clear communication.

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Your journey design can only come to life

through emails, videos, and touchpoints.

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Your automations literally send your

communication, and if they are not, you

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are the bottleneck in your process and

your offer delivery is only polished

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if your emails, guides and follow

up reflect your amazing experience.

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No matter how good your system is,

if your communication inside of

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it is clunky, generic, or out of

sync with your brand, it breaks.

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Your voice is the experience.

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Your voice is what makes

your systems human.

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It's the difference between a

cold automated process and a

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high touch experience that your

clients rave about and that builds

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loyalty, referrals, and rebooking.

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So where does your customer

journey design actually fit?

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Don't get me wrong, mapping your

customer journey is crucial.

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But by starting with communication,

your tone, clarity, and cadence,

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you build a foundation that your

journey and your systems can grow on.

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You don't just send the right things.

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You send them in a way that feels

like you and that human connection is

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what your leads and clients will love.

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Okay, so what do you do first?

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If your client experience feels

inconsistent or like you're constantly

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rewriting the same email over and over

again, start with your communication.

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Ask yourself, what does my

inquiry email sound like?

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Do my onboarding messages set

expectations clearly and efficiently?

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Would I want to receive

this email as a client?

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Then build from there,

not the other way around.

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So yes, I want to remind

you, I am still Colie James.

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I am still a system strategist,

but more specifically, I'm a client

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experience system strategist because

what I've learned is I'm not just

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here to help you build your workflows.

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I'm here to help you create experiences

that your clients rave about.

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It starts with the words that you

choose, the tone that you set,

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and the way that you communicate

from that very first, hello.

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So if you're building your

own client experience layers.

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Lay the foundation first.

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Make your communication rock solid, and

then go build the house of your dreams.

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Now, if you want help figuring out what

to say and when, that's exactly what

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we're doing inside my new course Email

Like You Mean It because good systems run

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your business, but great communication,

that's what gets you booked.

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If you'd like additional details,

they are inside of the show notes, or

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you can go to Colie james.com/email.

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Okay.

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That's it for this episode.

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See you next time.