Customers & Clients Archives

EP 293: Offering Bespoke Services With Flaunt Your Fire Founder India Jackson

Aug 11, 2020 | Business Models, Customers & Clients, Podcast

Offer development is an incredibly important part of running a service-based business. Without a careful strategy and thoughtful process behind how you create value, you are likely to get stuck in the trap of trading time for money or wind up overwork & overwhelmed.

That’s why I wanted to make sure we included a bespoke service-based business in this series on creating value.

I invited India Jackson, the founder of Flaunt Your Fire, a full-service brand visibility agency, to share her approach to how she creates value and constructs the services she offers clients.

India is clear on what her agency does and what it does not do.

She’s clear on why her agency offers the types engagements it does and why some projects just aren’t right for them. And, she’s clear on how her team adds value to the services the agency provides—so India isn’t stuck doing everything herself.

Even if you don’t run a service-based business, this conversation has a lot to offer. Listen in and consider how you might be trying to do too much with your product-based business or how you’ve succumb to making offers that aren’t aligned with your values or best work.

EP 292: Figuring Out What’s Next For Your Offer With LOE Collective Founder Alisha Robertson

Aug 4, 2020 | Community, Customers & Clients, Growth, Podcast

This month, we’re focusing on how small businesses create & deliver value.

How do we develop new offers? Put together new packages? Build new products?

We’ll be deep diving into 3 businesses and how they create & deliver value.

I’ll also be sharing a series of short bonus episodes looking back at how I’ve created & delivered value over the years—and how that process continues to evolve both at What Works and at YellowHouse.Media. Plus, we’ll close out the series by hearing from a few more business owners who have found creative ways to create and deliver value through the offers they make.

As I mentioned earlier, “What’s next?” is often a question that helps you figure out how to create and deliver value beyond what you’re already doing.

A product or service that solves a particular problem might shine some light on the next problem that needs to be a solved. A product or service that creates a delightful experience might simply leave the customer asking for more.

Or “What’s next?” might simply be a request to go deeper, keep working together longer, or investigate new possibilities.

Alisha Robertson found herself with a whole bunch of customers asking her “What’s next?” after she released a book called Living Over Existing. After a lot of thought, some customer research, some soul-searching, Alisha came up with her next move.

Alisha and talk about how the LOE Collective came to be, how she’s set up her community to meet those “What’s next” needs, and how she created the Intentional Success Path to guide her members through more “What’s next” questions. Plus, Alisha shares why she also created a physical welcome kit to send to her new members.

EP 260: Tracking Complex Projects With On-Demand CFO Christina Sjahli

Jan 21, 2020 | Customers & Clients, Operations, Podcast

I wanted to know how people who work with lots of data and reports manage the process, communicate with their clients, and organize all the work to be done.

So I asked Christina Sjahli, an on-demand CFO and cash flow analyst, to share her process. Christina started her career in corporate finance and now brings that experience to established entrepreneurs in the process of scaling to $1 million in annual revenue.

In this conversation, Christina shares how she manages the financial reports that help her do her job, how she tracks changes in those reports so the history of the project is never lost, how and why she uses Trello boards to interact with her clients, and why being deadline-oriented helps her manage her own work.

EP 252: Making New Clients Feel At Home With SmartStart Founder Linda Lopeke

Nov 26, 2019 | Customers & Clients, Podcast

For our final episode on our series on designing exceptional customer experiences, I spoke with Linda Lopeke, the founder of SmartStart.

Linda knows that customer service starts long before the first purchase is ever made.

She’s designed her entire client on-boarding system to set clear expectations, ensure fit, and make new clients feel at ease. Instead of crossing her fingers and hoping she doesn’t run into customer service problems, Linda has crafted a process elevates her client experience.

I talked with Linda about the lengthy application process she uses, why she interviews every prospect before they can work with her, and how she brings on a new client step-by-step.

Play close attention to all the opportunities Linda has to set expectations throughout the process and reduce the friction of doing the work.

EP 251: Teaching Customers How To Use Your Product One At A Time With Tyme Iron Creator Jacynda Smith

Nov 21, 2019 | Customers & Clients, Podcast

Today, we’re examining customer service that might not scale but has helped the company create massive growth.

The Tyme Iron, created by today’s guest Jacynda Smith, is a unique hairstyling tool that’s meant to replace both your flat iron and your curling iron so you can create a variety of styles for medium-length to long hair.

When you look at it, you get it.

But when you use it? Well, that can be a different story.

Faced with questions and even some frustration from new users, Jacynda made an interesting choice. She decided to FaceTime her customers, one at a time, and walk them through the process of creating the style they wanted to create with their new Tyme Iron.

In other words, Jacynda made the choice to do something that doesn’t scale.

But instead of abandoning that choice as the company grew, she doubled down.

As you’ll hear, the company now employs 5 full-time virtual stylists whose job it is to sit down with new customers, one on one, and help them style their hair with their new Tyme Iron.

I had to know how this process is managed, plus I wanted to know how investing in this premium customer experience has benefitted the company overall.

EP 250: Creating Wildly Fun Client Experiences With Allie LeFevere

Nov 19, 2019 | Branding, Customers & Clients, Podcast

Allie LeFevere is the co-founder of Obedient Agency—a full-service humor marketing agency.

Truly, the first time I landed on their website, I can describe my experience as nothing less than surprised and delighted. It’s not funny for funny’s sake—it’s humorous for clarity’s sake. Every piece of it serves to define who they are, what they do, and who they do it for in the most unique ways possible.

I had to know how this brilliant branding & positioning functioned on the inside. Had they designed equally surprising & delighting client experiences?

Yes, of course they have.

Allie and I talk about how that website got built—which is a great look at the brainstorming process they use throughout the agency. We also chat about how they infuse humor into every touchpoint they have with a client, how they manage each client touchpoint, and why client fit is such an important piece of the puzzle.

EP 249: Standing Out With Exceptional Customer Experiences With Project Army Founder Viktor Nagornyy

Nov 12, 2019 | Customers & Clients, Podcast

Viktor Nagorynyy is the founder of Project Army. What started as an SEO and digital marketing consultancy has blossomed into a full-service website support & hosting company that prioritizes customer service and experience.

Viktor shares how doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing has led to big results, why customer service is so important to him, how prioritizing customer service has helped the company grow, and how he utilizes social media to offer help to anyone—even if they’re not a customer.

EP 248: What’s Working In Setting Boundaries While Delighting Customers With Coach Nicole Lewis-Keeber

Nov 7, 2019 | Customers & Clients, Podcast

Nicole is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker turned business therapist & mindset coach who helps entrepreneurs identify the patterns that cause friction and dysfunction in their businesses. She helps them identify trauma of all kinds, rework habits, and redefine relationships—with themselves, their team members, and their businesses.

I wanted to ask Nicole how she helps her clients establish strong & clear boundaries while maintaining exceptional customer experiences in their businesses.

We talked about how to know when you have a boundary problem, why unclear communication is unkind, how to renegotiate boundaries when there’s a problem, and what kind of routines we can put in place to keep boundary issues from happening in the first place.

EP 212: Building Your Audience Behind The Scenes With Social Media Strategist Andrea Jones

Jun 4, 2019 | Culture, Customers & Clients, Networking, Podcast

Andréa Jones has worked with hundreds of small businesses, startups, and podcasters since 2014 by helping them create social media strategies that save them time and amplify their message. She’s also the host of the Savvy Social Podcast, a weekly show for budding entrepreneurs and she’s the founder of Social Media for Podcasts, a social media agency for podcasters by podcasters.

But I didn’t ask Andrea on the show to talk about crushing it on social media.

Instead, Andrea and I talk about how she uses social media behind the scenes to develop relationships with people who can help her get in front of the right people. She explains step-by-step exactly what she does to find people to connect with, start a conversation, and follow up—plus, how she manages it all in Asana.

EP 211: Building An Audience With Tara McMullin

May 30, 2019 | Customers & Clients, Growth, Podcast

When I made the decision to all but start over with my email list, it was a decision to do the work to find that number, rediscover the right people, and rebuild my audience from there.

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Host of What Works

Tara is a podcaster, small business community leader, strategist, and speaker. She’s been helping small business owners build stronger businesses for over a decade.