No matter how you look at it, your clients either make your business a pleasant dream, or chilling nightmare…
We’ve all had clients from hell…
But what I’m talking about is not making things harder than they have to be, even if you have great clients.
So, in this week’s newsletter, you’ll discover 5 ways you can improve how to deal with your clients to improve both your and their satisfaction.
Why You Should STOP Solving Your Clients Problems
“What Dan, I shouldn’t solve my clients problems?”
“Exactly”…
Here’s what I mean.
If you’re a consultant, then solving your clients’ problems is part of your job, but if you’re a coach…
Your job is to give them what they need and provide guidance and support so THEY can solve their own problems.
The reason for this is twofold.
If you solve every little issue they have:
- You’ll be overworked and underpaid…
- They’ll ALWAYS be dependent on you, and NEVER grow…
Neither of those outcomes is favorable for either of you.
So, by all means be there for them, give them everything they need to succeed, but NEVER enable them to remain helpless.
Why You Must Track Your Clients’ Progress
Tracking your clients’ progress is essential if you want to keep your clients long term.
But as your client base expands it can get difficult to manage.
You’ll want to create a Google doc or spreadsheet with a tab for each client.
On each tab you’ll have where they were before starting with you…
And you can monitor their progress each week or month that passes based on specific metrics.
You can spend a little time each week filling in the sheet for all clients, or hire a virtual assistant if you’re too busy…
And this gives you a solid idea of where each client is and what they need to reach their goals and continue progressing.
How To Manage Your Clients WITHOUT Overwhelm
Do you ever feel like you’re being led by your clients or they have a little more control than you like?
I see this far too often in coaching/client relationships.
The key to managing your clients is training them so they know where the lines that must not be crossed are.
You want to be there for your clients, but you other life and business priorities too.
Unless there’s an emergency, they can’t just call you whenever they want.
Remember, you’re the leader in this relationship.
You set the ground rules with compassion of course, because you’re often their only line of support on this journey.
How To Have Tough Client Conversations Without Losing Your Cool
Being a leader has many difficult moments…
And having tough conversations is definitely one of them.
In my opinion B.S. has no place in a coaching and consulting, or training relationship.
Your ability to do your job well relies heavily on your ability to tell your clients what they NEED to hear, not what they want to hear.
Things may get awkward.
Your clients may not like it, but it’s essential to both your current and future success.
So how do you have those tough conversations with your clients?
Good question.
In short they are:
- Acknowledge responsibility
- Define the outcome
- Listen & validate
- Restate the outcome
But I suggest you watch the 4 minute video to gain full insight into how to have difficult conversations.
How To Ensure Your Clients Don’t Quit Early
There’s nothing worse than putting so much time and effort into your business, programme, and clients, only to have them pull out before the programme ends.
Your lifetime customer value is very important, so if you run a 12, 24, or 36+ month program…
Your success hinges on your clients not quitting early.
There could be many reasons why they may want to leave.
Four of the biggest reasons are:
- They don’t feel like they can keep up so they have to quit
- They’re unhappy with the experience so they fire you
- They found a service they feel is better so they exchange/fire you
- They’re experiencing time, financial problems, or personal problems
The question is, what can you do to ensure they don’t quit?
As always, effective communication is KEY, which is where your new tough conversation skills become vital.
I shot you a quick video on how to have a high client retention rate >>
How To Understand Client Lifetime Value
The lifetime value of each of your clients is one of the most important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in your business.
Here’s how you calculate it.
Say you have 10 clients and you have been working with you for a total of 32 years.
Your average client relationship then lasts for 3.2 years.
Let’s say your profit for each client on your $5K program is $3.5K.
This means your Customer Lifetime Value is $11.2K which is $3.5K profit x 3.2 years.
When you know this number you know how much you could spend to acquire each customer and still remain profitable.
This also highlights how important client retention is, because the lower your LTV, the less you can spend to acquire customers and the less profitable your business.
In Closing…
Your business is a never ending puzzle with pieces that can go almost anywhere.
I hope this newsletter has helped clear up some of the ways you can keep your clients and yourself happy and your business more profitable.
Until next time… Go High Ticket,
Dan Lok
P.S. – The countdown till our next S.M.A.R.T. Challenge™ is well underway.
If you weren’t aware, the S.M.A.R.T. Challenge™ is our 3 day business immersive where you’ll discover the exact strategies and secrets we used to generate over $100 million in our coaching/consulting business in just a few years.
You could say, I’m handing you my business playbook on a silver platter.
We go LIVE on July 26th, and our recent challenge surpassed all expectations.
This is truly an event you won’t want to miss if you’re serious and committed to the success of your business.
