How do you handle customer onboarding and support? Do you continue to nourish the relationship once a prospect has decided to purchase? I have worked with many coaches who offer similar services and have comparable credentials but see very different results. A primary factor in this is their customer support system. I’m sharing two stories that illustrate very different approaches to customer service. Think about what each coach is doing differently.
Coach Sharon’s Customer Support System
Let me introduce you to Sharon, a coach who has just completed her first 3 month coaching program. For her program, she had taken all the right steps to set up her marketing plan and had been rewarded with her first 6 students.
When they enrolled, Sharon promptly sent them a receipt and short welcome email. The enrollment was open 6 weeks prior to the class, and she received numerous emails in that time from the students asking when the class would start. She answered each email and referred them to the program landing page. The day of the class, Sharon sent another email. For the duration of the 3 month class, she only interacted with her students on class days. By the end of the first month, two of students had dropped out of the program. At the completion of the program, no participants were interested in continuing coaching with her.
When I talked to Sharon, she told me she was very surprised that not one student signed-up for her ongoing coaching program. She wanted to determine what went wrong. I advised Sharon to send an email to the students from her class asking for feedback via a survey. What we heard was:
- Disorganized
- Poor communication
- I felt like a number
- No personal contact
Now, let’s compare and contrast Sharon’s case with Joe.
Coach Joe’s Customer Support System
Joe is also a coach and, as mentioned earlier, and has a similar program. Joe’s customer support and nourishment, however, was completely different.
When a new student enrolled in his program, Joe’s virtual assistant immediately sent the Program Welcome Package. This package included a welcome letter, a receipt, a program contract, and a student goals worksheet. The body of the Welcome letter consisted of:
- acknowledgment of his new student
- lists of forms needed before the first session
- follow-up instructions
- reminder of the first class date
Since some students registered for the class two months in advance, they received a brief “tickler” email once a week via autoresponder. This email repeated the class reminders and provided a quick, useful tip related to the program’s topic. All students were sent reminders three days and then again one day before the class and a final one the day of the class. During the program, Joe’s autoresponder sent the following emails: reminders the day of each class, recordings of each class and a class evaluation after classes three and six.
[activecampaign form=35]
At the end of Joe’s three week program, four of the students purchased Joe’s next offering. In his final evaluation, the words students used to describe the program were:
- Very organized
- Great communication
- I felt like each class was speaking directly to me
- Highly recommended
How did Sharon and Joe’s approach to customer care differ? What were the results?
Sharon didn’t make a connection with her students. People like to feel that the coaches they work with actually know them and care about their needs. With so little interaction there was a disconnect. Sharon could deliver the best content on earth but if she doesn’t create and nurture her relationship with her students, they won’t stay around long.
Joe, on the other hand, made each of his students feel important. When you make sure students have all the information they need, a connection is established before the first class ever starts. That connection is nurtured when you keep the information flowing throughout the program. Joe’s customer care system showed his participants that he cared about them and their issues.
This comparison shows the difference a well-planned customer care system can make in your bottom line. While Joe will have a steady stream of loyal clients, Sharon will have to spend much more of her time marketing to continuously find new clients.
Notice that the high level customer care, didn’t take very much of Joe’s time during the program. Because he systemized the delivery, his virtual assistant was able to set it up in advance. The programs used were:
- Landing Page: OptimizePress
- Email Marketing and Autoresponder: Active Campaign
- Feedback Survey: Google Forms
When you set up these systems in advance, you don’t have to recreate the wheel every time you have a new offer. With an auto responder you can quickly create a system for each program by simply duplicating the system and customizing it.
If you’re ready to finally put whatever you need in place in order to have or reclaim the bandwidth you need to coach your clients, take care of them beautifully behind-the-scenes and also have the energy and creativity to focus on bigger projects or hit your next level goals, good news.
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