Podcast Episode

Transcript:

00:04

Hello, Welcome to THE SALES SHOW. I'm Maree Kirkpatrick, your sales and business strategist. I'm a mom, a wife, and a multi-business owner myself. With over 15 years of experience in sales and business, I have worked with startups all the way through to multimillion-dollar companies. I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I love helping service-based businesses make an income as well as an impact. Let's jump into talking about all things sales and business.

00:34

Hello, and welcome back to the sales show. I'm Maree Kirkpatrick, your host and today we are going to look at the journey to Yes, navigating the customer journey path. Now, if you are a first-time listener to this podcast, you will soon learn that I am all about connection, relationship building, and the experience with you, our customers. However, if you are a longtime listener, you will already know that. But I believe the customer journey path allows us to connect with our customers really easily and beautifully and in a really effective way. So let's start off today by defining what a customer journey path is. In simple terms, it's the roadmap that guides your potential clients from the first interaction they have with your business all the way through to becoming a satisfied paying customer and beyond. No, it's not just about stopping once someone buys from us, it's about how do we give that ongoing great experience whether someone has bought from us or whether they have it. Now before you map out your customer journey path, it is vital, like absolutely vital that you understand your ideal customer and your ideal client. So sit down, take the time, and get really clear on what your ideal clients needs, preferences. challenges are, what sort of words they're using, how they describe what it is that they're looking for. Because all of that will give you the foundation and will really help you to know exactly what it is that you need to add to your customer journey path, how you need to execute it, and how we can tailor it so that we're attracting the right people and servicing them to the best of our ability, you want to make sure that your messaging and communication is on point. 

02:19

When it comes to your customer journey path. You actually need to let people know how you do what you do, how they can work with you why you are the best option for working with them. Don't just assume that people know because you've been saying it for the past five or 10 years, people come into our businesses at all stages, whether they have just met us whether they have been following us for a long time, we need to make sure that people are really, really clear on what it is that we do and how we do it. No one is coming into your business, let's be real, if you are not connecting with them on a really deep level. And that all starts with your messaging, we then want to take them through that journey to saying yes to working with you yes to engaging with your business. And once they've engaged in your business, we want to make sure that we are personalizing the customer journey path. No one ever wants to feel like a number. And no one wants to be sold to. No one wants to feel like we're being hunted down for our money. And for someone just to make us out. It feels disgusting. And it is a huge ill factor if you ask me. So consider incorporating personalization into your interactions, find ways that you can tailor your communication, the experience that you give to your potential customers, and help them identify what sort of what they can expect from working with you. 

03:46

Now, you can absolutely automate the beseech out of this. And if you do decide to automate it totally fine. I'm all about streamlining and making things easier and effective. But we also want to make sure the where when we automate that we're not missing out on that customization. So we want to look at people's individual preferences. And the best way I think to do this is to map out your customer journey path and add in any alternative options that may be needed. So they can depend on things like your engagement, your likes, your interactions, any purchases that they've made, any downloads, all that sort of stuff. 

04:22

We want to make sure that the customer journey path flows through all of that there is so many pieces of software out there in the industry these days that can support you with your customer journey path and creating those flowcharts and funnels and things like that right. But let me give you a little bit of a hot tip here. When you build your customer journey path.

04:43

 Don't rely on the software to help you build it out. You want to build out your customer journey path and then import it into the software rather than having the software dictate the best way for you to build out your customer journey path. The reason why we do that is because a lot of the software is are based on and marketing, or they're built by Tech's right, which is all fine. 

05:04

Everyone's got their specialties. But we're looking at your customer journey path from a sales and customer experience point of view, we want to build out your customer journey path to grow your business, to increase your sales and to give that really great customer experience. So make sure that you build it out first, and then find the software to support you rather than the other way around.

05:25

 The other thing I want you to understand is that your customer journey path is never set in stone, it's not something that you go, okay, cool, I've done that. Next, you want to keep optimizing, checking in on it, making sure that it's all still working really well, because your business changes your ideal clients change the economy changes the way people buy, it changes. So you need to monitor and adapt as you go. I know that I always harp on a bit about tracking your data and metrics. And I'm not going to stop harping on about it, because I feel like it's really important. But the customer journey path will show you where your clients are coming into your business, where people are interacting with your business, what you can improve what you can optimize what's working, what's not working, what you can turn up, that's working really well and what you need to fix if things aren't going as smoothly as you would like. And your customer journey path document needs to be something that is a work in progress, constantly being monitored, constantly being looked at whether it's once a month, once a quarter, once a year, whatever that is for you and your business, but just make sure it is a work in progress rather than than a static document, every single person that comes into your business should have access to your customer journey path. And I'm not just talking about staff members, I'm talking about contractors, anyone that does your Facebook ads, your social media, anything along those lines people want, it's really beneficial. And they will do a much better job if they can see what your customer journey path is and how people move through your business.

06:54

 So they would be my top tips for you to implement a customer journey path into your business to create that really beautiful way for your clients to say yes, to not just you but to your business as well. Now, I know this all sounds peachy keen and easy, which it is if you do it correctly. But I also want to briefly touch on the mistakes that people make. Because I know that sometimes we can learn so much more about from the things that didn't work than from the things that did work. So the first mistake I see is people don't actually have a customer journey path within their business. And so if you don't have a customer journey path within your business, I highly highly, highly recommend that you implement one into your business, if you're looking for growth, scalability and increase in sales.

07:39

 So number one actually create a customer journey path. The second thing is that they are not creating connection, they're not looking at building the relationship. And they're not 100% Clear on their messaging so that the client says yes, that is me. They can't necessarily see themselves within your business. Because the language and the messaging that you're using isn't on point. And messaging is an ongoing element of business that we constantly want to look at. So find ways that you can build that connection and build that relationship. I also see people avoiding multiple touch points. I know sometimes our head kicks in and we think, Oh, I don't want to annoy people. If I send too many emails, people will unsubscribe, I don't want to be that business that sends 500 emails and upsets people. I'm not talking about upsetting people, I am talking about adding value. I'm talking about checking in. I'm talking about showing people how important it is to you that you that they have engaged with your business and how grateful you are to be able to help them move forward, find ways to add those touch points. And don't just have touch points when you're selling to people. It's gross, it's uncomfortable. These are humans that you're dealing with. I know AI is heavily out into the market and all that sort of stuff. We want to make sure that we're building that trust and that connection with people so that people don't feel like just a number. So yes, you're going to have to sell but don't just have weights within your customer journey apart from looking to sell. We want to find ways to actually help them move forward in some shape or form. 

09:19

 I always believe and I always go off, how can I help people be a step forward then the moment before they met me? So what can I do to give them tips, some advice, ways to help their business move forward? Anything that I can do that leaves them in a better place and before they met me that is my goal. Another mistake is when people do not personalize things for their customer journey path. So I don't know if you've ever experienced this. I've experienced it multiple times and I literally smacked myself in the head constantly going how have they done this? This is ridiculous. It's quickest way to kill a sale. But you know when you buy something and you think well Now I'm super excited to buy that can't wait for it to arrive or can't wait to use this service or I can't wait to work with someone. And then maybe a day later, maybe a couple of days later, you get this email into your inbox about the reasons why you should buy it the exact same product or service that you have just bought. Annoying, right? Even worse is when they offer your promotion. When it's on sale, if there's some special offer that they've got going, and then you leave feeling like you have been ripped off, or you feel like you haven't had the great experience that you were looking for. 

10:38

I think it is one of the worst feelings in the world to feel like you have been ripped off by someone you've put your trust in someone and they have let you down your customer journey path has the ability to stop people feeling like that if you personalize your customer journey path, you can send emails about the best way to use your products or services. Or thank people so much for buying it ongoing, not just thank you for your purchase, here's your invoice. But you know, here's some cool ways you can do it. You can use our products or services. Here's someone else's use our products and services and the benefits they got out of it like personalize your customer journey path depending on how people have interacted with your business. 

11:16

The next thing I see is people don't tell people how they can work with them. So yes, you have to sell Welcome to Business, don't be mad about it. But find ways that you can actually serve people and help them. So don't look at it unnecessarily from I have to sell to make money to hustle to all of that rubbish that comes with it find ways to help people that you can serve them. That's the best place to come from. If you ask me, I have connected with business in the past and I have had problems and challenges that I wanted to get fixed quite quickly. I tend to make decisions quite quickly. Once I know that I want to move forward with something. But for the life of me, I could not figure out how to buy from them, I could not find a button to click, I could not find an email address to connect with them. Or I've emailed and they haven't come back to me, it is the quickest way to kill a sale. So make sure that you're showing people easily and clearly how they can work with you what that next step is, they will be like whether you want to sell or not. People are looking for solutions, they're either going to buy off you or they're going to buy somewhere else. They may as well buy from you find ways to serve, find ways to get people to say yes, this is exactly what I'm looking for, I'm ready to take the next step, here's my money in a really connected relationship building space. I also find that what people don't understand about the customer journey path is that they're missing out on the opportunity to create loyalty and the repeat business that can come with business. And the loyalty and repeat business is a really easy way to grow your business.

12:58

 So I recommend that every single person, every single business, whether you're a large corporate Small Business Startup been in business for 10 years been in business for 12 months, whatever that is for you. Make sure you have a customer journey path within your business. If you don't have a customer journey path mapped out and implemented keyword implemented into your business, I have designed a tool for you that you can check out and I've developed it through the eyes of we want to make more sales within your business. It is just one of the many tools that we have inside her sales club, that drive sales, it drives lead generation it drives follow up, it increases your marketing activities. And they're just some of the things that this can do. Right, this customer journey path is literally a foundational piece of your business. If you don't have one built already, I've got a beautiful download for you. 

13:51

So all you need to do is go to Mareekirkpatrick.com/journeypath and you'll be able to download it there, then pencil in time to actually do it and use it. So this may be one morning with your coffee. Or it may be during one of your CEO dates that time that you take out of the business to work on the business rather than in the business. Whatever it is for you just make sure that you get it mapped out. I'll put the link in the show notes for you if you need it. I also use lucid charts to map out my customer journey paths. The reason why I do that is it's really easy to use. You literally click boxes, fill it in have arrows if they purchase this, they go here, if they click this email, they go there if they interact with you know like all the little moving parts are all in that one visual diagram so that everyone can see what's going on

14:48

I also add things in, like links to templates, links to frameworks that we may be using anything that helps the team be really clear on what that customer Journey path looks like to make it easier I'm all for. So as I said, I use lucid charts. I'll pop that in the notes for you as well. But if you have any questions about your customer journey path, or you'd like me to have a look at yours, please reach out I'm more than happy to have a chat because I really believe a customer journey path is so important in your business. And it is, as I said, part of the reason why it is a foundation in her sales club so that our members can really boost their sales and grow their business. It's one of the things that we look at in our CEO dates with our her sales club members because I want it to be front of mind. So we are opening the doors to her sales club over the next couple of weeks. 

15:37

So if you're wanting some help with your sales, your customer journey path, your messaging your lead generation come and jump onto the waitlist. We'll have some extra bonuses going out in the next few weeks, which were really exciting, but you can join the waitlist at MareeKirkpatrick.com/club and you'll be updated with everything that is going on there. So go implement your customer journey path find ways for your clients to say yes to you. And until the next episode of the sales show. keep selling from a connected and relationship-focused.

16:09

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the sales show. Please share it on social media for your friends to see and make sure you tag me at MareekirkPatrick so I can personally say if you'd like to show me some love linear review on Apple podcast. I'd love to hear from you email me at podcast at Mareekirkpatrick.com. And if you'd like to work with me further or see any of the free resources mentioned on today's show, they can be found at Mareekirkpatrick.com I truly hope this podcast provides useful information and so much value to you so that you can build a business with impact and Income