Ep 52: Service Series: Mastering the Art of Exceptional Service

Ever wondered how to make your service so remarkable that it leaves an indelible mark on your customers?

I'm not just talking about the face-to-face charm here; I'm weaving in the power of technology and automation to bolster that human touch. Get ready for a deep dive into crafting a customer journey that feels more like a carefully curated adventure than a mere transaction.

 Key Takeaways:

1. Exceptional Service Unveiled: Peel back the layers of exceptional service as we create insights on creating a buzz with personalized, efficient engagement.
2. Tech Meets Human Touch: Discover how to weave in the power of technology and automation to bolster that human touch, crafting a customer journey that feels like a carefully curated adventure.
3. How to add a personal touch to automation: When we hear automate, we think robotic, but that doesn't have to be the case.   

If you love systems like me and want to create an automotive process in your business AND provide a personal touch, then you don't want to miss this episode. 

Click on those three dots and share this with a business owner who gets so overwhelmed with lead emails that they avoid their emails like the plague, resulting in missing out on great work opportunities.

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Chapters

• 0:20 Exceptional Services
• 13:13 Creating Exceptional Service Through Personalized Automation
• 22:38 Exclusive One-on-One Aha Method Opportunity

Transcript

Nikisha King: 0:20

Hello, gorgeous, welcome to Leading Her Way podcast, where we see the human, evolving and resilient spirit in you. I am your host, Nikisha, and on today's episode we are speaking about exceptional services. And what prompted me to speak about this topic is being on a podcast with Vanessa and Shannon called the Wedding Sassholes, and we had a good time speaking there. So you're going to be able to hear that I won't touch on any of those topics, but what I wanted to do was get a little bit deeper on defining what is exceptional services. Right, like what does that even mean? And in reality, I wanted to share my opinion, my perspective on that. Remember, this podcast is where I share opinions, not facts. These are thoughts I have. Some of them are facts for me because they're proven in the systems that I do in my business and I want to always share with you because on your journey, there's always going to be bumps and valleys and hills and whatever. Going to be bumps and valleys and hills and whatever. And if I can help you see something that you're going through and let you know this may be a solution, this may be an aha moment, I want to give you that gift. So when I talk about exceptional services. I want to speak about how to define that.

Nikisha King: 1:42

As business owners, we are all in service, even product providers, and we spoke about this in a previous podcast Amazon, target. They sell products, but at the same time, there's a service, there's the help, there's the assistance, there's the flow, there's the user experience on the interface if it's an online business company. So service comes in different ways because of the people providing it. We are all different humans. We've all experienced life differently and sometimes, when we are in pain, we can't really serve anyone. But there are moments when we are happy or very excited and in those moments we're willing to give it all. They differ. I want you to be mindful about that. So service is providing help or assistance to someone, defined in our first episode about service, and in exceptional service, it's really about learning what someone's opinion is about you in regards to your service and then, if it's something good, great. If it's something not good, how can you make it better? That's when exceptional comes into the game. So what does that mean? That means that, for instance, you are I'm in the event industry, so I'm going to use maybe a planner. You can be whatever you want a barber, a beauty salonist. You can do floral design, whatever it is, but I'm just going to use a planner. So you're a planner and you are doing really well.

Nikisha King: 3:19

You have a lot of leads coming your way right A healthy lead process, a healthy marketing process. And say, for instance, someone get in touch with you through your way right, a healthy lead process, a healthy marketing process. And say, for instance, someone get in touch with you through your form, through email a potential client and you are overwhelmed because you are working on four to five events coming up and this lead is sitting in your inbox. This money is sitting right there waiting to be converted by you or someone on your team if you have a team member Usually people who are doing really well. They have virtual assistants but they're helping with the production and that's why I'm talking about this caliber so that lead is sitting there a day or two and sometimes when you check your inbox and you see that lead, you leave it unread because at this moment you're so overwhelmed with all the clients you have now that potential lead becomes like a back of your mind idea, like I don't have time for that right now because I'm trying to even manage the four or five that I'm working with now and that potential lead doesn't know that that is not their business.

Nikisha King: 4:24

Their business is not to know if you're overwhelmed how many people is not their business. Their business is not to know, if you're overwhelmed, how many people you're juggling. Their business is I got in touch and no one's responding and in their world something might be happening and they're like we got to get this going now. Their date might be approaching, they have venue options, but they don't want to choose without a planner. There's a story behind their inquiry. So when these moments happen, that little delay of time is creating a service that doesn't look promising. Because if that person's delaying this process now, this simple inquiry, and they're not getting in touch, then how much will they delay during the process? It's a tail sign, it's a small one, but it's there. Now say that planner responds 72 hours, three days later, and now they're like let's schedule a call and now they send you a link and the person schedules a call and the call is in one week and once again there's quiet, there's silence. And there's silence in those six days or seven because the planner is busy with the other five or four clients that they're working on and once again, it feels like this might not be the one.

Nikisha King: 5:42

This is where I want you to pay attention. It's the in-between moments that things happen. It's not the moment you're on the call, it's not the moment you're designing and producing. It's the in-between moments where there's silence, but there's an opportunity. There is an opportunity for you to be able to engage, and I know you're asking, but how we're busy. We can't engage. You don't have to. You have to learn how to create a system that helps you become the exceptional service provider.

Nikisha King: 6:20

Listen, you are human and in this age, this era, this century, we have technology and technology can be used in so many ways. And there's so many people who talks about automation not being friendly, personal, and in my opinion I heard that many times and in my opinion, I heard that many times there is a way to make it personable. Listen, automation is not an enemy unless you make it your enemy. So if you're making that your enemy right now and you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to say this podcast isn't for you. You are more than welcome to exit. But if you're inquisitive of how can you make it personal and how can you make it work. In those moments where there's silence, then you're in the right space. So, first and foremost, when someone inquire with you and your time is not available to respond right away, there's a couple of things you can put in place. So I did the red carpet experience series a while back and I have an email for that and I'm going to put it in the show notes.

Nikisha King: 7:33

A thank you page is the most simplest page you can ever make in your whole life for your business. On your website In the show note there's a link that teaches you how to make it. So it's simple, but the purpose of it is to go hi, introduce your brand in one to two sentences. There are no five sentence paragraphs on this page. Keep it simple, guys. Hello, intro, what can I expect next? We'll be in touch with you 24 to 48 hours. We did receive your inquiry. We'll send you an email to schedule a call so we can learn more about your events, your project, about what you need, and a little reminder please make sure you add us to your white listers in your email to make sure our email doesn't end up in your spam box.

Nikisha King: 8:21

And then give some value. Now the give value is where the cherry is A friend of mine. Andrea taught me this and I love that she shared this with me. But giving value, so I'm gonna explain a couple ideas. I do wedding invitations, so one of the value I bring or put on that thank you page is how to create your guest list in three steps. Guest list meaning all the names and addresses, so I teach people how to use a company where they can send a link and everyone can send their address individually, because people addresses change. When you got to write text. It's a lot, but if you can do it in one sitting, it's easy. The second thing is that I teach them how it should be formatted by giving a template. I give value that way.

Nikisha King: 9:11

Okay, say, you're a photographer in the event industry, whatever you do, and you might be doing engagement sessions. You might have a beautiful blog that says how to get ready for an engagement session by not wearing these like patterns, cause you know photography with stripes, dots. I think there's something with the camera how to embellish or look amazing, or what poses or things you can prepare to do here at three steps that can be shared. If you are a floral designer, that's an opportunity to share a blog about how you designed a certain venue or how your florals are seasonal. So in the first quarter of the year these are in season, the second, so, depending on what their event is, they can see what's in season, so it can help with their budget, right?

Nikisha King: 10:03

If you are someone in the industry of coaching, right, that thank you page might have something that gives a freebie how to write a journal prompt or how to do something and that value is there. And when you have these valuable things on your thank you page, please do not have anyone opt in. Don't have anyone jump through a hoop to get information on the thank you page. Please do not have anyone opt in. Don't have anyone jump through a hoop to get information on the thank you page, because they already jumped in the hoop when they did the inquiry form Remember, this is from your inquiry form to the thank you page. So they jumped through the hoop by doing that inquiry form. So don't make that valuable page that link to a. Now send me your email address and sign up on my newsletter. Give them a little breathing room. They did the inquiry. Give them something of value on that page that doesn't have another.

Nikisha King: 11:00

Let's jump through another hoop moment, and it's not really jumping through hoops that I'm concerned about, it's just giving value without having a tit for tat moment. Right, they did the first one, let it be. And the first one wasn't about you, it was about them needing something from you. So, in that regard, that thank you page is one automation that has easily said we got your inquiry, we'll be in touch. Here's something to look at that's not on my public page, that's not on my social media, but made just for you, for me to share. And when I said made for you, it could be anything a blog from a while ago, one of your popular blogs.

Nikisha King: 11:41

You don't have to recreate the system. You just have to know how to use what you already have, because you have everything you need already. Now let's talk about that moment where they schedule the appointment to speak with you and there may be six days between, because that appointment is a one week out, three days out, four days out, whatever it is, there's a couple of things you can do. I have a CRM that I can easily schedule emails. I can easily create an automation where three emails go out each day, based on someone who got in touch with us. I can go in, I can draft those emails, edit them to personalize them to that potential client, schedule it for the next day at a certain time and do the rest for the other two. Yes, it takes time. It depends on how personalized it is, because I can create a template that is personal and add one line sentence and make it really personable to the person who inquired. I can also create those emails to talk about the brand, who we serve, how we serve.

Nikisha King: 12:44

What does exceptional mean to us, what's our process, how we serve. What does exceptional mean to us, what's our process. This allows me to communicate who we are, to gain some connection with that potential client and, at the same time, just do like a drip communication. It doesn't have to be a flow, it doesn't have to be overwhelming, but these small, little point of contact, this is everything. This is where exceptional service shows up.

Nikisha King: 13:13

Exceptional service is when you take time to invest in potential leads, clients, after they leave you, in small ways that is so noticeable because they're not the norm. That is what exceptional service is Creating this drip opportunity in between your time, when there's nothing that they need to do. You need to do is a moment for you to show up and show who this brand is. Now you're saying, yes, but this takes time and time. I don't have you create time. Every moment is your present moment. You don't need to create anything. But what I mean by you create time is you create the opportunity. So when you're doing production and getting prepared for those clients, how much time is that taking, though All of your 24 hours? I know you do sleep, right. You do eat.

Nikisha King: 14:11

So if you are working with someone a mentor, a coach, whoever that is from my clients, it's me. If you are looking for someone, I am happy to help you. You let me know how and I will be there. But when I work with my clients, this is pretty much one of our hour sessions where we're literally creating it in our session. So in our sessions, we don't only just communicate about what we can do, but we create the plan and then the next session, we implement the plan together. So the clients I work with who carve out the time to be coached, we use that same time to put things in play. We do the action at the same time. So we're just not talking about it, but we're doing it too, and this is something that I have found to be so helpful, because that thank you page is something we do online together and it's an easy fix. It's an easy update with all the opportunities electronics that we have, ai CRMs that are affordable we have the ability to make a change in our business to create an exceptional experience for the people we want to help, and we just have to be willing.

Nikisha King: 15:24

So if you find yourself saying I don't have time to be willing. So if you find yourself saying I don't have time, the more you repeat that beautiful mantra, the more you will not have time, because you've created that idea in your head. But if you say all I do is have the present moment to create an exceptional experience for every client I'm going to serve and I am serving, then it can be done because you will carve out that time to get it done. You only feel like you don't have time because you keep using the mantra I don't have time. Therefore, you don't have time. You are literally wasting time, and the reason I can say this with such confidence is because I used to do that. I used to go I don't have time while I snack and watch a show, while I play a movie, while I'm working and not completely focusing on what I'm doing While I'm going. I'm overwhelmed. I don't want to do this, so I walk away and spend an hour doing something I like to do because it gives me comfort. I take away the time that I can use to help build an exceptional service brand.

Nikisha King: 16:43

So, overall, you are exceptional and you, being exceptional, have to start learning how to use the words and phrases that makes you exceptional. Therefore, you have time. You have time to create an exceptional experience by doing something simple and small. You have time to create a simple one-liner email, a four-liner thank you page, a six-liner thank you page that will help someone feel welcome. The reason you have time, the reason you can do this, is because you're exceptional. Exceptional is defined by you and by pretty much any individual, but when we look at it from a societal view, it means to do outstanding work to help someone feel welcome, loved, appreciated, and when someone takes time to inquire with you, appreciate them in every way that you can small, big, however you choose, but know that it's worth it. And no matter what anyone says.

Nikisha King: 18:03

There are people in my life who have told me gifting isn't something that is needed for people who have large budgets and I go. I understand that because they have things right. They normally don't need more things. And I'm in agreement when you're just shipping gifts without understanding who they are, when you're just coming up with things, you're branding on it so you can just ship it out as a welcome and thank you for booking us. But what matters is that first phone call, when you ask questions about their love language, when you ask questions about what kind of gifts they like do they like surprises? When you ask that in a forum, when you go shopping where's your favorite place to shop, what's your favorite restaurant, and when they tell you and they get giddy to tell you that shows you who they are and that is your exceptional moment. You can buy a gift that you know they would love, because that's what they love.

Nikisha King: 19:05

Gifting is something personal. It's always about the person and not about you, and that's one thing about gifting. That was always a challenge, right? So you'd be like well, I gave them a gift. It's a thought that matters. But, yes, it's your thought. That matters not if they want it or they like, that's not something they need. Sometimes gifting can feel like you're just getting extra stuff you don't need because you're trying to get rid of stuff you know. So always be mindful.

Nikisha King: 19:34

Exceptional service is listening, paying attention to the needs of the other person and being able to serve that need without wanting anything in return. To sum up this episode of exceptional services, one as a business provider, a business owner find those quiet moments and fill them with love. Tell the person who inquired with you how working with you will be exceptional. Tell them that by creating a thank you page with information, keeping them in flow, creating some templates, or some email canned or template emails that are personable, that talks about your brand and how it's going to make it easy for them. So, in between that quiet time when they schedule their appointment to speak with you, you have something to give without you literally sitting there typing it up every day, and if you need help with this, I'm raising my hand, I'm tapping in. I love this process. I love giving a great service because I truly believe in it, and I believe in it so much I am willing to take my time to give it to others. In regards to helping you learn how to create an exceptional automated system, create an exceptional automated system, a system that allows you to be personable, to speak from a place of comfort and assistance and not to sound like a robot no robots here in automation world. So I truly hope this episode allowed you to have a aha moment, because there is an exceptional being on the other side and if you can allow clients to see that within you, you will change your world dramatically, aka your business and your personal. So definitely look at the links in the show note, and I'm grateful that you're here today for this exceptional service episode, which is one of my favorites. Thank you so much and have an amazing day and I'll see you next week.

Nikisha King: 21:54

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Nikisha King: 22:38

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