1. 4 pm | April 2016
insight
Big brand lessons:
The client journey
I
’ve always thought the professions
could learn more from the big brands
of this world. Of course our audiences
are different, and the budgets are
certainly different. But at the end of the
day, we all need to use resources we have
available to convince others to choose our
product or service.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not
suggesting for a moment that profes-
sional services brands start investing in
off the wall prime-time advertising
campaigns. But for me there is one thing
in particular that big brands do excep-
tionally well.
They all invest significant amounts of
time and money in understanding the
client journey.
It’s one of those phrases that sounds
clichéd. And maybe it is, but really
getting to grips with what your clients
(and potential clients) experience
throughout their interactions with your
firm is the key to client retention, growth
and of course, increasing that all impor-
tant profit margin. Particularly now in
this time of intense competition.
And why wouldn’t we want to learn
from those with seemingly infinite
budgets and research departments to
rival NASA?
Moments of truth
In promoting and delivering our services
we create dozens of moments of truth
with each client (or potential client). This
Susan Pettit believes that those firms that get to
grips with the importance of the client journey will
be the ones to reap the biggest rewards – but what
can firms learn from the big brands of the world?
and values statements for professional
services firms, without investing time or
resource in ensuring the actual experi-
ence matches the expectations created.
How many clients are lost at the first
hurdle when brand expectations lovingly
crafted by the marketing department are
shattered by a bad switchboard experi-
ence or an un-returned phone call?
My favourite example when
discussing moments of truth is Apple.
The company may have some funda-
mental issues with public opinion
relating to its tax strategies, but that
aside, Apple is in my opinion an excellent
example of getting the customer journey
just right.
Their branding and positioning sets
the scene. Its shiny, slick and aspirational
– there’s the start of an emotional
connection. We already know their prod-
ucts are going to cost more than those
proffered by the competition, but that’s
OK, because we just want them (well I do
anyway). They’ve made a brand promise
that I buy into.
When you go into the store to peruse
the products, it’s also shiny and slick. I
went in to talk to one of their ‘specialists’
(aka salespeople) about the latest piece of
tech, yet the chap I spoke to went out of
his way to tell me it was OK if I didn’t buy
anything. He wasn’t on commission, he
just loved talking about the products. And
I genuinely believed him.
I bought a product and took it home.
According to
McKinsey, customer
journey led
transformations
improve satisfaction
by 20% and full
revenue growth by
between 10% and 15%.
Bingo.
is where the client’s expectations are eval-
uated against their actual experience.
We have an opportunity to meet,
exceed or fail, at each and every one of
these moments.
Yet how many firms out there have
taken the time to really understand what
each of these moments are? Many will
have invested in evaluating service
performance or satisfaction against a
particular matter, but what about the
myriad of moments of truth that the
client encountered before they reached
those stages?
Millions of pounds are spent every
year in the UK on branding, positioning
This article originally
appeared in PM magazine.
For further details go to
www.pmforum.co.uk

2. pm | April 2016 5
insight
Susan Pettit is a highly
experienced marketer who
set up Client Central in 2015
to help firms take a holistic
view of the benefits of a
client journey focused
approach. Visit: www.client-
central.co.uk
relationships are far harder to shift than
the traditional supplier / buyer relation-
ship.
Let’s look at a big brand example of
how to make a customer feel important.
Lily Robinson (three and a half years
old) was confused by one of Sainsbury’s
products called tiger bread. In her eyes,
the bread didn’t resemble a tiger at all,
and in fact looked very much like a
giraffe. I have to say I agree.
With a little help from her mum and
dad, she wrote a letter to Sainsbury’s
customer service department asking why
it was called tiger bread and explaining
that she thought it should be called
giraffe bread.
To her surprise, a customer support
manager wrote back. He explained: “I
think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread
is a brilliant idea – it looks much more
like the blotches on a giraffe than the
stripes on a tiger, doesn’t it? It is called
tiger bread because the first baker who
made it a loooong time ago thought it
looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they
were a bit silly.”
Lily’s mum naturally loved the
response, and posted a copy on her blog.
Word spread and next thing you know,
Sainsbury’s launched a campaign to
announce the change in the products
name. It’s still on the shelves now,
labelled giraffe bread. I bet Lilly and her
parents felt pretty good about that. And
that’s the sort of emotional connection we
all buy into.
What can we learn?
In my opinion, those firms that really get
to grips with the importance of the client
journey will be the ones to reap the
biggest rewards in the years to come.
Remember that brands – in their beau-
tiful shiny brilliance – create an expecta-
tion that needs to be met or exceeded
throughout the entire lifecycle of a client.
Investing in one end of the journey
(brand) or the other (client satisfaction)
only reveals a very small part of the real
opportunity.
How many times have you shared
examples of your amazing experiences
with your lawyer or accountant over
dinner? Food for thought at least.
Almost a full year later, there was a
problem with it. I’d no receipt, no proof
of purchase, but popped back into the
store to see if they could help. My details
were checked on the system, the item
taken away and immediately replaced
with a brand new one. No questions
asked. New warranty included. Guess
how many people I’ve told that story to?
I’m what you might call a brand
ambassador. Because they not only met,
but exceeded, my expectations all the way
through the buy / sell relationship. I now
trust the brand, its products and its
customer service. Next time I need a new
bit of tech, guess where I’ll be heading?
Let’s get straight to the bottom
line
All firms want increased profitability. The
vast majority of firms I have worked with
strive to gain ‘trusted advisor’ status with
their clients. Knowing that being in this
coveted position increases loyalty and
reduces price sensitivity.
But will traditional client manage-
ment techniques get you there? Probably
not.
The reason for this, is that there is
(generally speaking) no emotional
connection between the client and the
firm. The firm has its priorities and the
client has theirs. There’s a notion that
somewhere there needs to be a meeting
in the middle, but because the relation-
ship has been established on two
different sets of terms, any meeting of
minds is often grudgingly given. Not the
ideal foundation for a long term and
mutually beneficial relationship.
Understanding your client’s expecta-
tions of their experience with you, means
that you both start from the same place.
If you meet (or exceed) their expectations
as you progress through each moment of
truth, you reaffirm the relationship,
building trust along the way.
Now you’re getting closer to being a
trusted advisor.
Suddenly price is less important. This
is because you have delivered what you
promised at each and every stage of your
relationship. Taking this approach also
means that you are looking at the client
relationship as a whole, reviewing the
entire client lifecycle. This breaks down
individual practice group silos, increases
growth potential and identifies cross-
selling opportunities.
According to McKinsey, customer
journey led transformations improve
satisfaction by 20% and full revenue
growth by between 10% and 15%. Bingo.
Why does it work?
Buyers of professional services are more
savvy than ever before. They all know it’s
a competitive market, and that there are
at least a dozen suppliers vying for every
piece of work.
Give them a reason to stick with you.
To trust the trusted advisor, and not be
hoodwinked by the alternative provider
who says they can do the same job for
half the price.
People need to feel valued. That they
are important. Understanding the client
journey and delivering against your
brand and service promises, creates a
feeling of real value and importance. And
let’s not forget that embedded, trusted