3 Steps to Scale A Premium Service Without Burning Out

By Claire Whittaker.

Have you ever signed up for something you thought would be a luxury experience? You read the sales page maybe 100 times, fantasised about what it would be like to be there, how you would feel and just getting to be in that world but then…

● Your confirmation is late
● The information keeps changing
● You arrive, and there's nobody to greet you
● The host seems completely overwhelmed
● Nothing lives up to your expectations?

With the best of intentions, people can create an excellent experience for their clients, but the cracks start to show when they look to scale. They're ambitious and want to grow. However, dropping the ball isn't an option when looking to scale a premium service.

70% of customers say they are more likely to stay loyal to a business they feel understands their unique needs. Now more than ever, with so much choice & access to information, client experience is what will help you stand apart from the competition.

So how can you continue to deliver outstanding service without your overheads skyrocketing?

I'm going to give you a peek behind the curtain and share three proven steps to up your client experience in a way that scales:
1. Standardise
2. Automate
3. Invest

Step 1: Standardise, standardise, standardise

When you start to standardise your service, you first want to map out your customer journey.
● What are the different phases of the project?
● What are the key questions your client will have at each stage?
● How can you anticipate those questions and prepare resources in advance to answer them?
● What are the deliverables at each phase?
● How can you make it easier for the client to interact with you at each stage?

Once you have this all mapped out, you can build out templated delivery workflows, using project management software to support you.

Having a clear path for each project in advance may feel like the opposite of customisation. However, for the client, it gives them a sense of security, building trust.

Step 2: Automate the admin

Let's be honest, who actually enjoys the admin part of the job?

Automaton is an excellent investment to scale at a low cost. You can automate processes for as little as $350 a year! When set up correctly, automated processes become like an extra employee that works 24/7 without ever needing to take a sick day.

The dream, right?

Once you've started to standardise your services, you can use automation to deliver the admin side in a way that is both affordable and scalable.

Be honest, though, does this work?

Hell yeah!

I want to tell you about an incredible business owner, let's call her Heema for the article, but this is true. Heema was ready to scale her ads agency, but she knew she was holding herself back.

Her clients loved her, and she got great reviews because she gave excellent service. However, despite having big financial goals and an exit strategy in place, she was afraid to go all-in on sales if the delivery quality dropped.

Heema had worked in agencies all her career and knew how vital a premium white-glove service was to stand out in the market. She had a clear idea of the experience she wanted to create, so she mapped out a workflow with critical deliverables at each stage.

Within a month, the end-to-end experience was set up and automated to deliver a great experience at scale. We collected the leads coming into the website, qualified them, and sent out customised proposals within minutes. Over the next week, she had her team focus on lead generation and using the new process. As a result, they closed £17.5K in monthly retainers for a service costing £1-1.5K per month.

Even better, her team saved time because so many process steps that were low value but necessary (like setting up projects and chasing down details) were now automated.

The team could now focus on delivery without worrying about dropping the ball on the pipeline, allowing them to scale with ease.

Step 3: Investments to go the extra mile

The billionaire Alex Horzoni talks about the power of a no brainer offer in his book $100M Offers. Specifically, Alex talks about how important it is to understand and anticipate your clients' needs, spend time with them and create a premium experience.

We have already discussed standardising your delivery, but this is ongoing. To deliver a premium service, you will need to keep revisiting and iterating your process.

When you spend time with your clients, you will learn more about their needs. This time is an excellent investment for your business. Once you understand the requirements, you can create additional resources to meet them. Then, give these resources the premium touch by investing time in creating a premium, well-branded look and feel.

Once these new resources exist, it frees up even more time for you to use your energy to foster deep relationships with clients.

Don't leave a bad taste in your clients' mouths.

Custom experiences are where it's at and how you will stand out right now. As more and more people realise the importance of white-glove service, this will become the minimum bar for your clients' so you want to act now before you're left behind.

Here are three steps we discussed to scale an outstanding client experience without spiralling overheads:

1. Standardise your core service delivery
2. Automation strategically to deliver core pieces while keeping costs down
3. Invest in learning all the possible questions your clients may have & then create resources to support them

The most important thing is to know your clients so well that you answer questions before they have them. Focus on this, and you can't go wrong.

Claire Whittaker is the Founder of Artificially Intelligent Consulting (AIC) and is on a mission to empower 1000 purpose-driven entrepreneurs & agencies to scale to 7-figures without having to sacrifice everything else that makes life fun.

A systems and automation specialist, Claire never sacrifices work for fun, has a razor-sharp eye for structure, and loves nothing more than a Sunday roast and a margarita. You can find out all about her here.