There’s been a bit of a theme running through my LinkedIn posts this week… It started with a simple question I was asked:
“When should I work on my customer experience?”
And the answer I gave (which I’ve been saying for years) was:
Start with the customer experience and work backwards (I can't take the credit for this quote, Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, said it first).
Then, as if to reinforce the point, I had a real-life reminder of it at a local coffee shop over the weekend.
Nothing really terrible, just a few small things that didn’t work. No acknowledgement when I walked in, a bit of confusion behind the counter, the till being left unattended… and in the end, I just left.
What struck me wasn’t the people. They seemed friendly enough.
It was everything behind it that wasn’t quite set up.
And that’s the bit that often gets missed.
Because when you’re running a business on your own, you’re focused on getting the work, doing the work, and then moving onto the next thing. Which makes complete sense.
But what happens after you’ve done the work isn’t always as clear as it could be.
I see this all the time with the people I work with. Not big issues. Just the reality of being busy.
You finish something and move straight onto the next thing, so there’s no real follow-up.
You mean to check in, ask for a testimonial, or suggest the next step… but it gets pushed down the list.
Someone enquires, you reply, and then life gets busy and you don’t follow up when they don’t come back.
You’ve got customers who would probably come back… but there’s nothing really prompting them to.
Their renewal is coming up, but you forget to drop a message to remind them or chat about it and suddenly, it's too late. Auto-renewal has happened ( FYI I will write about this another time: Autorenewal = great for the company in theory / poor experience in most cases, for the customer).
From your side, it all makes sense. But from your customer’s side, it’s not always obvious what to do next. So things go quiet. Or they forget. Or they just don’t come back as quickly as they could.
It’s rarely one big problem. It’s usually a few small gaps that add up over time.
And if you’re in a business that relies on renewals, this becomes even more important.
Because renewals aren’t really decided at the end. They’re shaped by everything that happens leading up to that point.
How easy you are to work with.
How clear things feel.
Whether customers feel looked after along the way.
If that hasn’t been right, you’re relying on one conversation at the end to fix something that’s been building for a while. And they've probably not told you about it.
The good news is, when you actually stop and look at it properly, most of it is quite easy to fix.
Not by doing more, but by making things clearer and easier for your customers.
If you wanted a simple place to start, I’d look at three things:
👉🏻 What happens straight after someone buys from you: Do they know what’s next? Do they know what to expect, or what they should do? Even a simple follow-up message or a clear next step can make a big difference here.
👉🏻 Where things rely on you remembering: If your repeat business depends on you remembering to check in, follow up, or suggest the next step, it’s going to be inconsistent. Even something simple like a note, reminder or light system can take that pressure off.
👉🏻 How easy it is for someone to come back If a past customer wanted to work with you again tomorrow, would it be obvious how to do that? Or would they need to message, ask, or wait? The easier you make it, the more likely it is to happen.
You don’t need to overhaul everything.
It’s usually just about tightening up a few key moments so things flow more naturally.
This is exactly what I help people work through in a Clarity to Action session - which is specifically designed for solo & micro businesses.
We take a proper look at how things are working for your customers, what’s getting in the way, and what will actually make things easier for you and bring more business back without you having to chase it.
If this has been on your mind this week, or you’ve read any of my posts and thought “I should probably look at that”, feel free to reach out. Always happy to chat.
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