Operations = Client Experience

I’m switching dentists, and not because my dentist’s office does poor work or charges too much for their services–but because of their poor client experience. 

Business operations create the client experience, and I can’t stop thinking about allllllll of the light-lift, simple ways they could readily change their operations to fix the issues we’ve experienced over the past year. 

I won’t bore you with a list of what they should fix, but I do want to talk about the connection between operations and client experience. 

As someone who spent almost a decade working in the hospitality industry, I have a deep understanding of all the ways a business can have a bad day, a rough week, a tough month, or even an entire season of struggle. I also know that you don’t have to lose a client just because you find your business in one of those times.

I see operations differently, and it’s my time in hospitality that taught me that operations are designed first with the client experience in mind–if keeping clients is a priority. And they are designed second to create as little friction as possible for the team–if keeping staff is a priority.

Ignore either of those principles long enough, and a business evolves into a constant churn of misaligned clients and team.

So what do I mean by “operations”, and how do your operations create your team and client experience?

Operations are like the fascia in your company—they run through and wrap around everything that moves in your business. Operations are:

Systems and processes (documentation, information management, software) 

Your systems and processes dictate how you bring your vision to life to deliver the outcomes you promise to your clients.

Project management

Your project management is how you organize and manage the initiatives that move your strategy forward.

Data management

Your data management measures the outcome and effectiveness of your work with your clients and as a team.

Financial management

Your financial management dictates what your clients experience when they pay you, and the experience your vendors and team have being paid by you.

People management 

Your people management dictates your culture and how your team shows up for each other and your clients.

Experience is everything for small business clients and teams. 

Many people choose to work with and for small businesses because they have the expectation that they’ll get a better experience than with a large corporation. That's both a blessing and a burden for small business owners because it means you need to have your operations in order, and that’s not always something that comes naturally to visionary business owners. 

We believe that the more you understand your operations, the better you can manage them. So next week we’ll share more about the layers of your operations–a concept I was first introduced to in my Director of Operations certification.

Your understanding of the layers of your operations will hopefully provide a few “aha” moments about all of the hats you and your team are wearing as you create an amazing experience for your clients. And with this understanding, you’ll also be able to build a better experience for yourself and your team.