There are five (5) phases to an experience, which are:
Enticing
Entering
Engaging
Exiting
Extending
The question is, how can you use technology to improve the experience for your clients as they journey through the five phases, from looking forward to reflecting on their time with you?
Enticing
What can you learn about your client by searching for them online? What family information can you gain? Kids? Grandkids? Trips? Graduations? What do they do for fun? Facebook posts? Vacations? New purchases or plans? What is going on in the industry they work in? What are they posting, if anything, on LinkedIn? What do they seem particularly interested in or perhaps concerned with?
Entering
Knowing what you know, how can you stage the experience of walking in, of crossing from the outside world to your world? How do you want them to feel? What do your clients see or hear in this new environment? What is said to them? What kind of technology is hanging on the wall in your lobby? Based on what you have learned about your client or prospective client during the enticing stage, what do you want to display to them?
Do you hand them a coffee? Do you use (check this out) drinkripples.com to custom print a steamed image on their coffee? An image? A word?
Engaging
This is the phase where you are truly on stage. How do you use technology in your office to present information, and how do you do it so that it doesn’t put a barrier between you and your client? I’ll point out that a whiteboard and dry-erase markers might be, in this instance, superior technology to a giant screen on the wall.
I am reminded of a powerful story I have told many times about an advisor and a turntable. The turntable, if you will, a ‘slow’ form of music, was a signal or clue/cue to the bigger lesson he wanted to teach me and his clients, which is essentially to stop and smell the roses.
Exiting
My friend Joe Macleod has written two books – big ones – specifically about how experiences end. There are first impressions, there are last impressions how can you use technology to make a lasting impression?
Think personal preference. Think memorabilia. Think surprise.
Think about your own life, and search your memories for a remarkable (worth commenting on) ‘exciting experience’ you may have had. How can you borrow it?
Extending
How can you bring people together using technology? I love the idea of a virtual book club. Connecting clients to each other, ideas, and solutions. I love the idea of a book list, a playlist of songs, a list of Ted Talks or other ‘can’t miss’ ideas and items that will improve their lives.
A list of apps your client would enjoy and some time invested in explaining how to use them. All of your retirees need to know about Task Rabbit, for example. Task Rabbit is similar enough to uber, only instead of transportation, you can hire a handy person to come and fix your problem. Perfect for people who live alone.
Use your imagination, it is limitless.