Scaling Service-Based Businesses Through High-Touch Experiences
While most of the business models grow through expansion, service-based businesses ensure higher revenue through scalability. The essence of a small service business lies in building new relationships with customers while also retaining existing customer bases through top-notch service.
Scalability in small businesses can be achieved through many measures. This includes setting clear goals and adopting scalable business solutions. However, it also requires playing in favor of your service-based core competencies and building a strong foundation for your business.
Take your small service business to the next level by incorporating high-touch experiences in your service-based business. In this article, we’re going to explore the benefits of adopting a high-touch service approach for small businesses. We’re also going to look at a few methods through which high-touch experiences can be incorporated into a small business model.
How Can High-Touch Experiences Impact The Scalability Of Service-Based Businesses?
There are multiple essential tools that make up a small business. But, chances are, if you’re a small business owner, you may not have the resources to expand your business just yet. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t grow. Instead of focusing on building resources for customer acquisition, you can scale your service-based business through high-touch experiences.
The high-touch approach involves the process of providing a human touch and consistent quality throughout the customer journey. This is to ensure customer satisfaction. This approach can help you increase your revenue through customer success. Here are some ways in which a high-touch approach can impact the scalability of your service-based business:
Foster Stronger Relationships With Your Customers
The success of a service business is highly dependent on customer success. Irrespective of which niche your service business operates in, if you offer your clients a high-touch service, it helps instill a sense of trust in your business. This, in turn, leads to higher customer satisfaction.
For instance, if your business boasts of a service offering highly customized solutions to your clients, it can help build strong relationships between your customer success team and the consumers looking for highly personalized solutions, irrespective of whether they’re new or existing customers.
Enhance Customer Lifetime Value
The growth of a small service business relies on its ability to retain existing high-value customers through customer success. However, it also relies on the operational efficiency of the service model. In order to retain clients for the long haul, you must offer them lifetime value in terms of high-touch experience.
Providing a dedicated customer success executive is one of the best ways to ensure that customers feel appreciated. After all, this is what will make them want to contribute to the long-term success of a service business. The sheer act of incorporating personal touch into aspects of delivery management, interactions with customers, and level of service can help a small service business expedite its growth phase.
Earn A Higher Volume Of Loyal Customers
High-touch experiences can really make a difference when it comes to increasing the volume of customers who are loyal to your business. As a small service business that’s aiming towards scalability, adopting personalized service approaches to customer experiences can make all the difference in how customers engage with your business.
For example, if your business deals in online upskilling courses for technical development, offer personalized onboarding processes to new users. Include training modules on how to make the most of their course. Then, offer a 24/7 customer success team for the best client experience.
Cut The Overhead Costs Of Marketing
Happy customers are the best form of free marketing that a business can invest in. High-touch experiences based on customer preferences can aid in an advantageous client experience.
When these customers engage with your small service business and are happy with their experience, they’re more likely to recommend your services to other people. This form of covert marketing is a part of your business growth journey. Furthermore, it ensures cost savings on incremental costs.
Build Brand Awareness And Reputation
High-touch experiences can make or break a small service business’ brand reputation. A well-informed customer success team with appropriate resources and human capital can contribute immensely to building brand awareness. They also contribute to how a business is perceived in the marketplace. By consistently investing in customer success operations, a small business can make sustainable growth a part of its growth strategy.
5 Ways To Scale Your Service-Based Business Through High-Touch Experiences
Understanding the impact of high-touch experiences on service-based businesses is the first step toward scaling your small service business. The next step is to adopt the strategies given below:
Identify Key Touchpoints In Your Customer Journey
Every small service business is unique in its own way. From the service you sell to the way your customers engage with your business, your ability to offer high-touch experiences is impacted by many factors.
Therefore, it’s essential to identify which factors of your business are important to your customers. Then find opportunities to add high-touch experiences in those aspects. Finally, adopt strategies that work well with your small service business model. By clearly mapping your customer’s journey and what you want them to experience with your business, you can look for ways to add value to your business as well as customer experience.
For example, a small restaurant can benefit from providing top-notch customer service to its clients from the moment they enter the restaurant to the moment they leave. This can be done by greeting them with politeness, ensuring their comfort, being available for help, and helping them choose what’s best on the menu.
The simple act of being present can make a customer feel important and more likely to come back. That’s why a restaurant would invest in human capital to provide high-touch service to their customers.
Integrate Technology With High-Touch Experiences
A crucial element of adding a personal touch to your customer journey is integrating technology. Use technology in aspects of your small service business that are routine tasks. By automating your daily processes, you can focus on providing value-driven service to your customers through a personal touch.
For example, if your small service business offers landscaping solutions for residential spaces, you can automate the process of booking consultation calls. Also, consider automating buying products for your customers. A simple AI tool will tell your customer that buying a frost blanket for their garden can help protect their plants from harsh seasonal changes and promote their growth. It can also provide them with information about how large the product is, when an executive can come to install it, and other necessary details.
Once a client books their choice of product and chooses a time for it installation in their garden, one of the executives from your small business can visit them. Here they help them set up the product, offer personalized suggestions on how to take care of their landscape, and make the process seamless. This leads to a higher level of customer satisfaction.
Invest In Team Training For Consistent Service
Your customer success management team is the first point of contact for your customers. Whether they’re leaving feedback or asking questions, it’s important to train your teams in the art of high-touch service. You can invest in a customer success program and find the right courses to upskill your team from time to time.
By doing so, your customers will be greeted with the same level of service across your small service business. The consistency gives them a sense of being understood, and fosters trust in your brand.
Focus On Building Strong Customer Relationships
High-touch services give your small service business multiple opportunities to understand the intricacies of customer management, focus on your core processes, and build stronger customer relationships. By customizing your approach to providing high-touch experiences, even in something as simple as your social media approach to marketing, you can foster deeper and more meaningful relationships with your customers.
By using an all-encompassing customer relationship management software involving a high-touch approach, you not only teach your team to take on additional responsibilities but also make personal connections with your customers through effective communication and collaboration.
Adopt New Result Management Processes
As you integrate high-touch experiences in your small service business, it’s important to adopt new methods of tracking the success of your business. According to Forbes, the success of a small business can be measured by factors such as financial performance, customer satisfaction, volume of customers, and feedback from both the customer and employees.
However, it all boils down to what your expectations are from your business, and how in-line are your values and strategies with what you’re trying to achieve. Therefore, using the right tools, having clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and managing personal expectations can help you create more productive result-management processes.
Wrapping Up
Providing high-touch experiences is one of the best ways to scale service-based businesses. Whether your small service business is a product company or a consulting firm, it’s essential to offer a personal touch when it comes to managing the customer experience. By building strong personal relationships with your clients, you can make the most of your business investments, manage human errors, and integrate the benefits of automation into your customer journey while keeping customer success management at the forefront of your small service business’ growth strategy.
