Are You Missing the Heart of Your Client Experience? 

The straight-talk summary 

Defining your company’s purpose and client experience is essential. Purpose is your guiding principle, while client experience is the emotional core of how you want clients to feel when working with you. Both require digging into emotion, not just logic, because people make decisions based on feelings first and justify with facts later. When you embrace this, you can shape meaningful connections that guide your processes, decisions, and ultimately, the relationships you build with clients.

We do a lot of exercises with our clients that require them to dig deep into the intention and emotion behind their businesses—purpose, vision, ideal clients, and more. Some areas come easier than others. The two we find most difficult to define in a way that’s truly useful are Purpose and Client Experience.

Defining your purpose 

Purpose is tough because it has to be just a few words that capture the essence of an idea. And it must be the single most meaningful one your company has, the north star that guides everything you do. 

Every business has a reason for existing, whether you’ve consciously articulated it or not. That reason drives your behaviors. Your Purpose, or your Why, ultimately shapes every decision you make: what you think about, what you talk about, the processes you create, the people you hire, even the skills and professional development you pursue. 

It’s a critically important step. Getting it right takes work, but it’s worth every bit of the effort. 

Outlining client experience 

Defining your Client Experience takes a similar level of effort; however, the challenge is less about wordsmithing and more about grasping the full scope of what you’re trying to describe. 

If you’ve seen Simon Sinek’s golden circle of Why, How, What, you’ll recognize the framework here. For Client Experience, the center is your vision—the emotional core of how you want clients to experience your company. Moving outward, you define how you’ll deliver that experience and then what tools and tactics you’ll use to bring it to life. 

Most companies start with the what because it’s the easiest—it’s a list of activities and tools. Everyone should be able to describe this. A smaller number can articulate the how—the intent behind those activities. Very few can clearly define the why—the vision for the Client Experience. 

This bullseye question is where most people get stuck: What are the emotionally motivating factors in your business model philosophy? 

To answer, think about how you want clients to feel, what you want them to think, and what you want them to say after working with you. Start with your motivation: 

• What is the emotional connection you have to the work you do? To your clients? 

• How do you want your team to treat your clients? 

• How do you want clients to feel about those interactions? 

Write out your vision in a paragraph or two that paints a picture vivid enough to guide your team’s behaviors and processes. Without this picture, how will you know if you’ve hit the target? 

Emotion drives decisions 

I’ve been working with several clients on this first step in the Client Experience exercise, and to be perfectly honest, most have been avoiding it. Not because they don’t care, but more likely because it’s different, uncomfortable, and requires deep thought about feelings.  

Yes, business evokes feelings. 😊 

Business is too often painted as cold, logical, and distant, leaving little room for the human factor. If you want to build a company that truly connects with people, you have to tap into emotion—yours and your client’s. 

People are driven by emotion. We make decisions emotionally and then justify them with logic. You can create all the processes in the world, but emotions will always play a role. 

Process + Emotion → Decision 

For example, in sales:

1. There is a selling process that the salesperson uses. 
2. There is a buying process that the buyer uses. 
3. There is a decision-making process that the buyer uses, and the salesperson tries to influence. 

Numbers 1 and 2 can be logical and structured, following the same pattern each time. 

But number 3 will vary based on any number of factors, from the people involved to the state of affairs, likes/dislikes, desired or anticipated outcomes, things happening adjacent to the decision—the list is really endless, and it gets messy. 

Prospective clients typically make the emotional decision to hire you or not well before the final answer has been delivered. They make the decision emotionally and then back it up with logical evidence. 

Switching back to client experience, the same messy mix of logic and emotion comes into play once someone becomes a client. You may have processes for onboarding, managing, and renewing clients, but your team’s and the client’s emotions will complicate things. Financial challenges come up. Product lines change. People get promoted, let go, or face personal crises. This list is also endless, and it gets messy. 

When I pushed my clients to lean into this exploration and uncover the emotion, some powerful insights started to surface: 

• "I want my clients to feel cared for and not be surprised by claims, renewals, or processes." 

• "I want my clients to feel educated and understand the process."

• "I want my clients to feel total transparency in their work with us." 

• "I want my clients to feel we are on their side, helping to make a meaningful difference in their employees’ lives." 

That’s some good stuff! 🤩  

These are the breakthrough ideas they can now use to shape their vision of the Client Experience. Their next step is to share that vision with the team and develop the processes to bring it to life. 

Business is about making connections with people in a way that is meaningful to them and motivates them to take action with your product or service. When you can see and feel the emotion your clients experience, you can use it to propel the relationship into a new level of connection.  

The only way you’re going to reach “meaningful” is to recognize and embrace the emotion that comes from connecting with another human being.