So I know that if you’re anything like our firm, you give all your clients the first class treatment and aim to provide them all with a wow experience. But all businesses have different grade clients/customers….. fact!
The clients who choose to go FIRST CLASS with your firm…
- Take your highest value packages
- Spend more money with you (typically £1000+ per month)
- Are aligned with your values
- Tend to stay with you longer
- Receive the maximum value your firm can provide
So here’s the question….. what percentage of your clients choose to go FIRST CLASS?
And here’s a better question…. what percentage of your clients would you like to be first class?
What virgin trains do
So I’ve just got on the 6:25am to Manchester and I was just looking at the trains.
Out of a train with 10 carriages, most have them has 1 carriage devoted to first class.
But the Virgin trains had 3 out of the 10 carriages as first class. Why?
My guess would be…
- They provide a very high level of first class travel
- Their food and drinks are a lot better
- You get waiter service at your table
- The seats are comfier
- The provide a first class lounge to
- They start with the assumption that their clientele WANT first class treatment
And here’s the kicker in all this…. they charge WAYYYYYYY more for their first class treatment than any other train company I know…. like 50% more.
What most firms think
Most firms assume that their clients DON’T want the first class treatment.
Most firms assume that their clients either can’t afford or just wouldn’t pay for that level of service, choosing one of the following excuses…
- Our town is different
- This industry is different
- Our clients just wouldn’t want/pay that
- Our clients have been with us so long and they expect to pay low prices
- The competition is too high round here
And all of those excuses are BS.
You can’t assume that your clients don’t want or shouldn’t have the highest level of service and value that your firm can provide.
What one firm found
We have a firm of accountants using our pricing and proposal software – GoProposal – which typically gives firms a significant uplift on their fees and makes it much easier for clients to say yes to buying more from you.
So this firm signed up for GoProposal and became instantly afraid to use it with one of their clients who had been spending £100/month for several years with them.
They reason they were concerned is because last year they’d gone back to them and tried to get them up to £150 a month worth of services…
….. and they said NO.
But this time they were armed with a clear menu of services, which were clearly priced.
The exact same client signed up to £618/month worth of services and actually UPSOLD THEMSELVES?
So what happened?
Previously this firm assumed that the client wouldn’t want the first class service and only offered them a slightly improved second class service.
This client couldn’t see the value they were getting for £50/month more, but they COULD see the value in spending £518/month more.
They are now a first class client.
The bottom line
So they bottom line is…
- Decide what percentage of your clients you WANT to be first class clients
- Aim to attract that type of client in your marketing
- Make sure you have a clear way of presenting your first class offering
- Never assume a client wouldn’t want to choose first class
- Always aim to provide every client with theBMOST value you possibly can
- Provide an INCREDIBLE first class experience from the moment you interact with them
- Think like a first class firm
- Act like a first class firm
- Have 3 first class carriages instead of 1
CASE STUDY
In this video Nick Wilson from Robson Laidler talks about how he allows clients to feel comfortable buying his first class services.
