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What if you could get more of what you want in life? But not through pushing, forcing, or pressure.
You can.
When it comes to money, time, and energy, no one’s gonna turn away more.
And Kate Northrup, Bestselling Author of Money: A Love Story and Do Less and host of Plenty, is here to help you expand your capacity to receive all of the best.
As a Money Empowerment OG who’s been at it for nearly 2 decades, Kate’s the abundance-oriented best friend you may not even know you’ve always needed.
Pull up a chair every week with top thought leaders, luminaries, and adventurers to learn how to have more abundance with ease.
Your job is to make these people feel like a $1,000,000. I said these relationships that I have been nurturing in some cases over decades and these relationships are some of the most important relationships in my life. So your job is to take extraordinary care of them, to be, you know, kind, incredibly responsive, enthusiastic, to just make it an absolute top shelf experience. Welcome to Plenti. I'm your host, Kate Northrup, and together, we are going on a journey to help you have an incredible relationship with money, time, and energy, and to have abundance on every possible level.
Kate Northrup:Every week, we're gonna dive in with experts and insights to help you unlock a life of plenty. Let's go fill our cups. Today, we are going to talk about one of the most overlooked areas in business that can increase your lifetime value of a customer dramatically. So here's what we know in business, we know that it is way less expensive and way less time consuming, to re up a customer to essentially have an existing customer invest with you again, than it is to market to and find and convert a new customer. And when it comes to doing less to make more, we really want to dial in on the areas in our business where we can do less and make more.
Kate Northrup:So having repeat customers is one of the best ways to do that. But business owners are frequently obsessed with converting new customers, and they kind of forget about their existing customers. So today, I want to tell you a delightful customer service story that I had recently, to help illustrate the way that we can take incredible care of our customers, so that we increase our lifetime value of our customer. So that word on the street is our company is amazing, right? We wanna increase our referrals, increase word-of-mouth marketing.
Kate Northrup:And the best way to do that is to deliver an extraordinary customer experience. So here's what happened. My girlfriend, Sarah Jenks, who has been here on the Plenty podcast, her episode is one of our most downloaded episodes of all time. It's about the sacred feminine. You can go listen to that.
Kate Northrup:We'll link it in the show notes. So it was her 40th birthday recently. And when I was up, at her farm, she mentioned that she wanted this sort of basket tote bag thingy that she had, but she wanted it in a bigger size. So I was like, okay, perfect. Let me go research and find this for her for her 40th birthday.
Kate Northrup:So I do a reverse Google image search. If you didn't know this, this is I hope this is news you can use. I didn't know. You can take a photo and put it in Google, and it will find all the places on the Internet that are similar. And then those are shoppable links.
Kate Northrup:So that's what I did. I took a photo of the basket. I did a reverse Google image search. I find the basket. I was so excited.
Kate Northrup:And it of course, this is fairly typical of me. I waited a little bit until the last minute. And so I needed to get the basket expedited shipping to get there in time. So a lot going on, and it was just one of those things. So I order the basket, but realize it's not gonna come in time.
Kate Northrup:So I reach out to the company and I say, hey, can I upgrade the shipping on this basket so that it's overnight and it is guaranteed to arrive in this town in in Massachusetts on Friday? And I get a guy on the phone named Sanjay. And he was like, absolutely, ma'am, I can do this for you. He gets it all organized. There were, like, a few different steps that we had to do.
Kate Northrup:He had to call me back. He had to there was, like, a text thing that had to happen. There was an email thing. It was, like, actually a bit of a production to get expedited shipping on this basket. But here's what happened.
Kate Northrup:First of all, he was incredibly friendly. Number 1, he was so clearly dedicated to me getting this basket. Not only did he handle the initial interaction so beautifully on the phone, he also then texted me to follow-up to make sure I knew exactly what was gonna happen. Then I also got an email following up, letting me know exactly what to expect and what was gonna happen. He also checked in with me to see at what point would I be would my flight be arriving, so at what point would be a good time to call to follow-up about this other information he needed?
Kate Northrup:So he took down my flight time and then called me at the appropriate time to get the extra piece of information. I think I needed to read him my credit card number over the phone or something for the expedited shipping. So he did that. Then he texted me as soon as he had the tracking number for the basket to arrive. And then he also followed up every single day via text to ensure that I had gotten the basket.
Kate Northrup:He sent me the photos of where it was delivered, and he was so personally dedicated to me receiving this basket, which by the way, was, like, not even an expensive item. Okay? So the basket, I think, I don't know, might have cost, like, $50 or something. And the shipping was, I don't know, like, maybe $20. Like, this was not some high end expenditure.
Kate Northrup:It's not like I was at Tiffany's or something like this. But the company is called Serene Spaces Living. And I just wanna give a shout out to Sanjay because he took care of me as though I was some kind of VIP customer spending tens or possibly 100 of 1,000 of dollars. I ended up, I mean, this, maybe it makes me sound a little bit cookie pants, but I, I ended up like feeling this deep, personal, personal connection with Sanjay because he called me several times. He texted me several times And he wanted me to get that frickin basket on time for my friend's 40th birthday.
Kate Northrup:And also, I will say the automated, check ins from the company over email were fantastic. He checked in with me the next week just to make sure all had gone well to see if my friend had liked the basket. Like, it was so next level. Now, I tell that story, not because every single one of us is going to have the bandwidth to tend to every under $100 you know, transaction customer in that way. However, if you are not thinking through surprising and delighting your customers, or at the very minimum delivering them the experience that they expected, then you are losing money.
Kate Northrup:You are absolutely leaving money on the table. If you are not taking extraordinary care of the people who come into your spaces after they spend the money. The problem with the marketing world is so much energy and focus is put into the front end of things. So it's like, what are all the ways that I can message appropriately and, craft, you know, an experience to get them in the door to actually have them swipe their credit card or, you know, put in the number online and get them behind the paywall. But then oftentimes, people drop the ball in terms of what happens beyond the paywall.
Kate Northrup:And I just want to fully transparently say, my company is not perfect at this. This is an area we are always working on and improving. But one of our values in our company is we really care. And that is the foundation upon which good customer service is built. So good customer service cannot be built from the perspective of I am trying to increase the lifetime value of my customer, right?
Kate Northrup:Because people can feel that then they feel like they're a number, not a human, versus we really care means I care deeply about humans, whether they become a customer or not, I care about them, whether or not they stay a customer, I care about them. But the cool thing is, is that when you really care and people can feel that in their interactions with you and your brand and your company, they will want to continue to stick around. They will keep doing business with you. We have people who signed up for my email list in 2010, who still say that they have been reading my emails that entire time. They have followed along with the first iteration of our podcast, The Kate and Mike Show, and now they're here for plenty, and who have bought every single one of our offers over the last 14 years.
Kate Northrup:Because there is a heart to heart connection with the brand. We stand for something they believe in, and they can feel the truth that we really care. So here are some ways, especially in the time we live in now, which is increasingly powered by AI, increasingly powered by automation, and increasingly dehumanizing, right? So that's the time we live in. And there are some benefits of that.
Kate Northrup:Certainly, as a business owner, I'm a huge fan of systematizing things, automating things, making it so that people can have a great experience without you personally, or without you needing to pay a human to do various things. However, there need to be, I believe, human touch points in order to create an enhanced customer service experience. I mean, I think it is astounding that companies like meta can get away with literally making it impossible to actually connect with a human being. They do that because they have the corner on the market, and they can. I think it's sad from a humanity perspective that that's the case.
Kate Northrup:So what I wanna say is, even if you can get away with being dehumanizing, even if you're so big and so powerful in your industry that people still are gonna buy from you whether or not they feel good about the connection with your brand, are there still ways that you could create a positive human interaction? I mean, with serene living spaces for serene spaces living serene spaces living with the basket. They did not have Sanjay did not have to create that customer experience for me. Right? He didn't.
Kate Northrup:However, he did do that. And now I am talking about their brand. Here on my podcast, I am telling people how incredible it was. And I am encouraging you, if you have some holiday shopping to do, go check them out. The customer service experience was bananas, and they didn't have to.
Kate Northrup:Right. So so what are some ways that we can create that personal connection? Number 1, of course, in our email inbox, right? So if people are emailing into your company, it's fine to have an autoresponder on so that that answers your frequently asked questions, which I absolutely would encourage you to do. So it can come back right away to people saying, we're so glad that you contacted us.
Kate Northrup:Here's you know, here are some of the most common places that people need to go when they're writing in, and you could write in about, you know, oh, here's where you go if you're wanting to request, me to go on a podcast. Here's where you go. If you need to reset your password for our programs area, here's where you might learn about our programs. Right? Like, that might be an example of our autoresponder.
Kate Northrup:But then you actually need to respond to people, right? It doesn't need to be you personally as a business owner. So here's a here's a little, like specificity on this or a deeper dive. One of the things that for me, is the most draining energetically is when I receive rude or negative feedback. I am really sensitive.
Kate Northrup:Do I think everyone likes me? No. Do I think they need to? No. Have I gotten better over time about it?
Kate Northrup:Absolutely. But the truth is, when I used to do my own customer service emails, every time someone would write in a rude comment or be mean, it would take me out emotionally for, like, a couple of days. And I just was like, this is not a good use of my energy. This bums me out, and it takes me off track. Right?
Kate Northrup:And it's not it's not like that feedback was important for me to know. And quite frankly, my sensitivity is my superpower. So I knew that I didn't wanna, like, build a thicker skin. I actually love being as sensitive as I am. I think it's very helpful for our company in general.
Kate Northrup:So the first hire I made was someone to answer our emails in our customer service inbox. However, it was a person. Right? And it's been a human being every single time who at their core is embodying the value we we really care. So while I'm not going to personally respond to every single email that comes in, a human being is responding very personally in our our in our current head of customer service.
Kate Northrup:The way she writes emails, like, almost brings tears to my eyes. Her she is so good at it. Her level of care is so palpable. I can feel it. Like, when I'm cc'd on emails that she's going back and forth with people about an interview or something logistically or whatever, I'm just like, wow, this is incredible.
Kate Northrup:This is absolutely incredible. So you wanna train whoever is, I will say she came in with a lot of that baked into her. But you certainly wanna train people and look at their back and forth with your customers and clients and see where are their areas of for improvement. Now there are times I know people say that the customer is always right. I don't think that's true.
Kate Northrup:The customer is not always right. Sometimes the customer is cranky and needs to be fired from your company and does not get to spend money with you anymore. We have had people where we refund them, and we are like, your business is no longer welcome here because their behavior is toxic, disruptive. And they are not they're just it's just not worth the drama. So you don't always have to please the customer.
Kate Northrup:However, here are some of the tenets that we build in number 1, people really need to be seen, they need to be seen, they need to be heard. So, number 1, you always want to reflect back that you are acknowledging someone's experience. And honestly, a well worded apology is often all people need. So if something goes wrong, taking ownership, taking responsibility, one of our other company values is radical responsibility. It doesn't that that doesn't mean being overly responsible for things that are not your responsibility.
Kate Northrup:But if we screw up, we say so. And 9 times out of 10 in customer interactions, if someone receives a caring, well thought out, honest, authentic apology, they feel whole because they feel seen, and they feel heard. So while we can't always give the customer exactly what it is that they want, though we do try to, right, if it's possible within our policies, we can always acknowledge them. We can always reflect back that we've heard them. And we can always take responsibility for our side of the sidewalk and come up with ways to make their experience better.
Kate Northrup:So those are some of the things that we all need to be thinking about when it comes to customer service. So right now, what I would do if I were you is take out a piece of paper and jot down what happens with your customer once they have spent money with you. What are the touch points? Is there an email onboarding sequence that could be refreshed, so that they're feeling very well handheld so that it's super clear. Here's the first step.
Kate Northrup:Here's the second step. Here's the third step. Are people getting timely email reminders? Are people getting clear calendar links? Have you made it extra easy for people to figure out time zones or zoom links or login details?
Kate Northrup:You know, one of the specific examples of this, because we have customers who buy from us, right? But then we also have other kinds of people that are in a semi customer service experience. So here's an example of that. We have a group of incredible affiliates who help us to spread the word about our relaxed money program. Many of these people are people I have built been building relationships with for nearly 20 years.
Kate Northrup:So when our new customer when our new affiliate concierge came on board, I sent her a voice memo, and I said, listen. Your job is to make these people feel like queens. They, at the time, did happen to all be women, but kings, queens, and sovereigns. Right? So your job is to make these people feel like a $1,000,000.
Kate Northrup:I said, these relationships are relationships that I have been nurturing in some cases over decades. And these relationships are some of the most important relationships in my life. So your job is to take extraordinary care of them, to be, you know, kind, incredibly responsive, enthusiastic, to just make it an absolute top shelf experience. And that was one aspect of our customer service, even though our affiliates are in a way part of our sales team, they are also a customer right in a certain way as well. And then a super easy thing we did for them was every single email communication, we gave them their affiliate link at the bottom of it, the login to the affiliate portal, and their username, and maybe not their password, because that that's that's private, but like, we made it really clear and straightforward what details they might be looking for in every single email.
Kate Northrup:So they never had to go back and search through like 25 emails, wondering which one has the relevant info. So that's just like one practical example of creating a user experience that made things easy for people. So I would say, number 1, are you seeing, hearing, and reflecting back to people? People just wanna be seen and heard. Number 2, are you taking responsibility and giving a genuine apology when appropriate?
Kate Northrup:Number 3, are you looking for creative solutions that help you stay within your policies and boundaries while also helping the customer get what they need? Number 4, are you making it easy for your customer to get their needs met by putting login links in by making information easily accessible? And are you exhibiting number 5? Are you exhibiting that you really care? And then number 6, I would say would be, are you looking for ways to surprise and delight?
Kate Northrup:So my friend, Tracy Litt, she's also been on the Plenty podcast. We can link that episode up in the show notes. She is one of the most incredible coaches and humans who I have ever met. I just love her so much. Every time I'm with her, I feel expanded and held and cared for.
Kate Northrup:And I know that experience runs through her entire business because she has an incredibly successful business financially, even with not as much visibility as I think she should have given her level of skill and expertise. Why is that? Because once somebody becomes a customer with her, they just stay forever, like forever. She has some crazy number of reupping of customers. It's like, I'm I'm gonna quote it wrong, but I remember it was somewhere between 60 80% of her people just sign up over and over and over and over again.
Kate Northrup:And her her programs are not cheap. Right? Like, you can't work with her for less than several $1,000. So people just stay forever because they feel so cared for and because the customer experience is so extraordinary. So what are some ways that you can create an extraordinary customer experience?
Kate Northrup:Again, make it clear, make it easy, make all the information really easily available, make it beautiful or at least very user friendly, like, make it clear where people need to go. And then also look for ways, like, maybe if you have a higher end program, maybe there's a gift you could send in the mail that's not even part of the offer that people are expecting, but then they receive a gift, a physical gift in the mail. Is there an opportunity for sending a thank you note in the mail, perhaps like a handwritten thank you note from you or one of your team members. Are there options to give them bonuses that they didn't expect? Are there possibilities of cross pollination within your community?
Kate Northrup:So maybe you have a customer who needs to meet another customer, could you foster that connection, and and therefore create value in their lives that way. So those are just a few ideas. But fundamentally, my experience with Sanjay and the basket really helped me realize, like, people want to feel cared for. And you don't have to spend 100 and 100 of dollars to let someone know that their business matters to you. And let them know that they matter.
Kate Northrup:And you're you can bring a level of dedication and care to every single customer in doable ways. And I'm going to encourage you to look at how could I improve my customer service experience by even 5% Because even 5% will increase the number of people who become repeat customers, which is great for your bottom line. And it's also really great for your profitability. Because when you have people who become a repeat customer, it is a much lower margin in terms of or a higher margin in terms of how expensive it is time, money and energy wise to get that sale. There's another great book about this called The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk.
Kate Northrup:If you wanna dive deeper into all sorts of ideas and ways to enhance your customer experience. But I just wanna say that it is not always about getting more leads in the top of the funnel. We can easily easily easily improve our customer service experience and our customer journey to increase our revenue and increase our profit and not even need to get any new customers in order to do so. So I hope this episode was helpful. And I hope it inspired some great customer service and customer journey ideas for you.
Kate Northrup:Thanks for listening. See you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of Plenti. If you enjoyed it, make sure you subscribe, leave a rating, leave a review. That's one of the best ways that you can ensure to spread the abundance of plenty with others.
Kate Northrup:You can even text it to a friend and tell them to listen in. And if you want even more support to expand your abundance, head over to katenorthrup.com forward slash breakthroughs where you can grab my free money breakthrough guide that details the biggest money breakthroughs from some of the top earning women I know, plus a mini lesson accompanying it with my own biggest money breakthroughs and a nervous system healing tool for you to expand your abundance. Again, that's over at kate northrup.comforward/breakthroughs. See you next time.