Business is not about simply closing a deal or solving a client problem and moving on to the next prospect—it is about forming lasting relationships with your customers. One way you can do this is to focus on creating an outstanding customer experience. When you prioritize the customer, you are often rewarded with loyal clients and repeat business. 

So, what exactly does the customer experience entail? Put simply, it involves all the emotions and perceptions a customer has with your company over the course of the business relationship. 

To create a better customer experience from the start, all team members must create more transparency by bringing down the gates. Instead of making customers hunt down information and try to find hidden details, everyone on your team should make it as easy as possible for buyers. 

You must make the value visible

If you squirm at revealing costs and risks too early in the conversation, you are not alone. Many professionals prefer to talk through pricing details with their clients once the conversation has progressed a bit. However, all team members must increasingly earn the chance to talk through costs. Clients (and potential clients) do not want to have to jump through hoops to get the information they need. Your team should work with their marketing colleagues to ensure key information is easy to find on the company website. 

You should offer competitor comparisons

Just as you might compare brands for a household product, your clients want to know how your offering stacks up to others. You can earn their trust by being upfront and honest about your solution’s strengths and weaknesses relative to your competitors. If your prices are higher, list that but also show the value you provide. You will notice that some trade-offs might be deal-breakers for some companies but non-issues for others. 

You should provide useful, ungated content. Does your organization provide gated or ungated content? Gated content, which involves getting contact information for a desired piece of content, whether that is an e-book or a whitepaper, is a common practice that often leads to team member-client conversations. However, your team should reconsider this practice through a client-first lens. Is the content incredibly useful enough to justify the ask? Does it make sense to put an upgrade to a better solution form in front of educational content? Sharing freely means eliminating barriers to access and empowering self-driven decision-makers with useful information.  

Sometimes, providing a better experience for your clients means being more transparent. Do not make clients guess about what your products and services cost and help them discover how you compare to others in your market. You can also think about freely sharing your content instead of requiring customer information to get it. In this age of more transparency, consider how you can be more upfront with your prospects and customers. By doing so, you will create a better client experience. And this will help you thrive.