Create your Client Journey
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Melissa Kellogg Lueck: [00:00:00] Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Leuck, and this is the Doing Business like a woman podcast, where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom, one business at a time.
Hello. Hello. How are you ladies? How's it going? It's so good to see you. So good to be with you today. how are you?I'm here with your marketing mini masterclass and today I'm really excited to get to talk to you about building your client journey and why it's so important and what what makes up a client journey and how we do that.
I can't wait to dive in, but first I wanna just introduce myself in case we don't know each other. I am Melissa Kellogg Lueck, and I [00:01:00] am a marketing coach and teacher for women entrepreneurs. And I absolutely love helping women that are starting building, growing their business to really make marketing much simpler easier and really free you from the the not enoughness that so many of us feel around marketing. And so that is really what I'm passionate about to really help you create Consistent clients and revenue in your business and ultimately build freedom through entrepreneurship. So that's what I'm all about and that's what I'm here for and I do that through private coaching and also some group experiences. I'm, in fact, I am hosting my annual very popular goal setting and marketing planning event called Marketing Momentum 2026, and I'm so [00:02:00] excited about it. That's coming up December 8th through the 10th.
but first what I really wanna talk about with you today is building your client journey and why it's so importantLast week we talked about nurturing your audience and how that really happens and the importance of that.
And so part of that nurturing process is really having an intentional client journey that you lead people through. And so often what I see is if women that I talk to, women that come to me and work with me as clients, they're often not bringing in the consistent flow of clients and revenue that they want.
And and they're not sure why. And they think that it is because they're bad at marketing. They're not doing enough marketing, they're not doing the right marketing things. Their strategy's off. They're not good enough at it. Whatever. Comes up in that [00:03:00] line of thinking, right?
So how they'll often try to solve that problem is doing a lot of marketing actions, thinking they need to be doing more marketing trying all kinds of new strategies that they think might be the one right thing that creates clients or unlocks that treasure trove of clients, right? And it doesn't work.
And so that's why they come to me. And so it's not working. what I find is it's not working because you're focused on marketing actions. Think there's a magic strategy or a magic message that you have to land on, and that if you just get that then it will unlock the flow of clients and revenue into your business.
And so what it has you doing is trying to get it right, trying to be perfect. And what is ultimately happening when [00:04:00] you are trying to get it right, trying to find the exact right strategy, trying to be perfect, all at all of it. It ultimately creates disconnection from yourself and your zone of genius, the work that you love doing.
And it also creates disconnection from your people, right? Because what we know is that. Perfection does not create connection. And so effective marketing is all about creating connection with your people, right? And the alternative is really to slow down and remember what I always say to my clients, love it when I remind them of this that all marketing works.
Right, and it works because of the energy and the connection that you bring to it, and you create that connection and that energy [00:05:00] when you stop thinking so much about the strategy and start thinking about the person that you are best suited to serve. That you're best suited to help that you know, and that you understand deeply what their problem is and how you can solve it, right?
So when you start thinking instead about the journey that they take as they sell themselves on wanting to get to know you better and trust you, and the journey that they take as they are learning to trust themselves and step further into that trusting relationship with you, and ultimately hire you and pay you.
That's really where I wanna encourage you to be spending your time and energy, not trying to get perfect at marketing. Because we're never gonna get there. Not even me. Certainly [00:06:00] not. I'm as human as anybody else, right? So this is why the client journey is so important.
What I wanna offer you today is both tangible and intangible. It happens in the tangible steps that your best fit clients or prospective future clients take to get to know you and the inner steps that they take the intangible steps that they take, how they change their thinking and their feeling all along the way as they're getting to know you, trust you, love you, and then ultimately work with you.
So when you intentionally thoughtfully create this journey and lead your people through it. Your marketing and selling feels so much more natural and collaborative and so much less weird. Do you [00:07:00] ever feel like you're trying to do marketing or selling and it just feels weird? When you are really connected to yourself, connected to your message, connected to your people, it's gonna feel so much less weird. And so taking the time to intentionally create and curate this client journey for your people works because it's creating intention and it's creating connection and your leadership all along the relationship building journey.
And it allows your people to get to know you and love you and trust you at their pace. There's no hurrying them along, right or forcing. It creates safety for them by showing your leadership and that you have thoughtfully. Created this relationship journey [00:08:00] and it creates that feeling that they are on a path with you.
You're, and it's not forced, and it is nurturing and growing them and the relationship all along the way. So that's why it works. That's why it feels great for your people. It feels great for you. so how do you do this? That's what I wanna talk about next. obviously this could be an entire large class, which as I'm creating this live for you today, I was thinking that.
I was like, wow, this would be a really cool class. So let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. I'd be happy to create that for y'all. So what is necessary in order to create the client journey. So to do this, really what it takes is just spending some time examining all the ways that you meet new people, all the ways that you nurture them currently.
So [00:09:00] taking those, this is the tangible aspect of it. Taking those all those strategies you use in meeting new people, let's start there. And what is the journey that you wanna bring them through to nurture that relationship?
I'll give an example of how I work this, my client journey. So say for example you meet someone at a networking function, right? So what are all the tangible steps that you're gonna take them through as they get to know you? at a networking function the first thing you wanna do is make sure that when you are introducing yourself, if you get an opportunity to introduce in front of the group, or if you get even if you're just introducing yourself to people one by one. Think about how you can introduce yourself, that creates awareness. Like really tangible awareness of the work that you do, the result that you [00:10:00] offer, and that's gonna create interest in your best fit client, right?
So you have that introduction. It's powerful, it's compelling, and it's from your heart, right? You always want this to be from your heart, where you're speaking from your heart. It's not a canned. Scripted thing. It really, you want to read the room, listen to what others are talking or saying, and what clues that they are giving you, and then respond to that, right?
So you have your introduction, you introduce yourself and that creates some awareness, obviously, which is, so I'm talking about the tangible and the intangible parts of our client journey, right? And then for your best fit people, it's gonna be interesting to them, right? And so if there's interest, you wanna make sure that you are taking responsibility for starting that relationship. For [00:11:00] example, getting a business card from them or creating a way to connect with them, whether it's on LinkedIn or whatever. And then, so if you're meeting people at a networking function, the step is, you know that you're gonna have a great introduction, and then if they're interested, you're going to exchange contact information.
And then what's the next step in your client journey? For me, the next step is within 24 to 48 hours, I'm sending an emaila personal email to them saying, Hey. It was great to meet you at the such and such function, and I would really love to get to know you and your business better. And then I'll suggest next steps.
so this is your client journey, right? Maybe it's a coffee chat, maybe it's sending them a resource or inviting them to another event. So think about what are the ways the next step there. So then. Say it's a coffee chat. We schedule [00:12:00] the coffee chat, we get together for the coffee chat.
So that is the next step in the client journey. So then in the coffee chat we get to know each other better. I have a specific structure that when I have a connection, either, whether it's an in-person meeting or a zoom call, I have a specific structure that I go through on those conversations where I am creating some common ground, I am getting to know them, their business, what challenges they're facing, and then how can I best support them, right? And then we talk about next steps. And so having a structure. When you do that you show your leadership, you show intention, you show care and honor for the relationship.
I always think about this I'm honoring them. I'm honoring their time. I'm honoring I'm honoring them by letting them know that it, this is important, that they are important to [00:13:00] me and that, I want to really get a lot of value out of this time together and give them a lot of value, right?
And so I have a structure created for that. So then as at the coffee chat, then at the end of that, then we decide what are our next steps. Maybe it is, they come to an event of mine. Of course I'm gonna invite 'em to an event that would be pertinent to them, or I connect them with someone that would be a great connection for them.
Or whatever you can leave it dynamic, but just make sure that you're always thinking what is the next step in this relationship? And the next step it could be, oh, we have not much in common and I really didn't enjoy talking to this person, I don't really want them in my world or wanna be in their world, and it could be the end of it, but this is how you start, build and grow relationships.
And so relationships [00:14:00] always come before revenue. I want you to have a specific journey that you take people on when they interact with you and interact with your marketing. another example is safer example. Someone listens to your podcast, so you have a specific journey that they take as a result of that, that you have, call to action in your. In your outro. you always wanna make sure to have the offering the next step for them to go in getting to know you better. you wanna think about and take time to really consider what is the next best step for them.
and this is what I love doing with my clients. So if this is something you would like support on, I would love to support you in this and I'm happy to talk with you about that. you can schedule a call and we can [00:15:00] talk about this and talk through what your specific client can journey can look like because when you do this work and have this. It really creates safety for your people. They really feel like you want them in your world and you want to nurture that relationship that they are important to you, and it really does create that flow of consistent clients and opportunities coming into your business.
It will create a whole audience, a whole community around you of deep and loyal relationships. Because whatever we focus on expands, right? So if we're focusing on creating relationships, then they're gonna expand. We're gonna create really great foundation and structure and strength in our business based on these relationships.
One other quick example. say someone interacts with your reel and or, watches your reel, [00:16:00] whatever, and they're brand new to your world. You wanna think about what is their next best step with you, right? So most often in very rare instances it's gonna be, they'll be ready to buy right from that.
But in most instances, they're gonna be ready to get to know you better, right? So always have in your caption or in what you're saying on the reel, a way for them to get to know you better. So maybe it's, come and listen to my podcast or I'm hosting a free class, or whatever might be the next best step for them.
And remember, that's like the tangible step in the client journey. And then there's the intangible steps. You always want to be creating awareness. You'll start out with creating awareness. Then they're aware of you, and then they're gonna create interest. Then from that interest is the desire to go to the next step with you.
And [00:17:00] then you wanna make sure you're giving them the action to take. Come listen to my podcast or come join me in my free masterclass, or come to my live event happening next week, or whatever it is you want to offer the. Tangible and also the intangible. Think about the intangible journey that they're going on inside and speak to that as well.
So there's some examples for you. think about just keeping it simple, right? You always wanna offer when you're offering and inviting them to that next step. You wanna keep it simple and in offer one. Invitation. You're not gonna invite them to listen to your podcast come to your event, buy your thing.
It's too many things. And we know that the confused mind always says no. And so when you have too many things and it's confusing, they're just gonna keep going. They're gonna move on, they're gonna [00:18:00] say no. So keep it simple. And once you learn how to do this organically, when your business is small, when you're just starting out, when you're bringing in your first, group of clients.
When you learn how to do this organically than any paid advertising or paid funnels things that you do that are much more complex in the future. You'll be able to create and much easier, and much more effectively by what you learn in creating your early client journeys because the client journey is gonna be similar all along the way, right?
And so if you, once you get really good at this, doing this organically, it makes the paid versions of it later on much easier to create and much more successful for you. Because remember, it's not about the strategy. It's not about the marketing action. It's about the [00:19:00] connection. It's about the energy that you are transferring within the actual marketing action.
when you really nail this, and it does take some experimentation. And that's totally fine. That is the way it works. Entrepreneurship is all about experimentation. Experiment with different client journeys, different steps that you bring people along and when you keep it simple, it allows you to be able toEvaluate effectively, right? Because you can see where people are getting stuck and not moving along in the relationship with you. And so that's another really great use of coaching with me is I can help you troubleshoot. So if you have a client journey and you need to troubleshoot what's not working we can do that together and I can really talk you through how to evaluate that and how to find outwhere people are getting stuck, [00:20:00] why they're getting stuck, and what we need to do in order to address that and get it flowing smoother, doing this work is so powerful because it really does help you to create that consistent flow of clients and revenue into your business. if you want this kind of, effective, strong successful client journey. I would love to do this work with you.
I really love helping my clients to create intentional and thoughtful client journeys that create connection with their people and help create clients in a way that is collaborative and really, strengthens the relationship. So if that's some work that you would love to do, I would love to help you out with that.
I hope this is helpful. Thank you so much for being here.
I really encourage you to consider the importance of having an intentional and thoughtful client journey that creates [00:21:00] connection for you with your future clients.
it makes marketing and selling so much more funI hope you have a fabulous rest of your week,
I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
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