Christina: (00:01) You are listening to the Scaling of Freedom podcast. And if you are an online coach or course creator, you are in the right place. I’m your host Christina Bernhard. I’m an ads agency owner that gets an inside look every day on what’s working and what doesn’t. In the online coaching space, I’m here to share with you what we see works in our agency as well as what we see happening and changing in the industry. Stay tuned to up-level your coaching business to have the freedom you want. Let’s get started.

Christina: (00:30) Welcome to episode 164. We are chatting about characteristics of our best clients and why you should care. So being a good client is not just about making it easy on your agencies and contractors and your your team. Um, so I want to point that out because that’s not where I’m going with this. And um, it is something that’s you should probably care about, you know, because it’s allowing them to do their best work. Um, and this is how you’re going to be able to actually get the results that you want Whenever you do hire an agency or a contractor. And by having certain characteristics, you can actually prevent them from being able to do their best work and to be able to get you the results that you actually want. So you do have to give your team what they need to produce at their best.

Christina: (01:18) And I’ve seen a lot of coaches struggle with this, um, with a lot of high turnover in their teams. So I, because we are behind the scenes and we are working on, um, these, um, these accounts, you know, we do have to work with our clients teams a lot. And whenever there is high turnover, um, I’ve seen this a lot in the past three years that we’ve been doing this and, um, it, it really does hurt. Um, turnover hurts and I know just as a business owner myself, cuz we have an agency, so hiring is a big part of that. And, you know, turnover is just, it wastes a lot of resources. Um, it wastes, you know, time and money. It can really stall your business growth because you’re constantly having to take a step back and redo things, um, and reintegrate people. So you don’t get to experience what it’s like to have an integrated team, which is a beautiful place.

Christina: (02:12) Um, I can tell you just from experience that once you have a team that is fully integrated and they’ve been working with you for a while and they know your business inside and out, they know what to do. They can make decisions, they’re in, you know, and some of these are qualities and people of course, but you know, even whenever someone has, um, those qualities of being very independent and being resourceful, um, they still need like things from you. They still need direction on what exactly you need from them. Um, so that is why I wanted to do this episode. Um, and we have a lot of amazing clients and they get amazing results. And I was thinking about it the other day and I was like, I should do a podcast episode about this because these clients that get these amazing results, like the the results that, you know, when you market them, you almost feel a little like weird to even market it because it probably seems too good to be true.

Christina: (03:05) Um, they’re the people that are getting those results that everyone is hoping for whenever you go into ads or whenever go into business to begin with. Um, those are the results that everyone’s wanting. And there are these characteristics that all of them have, all of them. And so I wanted to, you know, break those down. So I’m gonna talk about five characteristics specifically that literally all of these clients have. And again, I wanna point out that, you know, it’s not just that they’re great to work with. They are, they’re wonderful to work with, um, but also they get the results again that everyone wants. So, um, I want to define best clients. Whenever I say best clients, I’m referring to highest return on ads. So again, they also happen to be the best to work with, but I’m going to base it off of specifically off of them hitting their goals, um, because I know that that is what you’re gonna care about the most.

Christina: (03:57) Um, so let’s dive into the five characteristics that they all have. So the first one is that they listen to advice and they actually take action. So I’ve had situations, I’ve been doing this for a long time, I’ve been doing this before you, I even started this business. I’ve always been in client services and so I have a lot of experience with like, all kinds of different clients. I’ve had nightmare clients, I’ve had wonderful clients like, so I’ve dealt with a lot of these situations. I’ve had situations where I’ve told a client over a year that they needed a new freebie or a new funnel or, and this is kind of frustrating from, um, an ads manager perspective because our job, we don’t actually do funnels. Um, so I do consult on them, um, because that’s just kind of part of what we do. So we’re talking about funnels all the time with my clients, um, and I help them brainstorm all of that, but we don’t actually like build them or do them and, um, I can’t create their content.

Christina: (04:54) So it’s kind of frustrating from an ads manager perspective, you know, because there’s nothing you can really do other than just constantly consult and just suggest. And, um, I’ve even had, uh, a client where I said every single call, um, and every single call, they actually chose a date that they were gonna do it. And like they were excited about it and they literally never did, like, never . And I’m not judging like I get it, there’s a lot to do in a business. I totally get it. And it’s really difficult to prioritize everything. But if you want to grow and hit certain goals and the expertss on your team are advising you to do something, especially something that you agree with, you’re wasting time and money by not acting even if it’s not fun. Because I know some people love funnels, some people hate them.

Christina: (05:44) Like I have clients that love doing funnels. Like they love building landing pages, they love creating content and filming webinars and they love, like, they love all that stuff. They love writing out emails. And then I have clients that just absolutely hate it and you can outsource a lot of this stuff, but you know, when it comes to recording videos and things like that, it, it of course has to be you. There’s no way around it. Um, so you know, some people love them, some people hate them. Um, but I will say our best clients, they take our advice and they actually do what they say they’re gonna do and they get great results because of it. Um, and again, some of my clients that, you know, always take our advice and actually, you know, again, do what say do what they say they’re gonna do, um, and, you know, build out new funnels or try new things, um, new trainings, things like that.

Christina: (06:31) Um, they’re not necessarily the clients that love it either. So again, some of them love ’em, some of it hate it, or some of ’em love doing it and some of them hate it, but regardless of which one they fall under, um, they do actually do it . So, um, that’s gonna be the biggest thing. Um, I think, you know, just in business in general, taking action, um, serves you very well, especially when it comes to scaling and growing and taking things to the next level. Um, actually taking action on things is just going to be required, right? So, um, that is the first characteristic. The second one is that they play a long game. So they do what’s best for the long run, which is what we always consult on. I will never, ever like suggest anything that is a shortcut or something that is half-assing something.

Christina: (07:18) That’s not how we do things. That’s not how I do things. I’m a long-term visionary, so everything that I do in your account, in your business is going to help you for the long run. We want to care about what’s gonna happen in three to five years if we make this decision now. Um, so you know, once you zoom out, you can actually see how different your decisions are, um, and how different of a game that you play. And so my clients that get the best results, they are in it for the long run. So they don’t take shortcuts, they don’t half-ass things and they’re also not panicking about the numbers every two days. Um, they know that this is a long game and they also invest that way. They make decisions that way. Sometimes whenever you are playing the long game, it does take out some short, uh, short term gains.

Christina: (08:02) And that’s just, that’s just part of it. Um, not always. There are still thing, there are plenty of things that we can do for like quick cash injections and things like that. I don’t mean that, you know, we’re gonna not have a return for months and months and a year and then we’re gonna, you know, be rolling in money. I don’t mean that, um, I just mean that, you know, we are intentional with how we’re doing things and we’re not freaking out over a bad week because I will tell you that when it comes to Facebook ads, you will absolutely have plenty of bad weeks and you’re gonna have plenty of campaigns that don’t go the way that you thought they were going to. That’s just part of, um, ads. There’s no way around it. Um, it does not mean that your work sucks or whatever.

Christina: (08:42) It’s just there, there are lots of variables and you have to, um, you have to test and you have to do, you just have to go through the process. Um, and it is just part of the process, especially if you have a cold account. So, um, that’s the second thing is that they play a long game. Um, the third characteristic is that they plan ahead . This is like huge. Um, now I will say that I’ve seen there are clients who, um, do not plan ahead and they can still make a lot of money, but they are super burnt out. I’ve seen burnout really, really bad burnout. Um, if you have not listened to my episode about the, um, the lessons I’ve learned from my seven figure coaching clients, that is a, one of the most popular episodes on the podcast. Definitely check that out. I talk about that there.

Christina: (09:29) What happens whenever, you know, people don’t plan ahead? Um, and that, that is one of the hugest lessons I’ve learned, um, from my clients and has really helped me stay in check because I’ve had, um, a, you know, some, like, I’ve definitely been addicted to work at certain phases in my life and, um, it has really impacted my personal life a lot. And I, um, I’m a lot better about that now, especially being a mother. There’s just like, that’s a lot has changed. Um, but I, I had to always make sure that I kept myself in check because I did not wanna hit that level of burnout. And one of the things that I see that contributes to that is not planning ahead, but other than burning out, um, specifically for your actual like results and things like that, um, you don’t want to try and just throw together sloppy stuff last minute and ask their your team to do it as well.

Christina: (10:26) Um, because especially with ads, um, we don’t want to throw up last minute, like random graphics and copy, uh, especially now. So you might have been able to get away with this a few years ago and there are some exceptions, but now the game is so much bigger. Um, so there’s a lot more competition. Ads are a lot more expensive. Um, the targeting options and you know, the data that’s, um, we have and the visibility, it’s not as strong as it used to be. So because people can actually, you know, opt out of tracking and things like that. So you know that that changes things and that means that your copy and your creatives, your videos, all that stuff has to be extremely dialed in. It’s gotta be good, right? So we cannot just throw up just crap and then just see how it does.

Christina: (11:12) Like that’s not how we do things. And you also, you don’t want your team to rush things faster than they say they can deliver something. Even if you ask them to turn it around faster and they’re like, yeah, I’ll do it. You don’t, I’m, I promise you, you don’t want that. Um, and we don’t do it with ads. I’ve done this in the past, like , I’ve had my people pleaser times for sure. Um, and it, it’s not good. It’s not good. Uh, you just, you don’t want to do this, trust me. Um, because you’re just, everything is last minute and you know, you’re pushing, you’re asking your team to not do their best work. And I mean, who wants that? Like, why would you want to pay someone to not do their best work? And like asking people to, you know, just do things last minute is just not going to, um, be the best, which is why we have specific timelines.

Christina: (12:01) And I do not push my creative team to go any faster than we’ve agreed. So that’s just the timeline. Um, and it’s because I don’t want them to rush. I don’t want my copywriter to rush. I don’t want my graphic designer. I don’t want that to happen. So planning ahead, um, is something that, um, my clients that have the biggest best results, the highest return on their ads, they plan ahead. So whenever we get on calls, we’re talking about things that are happening in the future and we have plenty of time to prepare for them. We can do proper research, we can do, you know, see what, um, do competitor analysis. We can do, um, all kinds of things and put it all together and put together a really good campaign. And that’s how it should be for every single campaign. So planning ahead is going to be huge.

Christina: (12:46) Um, and this isn’t just for ads, this is really for anything. Um, but I’m just speaking from ads perspective cause that’s what we do. Um, so the fourth characteristic is responsive . So this might be a no-brainer if you’re listening to this and you’ve ever done client services, you know what I’m talking about. Um, but if you’re not responsive, you can really hold things up. And this is probably one of the most frustrating part of client services. Um, I will say that, you know, I don’t have this issue very much, um, but with my fellow, like client services, like peers, this is such a thing and I really feel like this gets better the higher your fee is . Um, but you don’t wanna waste any role on your team, even if you know, whatever you pay them or whatever it is, um, doesn’t feel like a huge weight because I promise you, if you’re paying someone good, good money, um, and they’re a role on your team that is, uh, costing you like, uh, a lot of money, you’re probably gonna be more responsive because you definitely don’t wanna waste that investment.

Christina: (13:49) But you don’t wanna do this with any role on your team really. Um, so this, again, this is can be the most frustrating part, but um, it doesn’t have to be you that’s responsive, but maybe someone on your team can be in charge of approving or providing assets or things like that to move things along. So a lot of my clients, that’s usually the case is that we’re not talking always directly to the client. We’re talking to someone on their team and they are approving graphics or, you know, things like that. And that can really help. So if you are, um, a business owner that’s, or um, uh, that really does not have the capacity to respond to every single email or whatever the case is, um, hiring someone to take that on is something that most, I would say most of our clients do.

Christina: (14:30) And, um, it’s really, really effective. I mean, because you just have someone that is, that is their role, that is their job and have them kind of own that. And so you can make sure that you are not holding anything up. And if they do need something from you, then you know, you guys can figure that out. But, um, you at least have someone that is on it because with things like ads or launches, um, and, and stuff like that, there are deadlines. So we have to make sure that things are done in a certain amount of time and if we’re being held up, um, either we miss the deadline or you’re having that situation where people are going to have to rush and get sloppy. Um, and so, you know, you don’t want that. So being responsive is huge. all of our great clients, um, great meaning have high returns.

Christina: (15:16) Um, they are all very responsive. The last characteristic, um, is that they track results. So they know their numbers and they are tracking important things and that is key, um, to growing because we had to figure out what is working and what is not. Um, so if we’re running ads, as an example from an ads perspective, if we are running ads to a specific funnel, um, and they have, let’s say they have like three or four different funnels and they don’t know which funnel is converting higher, like, I mean, we need to know like which, which funnel is better to run ads to. And then we’re also compare, you know, like the cost per lead to the actual conversion. You have to put all these numbers in. You can’t just go off of gut. Um, we’re very data driven, so we’re always trying to track results with our clients.

Christina: (16:04) So we are tracking like funnel metrics and of course all of the ad parts, um, as well. Um, but like calls and call conversions and revenue for each week and each month and, you know, all these things are very, very key. And so, uh, we’ve been helping clients get a lot more thorough and we’re actually in the process of crafting an offer for this because it’s so needed and it’s asked for. So, um, if you don’t know your numbers, then you’re absolutely guessing you can’t optimize and scale without having like a baseline and some goals. So that’s gonna really help you move forward. Um, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. This can be incredibly simple. Uh, I’ve had some clients send me their, um, sheets of things that they’re tracking and they’re tracking so many things and I’m like, do they really track this?

Christina: (16:48) And like, sure enough, there are weeks where there’s just nothing in the sheet and I’m like, it’s too many. Like, it does not have to be every single metric in your business. Choose some really important ones and focus on those. Um, but just doing launches and throwing things out there and just like kind of letting it be without being intentional of like, you know, how many sales do you wanna make? Or like what does this webinar conversion rate need to be to actually hit your goal or what, you know, all these little, um, details. That way we can figure out what needs to happen and we can do the right things to make it happen. And then you can also have your focus be on specific things like for this, you know, next month, um, we want to focus on the evergreen webinar conversion rate.

Christina: (17:29) So that’s what we’re gonna do. Um, so you know, just things like that and knowing your numbers, tracking those results will help you not be stagnant and you can make sure that every launch is getting better and better. Um, or even just every month if you have evergreen, um, products or evergreen funnels, that those are also improving every single month. So those are the five characteristics of our best clients and why you should care about these characteristics and having these characteristic characteristics, um, because it’s going to help you actually get the results that you want your team to get for you or you get, um, whatever, however you have things structured. So this is going to be huge. So if you are like kind of dropping the ball in one of these areas, or you feel like you could just definitely improve in, uh, one of these areas, um, I will tell you from experience and being on the backend and having these clients that have all of these different pieces in line in their business, um, it’s huge and it is a game changer for being able to scale and grow.

Christina: (18:31) Um, so the first one is that you listen to advice and take action. Um, and you know, with this also I’ll add, um, like if you don’t trust your team, then I would consider, you know, hiring a different, um, agency or person for that. If, if they are in a role in your business where, um, they’re supposed to be an expert in something, um, either, you know, trust them or maybe find someone that you do trust because that is a huge benefit of hiring like a specialty, is that they do have, um, expert advice in something. And so you, you know, hopefully trust them and you’ll be able to listen to that advice and take action and then you can see the growth happening. Um, so I’ll, that’s the last thing I’ll add on that. Um, and then, uh, playing a long game, huge, especially with ads, um, you do not want to be taking shortcuts or, you know, trying to hurry up and get this like crazy return and meet these, uh, crazy goals of like right off the bat.

Christina: (19:26) Like, this is a long game. Do what’s going to help your business in the long run. Um, don’t, you know, burn bridges and reputations and things like that. Um, the third one is to plan ahead. So don’t, you know, just throw things together last minute. Don’t try and get your team to slap together things, um, you know, plan ahead. Um, be intentional. Uh, be responsive is the fourth one, so don’t hold things up. Just make sure you’re responsive or have someone on your team do that for you and just kind of own that piece. And then the last one is tracking your results, knowing your numbers, being on top of those things so that you can make sure things are improving and every month you have a different focus on what you want to try and improve. So that is what I have for you this week. Um, I will see you guys next week. Thank you for listening to this Scaling to Freedom podcast. If you are a seven figure coach looking for ads management with an agency that partners with you to get your work out into the world and amplify your impact, see if we are a good fit by applying for a spot in our agency@christinabernhard.com/apply. Find the link in our show notes.