How will you do things differently—such that you stand out in a crowded market?
For service-based businesses, this often lives inside your client experience. Without a clear innovation or product edge, it can be hard to articulate what truly sets your company apart. But in the world of services, your client journey can be the differentiator.
Why Client Experience Is a Strategic Advantage
I believe in the 7 Powers, as defined by Hamilton Helmer: a framework of strategic advantages that lead to sustainable success. In Helmer’s words, power is “the set of conditions creating the potential for persistent differential returns.” While most people apply this to product-driven companies, a uniquely defined and well-executed client experience can unlock several of these powers for service businesses—especially ones committed to scaling well.
Here are a few key Powers that apply:
Counter-Positioning
When you intentionally design a better client experience—one that’s systematized, has team members in the right positions and holds them accountable, and is cost-efficient—you unlock the ability to deliver more value at higher prices while keeping margins healthy. A well mapped client journey and strong backend processes make it difficult for newer competitors to copy or keep up. And when you lead with intentionally differentiated touchpoints, it’s not just your service—it’s how you deliver it—that keeps you top of mind. Clients won’t question leaving for a few dollars in savings.
Switching Costs
Build a business where switching away feels painful—not just financially, but emotionally and mentally. Clients who see you as a true partner won’t want to walk away from the knowledge, trust, and collaborative rhythm you’ve built together. High switching costs can be built into your client experience when you consistently show up with leadership, strategic thinking, and foresight.
Process Power
Most service businesses operate reactively. But when your internal systems proactively guide clients through a journey—from onboarding to delivery to advocacy—you position yourself differently. This gives you “process power”—especially in industries where the barrier to entry is low. When others are chasing inboxes, you’re leading a streamlined, elevated experience.
“Strategy is about deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique value.”
— A.G. Lafley, Playing to Win
In service-based businesses, this plays out most clearly through how you deliver the work—not just what you do and the end deliverable. Which leads to the big question…
How Do You Win?
Winning in today’s service landscape requires so much more than great deliverables.
You need to design a client experience that feels so intentional, so seamless, and so valuable that clients would never think to compare you to an in-house hire—or even another agency.
This is especially true for small and growing businesses that outsource parts of their operation. You’re not just selling time—you’re selling trust, expertise, and peace of mind. Here’s how you build that kind of edge:
1. Teach Clients How to Work With You
Many of your clients want to delegate, but they don’t know how. They’ve likely had inconsistent results with freelancers or agencies before. Your job is to guide the relationship from Day 1. By setting expectations, co-creating success plans, and proactively communicating, you become more than a vendor—you become a partner. This makes the value you bring obvious and sticky.
2. Deliver an Experience Beyond the Deliverable
Anyone can build a website, set up a campaign, or manage a project. Your differentiator is how it feels to work with you. That’s where Client Experience Management (CXM) comes in. Embed your values into every touchpoint. From onboarding to post-project wrap-ups, your brand experience should reflect who you are—and why clients should choose you over and over again.
And your version of CX won’t look like everyone else’s. For some, that might be low-touch efficiency with streamlined automations and a focus on scale. For others, it might be high-touch, white glove service at premium pricing. The key is knowing what you want to be known for—and delivering it consistently.
3. Lead Proactively, Not Reactively
Client success doesn’t happen by chance—it’s designed. You should be the one driving the relationship, surfacing risks early, anticipating client needs, and constantly connecting progress back to their goals. This proactive stance builds credibility and deepens trust.
4. Create Small Moments of ‘Wow’
You don’t need to send extravagant gifts or constantly overdeliver. But thoughtful gestures—personal notes, celebrating a milestone, offering a referral—show you’re paying attention. These moments of humanity turn satisfied clients into raving fans.
5. Align Pricing With the Value You Deliver
Pricing is part of your positioning. If you’re doing high-touch, high-strategy work, your prices should reflect that. Saying “no” to the wrong clients (those who nickel-and-dime or don’t value your expertise) frees you up to serve those who do. This alignment supports healthy margins, better outcomes, and stronger partnerships.
6. Build a Values-Driven Culture That Clients Can Feel
From your emails to your Slack tone, your values should shine through. When your culture is intentional and aligned, clients sense it—and it becomes part of why they choose you. Work with clients who share your vision and treat you as a partner, not a vendor. That energy is contagious and sustaining.
7. Create Clients Who Sing Your Praises
When you get all of this right—process, experience, pricing, culture—you create raving fans. These clients don’t just renew contracts. They refer others. They repost your content. They root for your success. And they become the foundation of a business that doesn’t rely on constant lead generation to grow.
So… How Do You Actually Do This?
Success in today’s service-based world starts with intentionality. You need to get crystal clear on three things:
- What kind of business you’re building
- Who you’re building it for
- And how you want clients to feel at every step
As Lafley says: “You can’t be everything to everyone.” Strategy is about making bold choices that reflect who you are and what you do best.
Your Next Steps:
- Define Your Target Market and ICP: Who do you serve? The first step in defining how you serve is know who you serve. You cannot be everything to everyone and when you narrow down your niche, you’ll be able to design with greater intention. You can always expand later.
- Design an Exceptional Client Experience: Map your ideal journey—from first touch to final deliverable. Assign out responsibility and accountability for each one and ensure the transitions are smooth. Then build systems that make it happen consistently.
- Build Repeatable Processes: Your CX should scale. Document your workflows. Train your team. Automate what you can and personalize where it truly matters.
- Align Your Team (Even If It’s Just You Right Now): Everyone involved should understand your vision, values, and what makes your experience different. And your team’s involvement in each touchpoint should match their experience and expertise.
- Leverage Tech to Streamline & Support: Use tools to manage projects, track progress, and surface feedback. They’re not just for you—they enhance the client experience, too.
- Apply the CX Framework: This is what my CX Framework was designed for—helping service businesses operationalize client experience to drive loyalty, clarity, and scale.
Before you can differentiate, you have to be clear on what you’re building. In the words of Hamilton Helmer:
“To assess which journeys are worth taking, you must first understand which destinations are desirable.”
If you haven’t done the work in Part 1: The Why or Part 2: The Work, now is the time.
Because once you know your destination, Part 3 (The Win) becomes the strategy to get there. And over the next few weeks, we’ll unpack the rest of the Freedom Framework to help you align your team, culture, and execution with your unique path forward.
Find out how much freedom your business is creating for you by taking our free Freedom Framework Assessment. We’ll send you a full PDF that outlines what your score means and the next steps you should take to start to build the business that creates real freedom for you.