In today's episode, we delve into the third stage of our comprehensive 5-step client onboarding mastery guide. Prepare to create engaging onboarding material that not only welcomes but also effectively guides and captivates your new clients right from the start. We'll explore five crucial components: utilizing the onboarding guide as a roadmap, integrating interactive intake forms, maximizing the impact of initial projects, leveraging various learning resources such as guides, videos, and FAQs, and adding a personal touch with customized welcome packs and emails. Join us as we ensure your clients are well-informed, appreciated, and primed for their transformative journey ahead.
Let's elevate first impressions into enduring experiences and pave the way for CRM triumph.
Key Takeaways:
- Creating an Onboarding Guide
- Crafting an Intake Form
- Assigning a Starter Project
- Developing Guides, Videos, and FAQs
- Creating Welcome Packs and Personalized Emails
Quotes
"Show you care about your client’s unique needs and tailor your approach to meet them where they are."– Mary Sue Dahill
"The intake form enables you to understand them better, guides your collaboration, and makes them feel valued in your program."– Mary Sue Dahill
Featured in this Episode
Mary Sue Dahill
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marysuedahill
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
02:09 - Unveiling Insights and Enhancing Engagement
04:20 - Setting the Foundation for Collaboration and Success
03:05 - Strengthening Client Bonds: Tailoring Intake Forms
07:16 - Tailoring Content for Varied Learning Styles in Onboarding
08:59 - Crafting Tailored Welcome Kits and Client Emails
10:15 - Crafting Engaging Onboarding Journeys
11:08 - Conclusion
Mary Sue Dahill:
It's the CRM success secrets podcast about productivity with a twist. Hi there. My name is Mary Sue Dayhill, your host. This podcast is for business coaches and consultants tired of working nights and weekends. They are looking for strategies and proven tactics to streamline their business using a CRM and automation. Let's get to it. Hello, listeners. Welcome back to your favorite CRM corner, CRM success secrets.
I'm Mary Sue ready to guide you through another piece of this client relationship puzzle. Today, we're taking a deep dive into step 3 of our mastering client onboarding, a 5 steps guide. Fasten your seatbelts. We're exploring the art of engaging onboarding content. That's right. What kind of content to provide during your onboarding process? And I have, let's see, 5 different types of content to provide during the onboarding process. First is creating an onboarding guide. This is your client's, you know, this is the road map, really, of your onboarding process, and the guide does not have to be, you know, 20 pages long.
It could be a 1 pager. Personally, I love to have something that I can look at that shows me all of the steps to take advantage of a program, in one place. This can be a PDF. It can be a web page that your client can bookmark. It would be better if it is not just in an email because, as we all know, emails get lost. So, again, think of it as the ultimate welcome sign, but it's not just about welcoming. It's about guiding. This guide should cover everything from how to use your services to how to get in touch when they need help.
It's your chance to anticipate their needs and questions, providing answers before the confusion even arises. Make it visually appealing, easy to navigate, and above all, packed with value. This can be created in a few ways. Again, I've already said this, a web page that they can bookmark and come back to many times, a PDF doc they can use as a workbook throughout your program, or a knowledge base with a getting started section. The second piece of content is crafting an intake form. Now you might be thinking, how is this a piece of content? I have seen this used in so many different ways. So, here's where you become a bit of a detective, and intake form is not just paperwork. If you make it that way, it certainly will be.
It can be a crucial tool in really learning about your client's goals, their challenges, and their preferences. I have lots of clients that like to celebrate success throughout their program, and they wanna make those celebrations very personal. And one way they do that is through the preferences that their clients share in their intake form. So, the intake form, like, spice it up a bit, make it interactive, engaging, and even fun. Use it to start building the relationship, showing that you care about their unique needs and how you can tailor your approach to meet them where they are. A great example of an intake form, as I've already mentioned, are for celebrations. You can ask questions to learn about their, you know, what is their favorite restaurant? What is their favorite food? Do they prefer alcohol? Do they prefer chocolate? You know, like, you don't wanna give somebody an alcoholic, you know, a bottle of wine for a celebration if they don't drink. So just one example.
What other things have I seen? A lifestyle kind of questionnaire as a way of really getting to know them as well. It doesn't have to just be around their business. You know, do they have children? Where do they like to go on vacation? All kinds of things. So the intake form, think of how that allows you to get to know them and inform your working with them as well as inform, how to make them feel special in your program. The third piece of content is what I call assigning a starter project. Now you may not wanna do this, but, like I said, most of my clients are coaches and consultants. Many of them are running some sort of a program along with their coaching or consulting. It may not be like a structured program, but they have a process they follow.
All of them are providing a transformation. You know, that is part of why the person is working with them. So assigning a starter project to me makes sense. You know? When I purchase something, I wanna get going. Yes. I am a type of person as you may have noticed, so I wanna get going. Now a starter project, may not be, again, for every personality type, but you know your client base. To me, you know, it helps, again, in the onboarding process, to get people engaged and to feel like they are preparing, especially if there is a delay between when they pay and when the program starts.
So if there really isn't a delay, maybe you don't need a starter project. So nothing beats diving right in. So giving your new client a small project or task can do wonders. It engages them immediately, making them feel a part of the process from day 1. This could be something as simple as filling out a creative brief, setting up their user profile in your community, sharing their goals with you in, you know, a Canva template that you've created, sharing it in the community so other people can get to know them and their goals. It's about creating that sense of ownership and involvement in the journey that you're about to undertake together. So it does not have to be an overwhelming project. It can be small and simple, but it is a way to get them engaged and active in the process.
So, just really consider this before you dismiss it. Alright. Content item number 4 is developing guides, videos, and FAQs. We all learn differently, and that's what this one is about. Some of us are readers, others are watchers, and some just wanna dive in and figure things out as we go. So your onboarding content does need to cater to all of those learning styles to some degree. I realize, and I struggle with this myself, that you can't have everything on day 1. So, you know, do what you can here.
You don't have to have lots of everything, but consider where you, your clients are struggling the most and see what you can add there. Your content, your onboarding content, again, doesn't have to be a ton of content. It really is helping them understand the process, of getting started with you and how to be successful. So keep it contained. The FAQ section can be great for a new client that has lots of questions. You know? Like, how do I get help? What do I do? Those sorts of things. So the guides, videos, FAQs can be something linked from your onboarding guide, which we mentioned at the beginning of this episode. Alright.
Finally, the 5th piece of content is creating welcome packs and personalized emails. So here's where you get to show off your personality as the business owner and make your clients feel truly special. Welcome packs can be digital or physical, filled with useful goodies, tips, and maybe a few surprises that delight your client. So personalized email should make them feel seen and appreciated, not just another name on the list. This is your chance to start the relationship off on a high note, showing your clients they've made the right choice. As an example, one of my clients is an HR consultant, and she has a new product launching called HR in a box. It is an online community where she's providing, online, like, training and resources to business owners as well as some coaching. So, you know, it's totally online, but part of her onboarding is she is gonna be sending an actual box with some of her favorite HR related books because, you know, the product is called HR in a box. So I thought that was genius. You know? She wants them to have something physical along with the HR, in a box virtual community. So that's kind of the idea of a welcome pack, and that personalization. I'm sure she's gonna put a little note in there welcoming them to the community as well. So there you have it, friends, a closer look at crafting onboarding content that not only informs your new client, but also delights and engages your clients right from the start. Remember, the goal of your onboarding content is to make your clients feel welcomed, informed, and excited about the journey ahead with you. Here's to creating unforgettable onboarding experiences. Bye for now.
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