Welcome to CRM Success Secrets! In our 'Mastering Client Onboarding' series conclusion, we focus on avoiding common onboarding mistakes that can impact client relationships. From complex processes to messaging inconsistencies, we provide strategies to prevent errors and ensure successful onboarding. Join us as we discuss the 'rule of 3' in customer onboarding and strategies for effective product launches. Let's work together to improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty on CRM Success Secrets. For additional insights and advice, visit http://worksmarterdigital.com to schedule a strategy session. Let's make every onboarding experience exceptional!
Key Takeaways:
- Common Onboarding Mistakes and Solutions
- Onboarding Duration and Strategies
- Launching New Products
Quotes
"Consistency is crucial when introducing your new client to your business, brand, services, and values." - Mary Sue Dahill
"Clear, consistent messaging is key to avoid confusing and alienating customers across channels."- Mary Sue Dahill
Featured in this Episode
Mary Sue Dahill
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marysuedahill
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:38 - Mistake #1: The Dangers of No Formal Onboarding
01:40 - Defining Your Onboarding Journey: Setting Expectations
02:40 - The Power of Clear Messaging in Client Onboarding
03:38 - Streamlined Customer Onboarding with Automation
04:30 - Effective Communication During Onboarding Gaps
10:04 - Crafting an Unbeatable Customer Onboarding Plan
11:11 -Boosting Sales and Loyalty: Effective Onboarding
12:00 - 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. Hey there, fabulous listeners. Welcome back to CRM Success Secrets, the podcast where we dive deep into the heart of customer relationship management.
I'm your host, Mary Sue Dahill, ready to guide you through another enlightening topic. Today, we're wrapping up our series, mastering client onboarding, a 5 step guide. With a super important episode, we're going to talk about the common customer onboarding mistakes and how to avoid them. So let's dive into those top mistakes you definitely want to steer clear of. Mistake number 1 is no formal onboarding. Now I hope after listening to the 4 prior episodes, this is not you, and you understand why it's important to have onboarding. But if you don't, not having onboarding is like going on a cross country trip without GPS or a map. Maybe in college, this was fun, but when you just paid a bunch of money for something, that is not fun, and you don't wanna do it.
So the fix is listening to those prior episodes in the series and defining your onboarding journey. Start somewhere and build it out. You at least want to have a welcome email that sets some of the expectations. So listen to the 4 episodes before this. It'll give you some ideas. Mistake number 2 is inconsistent messaging during your onboarding. That seems kind of strange because the onboarding, you know, feels short, but this does happen. When you're rolling out your onboarding content, emails, tutorials, you name it, Consistency is king here because, again, you are introducing your new client to your business, again, your brand, the transformation you're delivering, and your values even.
So any mixed messages here can be really confusing and can alienate your customers. So you wanna ensure that messaging is very crystal clear and uniform across channels. So periodically, it's a good idea either for you or a team member to go back through your onboarding content with, kind of a newbie eye and make sure that it's all consistent. So, if you're working, especially if you're working with a team, make sure everyone is singing the same tune as well if they're the ones communicating with your new clients. Mistake number 3 is making it too complex. So we have those people that maybe don't have any formal onboarding, which is kind of one end of the spectrum. The other end of the spectrum is making it too complex. I'm probably that person.
So remember the KISS principle, keep it simple, Sista, applies here too. So the onboarding process should be as streamlined as possible for your customers. Every step from signing up to completing surveys should be a breeze. And on your end, you wanna leverage automation and consider, you know, outsourcing if you need it to lighten the load a little bit. But I just wanna reiterate here. You want to ensure that your customer has the right amount of communication. The most critical piece here is the gap between when they pay and when they really get started with your program. If there's a small gap, you don't need a ton of onboarding activity.
If there's a gap of a couple weeks to a month, like, if you have, you know, a launch event and your program doesn't start for a month, you do want something happening in that month because your onboarding helps avoid the issue of buyers' remorse. So, just think about it that way, and make sure if you're doing a lot of activity in the background that you're doing some sort of communication with your client. So your onboarding can be simple if you're doing communication with them. You just don't want to go from talking that to them a lot during the sales process to 0, after they buy until they start working with you again. So look at your process and take a look at the episode. Let me go back and look. It's episode 2, mapping the path, crafting your onboarding that journey. That one really talks about the journey and will address, you know, making it too complex.
Alright. Mistake number 4 is saying onboarding is over too soon. So onboarding doesn't wrap up after 30 days. Sure by then, mo and we're talking about a lot of times for coaches and consultants that have a program of some kind. So most of my clients have a program that's 6 to 12 months. Many, many of them have a structured learning process, where there's content being delivered over that time. It doesn't mean that everyone's going through the exact same content, but they have kind of a content library that their clients go through or, yeah, the library will say. But you want to ensure that your client actually knows their way around your offerings and can navigate and get to the material.
So, yes, they're doing coaching with you, but they can also really leverage the other bonus material that you make available to them so that, that conversation keeps going, that they're really leveraging all of the really cool stuff that you have available to them because that's kinda your differentiator. It's your coaching plus whatever other content you're making available and maybe also the way that you engage with them and your community. So, the other thing to understand is that the rule of 3 with onboarding, 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months. So 3 days is generally when people feel the most buyer's remorse. So within those 1st 3 days. So that's where that welcome email is really important. You want to ensure they feel welcomed. They understand the path forward.
So looking back at the prior episodes, sending the welcome email is definitely key within the 1st 3 days, providing them the onboarding guide so they know what's coming, what is the road map. 1st 3 days, make them feel like they understand, what they purchased again, what they're going to get and excited about, the transformation that's coming. That's 3 days. 3 weeks. So, again, this is, you know, when do they really start working with you? Hopefully, it's within the 1st 3 days, but a lot of times it may not be the first big interaction may not be within the first three weeks. So this is where that first little project or task comes into play. Maybe that this is where they're doing their, you know, deeper dive lifestyle intake. They're doing your first task project.
They're watching some foundational material, the 3 weeks, you know, getting them to really understand how to take advantage of all of the cool stuff that you have available. And then the 3 months, this is where you have already started working with them. You have laid the foundation of how to work with you, and you've provided them additional tools to make sure that they are clear on how to use them, but you have also checked in with how they're doing. Are they able to access the material that you've provided? The KPIs will help here, you know, because you know your best clients, always do a, b, and c. So ask your new clients, have they done a, b, and c? If they're not doing those things, go back and make sure that they're either doing them, understand why they're not, maybe something's broken in your onboarding. So, again, 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months. Good rule of thumb for your onboarding process. And there it is. Now the colossal mistake is launching a new product without an onboarding plan. So, again, that goes back to that first mistake of not having a formal, onboarding process. But when you launch something new, you know, we're all focused on the new thing. So just be prepared with, when you're launching a new product that you also consider your onboarding because you don't want your new clients and a brand new product that you're all excited about to start something and then be kind of, not excited because the onboarding itself kind of is unexciting, uninspired. So want to dive deeper into crafting an unbeatable customer onboarding plan? You are welcome to schedule a call with me at worksmurderedigital.com. Strategy, you can find that on my website. I'm happy to talk with you through that. This journey might be wrapping up, but your adventure in elevating customer satisfaction and retention is just beginning.
Remember, a well executed onboarding plan isn't just good for your customers. It's a powerhouse for your long term sales and brand loyalty. So thanks for joining me on this series, mastering client onboarding. I've loved every minute and hope you have too. Don't forget to subscribe to CRM Success Secrets for more insider tips and tricks. And until next time, keep those communications open, understand your customers, and make every onboarding experience stellar. Bye for now. Are your business systems a hot mess? Take the system scorecard quiz at www.worksmarterdigital.com/quiz
You will receive proven strategies to leverage technology in your business. And when you schedule a system strategy session with me, I will personally provide you customized recommendations for your business. So, again, that is www.worksmartyrdigital.com/quiz Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the CRM Success Secrets podcast. Cheers to you, and I hope that your systems are successful.