You want to give your clients a good impression of your business. It’s one of the many reasons why you need to provide a smooth client onboarding experience for them. Do it well, and you may find the vast majority of your future revenue will come as a result of those new clients. Give them a bad experience, and you’ll find your business popularity and income taking a big hit.
Onboarding is one of the five areas you can systemise in your business. But no matter how it’s delivered, the experience your customer has needs to be good. So how can you ensure that happens? Here are the 5 steps you need to take to ensure a smooth onboarding experience for you and your clients.
[Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.]
Step #1: Assess your existing client onboarding process
You probably already have an onboarding system of sorts in place, especially if you’ve already taken on some clients. So start by taking a look at what you already have in place. Establish what is working and what needs removing or changing.
Step #2: Map out your ideal client onboarding process
Map out your ideal process step-by-step. Do you need to make calls to onboard your new client? What paperwork needs to be sent over or forms filled out to capture the information you need to onboard the client and do the work? What information do you need from your client at the onboarding stage? Do you need to request access details or confidential information from them?
Step #3: Choose the right tools
Once you know the steps, you can work out what tools you need to complete each step. Here are a few tools I suggest you check out:
- Tools for pain-free consultation booking – Acuity or Calendly.
- Sending & signing of contracts – HelloSign, DocuSign or Signable.
- Invoicing tools – FreeAgent, Xero or Quickbooks.
- Payment processing – GoCardless or Stripe.
- Forms and Questionnaires – Acuity, Google Forms or Typeform.
- Document sharing – Google Drive, OneDrive or (if project related) Asana or ClickUp.
- Project or Task Management – Asana or ClickUp.
Alternatively, there are some fantastic all-in-one customer management tools such as Dubsado, 17hats, Bitrix24 and Hello Bonsai & Bloom.
Step #4: Work out the how
Time to put a plan in place. Look at the above steps and work out if you need help with them. Do you have your content creation under control? Do you know how to set up the tools and link them? Can you automate all of the steps? Can you do it all on your own, or do you need help?
Once you’ve answered these questions, it’s time to get to work.
Step #5: Apply the finishing touches
Now’s the time to test and tweak where necessary. It’s essential to go through this process to ensure it’s all working together nicely, and your customers will have a smooth onboarding experience. Get a friend, colleague or business partner to test it for you, as this will help you see and iron out any difficulties in your process.
Once you’re happy and it’s live, ask your clients for feedback. This helps you to continue improving the process, to ensure it’s as good as possible.
You want to give your clients a good impression of your business. It’s one of the many reasons why you need to provide a smooth client onboarding experience for them. By following the above five steps, you’ll have done all you can to make that experience a good one. It’s then up to you to attract the new clients you need!
If you’d like help mapping out the steps needed for your client onboarding process or aren’t sure of the best tools for the job, why not book yourself in for one of my Power Hour sessions? They’re the perfect opportunity to get the answers you need and a great way to get my expert help on your business! You can choose the Power Hour that most suits your needs here.