Our Ultimate Guide to Client Onboarding + Crafting an Extraordinary Client Experience
Client onboarding is the most crucial beginning phase to starting a project with a new client. It sets the tone for the working relationship and can make or break your project depending on how you handle it. If handled poorly, it can lead to your client having a bad experience with you, and it’s the client experience that determines whether or not you’ll receive positive testimonials, repeat business, and future referrals. (No pressure!)
After working with clients during both our time as separate businesses and even after we first became business partners, we know a thing or two about client onboarding and making sure the client feels comfortable and taken care of before, during, and after the project.
Let’s dive into our ultimate guide to client onboarding, plus crafting an extraordinary client experience!
Fasten your seatbelt, friend, because this is gonna be a long one.
The Client Inquiry
It all starts with the very first outreach once a potential client completes your lead capture form. This form is commonly linked on a page of your website, or you could link it inside a PDF portfolio if you have one in the interim. Depending on what your process looks like, you could either go ahead and include a scheduler with your contact form, or you could wait to send one afterwards if you prefer to filter through inquiries first.
This begins your chance to make a great first impression by responding fairly quickly. We’d suggest following up with the client no longer than 24 hours later, maybe 48. You can add your response time somewhere on your contact form to set expectations early on, or send an automatic email that thanks them for their inquiry and states your response time there instead, or even both.
The Discovery Call
Once a client has booked a discovery call, be sure to send appointment reminder emails. If you have a set of questions about the project that you’d like answered beforehand to help shorten and streamline the call, you could send over a questionnaire for the client to complete.
The discovery call is understandably the most nerve-wracking part of the process because it’s essentially a sales call. This is your chance to fully win over the client, especially since you probably don’t know if they’ve reached out to other service providers as well. Our go-to method for calls is the P.I.T.C.H. method.
This will be your secret weapon to closing clients faster and confidently. These steps within this method are all played out in a single conversation, ideally in this order. Most service based business owners make a crucial mistake by only relying on follow-up conversations to close the deal. The PITCH method shifts this way of doing business so you can close more deals on the spot (and get paid faster).
STEP 1: PROVE THAT WHAT YOU HAVE IS WHAT THEY NEED
Instead of talking about your service as a product, focus on the results instead. Frame the conversation using phrases that assume you’ll be hired. Basically, believe in the power of your service. Let them know how their life is going to be different once they start working with you. Try using a phrase like this:
“... After working together, you’ll have…”
This is called “The Assumptive Close” and it’s a tactic that works time and time again. If you’ve played your part well up to this point, this specific piece will play a huge part in you landing this client.
STEP 2: ITERATE THEIR WORDS BACK TO THEM
What you’ll want to weave in next is the fact that you understand and hear their needs. This not only helps you understand where your role in serving them truly is, but it secures confidence from your client early on.
Try using phrases like:
“... So what I’m hearing you say is…”
“... Based on what you told me…”
Showing them that you understand their desire and need for hiring you on Day 1 is crucial. This isn’t just a “sales tactic”– Letting your potential client feel heard and understood goes and incredibly long way in starting out your work together on the right foot, and set the stage for a more connected and long-term relationship.
STEP 3: TALK THEM THROUGH YOUR PROCESS
Now, it’s time to walk them through how this all works. This is another crucial place to use assumption wording. Remember, they’re going to absolutely decide to work with you, so talk like it! Try using phrases like:
“Once we get started next week this will be our first step…”
“After you get your proofs back we’ll be able to move on to this part of the process…”
You’re accomplishing two very important things at this step:
Getting the client in a world where they’ve already said yes to working with you
Getting the client total understanding of every step of the process
At this point your client should be grinning ear to ear, nodding along and agreeing with your statements– clearly excited and ready to get started. If this is happening, your final two steps of this process will be a breeze.
STEP FOUR: CLARIFY THE CONTRACT AND NEXT STEPS
Outlining clear parts of your contract not only protect your client, but it protects you. Both of you need to be on the same page from the start. Once you’ve outlined your terms, it’s important for you to cover the very next step for your client. Even though you outlined the entire process above, it’s time to take it back to the beginning. It’s important to use clear language here, like:
“These are the important details of the contract I wanted to point out and here’s what they mean. Once you sign, I can take your deposit today, and here’s how the rest of your payments will process. With that deposit in hand we can get started right away, so let’s look at the calendar to schedule our first meeting.”
STEP FIVE: HERE’S THE PRICE
Quick word about pricing: We believe in pricing transparency every time. That means, no client should get this far into the process without having some idea of a range of what it’s going to cost to work with you. It does a disservice to your client to not share expectations early on, and it can be a huge waste of your time if you don’t. This could look differently depending on your business, but we used to have a single sentence to our inquiry page and it did the trick.
“Client should expect to spend between $XXX and $X,XXX when working with [Name of Business]”
Ok, back to this step of the process. However long you think this conversation should be… cut it in half. Seriously. Your only role at this step is to state the price and hush it. The desire to keep talking after stating the price is because you’re uncomfortable, which we totally get. However, your client deserves this time to process and go through their own mental checklist before you chime in.
Once you’ve finished the discovery call, be sure to tell the client when they can expect to hear back from you with their proposal. Again, this all ties back to setting expectations and then following through on those promises.
The Follow Up Email
Now it’s time to send over their proposal, contract, and invoice. We’ll go ahead and assume you’ve already edited them at this stage. When you send it over, be sure to summarize the highlights from your call. Ask any questions you have for them (Most importantly, are they ready to move forward?), and explain what the next steps are. If you use a software like Dubsado, the proposal, contract, and invoice are streamlined in 3 easy back-to-back steps. If you’re using multiple tools for each, be sure to explain this in the email.
The Welcome Packet
We believe you 1000% should have some sort of welcome packet to send over once the client has officially signed with you. This will outline exactly what the client can expect in a PDF format so that they can easily save it and refer back to it. It should include things like:
Project timeline
Deliverables
Resources (tools and applications you use that the client will need access to)
Client homework
FAQs
Communication details
And more
To read a full list of our 10 must-have details to include in your welcome packet, check out this blog post.
This is also the time to send an onboarding form if you have one to gather specific project-related details, like collateral needed from the client, account login details, etc. We have a Dubsado Onboarding Form Template in The Creative Template Shop that you can one-click add to your Dubsado account and get to sending right away.
When you become a member of The Shop for only $47 per month, you can download this template and all other templates included in your membership!
Check-Ins and Gifts
Now that the client is onboarded, expectations have been set, and you’re ready to begin working, all you have to do is live up to those expectations. Don’t worry, this isn’t super difficult. As long as you check-in often, meet deadlines, and overdeliver, you’ll be well on your way to offboarding yet another happy client!
To take their experience up a notch, consider sending gifts at birthdays, life or business milestones, or a parting gift. Once you get familiar with your client and pay attention to certain nuances about their life and business, you’ll be able to select the perfect gift. For example, if you know that your client loves hitting up Starbucks each morning, you could send a small gift card to take care of their next coffee.
Showing your appreciation in these ways, even if they’re small acts of kindness, will take you far with clients and leave an amazing impression when your work is said and done. Once you begin offboarding, you can send a feedback questionnaire or ask for a testimonial, confident that the response will be a positive one!
