When it comes to running a service-based business, there’s one term that you’ve likely heard a lot– client experience. It’s honestly the sole thing that service-based businesses revolve around because it can make or break your business.

But what exactly does client experience mean? Why is it so important? These are the questions that we’ll be answering in today’s blog post!

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.

With that said, let’s dive into our ultimate guide to client onboarding, plus crafting an extraordinary client experience!

We preach often (probably entirely too often) about the importance of your client experience, but it’s one of the key defining factors between a client having a good time with you, referring you to others, and leaving a positive testimonial… Or not.

Mastering the art of providing an amazing experience for your clients is crucial to your reputation as a service provider. We know this sounds super scary, but it can actually be pretty dang easy. As long as you’re able to check in often, respond quickly, and provide important information, you’re already at an advantage.

One way of stepping off on the right foot with a new client is by sending a welcome packet. You may have also heard it called a welcome guide, onboarding guide, or onboarding packet. We’ve sent a welcome packet or two– or a million– during our years in business, and now we’re here to share 10 must-have details you should include in your client welcome packet!

Contrary to popular belief, you can automate your client process and still sound like a human.

If you searched every page of our website for the words “automation” or “automating”, it’s likely that more results would come up than there are people in the state of Missouri. We talk about it so much because we’re in love with it! We’re two women with a lot of stuff on our plates, and whenever we can put something on autopilot, we’re all over it in a heartbeat.

One of the key places we believe automation should happen is in your client onboarding process. Wait a second, we see that grimace on your face. Oftentimes, it isn’t thought that “automate” and “client” should be in the same sentence together because automation usually brings images of a robot *beep boop beep*, and no one wants to seem like a depersonalized robot to the people that are going to be giving you their money.

But what if we told you there’s a way you can automate your client onboarding process while, yes, still sounding like a human being? In today’s blog post, we’re going to take a dive into how you can do this in Dubsado so that you’ll have more time on your hands to care for your clients like the human you are.

Sending a project proposal can be intimidating for a number of reasons. If you’re new to business and this is the first (or even the fourth or fifth) client you’re sending a proposal to, it can be mega nerve-wracking. You’re likely having a ton of negative and worrisome thoughts. What if they have an issue with something? What if they decide to go with someone else? Does it look okay?

These are all common thoughts to have, especially when this is such an important piece to wowing your potential clients and making it a no-brainer to work with you. After years of running as a service-based business and sending countless PDF proposals to clients, we’ve learned a thing or two about making it as less overwhelming as possible for you (and them)!

So, keep reading to find out how to send project proposals, plus what information to include!

We’ll gladly join the masses of people saying that they’re so glad that 2020 is over! And it isn’t so much that we expect the pandemic and all of the issues that come with it to just disappear with a new year, but more so that we’re now able to reflect on the year and kick everything in gear for 2021.

For us, 2020 was a whirlwind, but it was actually our best years ever. Of course we still dealt with setbacks just like everyone else, but we changed up the way we did things at the beginning of 2020, and it had a profound impact on how the year played out.

So what did we change? What actually happened for us in 2020? And what lessons did we learn that we’re carrying into 2021?

It’s been over three years (really, close to four) since we launched The Strategy Hour Podcast. Since then, we’ve made the ranks of Apple’s Top 30 Business Management Podcasts, have been featured in multiple blog posts about business-related podcasts, have had X total downloads on Apple Podcasts alone, and we’re coming up hot on the heels our 500th episode (that’s a lot of freakin’ recording time!).

And while we’re so grateful that our podcast took off the way it did and has influenced thousands of lives and launching it was a blast, in no way has it always been easy. So, today, we’re going to be pulling back the curtain on how we launched our podcast, the challenges we faced, all of the hustle we put in to launch, how we plan and upload new episodes, the whole 9.

If the idea of launching a podcast has been tossing and turning in your brain, our totally candid and honest experience will hopefully help you determine whether this is the right next move in your business journey!

Conversion rates. Analytics. Measuring growth. Lifetime value. There are so many business buzzwords that get thrown around that can feel really intimidating to the average creative business owner.

However, knowing this information is super crucial to your profits, your growth and the decisions you make every single day in your business.

Keeping track of your business’ numbers allows you to make strategic decisions instead of just saying, “Well, I feel like this is going well, so I’m going to keep doing it” or “I feel like this new thing could really help, so I’m going to try it.”

Honestly? We’d rather make business decisions rooted in facts and data instead of basing everything soley of feelings. We love us a good “gut instinct” and we like to back it up with cold hard facts.

Knowing how much weight a product or service is pulling for you or if it’s time to let it go, the rate of growth across all of your channels, and your overall progress is so important in order to plan and set goals realistically in your business, both short and long term.

So how do you find this information (or sexy math as we like to call it)? Where do you begin?

It all starts with your analytics.

What do we actually do with information overload? When it comes to making plans for your small business you’ve got ideas and game plans out the wahzoo.

You see a shiny new course from this A-list business strategist and you just have to buy it, or maybe your favorite influencer has just released another free resource, so you rush to download it. Perhaps you’ve spent hours scrolling through Pinterest and saving tons of Pins that look interesting. Or you’ve just finished watching yet another webinar about a new thing you think could help, and you’ve filled a page or two with notes.

Can we get real with you for a second?

All of those countless courses, freebies, saved Pins, and webinar notes don’t mean a darn thing if you aren’t going to actually start doing something with them.

Sure, “knowledge is power”, but we’d like to think you don’t have much power if that knowledge isn’t being applied or even retained because you forget about it the next day when a new shiny squirrel catches your attention.

So, what do you do with a strategy once you’ve learned it besides just letting it sit in your virtual cupboard to collect dust?
These actionable steps will help you to figure out your own actionable steps when wanting to implement a new strategy. And if you have no idea what you even want to implement, stick around for a surprise at the end!