Have you ever thought "OMG, that's incredible" as you've purchased something, or signed up for a new service? Not "what a good product", but "Wow, I feel really special"? The chances are that you remember it, speak about it to others and are more loyal as a result. What's it like in your firm when you're onboarding new clients, is their reaction "Wow, I feel really special"? This article explores how to get your new clients to go "OMG" when they go through your new client onboarding process.
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Two meals in one day
OK, so I'm meant to be on a diet and creating good eating habits. But over the bank holiday, I ended up going out for two nice meals in one day. The first restaurant had a lovely menu, was very pretty and in we walked. The staff were nice, the food was good, but there was no "wow".
That evening we went out for another meal. Different restaurant, OK to look at, OK menu but oh boy did the staff make us feel welcome; "Wow, I feel really special". Which do you think I've told my friends about?
- The cost difference between the two was negligible.
- Smile, laugh, welcome - No charge.
- Small area for us to sit while we waited - maybe a lost table?
- Updating us so we knew what was going on, and making us feel good - no charge.
- Files all ready as soon as we were (oops, I mean menu, water and wine) - no charge.
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How are you at onboarding new clients?
If your new clients are not feeling amazed, what could you do to change that? OK, it's more complicated than in a restaurant; there are letters to write, permissions to get.... but that's all process side and a good reason to make the client-side even more memorable.
It's easy to think about onboarding as a process of getting new clients properly set up in your firm (although many don't do that), but how about the client-side, and how about the cost?
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The cost of onboarding new clients
If you have a clear internal process that gets followed every time and your team can monitor the progress of all new clients; that saves you time, money and stress. Do you have a clear internal process that you can see, at a glance? Many firms don't. Is part of your process to chase things up when they are x days overdue?
So a slick onboarding process can save money as it means no mess ups and no double processing. Click here to download our best practice onboarding process to almost virtually eliminate manual data entry by you or the client.
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Is Amazon over the top?
When ordering goods from Amazon I end up with a stream of emails/ texts etc as my package passes from one part of the process to another. Do I now know they're working on my stuff?
Would that be over the top for onboarding new clients? Maybe, but they would be really clear on what you're doing for them, what still needs to happen and that they're valued.
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Making new clients go wow?
If you adapted the Amazon experience, maybe linking your CRM (showing the onboarding progress) to your emails, you could at virtually no cost have the main parts that you want. Are they going WOW yet? Probably not, what else could you add?
What could you add, that would stay within the parameters of slickly controlled, cost-effective, (semi) automatic, and impresses people?
When did different members of your team last introduce themselves (individually) to your clients?
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How personalised do your communications feel?
Do they get a welcome pack? One firm I know sends a business book from Amazon, as part of the series of welcome pack items. A book with some useful and relevant items, a guide to how to get the most from your accounting system, introductions from key members of your team, a clear discussion on when you would like their data in (and what's in it for them if they do)...
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When does onboarding end?
If they still don't really know what to do or expect from you, onboarding probably hasn't ended. Maybe it needs to carry on until the end of their first year - albeit in a less intense manner than in the first few weeks.
What could you do when onboarding new clients that's easily repeatable and makes people say "wow, I feel really special"? Once you have that, it's time to link it to your referral system. Click here to download our best practice onboarding process to almost virtually eliminate manual data entry by you or the client.
So, how's your onboarding process?