Client Onboarding

Change the lead status from "potential" to "customer" in Customer Relationship Management system. If you don't have a CRM, take a look at our list of CRMs we recommend for Small Businesses.

Send a welcome email and a cover letter. Below is a sample you can work from:

For a full break down on this cover letter, please see this article on About.com

Send the client a welcome package (digital) or prepare welcome package for the initial kickoff meeting (hard copy).

There is no "one-size fits all" for your welcome kit, as every business has different objectives and budgets. However, there are some common features to new client welcome kits, so use this checklist as a jumping off point.

• A letter of introduction, written on your company letterhead
• A welcome CD, DVD or a link to a welcome video
• Several business cards - One for your client, a few for their staff and/or to pass out to others
• A brochure, flyer or leave-behind piece
• Basic business forms including your contract, confidentiality agreement, non-disclosure
• 1-3 of your most popular articles
• Copies of articles that have been written about your business
• Testimonials, case studies
• Press releases
• Promotional items with your logo such as pens, sticky notes, calendars, magnets
• A client questionnaire or "quick start" form if you'd like to gain additional information about your client prior to starting.

Introduction letter tips

Start by expressing appreciation for their business. Congratulate them on taking steps toward what they need. Provide a brief overview of your business and services and an outline of what is included in their welcome kit. This helps solidify to them that they made the right choice by hiring you. If they had any buyer’s remorse after signing up with you, this will help calm that emotion.

From there, consider highlighting anything in the kit you’d like them to pay special attention to. For example, you may want them to understand your office hours, holiday closures, how to handle appointment rescheduling, common turn-around times, who to contact on your team for certain things, best times to reach you, VIP/client-only ways to contact you and so forth.

If you have a referral program, consider including information about it, as clients will likely want to refer others to you. If there is an incentive for them to do so, all the better.

This should simply outline the agenda of the initial meeting (steps below).

You should construct a survey and send it out to your clients. You can do this via email or using a tool like Wufoo or Survey Monkey.

The questions you ask will depend on your company but below is an example for a marketing agency.

Example Questionnaire for a Marketing Agency:

• What tools and platforms are you currently using in your marketing efforts?
• What are your goals? Is this leads, customers, or revenue?
• What is the lifetime value (LTV) of each customer? What is your LTV goal?
• Do you have customer personas? Who is your ideal client?
• How much does it cost you to acquire a customer?
• What ROI have you seen on your current marketing efforts? What are you currently investing in?
• What percentage of your customers is generated through online methods?
• What are the steps in your sales process? What are the common hesitations clients have?
• How do you currently find leads? Do you know what your cost per lead is? Do you know what your lead-to-conversion rate is?

Send them the full address with a link to Google Maps and any additional information they may need such as parking or public transport access.

Attach the contact so they can read and review it before the meeting. This will help them sign the contract quickly when they come to the meeting and will allow them to prepare questions of anything they are unsure of.

Ideally this should happen automatically with your calendar tool, but if not, you should alert the receptionist that a new client is coming in for their Kickoff Meeting and that they should be extra nice.

This is a no-brianer and should be genral business practice.

If your client has access to a portal or project tracking system, ensure they have proper access and are trained on how to login and look at the appropriate activity. You can either go over this in the kickoff meeting or schedule an additional training session online. Try using a webinar as an alternative to email communication to get this done remotely. 

Answer any questions and have the client submit the signed contact during the kickoff meeting.

The kick off meeting is a great place to get some new business leads, probably the second best place to the final successful project delivery meeting. Ideally, you should do both. 

Ask if they know anyone else you should talk who is facing similar issues or runs a similar type of business. 

Add notes to the agenda with the client's feedback and input. Add to CRM. Email to client if appropriate.

This is a great touch that many companies have found success with. 

See these posts if you don't believe me:

• How 13,000 Handwritten Thank-You Notes Built A Thriving Business
• The Power of the Handwritten Note: When to Dust Off the Pen and Paper

This is for internal notes and to-dos for the rest of the team. Include the agenda but put specific action points for team memebers to start working on. Also add this to the CRM as things tend to get lost in email.

Don't forget to add everything to your CRM!

Also in your CRM, link interactions with this client to any other clients in your CRM. Note down previous roles/companies this client has worked at and see if you can use this to generate some additional business now or in the future.

“How’s it going?” call to touch base, and report on the progress of account consolidations.

If you have not received the requested information from the client after 1 week, make sure to send a follow up email chasing them down for the information. 

Send a follow up survey to see how your client's first month has gone. You can use the same tools but make sure you ask questions related to how their first month was and how you could improve your service to them.

Go over the client's account; make sure that their project is on schedule and that all money has been collected.

Ask the client via email if it's convenient to send over the project status update. Once you get client approval, send over the details. 

For added security, use a Dropbox link that you can delete afterwards.