How To Create A Hands Off Client Onboarding Process

Create A Hands Off Client Onboarding Process

Today I’m going to be going through something that has been an absolute game-changer in my business. And it’s something that a lot of people want. A lot of people need, and I’m asked a lot about it. So, if you know me, you may know that I have a completely automated client onboarding process.

So when I say completely. It is as complete as it could possibly be.

I have automated the entire process, apart from the parts that cannot be automated, such as having a call with the client and sending a proposal, based on that call.

But even then, I still have certain steps that make it really really simple and easy to do. I wanted to share with you how you could create a hands-off client onboarding process. Because one of the things that I realised really early on in business was, I got my clients and it was amazing. It was really exciting, and the more clients I got more excited I got.

But then I soon came to realise that actually, I was doing a lot of marketing, and I was getting leads coming to me through referrals or through my marketing efforts. And when people were coming to me, eventually I got to the point where I didn’t want any more clients

Because the thought of going through the onboarding process and working it all out gave me a headache

I had clients I was pretty much at capacity. Work-wise. And although I wanted new clients to come on board and grow my business. I then also felt very overwhelmed at the aspect of trying to onboard these new clients. Especially because of most of the time. I never ended up with just signing up one client, I always ended up signing multiple clients at the same time. So, trying to juggle those multiple clients sign ups became a real headache.

And I actually then started turning work away

I just mentally couldn’t do any more, couldn’t focus on onboarding more than one client at any one time. And, of course, then you’re also opening up the likelihood of there being errors and gaps in the process that need to be done.

So I thought, This is crazy.

I’m putting a lot of effort into my marketing, and I’m putting a lot of effort into my sales. When the clients come to me I’m then turning them away. It’s a waste of my time and it’s a waste of my money and energy to be doing the marketing and then turn the work away when it comes. So I thought, coming from corporate.

How can I sort this out, how can I solve this problem that I’ve got?

For anyone that knows me, you know that I am a huge, huge believer in solving a problem. Problems will arise throughout our life, not just in business but in life in general. And it’s really important that when that problem arises that you figure out a way to work it out. Because the likelihood is, if you don’t figure out a way to work it out, it’s going to remain a problem. And prevent you going forward as a person.

So, from the corporate world, I was very used to work into a tight schedule work into a tight timeframe. Having a lot of work to try and get through and complete and ultimately for my own self-development. I wanted to make sure that I was doing, additional things that were going to grow me as a person. The way that I could do that was by incorporating systems into my schedule.

So I thought, why not systemise the process.

Figuring out what that client onboarding process looks like. And then I systemise and automate it. And it’s something that you can build on as you go, because I know a lot of people will be watching this and they will be thinking, oh automating. That’s not for me. So I don’t want you to panic, at the thought of automating.

But actually when you get some of these points in place, automating becomes a lot less overwhelming and scary.

So that’s why I wanted to share this with you today. I’m going to give you six tips or ways or steps that you should take that you can incorporate, which will then lead to you working towards a hands-off client onboarding process.

1. Current workflow

First, we’re going to look at your workflow, so we get a clear birds eye view of what is going on, where improvements can be made etc. Don’t have a workflow? Create one today, because this is your map of what is happening at any one time with a clear overview. 

That means no more turning work away, because you haven’t got the headspace to onboard people. No more forgetting to ask about testimonials, no more forgetting about getting your term signs no more forgetting about introducing them to the team, none of that, because this is going to be automated eventually.

2. Evaluate what are the must to do’s

So, what, in that workflow needs to happen, what are the phases that you need to go through in order to onboard that client.

3. We’re going to look at the responsibilities of the workflow

Ultimately, you do not want to create a workflow that is going to bottleneck queue. So you want to look at the responsibilities of who that can be. And if you don’t have a team at the moment, that’s completely fine. But keep in mind that at some point, if you want to scale your business, you’re going to have to have some sort of team around you. So making sure that you are looking at your workflow.

Overall, who can be responsible for that? Are you creating a workflow that ultimately everything has to come through you, or are you creating something that you can hand off to a team member eventually to do for you? As an example here. I mean, if you have a call with the client. How can you relay, what’s been discussed on that call? Making sure that it’s not all on the call and in your head, means that you are creating a scalable way of taking that forward?

4. Look at the tools that you’re using

So, although I like to use as fewer tools as possible, because, again, I’m all about simplicity. I do not want to over complicate things. It is still really important to make sure that you are using the tools to their full potential. Because what can sometimes happen is that when we have this workflow in place. We ended up using different tools because someone else has said, Oh, this sounds amazing. You should check that out.

And off we go and implement this tool into our workflow. Ultimately you’ve got a tool that you’re already using that can do that exact same thing. So making sure that you’re looking at the overall tools that you’re using, and that you are using as less as possible.

5. We’re going to continue looking at the tools but we’re going to look at how they can be integrated together, how they could potentially be streamlined or simplified

Are you using multiple tools for a particular process, that actually you don’t need multiple tools for because one other thing can do something just as well? If that’s the case, it’s making sure that the tool that you’re using can be integrated into your ability to automate. A lot of tools can be automated using a third-party app such as Zapier.

But I also get that sometimes using Zapier is out of people’s reach and remit because it can be quite a complex thing to get your head around. So make sure that any tools that you’re using. If they can be integrated that you’re integrating them. For instance, it could be something as simple as your calendly integrating with your zoom.

So you’re not, then getting the calendly through, and then having to create your own zoom meeting. Because it will be done for you. And that’s something that you can do internally with those tools, so you don’t need to go off and find a third-party app to do that for you.

6. Look at creating the overall and the new workflow

This is based on your must do’s. Taking out the nice tos, and the bits that you don’t necessarily need to do at the moment. This is just purely focusing on what you need to do. Because what you can then do is further down the line when you’re ready to look at the automating piece. You can look at automating these must dues. And then you can build in the nice twos.

But what a lot of people do is they concentrate on the nice twos, and they forget certain parts of the must dues. So it’s really, really important that you get clear on what is essential, and what’s not essential because it’s not saying that those not essential things can’t be incorporated. But you can add them in at a later date.

So once you’ve automated those must do’s, you can then start to add in certain elements that are going to make you stand out when you’re onboarding your clients

So I hope that’s helped, and I hope you found it really helpful on how to create a hands-off client onboarding process. If you do have any questions at all, then do pop me a message I’m happy to help you wherever I can.

And if you are interested in learning more about automation, and how you could potentially automate this process, further down the line, without trying to figure it all out yourself. Then again pop me a message because I have got something exciting in the pipeline that’s going to be coming in, probably in about a few months time so around summer time.

It will be launching, and it will be something that’s going to really really change the way that your business is run in the background.

So, if you are interested in being one of the first to find out, then do make sure you pop me a message as well because there will be a waitlist that’s going to go into go live. And then, we will then be able to give you kind of a limited offer that’s going to really help you do this without, without the headache of figuring it out. 

Create A Hands Off Client Onboarding Process