Appreciative onboarding helps to take away the nervousness of your customers and to show them quickly: Your decision was right, your investment in me will pay off! Learn how you can offer your customers an appreciative onboarding!
The first day at a new school, at university, in a foreign city or at work is always associated with a good dose of excitement. Because first moments have a lot in common: You don't yet know what to expect, and you might even be really nervous. You have questions running through your head like, "What will the others say?", "How do I make a good impression?" and "What's the best way to come across?"
Your new customers will feel the same way before you start working together. Appreciative onboarding helps to ease your customers' nervousness and quickly show them: Your decision was right, your investment in me will pay off!
Learn how to provide your customers with an appreciative onboarding experience!
With proper onboarding, you make sure that your new customer feels comfortable with his decision from the very first moment. You take away any possible doubts by showing them that you are completely attuned to their wishes. That's why onboarding is an important part of any sales process.
But it's not just your customers who benefit from onboarding - you do too. After all, you also want to adapt to your customer's working style and provide the required service to their full satisfaction. For this, it is necessary that you sufficiently absorb and understand the wishes of your customer.
If you succeed in picking up the customer at the onboarding stage, nothing will stand in the way of a happy and long-term customer relationship. Here are 6 tips for successful customer onboarding.
Automated processes are also very popular in sales. They save time and resources and allow us to address a broader mass. However, there is a risk of losing sight of the individual customer. You may be able to attract a lot of prospects with automated emails for the masses. But you'll only get happy repeat customers if you show them appreciation and treat them as individuals.
Already in the first contact you build trust by identifying concerns and worries and answering questions individually. You can also address your customers' concerns again in later conversations. Since this can vary greatly from customer to customer, you're signaling, "I see you as a human being."
As a rule, the customer already tells you in the initial contact what he wants from you. Often, however, there is much more behind the apparent main goal. What exactly does he expect from your offer? Why does he have these wishes? If you really "drill down", you will uncover hidden goals that the customer himself may not have been aware of before. This can also have an impact on subsequent planning. Therefore, it is important to understand the customer comprehensively early in the onboarding process.
Once you have identified your customer's needs and goals, the next step in onboarding is planning. Often, a goal is not achievable in the short term. That's perfectly okay, some things take time. However, each goal can be divided into intermediate stages.
Therefore, create a precise target plan and show the customer during onboarding where you will be and when. This will give you the assurance that you will reach the goal together. The impatient among your customers will be especially pleased if they can follow your individual steps.
There are countless ways to communicate, whether digitally or live on site. Clarify with your customer during onboarding which type of communication he prefers. By discussing with them in advance the intervals at which you will meet, you avoid both the uncertainty of radio silence and unnecessary inquiries. Your client will feel valued when he sees that you are willing to block slots in your calendar for your communication early on.
In your conversations, you not only report on the current status, but you can also always address the customer's initial concerns and questions. That's why it's so important to find out everything that's on your customer's mind during onboarding.
After all the plans have been made and the first questions have been answered, you can thank your customer for the start of your collaboration during onboarding. With a small welcome gift in the form of an onboarding box, you make it clear to your new customer that they have made the right choice with you. Branded in the CI design, you convey the message: "You're on the right track with my company!
Regular feedback meetings are an indispensable part of business relationships. However, people often make the mistake of asking for feedback only at the end of the assignment. But if you ask your customer for a little feedback during onboarding, he will sense that you really care about his satisfaction. Does he agree with your planning? Does he feel that he is in good hands with you? Do the goals and steps match his expectations?
Through this early feedback you create clarity and can possibly readjust before it is too late.
Thanks to the previous tips, you have already shown your customer a lot of appreciation. He now knows that he is important to you and that you are seriously interested in him being satisfied with you and your performance. Nevertheless, you are only human and mistakes are human. Suddenly there is an incorrect form of address in the letter to the customer or you have to postpone a deadline.
Even for small faux pas, you should express your regret honestly. One possibility is the Sorry Box. A few tasty and practical products in your CI design signal to your customer that you stand by your mistakes. In this way, a faux pas can improve the customer relationship even further afterwards.
This onboarding process may be more time-consuming than you've made the beginning of a new collaboration so far. But appreciative onboarding lays the foundation for a long-term customer relationship. What's more, every satisfied customer - thanks to recommendations and Internet ratings - is also always an important component in new customer acquisition. So all in all, it's worth it!
Give your employees and customers the appreciation they deserve!
