Business owners are well aware of how frustrating the client onboarding process can be. Trying to manage large volumes of customer info, remembering to send the right emails to your new clients, and spending hours creating new proposals for potential clients can get overwhelming very quickly.
Luckily, there are ways to organize and automate your client onboarding process.
WHAT’S A CRM, AND WHY DO YOU NEED ONE?
CRM stands for a Customer Relationship Management system. True to its name, it allows you to manage and nurture relationships with customers while keeping all customer data in one place. Having a great CRM can make all the difference when automating the client onboarding process.
When deciding on a CRM, you need to look at what you want to automate. Are there parts of your onboarding system that take too long? Are you sending the clients you’re onboarding the same documents repeatedly?
I personally love Honeybook CRM. I work with several different platforms depending on what country my client is from and Honeybook has my favorite tools to automate onboarding. By far!
3 WAYS YOU CAN AUTOMATE YOUR CUSTOMER ONBOARDING PROCESS:
1. CREATE A CLIENT INQUIRY FORM
Most CRM systems have a feature allowing you to create an inquiry form that potential clients looking to work with can fill out.
You can use this to determine whether you’d like to work with a potential client. You can learn more about the client and their business by including questions about their niche, budget, and services they’re looking for. This way, you won’t waste time on a consultation call with a client that isn’t a good fit for you. An added bonus is that it’s a great way of avoiding spam and scams!
Another benefit of having a client inquiry form is that a CRM allows you to track your leads. You can do this by including a question on your contact form regarding how they found you. That will show you which marketing methods are working and which ones are not.
2. HAVE TEMPLATES FOR EACH STATE OF YOUR ONBOARDING. PROGRAM THEM TO SEND WITH EACH ACTION
When you take a closer look at your client onboarding process, do you find yourself sending the same emails and documents over and over? Rather than copying and pasting the same welcome email with each new client, why not have templates in your CRM that can be sent automatically?
Your welcome emails, follow-ups, and milestone celebrations can all be created into templates and automated to send at the right time! This could be based on a trigger, such as when a client signs their contract or a set amount of time.
This can also be done with contracts, proposals, or additional questionnaires. Having templates in place that you can modify from client to client that you can then send electronically can save you worlds of time!
3. AUTOMATE APPOINTMENT SETTING
Programs like Calendly will allow your potential client to set up discovery calls, follow-ups, or any other virtual meetings. Finally allowing you to avoid email chains going back and forth, rhyming off times and dates that will work for you.
You set your scheduling program with dates and times that you’re free throughout the week, and your potential client can choose a time slot that works best for them. From there, the scheduling program can be sent via a link, added to your email signature, or used on your website.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT ONBOARDING INTO YOUR BUSINESS?
There are lots of great CRM systems to start automating your business. Honeybook is a CRM that small businesses can use to manage inquiries projects, sign contracts, and do bookkeeping. I would recommend it for small business owners looking for a user-friendly CRM that can automate your client processes.
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