e150 Your Client’s First 30 Days, How to Create an Onboarding Experience That Turns Your Clients Into Your Ambassadors
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Gill Moakes: [00:00:00] Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Gill Moakes, and I am thrilled you are here with me again this week. Thanks for joining. So this week, I want to talk about something that could change everything for you in your coaching business. And guess what? It's not about marketing. It's not about sales.
And it's not about pricing. I want to talk to you today about what happens after someone says yes to working with you. Because here's the thing, the moment someone signs up to work with you, to be coached by you, they're either going to get more excited about working with you, or they're going to start feeling doubt creeping in.
Right. And the difference between those two things is how you onboard your clients. So [00:01:00] today I'm going to break down for you what a ridiculously good client onboarding experience looks like. An experience that kind of makes your clients feel really taken care of, really excited to get going. Makes them feel 100 percent confident that they made the right decision.
This is something, trust me, that most coaches really miss the mark on. So, this is yet another way that I'm helping you to stand out from the crowd. This also is the thing that will absolutely contribute to how many referrals you get from your existing clients. If you give a client, when they first sign up for you, a fantastic experience of onboarding, and then you go on to calc And then you go on to coach them powerfully, and then you give them a good experience of off boarding [00:02:00] with you at the end of your coaching engagement.
If there is an end, that's if they don't put you on retainer and keep you forever, then you. You are going to get the most referrals from that client if you can master those three things. So this is really important, actually. Let's dive into the episode.
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm Gill Moakes, and I am obsessed with cutting through the noise when it comes to growing your business. Each week, via intimate coaching conversations and inspirational stories, I share what it really takes to get the results you want, in a way that feels right to you.
I am all about attracting higher ticket opportunities, building authentic relationships, and creating the abundant, full fat version of your dream business. I mean, how many of us [00:03:00] have beavered away creating a light version of what we really want? The thing is, I honestly believe when you're outstanding at what you do, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
So, are you ready to put our heads together and make it happen? Let's go. Okay,
let's start off with the big picture. Why does the way you onboard a client even matter? Why not just send them a welcome email and then get on with it? Well, it's because the first 30 days of working with you really set the tone for your whole coaching relationship. Your clients need to feel really clear and confident and committed about working with you from the get go.
If they start feeling [00:04:00] disconnected or uncertain in that first month of working together, then, honestly, they're going to probably start second guessing their decision to work with you, or even worse. Go quiet, worst thing ever, because that is when buyer's remorse sometimes sneaks in. And it's our job as great coaches to make sure that they don't regret investing in working with us.
Because of course the transformation we're offering doesn't happen overnight. So we don't want them thinking as soon as they've invested, Oh, you know, gosh, have I done the wrong thing? I don't know. Creating or curating a really good onboarding experience for your clients is something that will stop buyer's remorse in its tracks.
It will allow their shoulders to drop. It will allow them to feel confident, feel reassured that they've done the right [00:05:00] thing. So don't treat onboarding like a lot of people do, which is treating it like boring admin stuff. Try and make your onboarding process feel like a real VIP experience for your clients.
We want our clients to feel like they've walked into a VIP five star version of coaching, don't we? Right? So how do we do that? Well, I'm going to give you like a three part system for this and it starts with the instant welcome experience, right? So this is the first Message they get from you after they have committed to working with you.
And that first message matters more than you realize. So what we don't want it to be is a literally a cut and paste. This is [00:06:00] not the time to use a really generic template. I really would love for you to have a template to work from, sure. But what we want to be doing is really personalizing it for each client.
Okay. Now, I'm not saying that you will always do this if it's a group experience, I mean, ideally, if you can do, but certainly if you're onboarding a private one to one client, you should be sending a really specific, personalized email that refers back to the conversation you had together, that really tells them how excited you are that they've signed up to coach with you, You know, that reaffirms that they've made a great decision and that you can't wait to support them.
So we really want all of those things in that first message. And one of the most amazing ways you can do that is to record [00:07:00] a video message or a voice note. That is next level. That is next level client onboarding, because that always surprises people when you do something very personalized. And like I say, especially if you're in your early days of creating group experiences, there is no reason why you can't do this too.
I see a lot of business owners who claim they can't do something because it isn't scalable when they don't even have the numbers where they need to scale yet. All the time that you have few enough clients, celebrate that by making the contact that you have with those few clients so personal. If you've just launched your first group coaching program, right, and you've got, I don't know, ten people signed up for it, do it.
Make them feel really special. It will make such a difference. [00:08:00] And you know, people love something a little bit unexpected, so if you can offer them some kind of little unexpected bonus in that first email or message that you send them, and that can be something simple like, you know, like a PDF resource or maybe it's a private podcast.
That you offer just for your private coaching clients, or maybe you post a book to them that you really think is a great recommendation for them. Like bonus points. If you make it a book selection that you think they specifically would love, so it might be like in alignment with, you know, whatever their circumstances are that you've uncovered when you're on your.
Breakthrough session with them, whatever it is, something unexpected like that can make them feel like they've already got value from working with you before the first session with you. There's no room there for any buyer's remorse to creep in, right? And then the second phase of this, the second step, if you like, [00:09:00] is to make sure you keep some pre first call momentum going.
So, quite often I see this common mistake, which is where someone will sign up for coaching with you off to a program or whatever it is, and then there's silence between then and their first session. And again, what you're doing there, Is that you are leaving space for clients to kind of overthink and to doubt their decision making and actually to disappear.
Right? So instead I want you to make sure you're sending a momentum email. So this could be something like giving them a pre work exercise to do that starts them thinking about the coaching journey ahead. It might be some kind of challenge or a journaling prompt, something like that. You could offer a couple of those.
If there's a big gap, say if they've signed up for a program, but they're not going to be starting it for a month or so, or you could send a weekly journaling [00:10:00] prompt, perhaps something like that. Other things you can put in a momentum email are things like a reminder of what's coming up in the first session.
Those momentum emails are just a way to reconnect with that client before the first session. Something that I've only just thought about, but that would be like amazing to send to a newly signed up client would be creating a guide that's about how to get the most out of coaching with you. Right? How good would that be?
You know, just a simple PDF guide of the things that they might want to think about in terms of preparing for their calls with you, in terms of any reading lists you want to give them, all of that kind of thing. I thought that would be a great thing to include in a momentum email. So all of these things are going to help them feel ready before they even get on that first coaching call with you.
They're already feeling like they're in your [00:11:00] world, that they're already benefiting from being in your world. And of course the third part of this onboarding is really the game changingness of the first coaching session. Okay. I don't want you to just jump straight into coaching on that first session with a client because you get an opportunity on that first session to really cement expectations and to make sure that they're feeling committed and optimistic and ready for the work ahead.
So one thing you can do and get in the habit of doing. In these first coaching sessions with a new client is to perhaps say to them, so six months from now, when you look back at this coaching journey, what do you want to [00:12:00] be most proud off, right? Can you see that how that absolutely allows them to see what they're working towards?
And this is a good time, actually, while we're talking about this, it's a good time to just review your first session structure, you know, so think about how you conduct a first session with a client and whether you have a very structured framework that you work through with your clients, or whether the client is really in the driving seat and you're following them, then I just want you to think about that first session structure.
Does it leave them with clarity and excitement and motivation? By the end of it, so those are those kind of three onboarding phases that I want you to think about, you know, so how you're going to make sure that you're going to, in that very first email or message. Get them to feel special straight away, how you're going to [00:13:00] create that pre call momentum between when they say yes and when they start working with you and how you're going to make that first session with them super transformational and really set the tone for what they have to come on their journey with you.
One thing you might want to think about when you are creating your own onboarding process, and I would urge you, even if you are a solopreneur in your business and don't have a team yet, I would really urge you to document your client onboarding process. In an SOP or a standard operating procedure. This is going to sound like overkill.
I get it. If you are just a one woman band or one man band, this is going to feel like overkill. But I promise you when you decide to take the leap and hire your first assistant in your business, which you will, because you are going to grow your coaching practice. Then you are going to be so happy that [00:14:00] you listened to me and created these standard operating procedures.
Doesn't have to be anything fancy. You can just summarize the process in a Google doc, or if you're like me and you use something like Asana or Notion, something like that, capture the process. In there, it's going to make onboarding and assistance so much easier. Please believe me and think of your onboarding process in terms of things to automate and things to make personal.
So under the things to automate section is things like creating the contract between you and the client. It's sending the invoice and diarying for the payment. It's scheduling the sessions. It's client intake forms. All of those things. are pretty easy to automate in your business. You can use tools like, you know, there's Dubsado or there's using Google Docs.
I use JotForm for [00:15:00] intake forms. I use Xero for invoicing, DocuSign for contracts. I use OnceHub for scheduling, you know, so make sure you've got some good automation tools for onboarding your clients. It really gives them a, a very Safe feeling when you have an efficient. Automation for doing these admin tasks, but then there are the other things.
And these are the things that I want you to keep personal. So these are things like sending them voice notes, custom emails that really have information in them that is specific to them, specific to what they do. Maybe it's specific to something they've shared with you in a discovery call. Those custom emails, those welcome emails need to be personal.
Check ins between sessions, we really want our clients to feel super connected to us. So always set [00:16:00] yourself a reminder to do a one week check in message, right? It can be really simple, this doesn't have to be long. You could even just record a voice note to them really quickly and send it on WhatsApp.
Or it's a, a small email. Hey, whoever it is, it's been a week since we kicked off coaching together. How are you feeling so far? It doesn't have to be earth shattering, but it does make them feel like you are engaged with them and it keeps reassuring them that they're in the right place, they took the right decision, they're excited for what's to come, right?
Short, sharp episode this week, because this is really important. This is a bit of a game changer. If you can get this right, I promise you, you will find that the testimonials you get from your clients are probably going to call this out. So one thing that I see is that clients who have had a very smooth onboarding process will often [00:17:00] refer to that in their testimonial.
They'll say things like, from the moment I signed up, blah, blah, blah. And that's what we want because we want other people to know that they're gonna feel safe when they sign up to coach with you, that they're gonna feel anchored and looked after and not set adrift once they've said yes. Over the next week or so, have a look at your own current onboarding process.
First of all, do you have one or are you kind of winging it every time you sign up a new client? We really want to be consistent with this. We want a wow experience, not a meh. Experience, right? And maybe pick one thing. So perhaps one thing that I've got over in this episode, pick one and upgrade that part of your onboarding process this week.
So maybe it's committing to sending a very personal welcome message. That's the one I would do. If I was going to do anything, [00:18:00] I would pick sending a very personalized welcome email, maybe with a little voice note attached or a voice note on WhatsApp or a little video that you recorded on Loom. I feel like that would be a great place to start.
All right. As always, if you want to share with me what you've decided to do, email me info at GillMoakes. com. I will be Very interested to hear what you're planning on tweaking in your own onboarding system. And I think it's really, really important to remember that a great client experience, one that has that client referring you to other great clients, it doesn't start at session one.
It starts the moment they say yes to coaching with you. So make sure you're treating them like a VIP the moment they say yes. Cause when you do that, clients will stay longer with you. They will rave about you to [00:19:00] anyone who's listening. They will be proud to say, Oh, you know, so and so is my coach. They'll want to refer you because one of the things that stops clients referring us is if they are worried that the person they refer us to doesn't get a good enough experience and therefore judges them for having referred them to someone who hasn't.
Given a good enough experience. So if you can make sure that every touch point with your clients is a great experience, then they don't have any reservations about referring you to people they know. So it's all about a great onboarding experience, powerful coaching experience, and then a really great offboarding experience too.
If you've enjoyed this episode, I wonder if you'd do me a favor, would you share it? with a coach friend who might also need to hear this. That would be so great if you would think about doing that. I'm really [00:20:00] on a mission to grow the podcast. I had some fantastic news recently that this podcast is a top 3 percent globally ranked podcast.
In its category. I don't know if it's in its category or ever. Hmm. Seems unlikely. Ah, who knows? I'm going to take it. Top 3 percent globally ranked. Thank you. Hello. Yeah. It's really like inspired me to keep growing this podcast and making it better and better and better. So if you love this episode, please share it with a friend.
Also, if there are any topics you want me to cover in future episodes. Please email me and let me know info at GillMoakes. com and also email me at info at GillMoakes. com if you would like to be a guest on the podcast. So I'm always looking for really interesting guests. If you email us, we'll send you a link to complete an application form to be a guest.
And we're looking for [00:21:00] people with really interesting topics that are going to captivate. You, my wonderful audience. So think about that. Think about what are the things that coaches, consultants really want to hear about when they're growing their businesses, because that's why people listen to this podcast.
So it needs to be a topic that is aligned with that, but do yeah. Email me. I would love to have you on and we can chat. Okay. All right. As always, I will see you back here, same time, same place next week. Bye for now.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and that getting our heads together this week has filled your mind with what's possible. If you love the show, would you do me a massive favour please? Would you leave a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts? It would really help me put more heads together, reach more ears and expand more minds.
Until next week, bye for [00:22:00] now.
