My Exact SMMA Client Onboarding Road Map to 10x Retention
Summary
TLDRThis video presents a six-step framework for successful client onboarding, a strategy that has been instrumental in retaining high-paying clients at the presenter's agency. The video emphasizes the importance of honesty, setting realistic expectations, and exceeding them to build trust and client satisfaction. It also covers the benefits of automating the onboarding process to streamline client experiences and prevent feelings of neglect post-sale. The presenter shares tips on standing out as an agency, including the use of thoughtful gifts to foster relationships, and provides a detailed roadmap for an efficient onboarding funnel.
Takeaways
- 💼 The onboarding process is crucial for retaining clients, as it sets the tone for the entire relationship.
- 🎯 Retaining clients is more profitable than constantly chasing new ones.
- 🤝 Building trust with clients by being honest and transparent is essential for long-term success.
- 📊 Setting realistic expectations and then exceeding them leads to exceptional customer experiences.
- 📞 Clear communication expectations, including frequency and platforms, are vital to avoid clients feeling neglected.
- 🎁 Personalized gifts can strengthen client relationships by making them feel valued and appreciated.
- 🔧 Automating the onboarding process reduces hassle and enhances client perception of the agency.
- 🚀 A structured, step-by-step onboarding funnel creates a seamless experience and builds trust.
- 🎓 Educating clients during the onboarding process about your team's capabilities and processes establishes authority.
- 📅 Scheduling a strategy session as part of the onboarding process helps solidify the client-agency relationship.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the video?
-The main purpose of the video is to explain a six-step framework for onboarding clients in a way that maximizes retention and ensures long-term success for an agency.
Why is client retention emphasized over acquiring new clients?
-Client retention is emphasized because it is easier and more profitable to maintain existing clients than to constantly chase new ones. Retaining clients leads to long-term relationships and recurring revenue.
What is the first expert tip for increasing client retention?
-The first expert tip for increasing client retention is to be honest with clients. Building trust by setting realistic expectations and delivering on promises prevents clients from feeling manipulated or dissatisfied.
Why is setting expectations crucial in client relationships?
-Setting expectations is crucial because it ensures that both the client and the agency are on the same page regarding deliverables, timelines, and communication. This helps prevent misunderstandings and fosters a successful partnership.
How can gifts help in nurturing client relationships?
-Gifts can nurture client relationships by creating a sense of appreciation and personal connection. Thoughtful gifts that resonate with the client's interests can strengthen the emotional bond and increase their commitment to the partnership.
What is the 'onboarding gridlock dilemma' mentioned in the video?
-The 'onboarding gridlock dilemma' refers to the time-consuming and frustrating process of back-and-forth communication between the agency and the client to gather necessary information and assets. This can negatively impact the client's perception of the agency.
What are the two methods mentioned for conducting client onboarding?
-The two methods for conducting client onboarding are: 1) Jumping on a well-planned onboarding call to set expectations and gather necessary information, and 2) Using an automated onboarding funnel with pre-filmed videos, guides, and surveys to streamline the process.
What is the purpose of the 'welcome and setting expectations' video in the onboarding funnel?
-The purpose of the 'welcome and setting expectations' video is to introduce the client to the agency's culture, mission, team, and the onboarding process. It helps establish authority and sets the tone for the client-agency relationship.
Why is it important to handle contract and invoice payment early in the onboarding process?
-Handling contract and invoice payment early ensures that the financial aspects of the partnership are settled upfront, allowing both parties to focus solely on delivering and receiving services without financial distractions.
How does the 'strategy session' step contribute to the onboarding process?
-The 'strategy session' allows the agency to review the client's provided information, introduce the team, and set up a kickoff strategy call. It helps build rapport and ensures that all team members and the client are aligned on the project goals.
Outlines
📈 Six-Step Client Onboarding Framework for High Retention
The speaker introduces a six-step framework used for onboarding clients who paid over $10,000 to an agency. The video aims to address the common issue of client neglect post-sale and emphasizes the importance of client retention over constantly seeking new clients. The speaker promises to share expert tips for standing out as an agency, automating the onboarding process, and a detailed roadmap for successful client onboarding. Resources and visual templates are available for viewers in the description.
🔑 Keys to Client Retention: Honesty, Expectations, and Gifts
The speaker outlines three expert tips for increasing client retention. First, honesty is crucial in building trust; agencies should avoid overpromising and underdelivering. Second, setting expectations means underpromising and overdelivering to create exceptional customer experiences that delight clients. Lastly, gift-giving can nurture relationships and encourage reciprocity. The speaker suggests personal and thoughtful gifts to show genuine care for clients beyond business transactions.
🚀 Automating Client Onboarding to Enhance Agency Efficiency
The speaker discusses the negative impact of a lengthy and inefficient onboarding process on client perception. They propose two onboarding methods: a well-planned call or an automated onboarding funnel using pre-filmed videos, guides, and surveys. The latter is preferred for its scalability and efficiency. The speaker then introduces a six-step onboarding roadmap, emphasizing the importance of a structured sequence to build rapport and trust with clients. The steps include welcoming and setting expectations, ensuring contract and invoice payment, granting access to necessary accounts, conducting an audience survey, holding a strategy session, and providing final words to conclude the onboarding process.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Onboarding
💡Client Retention
💡Service Providers
💡Trust
💡Expectations
💡Agency
💡Automate
💡Gifts
💡Communication
💡Strategic Partner
💡Funnel
Highlights
Six-step framework used for onboarding clients at a $10,000+ agency.
Retaining clients is more profitable than constantly acquiring new ones.
The number one reason clients leave service providers is because they feel neglected after the sale.
Three expert tips to increase client retention: honesty, setting expectations, and giving personalized gifts.
Honesty is crucial: Avoid overpromising and underdelivering to build trust with clients.
Setting realistic expectations and exceeding them creates an exceptional customer experience.
Communication is key: Set clear guidelines for communication frequency and methods to avoid clients feeling neglected.
Personalized gifts can strengthen client relationships and improve retention.
Automating the client onboarding process enhances client perception and efficiency.
Onboarding funnels with pre-filmed videos and guides are scalable and time-efficient.
The six-step onboarding process includes welcome videos, contract signing, access setup, audience survey, strategy session, and final words.
Welcome video sets expectations, builds authority, and outlines communication guidelines.
Access setup ensures the agency gets all necessary assets from the client to start work smoothly.
The strategy session helps introduce the team, build relationships, and finalize the client's onboarding experience.
A well-structured onboarding process prevents clients from feeling neglected and builds trust, increasing client retention.
Transcripts
so in today's video I'm going to walk
you through the exact six-step framework
that I used when I was on boarding
clients that were paying me $10,000 Plus
at my agency that I had for 6 years now
this video has been a long time coming
why because no one really does it
correctly most agencies hurt their
business without even realizing it I
mean really think about this it is so
much easier to keep a client than it is
to sign a new one the real money is made
in retaining clients not constantly
chasing new ones and the number one
reason clients leave service providers
is because they feel neglected after the
sale is made so in today's video I'm
going to break down the three expert
tips to stand out as an agency so that
way you're able to 10 times your client
retention how to automate your entire
onboarding process as well as my exact
six-step road map to client onboarding
success so let's dive in now as always
on on the extended Channel I've gone
ahead and created some resources some
visual templates so if you want those
you'll be able to access those in the
description now let's discuss the three
expert tips to stand out as an agency
and literally 10x your client retention
and the first one I know this is going
to be weird to hear but be honest people
buy from people that they trust and the
best way you're able to build trust with
your potential client is just to be
honest the worst thing you can do as an
agency is to promise the Moon and only
deliver a rock this really puts your
agency in an awkward position where you
haven't delivered what you promised
which in turn makes the client feel
manipulated and builds a distrust as a
result of buying from you so do not wait
for issues to arise anticipate potential
challenges and address them before they
become problems with your current
clients and potential clients on sales
calls now this not only prevents crisis
but also shows your clients that you're
always thinking ahead on their behalf
offering solutions to problems that they
hadn't even thought of yet can greatly
impress clients and really just solidify
your value as a strategic partner next
we have setting expectations a superior
man is modest in his speech and exceeds
in his actions and a wise man called
confucious once said that and if you
want me to put that simply it just means
under promise and overd deliver when you
set realistic expectations and then
exceed them you're not just delivering a
service you're creating an except
itional customer experience and by doing
so you surprise your clients with your
efficiency and dedication going beyond
what they anticipated now this doesn't
just satisfy them it Delights them
leading to Greater client retention and
positive word of mouth which are
absolutely invaluable in today's
competitive market and a few examples of
expectations that must be set include
what results can clients expect what the
expected timelines are for these
deliverables and results and more
importantly what is expected from the
client to ensure a successful
partnership and then finally what they
can expect from your agency to ensure a
successful partnership now it is
extremely important to set your
expectations from the get-go because if
you don't set them your client is going
to assume their expectations which you
won't ever be able to fulfill now
expectations regarding communication are
also a must because the number one
reason clients leave service providers
is because they feel neglected after the
sale is made so it's very important that
you let them know how often
communication is going to work what
medium or platform your communication
will solely be on how often do you jump
on check-in calls Etc next I want to
talk about gifts and this is actually
crucial because if you can get your
client an amazing gift that resonates
with them on a personal or business note
then you're nurturing a relationship and
the client will be more inclined to make
your partnership work because as the law
of reciprocity states when someone does
something for you you feel obligated to
reciprocate or do something in return
for them and be creative with this one
send your clients merchandise with their
business logo on it if they're into
cigars send them a few of your favorites
and write a handwritten note to
accompany it and this really shows that
you genuinely care about them Beyond
just the business transactions and
personal touches like these help build a
stronger more emotional connection
making clients feel valued and
appreciated and by the way if you want a
great book regarding this topic go ahead
and read gifology by John rulin now
let's get into some fun stuff let's talk
about how to automate client onboarding
now most clients who have worked with
agencies in the past are familiar with
what I like to call the onboarding
gridlock dilemma basically the Dilemma
of having to hassle with back and forth
messages and emails and calls to give
access to everything the agency needs in
order to start serving them you need to
understand that for the client this is
timec consuming and results in an
unnecessarily long onboarding process
that really negatively affects your
client's perception of your agency I'm
telling you right now the onboarding
experience is the first thing that your
client experienced if it's sloppy
sluggish slow not well thought out well
then how do you think your clients are
going to feel you think they're going to
go oh you know what these guys really
seem to have it covered I'm so excited
to start working with them or you think
they're going to go M you know what
maybe I made the wrong decision and
start getting buyers remorse now when
they see your client onboarding process
in contrast where if you actually focus
on this video all of your things get
done quickly it's all in the same place
there's no back and forth on messages or
emails they're going to see you as an
experienced Authority who has most
likely gone through the same process
with countless clients and as a result
must know all the ins and outs of what
you do this gives your clients peace of
mind because they feel that they are in
good hands now there are two ways that
you can conduct your onboarding first
you can either jump on a well-planned
onboarding call with your client where
you run them through a specific agenda
to set expectations as well as acquire
all the assets and information that you
need to get to work or and this is by
far my favorite option you can build an
onboarding funnel with pre-filmed videos
guides and surveys to collect all assets
and relevant information that you need
the former is timec consuming and
tedious whereas the ladder which is
building a well-crafted onboarding
funnel is scalable and provides you with
leverage leverage to use that time for
more pressing tasks within your business
such as signing more clients rather than
spending north of an hour on boarding
your clients manually and leverage to
again show that you are an experienced
agency that operates with efficiency
professionalism and has a set way of
doing things instead of jumping on a
call you simply pop your client a link
to the funnel where everything they need
to onboard is in one place so how should
you structure your onboarding funnel
well firstly it's very important that
your onboarding funnel is composed as a
sequence this means that it has a start
point and an end point and let me
explain by running through the exact
six-step onboarding road map that I used
internally at my Agency for many many
years now I've actually taken some of
these visuals from my Flagship program
agent agency accelerator where I help
literally anyone scale their agency to
10,000 20,000 even $30,000 a month with
our pro version so if you're interested
in joining agency accelerator we
recently reopened enrollments the link
is in the description but if you just
want the free resource there's also a
link to that below now before I run you
through each step it's really important
to note beforehand that your onboarding
funnel is composed as a sequence this
way the client feels they went through
this whole journey with you rather than
feeling like they paid and then were're
left high and dry with a plethora of
tasks to complete which is one of the
most important experiences you can
create for your client because as I
touched on earlier the number one reason
clients leave service providers is
because they feel neglected after the
sale is made so really by creating this
handheld experience you build rapport
and trust with your clients making sure
they feel as though they are in good
hands now I suggest you use a similar
structure to my six-step onboarding
process and just adapt it to your
specific service that you deliver step
one welcome and setting expectations in
this video you welcome your clients and
set expectations on how your
relationship is going to work and this
is really a great place to create some
Authority and put yourself in a position
of the one setting the rules for the
relationship now here's a complete
structure of what should be included in
this video you obviously want to welcome
them then you want to talk about culture
and Mission you want to build Authority
by name dropping current and former
clients you want to talk about your team
and really hype up their abilities you
want to explain how this onboarding
process works and why it is superior to
other agencies and then what the client
can expect from you as an agency in
relation to communication guidelines
such as bi-weekly calls and weekly Loom
updates for example what they can expect
from you in terms of reporting and how
often you're going to send them updates
as well as approval process for the
services that you provide for example if
you run an email marketing agency you
would get all of the copy approved
before blasting it to their email list
to ensure that you're representing their
brand in the best possible light then
you want to move on to the formula for a
successful relationship now this would
include what you expect from the client
to ensure a successful partnership and
some principles to follow to allow your
client to have clarity about what they
should and shouldn't do and then you
congratulate them on taking action and
then you show what's coming next in the
onboarding process and this brings us on
to step number two which is contract and
invoice payment now this is where you
make sure that they have paid you and
signed the contract of a cble now
ideally they should have paid the
invoice inside of the sales call itself
but sometimes this doesn't happen for
multiple reasons so here is a place to
remind them about the invoice and make
sure they pay it now before moving on to
the next step this way you can get the
money out of the way and focus solely on
doing the work you should have also
emailed the contract at this point so
just make sure you remind them about
signing it inside of this stage step
three is access now this is where we
usually walk clients through a step-by
step on how to give your agency access
access to anything you may need now this
includes ad accounts social media Pages
Etc anything that your agency needs in
order to start working now in case you
offer them advertising services in this
step you would talk about how to
basically give you the agency access to
their Facebook manager their Google ads
manager the Tik Tok manager LinkedIn ads
manager whatever it is now in the case
that you offer other types of services
you need to make sure that you have
access to everything you need in order
to start working with your client if
you're doing their email marketing well
then of course at this point they need
to give you access to their email list
at this stage just make sure to ask
everything that might be needed for that
to happen and also show the client how
to give you access to such things in
case it is not too intuitive now step
four is audience survey this is where
you would survey your clients on who
their target audience is so that way you
can properly write ads and come up with
effective targeting strategies for them
now this step may also vary depending on
the service that you offer the main
point that I'm trying to get across here
is just make sure all of the
intellectual input and information that
you'll need later down the line when
you're actually delivering the services
is attached now I'm going to attach the
link to my very own type form that I
used to survey my clients when we were
working with my agency so I'll go ahead
and leave that up on the screen so you
can see what questions we asked then we
move on to step five which is the
strategy session now the strategy
session is where you run through all of
the information given by the client
inside of the onboarding funnel as well
as actually introduce your team to the
client where necessary and this gives
gives the client a warm welcome and
allows them to build a relationship with
not only yourself but your team members
to create an inclusive feel and also for
them to be like oh wow okay these are
the people that are actually working on
my account now the strategy session page
is where you ask them to book their
kickoff strategy call directly in your
calendar and this is going to avoid all
the back and forth messages trying to
set up a time that works for both of you
I suggest that you create a new cand
event specifically for this kickoff call
and in case you have more team members
you get add them to this event this way
cly will set the availability for when
everyone in your team is available this
prevents clients from booking calls at a
time when maybe one of your team members
might be on a call with a different
client or just busy with other tasks and
lastly we move on to step six which is
final words and this is basically where
you mention any final things that need
to be mentioned you basically let the
client know that they are now on boarded
as a client and also let them know that
you're looking forward to speaking with
them in your kickoff meeting and that is
about it so congratulations once you
have all this set up you are ready to
onboard a clients and most importantly
keep them so as I said you can find all
that information in the description
below you can also find the link to
enroll in agency accelerator and on that
note as always I'm watching from afar
and I'm rooting for you
[Music]
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