What’s the best Welcome you’ve received from a business?
This step in the Customer Journey is when you bring a new client onboard. They have made a commitment, parted with their money and, in a lot of cases, they are unsure of next steps. Perhaps they have only dealt with you or someone in your sales team. One person who has spent time finding out what they need or want. Now, they are handed over to a team of people, be part of processes they are not familiar with or even worse, receive little or no communication on what will happen next.
This Welcome stage can be wonderful and warm. It can also be daunting and disastrous! When we map out the customer journey, this is the step where everyone gets involved as it relates to every part of the business, from marketing to sales, customer service to delivery. It leads to a great start if it’s done well, it impacts on all if it’s not.
I like to look at this in two ways in what we do in this step. There’s the Essential Stuff and the Nice Fluff as I call them.
The Essential Stuff
These are the things you do to onboard new clients effectively and efficiently. Terms of Conditions, contracts, invoice and payment expectations for example. The paperwork and commitment from business to client (and the other way round).
The Nice Fluff
These are the things that create magic in the Customer Journey! How you welcome them that adds value to the customer experience. A letter with a warm greeting, a ‘Meet the Team’ or ‘Your Account Manager is …’ An email with step-by-step instructions on what you will do and what they can do to make this introduction stage run smoothly. Managed expectations for all like our You doo, We doo which is a document with instructions of how work but done with a warm personal message.
A really nice thing to do, is a Surprise & Delight gift or gesture, relevant to what you do (no pens or mugs please!) In thinking about this, aim to wow them, to really turn the Welcome Dial from a 10 to an 11. Let your imagination flow with something unique to send them or pass on in your first meeting.
The nice things you do, added to thorough systems for onboarding, make a difference, make it special and make it memorable.
Tips you can doo
If you have Welcome procedures in place:
- Revisit the procedures by mapping out everything you do now.
- Fill in gaps and create systems to make it flow better.
- Create a Check List so you the document that captures ‘Every time we welcome a new client, we will …’
This improves the Welcome and ensures the same things happen every time. On top of this is gives new employees a heads up on how you look after clients from day one. A double win!
