When you first sign a client, there’s a pretty good chance they will second guess their decision. At least for a moment.
After all, your services aren’t cheap. And everyone knows there are no guarantees when it comes to marketing.
And yet, demonstrating they made the right decision is not only important, it sets the tone for the rest of the engagement.
Get it wrong, and your new clients will be second-guessing you and themselves the entire engagement. Get it right, and you’re well on the way to building a trusting and successful relationship.
The first step is onboarding. You want clients to feel like can relax and be lead through your system. You should have a system, by the way. A good onboarding will show them you do.
The onboarding process begins with the kick-off email. It’s the one you send after they say they’d like to go forward with you.
The kick-off email should be prompt. You don’t want clients saying yes to working with you, only to have you respond a day or two later with next steps.
It should also be thorough. It should tell them what to expect, what the next steps are, what they need to do, and when things will start moving.
If you get this process right, you’re well on your way to creating a great longterm relationship. If you don’t, you’ll be playing catch-up and “prove it” the entire time.
If you want to swipe my process for onboarding clients, sign up for the Mindshare Community. I share everything from my kick-off email script to the other eight core templates I use to run my advisory engagements.