Amanda McVicker (0:00)
Hello and welcome to today's episode of The OBM Educator. I'm excited to get into today. I feel like it has been a while, at least on the recording side of things, since I've had like a true let's get into it education podcast episode.
And so I am very excited to be talking today on a skill builder episode. And so if you haven't listened to one of these skill builder episodes before, I am taking something that is done in the OBM world, you know, a skill that you would be doing for your clients as an OBM and breaking it down, right? So a lot of the times, the skills that I'm breaking down are specifically things that people have been asking me about. And I know that if one person is asking a question, that other people are having the same questions in their head, and they're just not asking.
And, you know, we can search Google for hours, we can crowdsource, we can, you know, figure it out on our own, we can go scrolling Pinterest, whatever. But I like doing these episodes, because this is going to be a resource that you can come back to for when, you know, you get to this point, maybe you're listening now, and you're like, okay, this is great, I'm going to help my client with this. Or you might be listening now, and you haven't reached this point yet of needing this particular skill, you can come back to this, right? I still encourage you to listen right now.
But you can come back to this when you actually get to the point of needing to support your client in this way. And so I love doing these skill builder episodes, I think that they're helpful. And I like talking about OPM skills.
So win win. So yeah, today, we're going to get into client onboarding. Now, this client onboarding skill is not necessarily you onboarding your clients, but you supporting your clients in onboarding their clients.
So a lot of the principles of it are going to overlap. And I do an episode later on actually like onboarding OBM clients. But this is actually going to be about how you can support your clients in onboarding their clients.
So let's get into it. Welcome to the OBM educator. I'm your host, Amanda McVicker, a veteran OBM who serves six and seven figure entrepreneurs, as well as educates new OBMs with the skills and confidence they need to start and grow their own successful online business management business.
Follow along as I share valuable insights, behind the scenes sneak peeks and proven strategies to help you build a better OBM business. So onboarding can look a bunch of different ways. I was talking with someone who's doing one of my OBM launch sprints where in 30 days in Slack, we're going back and forth and just kind of we're growing their OBM business essentially.
And so she's going from VA to OBM and she has a lot of experience as a VA. And we're working on, you know, growing those OBM skills. And one of the things that she had said was with client onboarding, how do I know how to support my client in that? And she was asking, you know, what is like the onboarding method? Like how do you onboard clients? And what I told her was there really is no like right way or one way to onboard clients, right? It's actually going to be really specific to your client, which is why helping with onboarding clients is actually, it's not just something that you can study and then know, right? It's something that as you go through the process of supporting clients, you are going to learn more and more about different ways that you can onboard clients, how you can support them, what might be better over another depending on different situations.
And so what I'm going to be talking about today is not actually going to be like, okay, here's step one, here's step two, because that's not going to be helpful, right? Because everyone is different and everyone has different programs and structures and deliverables, right? Like it can be all over the place. And even with what I talk about today, it might not be applicable to what you do. And if that is the case, and you still have questions, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram.
You know, I listened to this episode and my client actually does XYZ. Like, could you help me with that? Would totally love to help you. But what I'm going to be talking about today is kind of like a general overview on the different types of things that might be onboarded, what to think about, and kind of the process of like putting it all together.
So first thing being looking at the different type of thing that is being onboarded, right? Is it if you're looking at coaching? Is it a one-to-one client? Is it a group program? Is it a mastermind? Is it a one-off strategy session? If it is a done-for-you service? So think OBM or graphic designer, website builder, something like that. Is it an ongoing retainer? Is it a project? Is it a VIP day? A strategy session? Like what is it that the client is coming into? Because all of those things are going to have a different onboarding process. It might be roughly the same thing, but each of those is going to lead to a different outcome, lead to a different deliverable.
There's going to be different information that needs to be gathered. And so it's going to be important to distinguish those different services. And so then the next part is going to be looking at what is the goal deliverable, whatever, right? So let's look at one-to-one, for example.
So one-to-one mentoring, coaching, or one-to-one retainer. In those capacities, there's usually a more intimate relationship between the person providing the service and the client. And you probably know this, right? As an OBM.
But with one-to-one, there's typically more that the client is getting. And so when you look at the outcome, right? We're going to go with coaching for now. One-to-one coaching.
You look at like at the end of onboarding, where should they be? They should have signed a contract and paid. They should have, you know, links set up to book calls or have calls booked if your client does it that way. And so they should receive like calendar invites.
They should have a questionnaire filled out or information needs to have been received about what it is that the person providing the service is supporting them with. Maybe depending on clients, maybe a gift has been sent to welcome them aboard. If there is a CRM or lead track or something like that, they have been updated to reflect that they are assigned client.
Any deliverables that are going to be given throughout the program are set up in a project management system. Those are all things that, you know, by the end of onboarding, you can expect to be done. And so then the onboarding process becomes how can these things happen in a consolidated and easy to follow way, right? You know, we want to look at making things easy for both the client and for you as the team or your, you know, your client, the person providing the service.
So it's not a confusing mess, right? And this is where sometimes you look at, does it make sense if I have all of this information? Sure. One email with it might be more consolidated, but on the client side of it, getting one email with all of that information might be overwhelming and they might not complete everything that they need to. So in that case, breaking it up might be the better solution.
And this is where you can talk to your client, you know, the person providing the service to see what it is that they've experienced before, what it is that they've noticed about their clients, and just kind of get their general feedback of how they like to have things done. Now you as the OBM, you are, you know, executing the strategy that they are setting in place, but you all are also bringing solutions and recommendations, right? And so if your client is like, okay, well, we can just, you know, send them the contract. And then after they sign the contract, let's just, you know, we'll check to see like how they want to pay and then we'll send that link.
And then we can, you know, just figure out when they want to have their calls. And when I'm on a call with them, like I'll just get the information I need from them, right? Like that's clunky. That kind of feels, especially on the like receiving end, the client receiving end, it feels disjointed and it leaves the client kind of in limbo, right? One of the important things about an onboarding process is that you want to make sure that you are answering all of the questions, or at least as many of the questions as that client, that new client has before they ask them.
And so when you look at frequently asked questions, how are those questions able to be answered in the onboarding process? Whether it's in an email saying, hey, here are your next steps. So they always know what's coming. Or in a questionnaire, you know, making sure you're getting all of the information that you need so that they're not left wondering, well, when do I provide this? As much as you can, when your client can provide the answers to questions before the client has to ask them, is going to make the onboarding process feel so much smoother for the client.
It's going to make them feel taken care of. Now looking at other different types of programs, like a course, onboarding for a course is probably going to be a little bit easier, right? And depending on the platforms that you use, it might be completely automated, right? They get a pay or they go to a checkout page, they pay, they get immediate access to the course, they go through the course, right? Or if it's a live program, they go to a sales page, they check out, they pay, they get access to the course, and then they get an automated email with the information for the live group coaching program. So with something like that, where it's a little less high touch, you still want the client to feel like you're excited to have them in the program, right? But it doesn't have to be like so personal, like a one-to-one might be.
And if there's information that is needed from the people who join the course or program, you know, that's something that you can put in an automated email, or that's something that you can put in the course portal, right? A place where you can have all of that information waiting for them so that they are not left wondering, hey, what do I need to do here? Where is this? And then if your client is, you know, a done-for-you service provider, a lot of the information that you're going to be getting or your client is going to be getting through the onboarding process is assets and links and copy, you know, depending on what it is that they are doing, you want to make sure that you have a spot that is easy to navigate and easy for things to be uploaded and has a spot for everything that is needed, right? If your client is a website designer, and they are onboarding a new client, they're going to need, you know, all of the things that a website designer needs. They're going to need copy, they're going to need brand colors, they're going to need access to the website. And this can be broken up depending on your client's process.
And that's something that you guys would talk about, you know, when you are starting to put together an onboarding process, you would be have a strategy call or, you know, a call to discuss these things so that you know what their process is, but you find out what is all the information that you need, and then you can put it into a form, you know, using a CRM or something like Dubsado, where you could put it together a questionnaire to be sent out however long after they get started. If it's a eight-week project, and they don't need, you know, the information until week four, you can send it out in week two, and then a reminder in week three and in week four. So putting together based on what that client needs is going to be really important.
This comes from communicating with your client about what their needs are. So that is a very broad overview of the client onboarding process for putting together a system for your clients to onboard their clients, right? So if you don't take away anything else from this episode, there are three questions to ask when putting together an onboarding process, right? What does your client need in order to do their job? What questions are their clients going to have that you can answer in the process? And how can the things that are needed and the answers to the questions they have, how can those be answered in a way that is concise but easy to follow and not overwhelming, right? If you can answer those first two questions and then figure it out in the third question, you have an onboarding system that at least to begin with is going to be a good working system that can then be tweaked as needed. I hope this was helpful.
I know it's a lot of information, which is why it is a broad overview, but helping clients get their client onboarding system down is going to be such a huge help with almost all of the clients that I have onboarded in their strategy session. Client onboarding has been like the number one thing that they're like, this feels clunky. There's so many things going on.
I'm always in the weeds. So if you can get that system cleaned up for them in a that as automated as possible, as high touch, but still systematized, then your clients are going to be in a much better place. I hope this was helpful and I will talk with y'all next week.
Bye. Thanks for joining me for this episode of The OBM Educator. I hope what you heard today is helpful for you on your OBM journey.
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