July 7

Episode 82: Improving the Customer Onboarding Experience With Cristina Samoila

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Cristina believes you should be able to take weekends off, wrap up each day at a reasonable time, and actually enjoy your vacations without worrying and mentally marinating on things for your business.

Cristina Samoila’s Biography

Cristina Samoila is the Founder & CEO of Bee Productive. Helping motivated service businesses launch high-ticket programs, webinars & more. She specializes in systems integration & implementation #BeeProductive & less busy.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn…

  • We have at least seven levels of intimacy with everybody that we interact with in our lives.
  • Seven levels of intimacy, and that applies to even customers.
  • Advise your clients on how to correctly onboard a new customer.
  • and more…

Quotables

  • “A lot of people spend like 80% of their time on how to acquire a new customer. And then once that customer has been acquired, they’re like, “Yay, now we can celebrate, the work is done.” Whereas the truth of the matter is, the work has just started.” Cristina Samoila
  • “The more important aspect is the human aspect, which is a little bit like welcoming somebody new into your family.”  Cristina Samoila
  • “I think the most important place for people to start with is for everybody who’s already thinking about this, I wanna congratulate you already, because what most people don’t, like where most people go wrong is they don’t actually even start putting thought into it.” Cristina Samoila
  • “So, communication and even over communication at this early stage is acceptable or recommended and encouraged.”

Links & Resources Mentioned…

Read The Transcript

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(upbeat contemporary music)

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- Welcome back to the "Get
Unstuck & On Target" podcast.

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I'm Mike O'Neill with Bench Builders,

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and we help growing companies,
especially manufacturers,

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improve their people,
process, and planning systems

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so they can scale smarter and faster.

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Joining me from Bucharest
is Cristina Samoila.

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Cristina is the founder of BeeProductive.

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She helps motivated entrepreneurs
build strong foundations,

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to allow them to scale to
seven-plus figures and beyond.

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One of Cristina's specialties
is helping her clients

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improve the customer experience.

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She does this by helping them plan

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and build great customer experiences

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throughout every stage
of the sales process.

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But today, we're gonna focus primarily

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on the early stages of
working with a new customer.

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Welcome, Cristina.

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- Hey Mike, that was an amazingly warm

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and kind introduction.

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I'm happy...
- Well, I'm looking forward

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to our conversation,

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because we're going down a path

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that we really have not taken before.

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And before we do that, I also
wanna do another shout-out.

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And that is, I have another Christina,

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Christina Hooper with Sparkitive to thank

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for kinda making this introduction.

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Her Superpowers Into Sales program

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is what brought Cristina and me together.

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And so, I wanna thank that Christina,

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as we go back to setting
up for our conversation.

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You have expertise in a number of areas,

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but it seems as if so much emphasis

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is placed on finding the customer.

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And when you've got that customer,

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it's just assumed that
bringing them on board

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is gonna be straightforward, no big deal.

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And it's really that onboarding experience

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for a new customer that I'd like

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to kinda spend our time on.

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- Perfect, yeah, and
you're absolutely right.

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A lot of people spend
like 80% of their time

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on how to acquire a new customer.

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And then once that
customer has been acquired,

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they're like, "Yay, now we can
celebrate, the work is done."

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Whereas the truth of the matter is,

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the work has just started.

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Actually, if you're familiar

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with the customer buyer's journey,

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which I think you called it,

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it's a process basically,
is what you called it.

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But it's adapted from a book called

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"The Seven Levels of Intimacy."

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- [Mike] Hmm.

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- And what it basically tells us

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is we have at least
seven levels of intimacy

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with everybody that we
interact with in our lives,

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and that includes our customers.

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So if we were to transpose that into,

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what are the seven steps

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from when somebody first hears about you,

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all the way to the point

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where they're your most avid advocator,

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then there's a journey that
you have to go through, right?

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And surprisingly, someone
becoming a customer

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is only a little less than
halfway there, actually.

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So it's like the fourth
step of the journey,

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not the last one.

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And a lot of people are
just like stopping there,

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or they're like trying to skip steps,

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and like, "Okay, now I have a customer,

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all I need to do now is
get them to buy more."

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Well, actually, you're missing

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a few of the steps in between.

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So, that's kind of what
we're here to talk about.

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What happens once you
acquire that customer?

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What are some of the missed opportunities

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that I see a lot of people just overlook,

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and just how you can make that
process a little bit better,

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so you can turn more of your
customers into rabid fans.

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- So Cristina, when you
and I discussed prior

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what we might talk about,

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in the idea of onboarding
a new customer came up,

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I immediately seized on that,

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in large part because the parallel

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is when companies hire employees,

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they spend all their energy hiring them.

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And then, before you know it,

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they've throw them through
kind of an orientation,

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and they give very little attention

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to bringing that new employee along.

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And I don't know if this
holds true in customers,

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but the highest likelihood of turnover

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for an employee is in that first 90 days.

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And so, employers, we
kinda put a check mark,

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got that person hired,
move on to the next.

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When you said that from
a customer standpoint,

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you said that there's
seven levels of intimacy,

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and that applies to even customers.

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What is kinda the process?

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If you are advising your clients

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of how to correctly
onboard a new customer,

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walk us through kinda
what those steps might be.

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- Perfect, well, so I like to think

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that there's two kind of aspects,

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fundamental aspects to onboarding.

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There's obviously the technical aspect,

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which everybody kind of nails that down.

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Like they have their own processes.

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So I'm not gonna focus a lot on that,

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but it's basically your
agreements, payments,

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setting them up in all of
the different softwares,

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and delivering the service,
and so all of that.

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But the more important
aspect is the human aspect,

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which is a little bit like
welcoming somebody new

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into your family.

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Like if somebody in your
family had a child, let's say,

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then you know how you
do, or like got married.

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So there's a new person

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that you have to kind
of bring into your fold,

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and make them be a part of the family.

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And you know that work doesn't stop

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once the marriage ceremony is over, no.

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There's a continuous effort
on everybody involved

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to make sure that that
person feels welcome,

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not only in those first 90 days,

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but throughout all of the time

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that they're gonna spend in your family,

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which is hopefully forever, right?

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So with that analogy in mind,

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I think the most important
place for people to start with

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is for everybody who's
already thinking about this,

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I wanna congratulate you already,

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because what most people don't,

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like where most people go wrong

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is they don't actually even
start putting thought into it.

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They just like, "Oh, we acquired
the customer, we're done."

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If you are already starting
to think about it and be like,

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okay, how can we make this better?

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How can we make sure our
customers like us and trust us

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and will stay with us for a long time?

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You're already taking more steps

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than probably 50% of the people.

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- Hmm.

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- At least from my experience,

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so, I'd like to just
acknowledge that for a second.

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But second, similar to how
a child would like start

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their first year of school,

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you gotta prep them a little bit.

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So, once somebody has become your client,

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the most important thing
you can do is make sure

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that they kind of know
the lay of the land.

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They know what to expect from you.

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So setting the right expectations
as upfront in the process

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as possible is key.

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And that is not just
like, you can talk about

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what they can expect with delivery times,

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because especially in your industry,

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it's not like you're going
out and buying bread,

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you're paying your money,
you get your bread,

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you leave, done.

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There's a cadence there,

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there's like, oh yeah,
you're buying something,

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now we have to go through
the manufacturing process,

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the packaging process,
the delivery process.

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There's all of this lengthy
process that is involved,

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which the more it takes for
you to deliver your product

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to the door of the customer,

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the more you give your customer time

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to ask himself questions of like,

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"Hey, I wonder if this is on track,

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hey, I wonder if they've
forgotten about me.

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I wonder if everything
is going as planned.

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I wonder if they remember that I asked

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for this one specific little thing

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and they promise that they
would accommodate me."

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And the last thing that you wanna do is

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one, never address those questions,

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even if the customer
doesn't end up asking them,

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sometimes they don't,

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sometimes they just
keep them in their head

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and we on the other end,

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like, well, he's not asking anything,

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this will almost be good.

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That's not exactly true.

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But if you can ahead of time kind of try

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to assuage these kinds of
thoughts from the customer's mind

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and be like, hey, look, you can expect

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the next communication
that we initiate with you

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to be in like two weeks from now,

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when we've hopefully got the
raw material in our factory,

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or I don't exactly know
what the process is,

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but for everybody's a
little bit different,

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but like here's a roadmap,

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here's your 90 day roadmap

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since we put forward
the 90 day timeframes.

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Like in 90 days, here's
how I'm gonna get you

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from where you are now,
you just signed a contract

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to you have the product in your hands

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and you are now ready to do
whatever you wanna do with it.

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And you've gotta provide
that to your customer

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and not expect them to get it.

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You know how in sales, we talk
about how we wanna make it

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as simple as possible for our customers,

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as frictionless as possible,

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we wanna get them to spend
as little mental calories

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as possible understanding our message

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and our value and our offer,

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well, the same stands true with
onboarding and delivery too.

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You don't want the customer
to spend a lot of time

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thinking and trying to
understand the product.

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In fact, the main reason
why onboarding clients

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and employees leave after 90 days

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is because they didn't understand.

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They didn't understand something.

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As customers, they
probably didn't understand

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how to use your product or service.

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You may have delivered it perfectly

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in the timeframe that you promised them,

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at the level of quality
that you promised them,

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it solves every problem that they have,

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but if they don't know how to use it,

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it's gonna be useless for them.

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And if they're not using it,

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they're gonna end up returning it

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or just not working with you anymore.

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Same with employees, if
with if within 90 days,

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they feel like they're
not doing a good job,

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like they don't have the right support

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to know where to go to ask some questions

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about how to do their job,

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if they don't know what they
need to do every single day,

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if they don't feel like
they've found their place

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and their routine inside of your company,

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they're gonna leave before you
have a chance to let them go.

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- So thus far, you stress
how important it is

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when you have a new customer

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to set expectations up front,
you use the word roadmap,

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which I think was really powerful,

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and that is by sharing
with this new customer

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a bit of a roadmap as to how
this relationship can be best.

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It means setting expectations,
not only around timelines,

244
00:11:54,660 --> 00:11:57,750
but also communication so they'll know

245
00:11:57,750 --> 00:12:00,720
how regular they should
expect to hear from you.

246
00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,410
So the roadmap that you're
recommending to our listeners

247
00:12:04,410 --> 00:12:07,440
is set those expectations up front

248
00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,640
that should include
timelines and communications.

249
00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,910
And that term communication
keeps coming up,

250
00:12:14,910 --> 00:12:17,550
and that is it's a new relationship.

251
00:12:17,550 --> 00:12:21,360
How important, particularly
early on in the relationship

252
00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,810
is it to be for lack of a better term,

253
00:12:24,810 --> 00:12:27,363
fully transparent with this new customer.

254
00:12:28,470 --> 00:12:29,673
- 100% important.

255
00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:36,500
So, one of the biggest mistakes
that I've seen people do

256
00:12:36,930 --> 00:12:38,820
with onboarding, for example,

257
00:12:38,820 --> 00:12:41,820
and one of the reason why
most people hire is like,

258
00:12:41,820 --> 00:12:43,830
hey, I wanna automate my onboarding,

259
00:12:43,830 --> 00:12:45,600
I wanna automate some processes,

260
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,810
I wanna stop doing so
many things manually,

261
00:12:48,810 --> 00:12:50,289
which is a great thought,

262
00:12:50,289 --> 00:12:54,690
but what I've noticed most
people do is they go to this step

263
00:12:54,690 --> 00:12:58,050
before they actually have the right

264
00:12:58,050 --> 00:13:00,990
onboarding processes set.

265
00:13:00,990 --> 00:13:02,220
They wanna automate something

266
00:13:02,220 --> 00:13:04,143
that's not completely optimized.

267
00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:10,100
So, what I'm trying to
say is in the early stages

268
00:13:11,070 --> 00:13:12,720
of a customer relationship,

269
00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:17,720
over communication what
is way more acceptable

270
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:20,798
than no communication.

271
00:13:20,798 --> 00:13:24,960
Nobody's gonna get mad at you
if for the first two weeks,

272
00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,960
you end up emailing
them three times a week,

273
00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:32,960
if obviously the message is
actually important and relevant,

274
00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:39,540
but you don't want two weeks to pass

275
00:13:39,540 --> 00:13:41,220
since they've signed a contract

276
00:13:41,220 --> 00:13:43,410
and they don't know what
you're supposed to be doing,

277
00:13:43,410 --> 00:13:45,930
they don't know what they're
supposed to be doing,

278
00:13:45,930 --> 00:13:48,390
they don't know when you're
supposed to contact them next.

279
00:13:48,390 --> 00:13:51,180
So, communication and
even over communication

280
00:13:51,180 --> 00:13:54,390
at this early stage is acceptable

281
00:13:54,390 --> 00:13:56,223
or recommended and encouraged.

282
00:14:00,070 --> 00:14:02,343
And a lot of people, for example,

283
00:14:04,350 --> 00:14:07,470
sometimes things don't
go as planned, right?

284
00:14:07,470 --> 00:14:10,500
Sometimes we promise the
client, hey, in two weeks,

285
00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:13,050
I'm gonna be able to
deliver this thing to you,

286
00:14:13,050 --> 00:14:16,800
whatever it is, and you're
about a week and a half in,

287
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,560
and you realize, yeah,

288
00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,100
so it looks like there's
been something happening

289
00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:24,900
and it's not gonna get delivered

290
00:14:24,900 --> 00:14:27,090
in another half a week, right?

291
00:14:27,090 --> 00:14:32,090
So, we try and like, oh my God, let's rush

292
00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:34,180
and see if we can do this,

293
00:14:34,180 --> 00:14:38,130
and on the last day, when
the two weeks are up,

294
00:14:38,130 --> 00:14:39,240
maybe we're gonna tell them,

295
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,180
hey, I know I promised
you this thing today,

296
00:14:42,180 --> 00:14:44,550
but it's not gonna happen today,

297
00:14:44,550 --> 00:14:47,370
that is the happy outcome.

298
00:14:47,370 --> 00:14:50,220
But most people actually don't
even let the customer know,

299
00:14:50,220 --> 00:14:51,053
they're gonna be like,

300
00:14:51,053 --> 00:14:53,610
well, I told them I'm gonna
be reaching out to them today,

301
00:14:53,610 --> 00:14:55,110
but if I reach out to them like tomorrow

302
00:14:55,110 --> 00:14:57,390
or the day after tomorrow,
it's no big deal,

303
00:14:57,390 --> 00:14:58,950
it's still kind of within
the same timeframe,

304
00:14:58,950 --> 00:14:59,850
it's okay, right?

305
00:14:59,850 --> 00:15:01,440
It's okay.

306
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,190
Not really, not when the
relationship is so fresh

307
00:15:05,190 --> 00:15:08,520
and not when this is that
person's first experience

308
00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,140
buying from you.

309
00:15:10,140 --> 00:15:13,590
You don't want that to be the first thing

310
00:15:13,590 --> 00:15:16,290
that somebody experiences.

311
00:15:16,290 --> 00:15:20,160
So, even when it's not comfortable,

312
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:24,060
even when it's not something
that you wished was happening,

313
00:15:24,060 --> 00:15:26,070
even if it's not something
that happens very often,

314
00:15:26,070 --> 00:15:29,790
if it's a once in a lifetime occurrence,

315
00:15:29,790 --> 00:15:33,570
you want to communicate and
be transparent and be honest

316
00:15:33,570 --> 00:15:35,070
with a person who bought from you

317
00:15:35,070 --> 00:15:37,740
and to communicate ahead of time,

318
00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:39,450
this is where I was trying to get.

319
00:15:39,450 --> 00:15:41,880
You don't wanna leave it to
the last second to communicate

320
00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:43,920
to a client that something is not gonna go

321
00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:45,390
according to plan,

322
00:15:45,390 --> 00:15:48,510
because just as you
have your own timelines,

323
00:15:48,510 --> 00:15:49,830
they have their own timelines too,

324
00:15:49,830 --> 00:15:53,010
and they might need a little
bit more than two days notice

325
00:15:53,010 --> 00:15:56,370
to know that something is not gonna arrive

326
00:15:56,370 --> 00:15:58,410
at the agreed upon timeline.

327
00:15:58,410 --> 00:16:02,583
So, as soon as you know, as
soon as you can see the project,

328
00:16:02,583 --> 00:16:06,450
whatever you're selling start
to move in that direction

329
00:16:06,450 --> 00:16:09,600
where it feels like it's not
gonna get completed on time,

330
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,340
your customer is gonna
appreciate you so much more

331
00:16:13,350 --> 00:16:15,870
if you're honest to them from the get go

332
00:16:15,870 --> 00:16:19,204
and tell them, hey, look, we
are running into some snags,

333
00:16:19,204 --> 00:16:22,260
we might, I don't know,
there's a 50% chance

334
00:16:22,260 --> 00:16:24,510
that we might not deliver this product

335
00:16:24,510 --> 00:16:27,690
at the agreed upon date.

336
00:16:27,690 --> 00:16:30,360
One, here's what we're
doing to try and fix that

337
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,360
and actually deliver it by
the agreed upon timeline,

338
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,473
but if we try our best and
it still doesn't happen,

339
00:16:38,460 --> 00:16:39,873
here's our backup plan.

340
00:16:42,420 --> 00:16:44,460
Don't just leave them in high water,

341
00:16:44,460 --> 00:16:46,291
have a backup plan of some sort,

342
00:16:46,291 --> 00:16:50,310
even if it's just like, hey, we apologize,

343
00:16:50,310 --> 00:16:54,630
we're gonna give you some
sort of, I don't know,

344
00:16:54,630 --> 00:16:57,420
money back or whatever
it is that you can do

345
00:16:57,420 --> 00:17:00,660
to help them out, expedite
their order or something,

346
00:17:00,660 --> 00:17:03,030
whatever it is you can
do, have a backup plan

347
00:17:03,030 --> 00:17:05,850
to let them know that you are thinking

348
00:17:05,850 --> 00:17:07,563
with their benefit in mind.

349
00:17:08,490 --> 00:17:13,490
- Well, that being said,
you've secured this client,

350
00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,400
you've begun to do business with them,

351
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:19,320
hopefully they made that decision in a way

352
00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:22,350
based on they have
confidence you can deliver,

353
00:17:22,350 --> 00:17:24,360
but thus far, what you have stressed,

354
00:17:24,360 --> 00:17:26,040
when you have a new customer,

355
00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,630
don't leave that early customer
relationship to chance.

356
00:17:30,630 --> 00:17:35,220
Clearly establish expectations
through communication,

357
00:17:35,220 --> 00:17:39,000
expectations regarding
timelines, deliverables,

358
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,570
but open appropriate
channels of communication

359
00:17:42,570 --> 00:17:46,530
with enough frequency so
they're not left in the dark,

360
00:17:46,530 --> 00:17:50,040
but you also introduced us
and give them kind of a sense

361
00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,400
of how we are gonna be
working together early on

362
00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,160
in this process by sharing that roadmap.

363
00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,730
And you've kind of said that what's so key

364
00:17:59,730 --> 00:18:00,780
in this relationship,

365
00:18:00,780 --> 00:18:02,760
particularly if you're gonna
keep this relationship,

366
00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,730
is that transparency and honesty,

367
00:18:05,730 --> 00:18:08,430
and in most cases, this
won't come up early on

368
00:18:08,430 --> 00:18:09,930
because you're gonna be doing back flips

369
00:18:09,930 --> 00:18:12,210
to try to take care of that new customer.

370
00:18:12,210 --> 00:18:14,970
But if you see something go awry,

371
00:18:14,970 --> 00:18:16,860
your advice to our listeners

372
00:18:16,860 --> 00:18:20,400
is if you see a potential
deadline being met,

373
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,890
don't keep it to yourself, share it,

374
00:18:22,890 --> 00:18:25,500
but don't just share it, explain,

375
00:18:25,500 --> 00:18:27,690
what is it you're doing as an organization

376
00:18:27,690 --> 00:18:31,080
to meet that deadline and
giving them a heads up.

377
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,570
And it may very well be that that heads up

378
00:18:33,570 --> 00:18:34,950
is really what they want most.

379
00:18:34,950 --> 00:18:38,520
They just wanna know if
it's a product or a service,

380
00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:39,780
when could I expect it.

381
00:18:39,780 --> 00:18:44,700
It's that reliability of when
that's gonna be available

382
00:18:44,700 --> 00:18:48,390
to them that they're
probably looking for most.

383
00:18:48,390 --> 00:18:50,490
Christina, you made
another interesting comment

384
00:18:50,490 --> 00:18:52,800
and that is clients come to you sometimes

385
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:57,210
when they really want to kind
of more automate processes.

386
00:18:57,210 --> 00:19:01,800
And what you shared is that
that's a really novel idea,

387
00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,070
and that very much is
how companies can grow

388
00:19:05,070 --> 00:19:08,520
when they can use
automation to its advantage.

389
00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,360
But you can also turn
on automation too soon

390
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,990
that your processes may
not be fine tuned enough

391
00:19:15,990 --> 00:19:18,000
to kind of automate.

392
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,240
And you said something earlier,
you didn't use this term,

393
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,660
but knowing exactly who you
are and what you're delivering

394
00:19:24,660 --> 00:19:28,320
and measuring those outcomes
from a KPI standpoint,

395
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,250
how important is monitoring KPIs,

396
00:19:32,250 --> 00:19:35,150
specifically when you have a
new customer coming on board.

397
00:19:37,230 --> 00:19:38,760
- That's very important

398
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,650
because you know that all saying,

399
00:19:40,650 --> 00:19:43,560
what you don't measure
doesn't get improved.

400
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:48,560
It holds true on all levels
you can possibly think of.

401
00:19:49,830 --> 00:19:54,830
But I especially like keeping KPIs,

402
00:19:55,350 --> 00:20:00,090
like setting and tracking
KPIs for customer success

403
00:20:00,090 --> 00:20:04,400
and onboarding and everything
around delivering a service

404
00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:08,670
because I do not wanna
rely on my customers

405
00:20:08,670 --> 00:20:11,400
coming to tell me that they were unhappy,

406
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,140
because by the time they reach that point,

407
00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:14,430
by the time they reach the point

408
00:20:14,430 --> 00:20:16,620
where they're actually have to come to me

409
00:20:16,620 --> 00:20:20,433
and be like, Christina, it's
been like two weeks now,

410
00:20:21,930 --> 00:20:23,760
I don't know, I've written
to customer service

411
00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,700
or something is happening
and I'm not happy,

412
00:20:26,700 --> 00:20:28,350
by the time they've reached that point,

413
00:20:28,350 --> 00:20:31,020
the relationship has degraded so much

414
00:20:31,020 --> 00:20:33,000
that I have to bend over backwards

415
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,670
to potentially recover that relationship

416
00:20:35,670 --> 00:20:36,900
and I don't want that.

417
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:39,870
I want to know way ahead of time

418
00:20:39,870 --> 00:20:43,230
if something is not going the right way.

419
00:20:43,230 --> 00:20:48,230
And also from a marketing
standpoint, me knowing those KPIs

420
00:20:48,540 --> 00:20:51,660
means I can market for
them afterwards, right?

421
00:20:51,660 --> 00:20:56,660
Me knowing, hey, 90% of my customers

422
00:20:58,140 --> 00:21:00,960
say they would recommend
me to somebody else

423
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:02,670
or are giving me a net promoter score

424
00:21:02,670 --> 00:21:04,410
of like nine or something,

425
00:21:04,410 --> 00:21:06,930
well, that's something that
I can use in my marketing.

426
00:21:06,930 --> 00:21:10,740
How am I supposed to
advertise to other people

427
00:21:10,740 --> 00:21:13,050
that we do a good job if we don't know

428
00:21:13,050 --> 00:21:14,793
if we're doing a good job, right?

429
00:21:16,230 --> 00:21:21,230
And same with, I don't wanna
let my clients come to me

430
00:21:22,410 --> 00:21:24,720
and tell me that I'm doing a bad job,

431
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:26,760
the reverse is also kind of true.

432
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:31,760
I don't want to only rely
on customers coming forth

433
00:21:32,670 --> 00:21:36,240
to give me a testimonial to
know that I'm doing a good job.

434
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,943
I also wanna know that for myself, right?

435
00:21:40,050 --> 00:21:42,390
Obviously, there's things we
can do to incentivize people

436
00:21:42,390 --> 00:21:44,250
to give us a testimonial and such,

437
00:21:44,250 --> 00:21:46,740
but there are people who never will,

438
00:21:46,740 --> 00:21:49,590
but I would still wanna know
I did right by that person.

439
00:21:49,590 --> 00:21:51,330
That person who's never
gonna leave me a testimonial,

440
00:21:51,330 --> 00:21:53,160
never gonna give me a referral, anything,

441
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,710
I still wanna know that
I did right by them.

442
00:21:55,710 --> 00:21:58,380
So, the only way I can know that is

443
00:21:58,380 --> 00:22:02,370
if I measure my work quality somehow,

444
00:22:02,370 --> 00:22:05,730
and what I've noticed is you can put KPIs

445
00:22:05,730 --> 00:22:07,440
on pretty much anything.

446
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,690
That's one thing I've noticed
in working with a client

447
00:22:09,690 --> 00:22:11,133
who had a mindset offer.

448
00:22:12,030 --> 00:22:14,640
So, he was basically like,

449
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,010
oh, I'm gonna help you
clear your mental blocks,

450
00:22:17,010 --> 00:22:18,780
I'm gonna help you be less anxious,

451
00:22:18,780 --> 00:22:23,400
more confident, less frustrated,

452
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,190
less afraid to make
decisions and all of that,

453
00:22:26,190 --> 00:22:29,160
and that is on the first glance,

454
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:30,870
it's kind of hard to measure,

455
00:22:30,870 --> 00:22:33,360
it's kind hard to put a KPI on that.

456
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,820
Like how do I know if you're happier,

457
00:22:35,820 --> 00:22:38,370
other than asking you, are you happier?

458
00:22:38,370 --> 00:22:41,460
Or are you happier now
than you were before?

459
00:22:41,460 --> 00:22:44,070
Can I attribute that to my thing?

460
00:22:44,070 --> 00:22:48,483
Or just, did you just receive
bucket of flowers today or no?

461
00:22:49,470 --> 00:22:53,610
So, we did actually manage
to put KPIs on that,

462
00:22:53,610 --> 00:22:58,610
we managed to put over like
12 KPIs on that mindset offer

463
00:22:58,650 --> 00:23:00,750
that we were tracking for everybody,

464
00:23:00,750 --> 00:23:02,970
and we were able to tell,

465
00:23:02,970 --> 00:23:07,970
hey, by the third month of
you being in this program,

466
00:23:08,190 --> 00:23:12,840
your frustration will go
down by, I don't know, 45%.

467
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,740
And in correlation to that,
your revenue will go up by,

468
00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:19,260
I don't know, I'm making
the numbers up of course

469
00:23:19,260 --> 00:23:21,840
to protect my client's data and stuff,

470
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,530
but we had those numbers and
we advertise around them,

471
00:23:25,530 --> 00:23:28,380
and it was such a novel idea in that space

472
00:23:28,380 --> 00:23:31,770
because nobody in that space
that was our competitor

473
00:23:31,770 --> 00:23:33,780
was able to put KPIs on that.

474
00:23:33,780 --> 00:23:35,070
So, it was such a novel idea

475
00:23:35,070 --> 00:23:38,493
that it propelled us forward pretty well.

476
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,503
So all of that in mind, yes, definitely,

477
00:23:45,210 --> 00:23:49,950
put some KPIs in place
and track them religiously

478
00:23:49,950 --> 00:23:51,090
as you would track KPIs

479
00:23:51,090 --> 00:23:53,313
in any other aspect of your business.

480
00:23:54,810 --> 00:23:58,110
- You've introduced us to KPIs,

481
00:23:58,110 --> 00:24:00,450
we all use KPIs in running our business,

482
00:24:00,450 --> 00:24:03,180
but you're also saying
go one step further,

483
00:24:03,180 --> 00:24:07,410
have KPIs with the customer
onboarding experience.

484
00:24:07,410 --> 00:24:09,510
Because earlier in the conversation,

485
00:24:09,510 --> 00:24:14,220
you made this reference to
the customer-buyer journey

486
00:24:14,220 --> 00:24:18,090
and you just a moment ago
talked about referrals

487
00:24:18,090 --> 00:24:22,920
and testimonies, and
that is a happy customer

488
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,280
may be willing to share why they're happy.

489
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:31,280
How can testimonials be a
benefit to a business owner?

490
00:24:31,350 --> 00:24:34,230
In what ways are testimonials important

491
00:24:34,230 --> 00:24:36,753
and when should you ask
for such a testimonial?

492
00:24:37,620 --> 00:24:42,360
- Well, obviously your
testimonials are twofold, right?

493
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:44,820
On one hand, it's your way of knowing

494
00:24:44,820 --> 00:24:46,757
that you did a good job for the customer.

495
00:24:46,757 --> 00:24:48,030
And on the other hand,

496
00:24:48,030 --> 00:24:51,960
it's probably the most
powerful marketing asset

497
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,720
you could put forth into the world.

498
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:59,280
I don't know anybody,
anybody who doesn't go

499
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,112
and Google some reviews for
anything that they wanna do.

500
00:25:03,112 --> 00:25:03,945
You wanna eat in a new place,

501
00:25:03,945 --> 00:25:05,550
you're gonna look at the
Google reviews first.

502
00:25:05,550 --> 00:25:06,990
You wanna go to a new hair salon?

503
00:25:06,990 --> 00:25:07,950
You're gonna look,

504
00:25:07,950 --> 00:25:10,110
you want a new supplier?

505
00:25:10,110 --> 00:25:11,850
You can be sure as heck you're going

506
00:25:12,804 --> 00:25:13,637
to ask everybody you know,

507
00:25:13,637 --> 00:25:15,360
hey, have you ever worked with that guy?

508
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:17,070
Is he okay?

509
00:25:17,070 --> 00:25:20,310
Nobody is doing anything these days

510
00:25:20,310 --> 00:25:23,130
without looking at some testimonials.

511
00:25:23,130 --> 00:25:25,920
So it's probably the most powerful piece

512
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,050
of marketing you can have in your company.

513
00:25:28,050 --> 00:25:33,050
So as to how and when to ask for one,

514
00:25:34,020 --> 00:25:37,890
and this comes back to the
customer-buyer journey,

515
00:25:37,890 --> 00:25:41,370
there's a stage between when the person

516
00:25:41,370 --> 00:25:43,800
first becomes your customer

517
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,530
and when they next buy something from you,

518
00:25:46,530 --> 00:25:48,060
there's a stage in the middle of that

519
00:25:48,060 --> 00:25:50,250
and it's called the excite stage.

520
00:25:50,250 --> 00:25:53,670
A person is not gonna buy
something from you again

521
00:25:53,670 --> 00:25:57,270
unless they are excited
by the first purchase

522
00:25:57,270 --> 00:25:58,103
that they made,

523
00:25:58,103 --> 00:26:01,650
and it is your job to make
sure that they are excited.

524
00:26:01,650 --> 00:26:02,700
That you get them excited,

525
00:26:02,700 --> 00:26:05,550
that they consume that product or service

526
00:26:05,550 --> 00:26:08,850
and they're like, oh yeah,
that actually worked,

527
00:26:08,850 --> 00:26:11,820
I am happy, I am ecstatic, right?

528
00:26:11,820 --> 00:26:13,674
I am excited about it.

529
00:26:13,674 --> 00:26:18,150
I am validated that I
made the right decision

530
00:26:18,150 --> 00:26:21,450
in putting my money with you
and putting my trust in you.

531
00:26:21,450 --> 00:26:23,850
I feel like I made the right decision,

532
00:26:23,850 --> 00:26:26,640
that is the most important thing.

533
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,430
And when somebody has reached that stage,

534
00:26:29,430 --> 00:26:32,070
that is when you wanna
ask for testimonial,

535
00:26:32,070 --> 00:26:34,473
not three months later
when the novelty is gone.

536
00:26:35,310 --> 00:26:36,330
- See, that's interesting.

537
00:26:36,330 --> 00:26:38,370
I would've thought something
different than that,

538
00:26:38,370 --> 00:26:40,050
so, I'm so glad that you mentioned that

539
00:26:40,050 --> 00:26:43,170
and that is do everything you can

540
00:26:43,170 --> 00:26:45,000
to take care of that customer

541
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,300
such that they are in that excited stage.

542
00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:50,310
And when they're in that stage,

543
00:26:50,310 --> 00:26:54,960
then they're much more willing
to provide a testimonial.

544
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,090
And then they go back to the KPIs.

545
00:26:57,090 --> 00:27:02,090
If you have KPIs, then the
testimonials can be very specific

546
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,200
and sometimes numbers
can be very compelling.

547
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,600
The fact that you were
able to help your client

548
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:14,600
come up with 12 KPIs on
mindset is pretty remarkable

549
00:27:14,700 --> 00:27:17,490
because that's kind of an obscure concept.

550
00:27:17,490 --> 00:27:21,180
So, I can see how KPIs are
very important with you

551
00:27:21,180 --> 00:27:23,580
and how you work with clients.

552
00:27:23,580 --> 00:27:27,780
Now, I better understand
the value of testimonials

553
00:27:27,780 --> 00:27:31,440
and when to ask for those testimonials.

554
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,310
As we kinda step back about the early part

555
00:27:35,310 --> 00:27:38,340
of the customer
relationship and you stress

556
00:27:38,340 --> 00:27:40,860
how important it's to
set those expectations,

557
00:27:40,860 --> 00:27:42,750
have clear communications,

558
00:27:42,750 --> 00:27:46,470
be totally transparent with that customer.

559
00:27:46,470 --> 00:27:49,530
If something's gone awry, let them know,

560
00:27:49,530 --> 00:27:53,250
and then you've kind of
stressed measure outcomes,

561
00:27:53,250 --> 00:27:54,750
not only business outcomes,

562
00:27:54,750 --> 00:27:57,750
but how successful are your onboarding?

563
00:27:57,750 --> 00:27:58,890
Then you're in a better position

564
00:27:58,890 --> 00:28:01,950
to kind of gauge that excitement phase

565
00:28:01,950 --> 00:28:05,520
and you can immediately
kind of perpetuate that.

566
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,360
The assumption is, is that
customer won't buy once,

567
00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:12,180
but they'll be buying over and over again

568
00:28:12,180 --> 00:28:16,530
and you're kind of setting that in motion.

569
00:28:16,530 --> 00:28:19,470
Christina, as you kind of think about

570
00:28:19,470 --> 00:28:23,910
how you've helped clients
who have gotten stuck,

571
00:28:23,910 --> 00:28:26,760
can you share an example
where maybe a client was stuck

572
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,193
and what did it take to get unstuck?

573
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:35,940
- For sure, well, I feel
like most clients get stuck

574
00:28:35,940 --> 00:28:38,190
on actually starting to think

575
00:28:38,190 --> 00:28:40,800
what their onboarding might look like.

576
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,820
'Cause a lot of clients, they
go through the technical part

577
00:28:44,820 --> 00:28:46,950
of onboarding and then they get stuck.

578
00:28:46,950 --> 00:28:49,530
But as soon as it comes to the human part,

579
00:28:49,530 --> 00:28:54,530
they're like, okay, I kind
of know that I should go

580
00:28:56,070 --> 00:28:58,080
through a kickoff call
with this new client,

581
00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,960
but I'm not quite sure what
I'm supposed to talk about

582
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:05,400
with them, I'm not quite
sure what I should present,

583
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,610
I don't know what the roadmap
is supposed to look like.

584
00:29:08,610 --> 00:29:11,970
KPIs is something that doesn't even cross

585
00:29:11,970 --> 00:29:13,140
most people's minds.

586
00:29:13,140 --> 00:29:17,730
So, I feel like just the whole thing

587
00:29:17,730 --> 00:29:21,720
is where most people
get a little bit stuck

588
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:25,020
because they rush ahead.

589
00:29:25,020 --> 00:29:29,910
They rush into, oh yeah, I
wanna create like a task list

590
00:29:29,910 --> 00:29:32,340
inside of my project management service

591
00:29:32,340 --> 00:29:34,680
for everything that's got
to do with onboarding,

592
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,020
and then I'm like, okay, that's great.

593
00:29:37,020 --> 00:29:38,280
What does your onboarding look like?

594
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:43,280
And they're like, well, like, okay,

595
00:29:44,670 --> 00:29:46,413
let's back up a step then.

596
00:29:49,620 --> 00:29:54,620
So, as for what we do,
there is a five step process

597
00:29:56,250 --> 00:30:01,250
that I use for pretty much
everything, to fix everything,

598
00:30:01,380 --> 00:30:03,450
process related inside
of somebody's company,

599
00:30:03,450 --> 00:30:05,760
whether it's like their
entire business process

600
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,310
or whether it's we pluck this small thing,

601
00:30:08,310 --> 00:30:11,790
like onboarding or a podcast process,

602
00:30:11,790 --> 00:30:16,790
there's a five step process
that I take people through

603
00:30:17,220 --> 00:30:19,740
and it starts with documenting.

604
00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:22,260
So, what I want you to do before you think

605
00:30:22,260 --> 00:30:24,540
about how you can make anything better

606
00:30:24,540 --> 00:30:27,360
is I want you to jot down

607
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,160
what your current process looks like,

608
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,830
what you're actually doing right now.

609
00:30:31,830 --> 00:30:34,620
What does it look like right now?

610
00:30:34,620 --> 00:30:37,530
Take your last customer,
what did you do for them?

611
00:30:37,530 --> 00:30:38,763
How does that look like?

612
00:30:40,428 --> 00:30:43,995
And after I know,
because I cannot tell you

613
00:30:43,995 --> 00:30:45,930
what you can improve if I don't know

614
00:30:45,930 --> 00:30:49,470
what you're already doing,
that's basic, right?

615
00:30:49,470 --> 00:30:51,390
So, after I know what you're doing

616
00:30:51,390 --> 00:30:52,710
and we take a look at that,

617
00:30:52,710 --> 00:30:55,260
that's when we begin to optimize.

618
00:30:55,260 --> 00:30:58,470
Usually, people jump
straight from documenting

619
00:30:58,470 --> 00:31:01,530
into automating, that's
not what you wanna do.

620
00:31:01,530 --> 00:31:03,450
What you wanna do is
optimize first and be like,

621
00:31:03,450 --> 00:31:08,250
okay, we have this, I don't
know, 14 step process,

622
00:31:08,250 --> 00:31:10,080
is anything in there redundant?

623
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:12,922
Is anything in there
just adding complexity

624
00:31:12,922 --> 00:31:13,755
for the sake of complexity?

625
00:31:14,790 --> 00:31:18,030
Is anything in there
kind of adding friction

626
00:31:18,030 --> 00:31:21,630
where we don't really want
there to be any friction?

627
00:31:21,630 --> 00:31:22,950
And on the flip side is like,

628
00:31:22,950 --> 00:31:25,200
are we missing anything vital in here?

629
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,270
Is there anything that we,

630
00:31:27,270 --> 00:31:28,800
I don't know that the customer is missing,

631
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,350
that they have complained
that they're not getting?

632
00:31:32,670 --> 00:31:33,960
So just add that in there,

633
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:38,880
make sure that the process
is as optimized as it can be.

634
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,690
And only then do we kind of
look for areas of automation

635
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,580
and basically what we're gonna do is,

636
00:31:47,580 --> 00:31:50,040
okay, which parts of these
can we actually automate?

637
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:51,210
Are there any?

638
00:31:51,210 --> 00:31:52,680
Which ones should be automated

639
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,460
because not everything that can
be automated also should be.

640
00:31:56,460 --> 00:31:59,673
There's a distinction
there where sometimes,

641
00:32:00,630 --> 00:32:04,800
a human will just do a better
job than a software ever will,

642
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,650
and it makes sense to sacrifice that

643
00:32:07,650 --> 00:32:11,340
and pay a little bit
more just to make sure

644
00:32:11,340 --> 00:32:13,560
that you get the right result.

645
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,760
So, find the right areas for automation

646
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:19,500
inside of that process,

647
00:32:19,500 --> 00:32:21,060
and then for everything else,

648
00:32:21,060 --> 00:32:23,370
you wanna standardize as much as possible.

649
00:32:23,370 --> 00:32:25,380
So, writing your standard
operating procedures

650
00:32:25,380 --> 00:32:29,070
around everything else
that is in that process,

651
00:32:29,070 --> 00:32:30,960
and then finally you get to the last step,

652
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,420
which is delegating.

653
00:32:33,420 --> 00:32:38,420
Ideally, you as the CEO, you
won't do the onboarding forever

654
00:32:39,090 --> 00:32:41,700
for every new customer,
especially if you wanna scale

655
00:32:41,700 --> 00:32:44,160
and you get hundreds of
customers every month,

656
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:45,270
you're not gonna do the onboarding

657
00:32:45,270 --> 00:32:47,190
for each and every single one.

658
00:32:47,190 --> 00:32:51,679
So, you have to have the
right processes in place

659
00:32:51,679 --> 00:32:54,720
that you're able to delegate
that process to somebody else.

660
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,810
- So, Christina, you just
shared the five step process

661
00:32:57,810 --> 00:33:01,410
that you use with clients
regardless of the topic.

662
00:33:01,410 --> 00:33:04,590
We happen to be talking
about onboarding customers,

663
00:33:04,590 --> 00:33:07,050
let me see if I wrote this down correct.

664
00:33:07,050 --> 00:33:09,270
Document your current process,

665
00:33:09,270 --> 00:33:11,970
optimize that process

666
00:33:11,970 --> 00:33:16,293
before you attempt to
automate those processes,

667
00:33:17,190 --> 00:33:21,510
and then you're going to, of those decide

668
00:33:21,510 --> 00:33:25,620
which of these things do I not have to do

669
00:33:25,620 --> 00:33:26,883
and can be delegated.

670
00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:29,795
- Yep.
- Excellent.

671
00:33:29,795 --> 00:33:31,650
- Yeah, that's kind of, yeah.

672
00:33:31,650 --> 00:33:36,650
So, it's document, optimize,
automate, standardize

673
00:33:37,980 --> 00:33:39,093
and then delegate.

674
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:42,180
- I may have skipped standardized

675
00:33:42,180 --> 00:33:45,360
because I wasn't sure if that
was part of automation or not,

676
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:46,680
but got it.

677
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:47,703
- Not exactly.

678
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:51,720
When you're automating something,

679
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,940
you're pretty much guaranteed

680
00:33:53,940 --> 00:33:55,740
to also standardize it in a way,

681
00:33:55,740 --> 00:33:57,690
'cause obviously, a
software is gonna do it

682
00:33:57,690 --> 00:34:00,651
the same way each time,
but even manual tasks,

683
00:34:00,651 --> 00:34:02,970
they can still be standardized,

684
00:34:02,970 --> 00:34:05,940
you can still give somebody
an operating procedure

685
00:34:05,940 --> 00:34:07,680
and be like, hey, these are the five steps

686
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,230
you have to follow every single time

687
00:34:09,230 --> 00:34:11,400
if you're doing this task.

688
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,410
And it's important that we have that

689
00:34:13,410 --> 00:34:16,560
and that we think about
that and start creating that

690
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,700
even if we're not ready to delegate

691
00:34:19,860 --> 00:34:21,760
that specific part of the process yet.

692
00:34:22,980 --> 00:34:24,600
- So Christina, as you kind of reflect

693
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:29,310
on our conversation today
about the critical importance

694
00:34:29,310 --> 00:34:32,100
of onboarding a new customer

695
00:34:32,100 --> 00:34:34,410
and why that is so important,

696
00:34:34,410 --> 00:34:37,160
what do you want to be the
takeaways for our listeners?

697
00:34:39,270 --> 00:34:41,430
- I think the biggest,
biggest, biggest takeaway

698
00:34:41,430 --> 00:34:43,920
is in your onboarding process,

699
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,503
in your ongoing relationship
with your client,

700
00:34:47,370 --> 00:34:49,290
everything that you do,

701
00:34:49,290 --> 00:34:53,310
you must do with the client's
best interest in mind.

702
00:34:53,310 --> 00:34:56,280
So, every process that you
may or may not automate,

703
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:57,840
every single piece of communication

704
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,040
that you may or may not send them,

705
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,790
every offer that you
may or may not make them

706
00:35:02,790 --> 00:35:06,330
in the future, every
KPI that you're tracking

707
00:35:06,330 --> 00:35:08,040
or not tracking,

708
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,020
every thought that you
put into this process

709
00:35:12,150 --> 00:35:14,986
is supposed to be with the
client's best interest in mind.

710
00:35:14,986 --> 00:35:19,986
Does me automating this
impact the customer negatively

711
00:35:20,100 --> 00:35:23,160
in some way, shape or form, if yes,

712
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,674
maybe consider not doing that.

713
00:35:25,674 --> 00:35:30,330
If I don't communicate
to this client this week

714
00:35:30,330 --> 00:35:31,800
and let them know something important,

715
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,500
will it impact them two
weeks down the line?

716
00:35:34,500 --> 00:35:36,330
Probably yes.

717
00:35:36,330 --> 00:35:39,630
Go make that communication,
even if it's uncomfortable.

718
00:35:39,630 --> 00:35:43,410
So, as long as you put the client first,

719
00:35:43,410 --> 00:35:47,550
you should be able to
maintain a good relationship

720
00:35:47,550 --> 00:35:51,120
moving forward and to get
them into that excited stage

721
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:52,203
that we talked about.

722
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:58,280
Also, I think the second point
that I think I want people

723
00:35:58,380 --> 00:36:01,683
to remember is don't
leave anything to chance.

724
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:08,760
If you want your customers
to go through a journey

725
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:10,320
and go through every stage,

726
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,799
you have to put some sort
of intentional action

727
00:36:13,799 --> 00:36:15,720
into getting them there.

728
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:18,990
You can't leave things happening to chance

729
00:36:18,990 --> 00:36:21,810
because then, you're not in control

730
00:36:21,810 --> 00:36:26,430
and no, hoping is not
really a good strategy

731
00:36:26,430 --> 00:36:27,453
to achieve anything.

732
00:36:29,670 --> 00:36:33,510
- Christina, you are in Romania,
I'm in the United States,

733
00:36:33,510 --> 00:36:37,530
and I also understand
that many of your clients

734
00:36:37,530 --> 00:36:40,950
are in United States, that's
the beauty of the technology

735
00:36:40,950 --> 00:36:43,380
that we enjoy now.

736
00:36:43,380 --> 00:36:45,450
But as people have been listening to you

737
00:36:45,450 --> 00:36:48,033
and they begin to kind of get a sense of,

738
00:36:48,870 --> 00:36:52,920
Christina, boy, she gets
this, she understands this,

739
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,290
I'm a business owner and I'm struggling

740
00:36:55,290 --> 00:37:00,150
with the very thing that we've
talked about on this podcast.

741
00:37:00,150 --> 00:37:02,700
What's the best way for
people to reach out to you?

742
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:08,560
- Sure, on my website,
it's beeproductive.eu.

743
00:37:09,870 --> 00:37:13,053
So it's B with two Es from bees,

744
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:19,140
you can schedule a clarity
call that is a free call

745
00:37:19,140 --> 00:37:21,240
where you and I can chat,

746
00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:25,320
and you can tell me what challenges

747
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:30,320
or basically anything that you
potentially want my input on.

748
00:37:31,980 --> 00:37:33,510
And we can have an honest,

749
00:37:33,510 --> 00:37:37,770
no strings attached discussion around it.

750
00:37:37,770 --> 00:37:39,960
You're not gonna get a pitch,
you're not gonna get anything,

751
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:44,790
we can just talk like normal
people for 15 to 30 minutes

752
00:37:44,790 --> 00:37:49,080
and let's see if I can
help you shine some light

753
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,240
on your challenges.

754
00:37:51,240 --> 00:37:56,240
- I love that expression,
clarity call, perfect.

755
00:37:56,910 --> 00:37:59,640
Christina, this has been a treat,

756
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,913
thank you so much for sharing
a bit of your expertise today.

757
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,360
- Thank you very much for having me.

758
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,390
- I also wanna thank our
listeners for joining us today.

759
00:38:09,390 --> 00:38:11,850
We upload the latest
episode to Apple, Google

760
00:38:11,850 --> 00:38:14,010
and Spotify every Thursday.

761
00:38:14,010 --> 00:38:16,860
So, if you've enjoyed this
episode with Christina,

762
00:38:16,860 --> 00:38:18,153
please subscribe.

763
00:38:18,990 --> 00:38:22,170
My question for you is, is
your company growing quickly?

764
00:38:22,170 --> 00:38:24,060
Are you worried you don't
have the right people

765
00:38:24,060 --> 00:38:27,270
and processes in place to
handle that increased workload,

766
00:38:27,270 --> 00:38:28,950
or maybe you're not sure

767
00:38:28,950 --> 00:38:31,110
that you've got the right planning systems

768
00:38:31,110 --> 00:38:34,020
to assure the success
that you're looking for.

769
00:38:34,020 --> 00:38:36,750
If you answered, yes, let's talk.

770
00:38:36,750 --> 00:38:40,770
Head to bench-builders.com
to schedule a quick call.

771
00:38:40,770 --> 00:38:42,810
We will explore ways to help you solve

772
00:38:42,810 --> 00:38:47,700
those nagging problems so you
can scale faster and smarter.

773
00:38:47,700 --> 00:38:49,680
So, I wanna thank you for joining us

774
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,860
and I hope you have picked up
on some tips from Christina

775
00:38:52,860 --> 00:38:56,760
that will help you get
unstuck and on target.

776
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:57,835
Until next time.

777
00:38:57,835 --> 00:39:01,002
(bright upbeat music)

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