ventox35

Sales Leader

ONBOARDING: The death of a company

Our company is unique. We provide a very niched service. Our competitors have contracts, we don't. They are able to better implement services than we are due to these contracts. We have spent years trying to perfect our onboarding process.

I've been considering implementing Mutual Action Plans (MAPs) or an Implementation Timeline/Plan. Our process is confusing for customers as it currently stands.

ADVICE PLEASE!! What works for you? If you're the best onboarding person in the world, please divulge your secrets.

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35 comments

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Really just sounds like the company doesn't take being alive serious...

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

RUDE but true. hanging by a thread these days...it's why i'm trying to fix it

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Why no contracts? You know I'm curious. 🦊

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

Very similar to what cell phone companies did..took advantage of the customer and their contracts are too heavy, leading to an industry-wide weariness of contracts

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

Definitely use a mutual project plan, but just be sure that its actually mutual and built around your prospects process. Don't just create a timeline on your own and try to make a customer stick to it, they will flake and not hold themselves accountable.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

You've spent years working on it but don't have anything to show for it?

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

RUDE. but yes. haven't had the manpower to make it more robust

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

No contracts??

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

Yes :(

adrienmc

Good Citizen

Founder @LaGrowthMachine

One simple question : why don’t you have contract?

From what you’re saying, it seems you’re selling a complexe to implement product, so high cost on either you or the costumer if you’re not helping to implement.

Either way, contract is the only way you’ll have a real ressource and time commitment from your customers.

No need to even think about complexe/long onboarding processes if you don’t have contracts. You’ll be throwing money down the drain with customers dropping in the process.

When that’s done, don’t overthink it. Simple timeline at first, that you will gradually improve as you onboard more customers. Learning by doing. It shouldn’t take « years to perfect » except if you’re trying to build it not coming from experience…

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Spot on! I'd also be very wary of any company who would *buy* a complex technology without a contract...

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

you should be wary..however, the existing contracts in this space are highly predatory and have caused a severe distrust of even the word "agreement"

adrienmc

Good Citizen

Founder @LaGrowthMachine

Yet your competition, that seems to be doing better than you, is doing contracts. And people are still buying from them.

Maybe there isn’t as much distrust as you think? Or that’s something you’re trying to convince yourself of so you believe you chose right?

I’m not trying to be rude, just questioning the story here

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

Interesting perspective...the more i've gotten to know the industry, the more i want to shift our biz model.

adrienmc

Good Citizen

Founder @LaGrowthMachine

If you want to test it out, have two plans :
- no contract but they pay an additional fee for the onboarding, explaining in full transparency why there is an onboarding fee
- contract, but fee is lifted + discount obviously since they’ll commit annually

And see what they like best, without any preconception as to what will work best

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Totally share the perspective.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

You have to be also very transparent, be brutally honest that implementation will be more difficult and prepared to work on it

adrienmc

Good Citizen

Founder @LaGrowthMachine

Probably the competitor is more transparent in the regard and this increases trust

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

having a real hard time digesting this

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

me too!! IT'S WHY I'M ASKING THE QUESTION.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

so what exactly do you need help with? explaining what your company will do and what they should use their resources for?

or what the stages are in implementation and how long it should take?

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

our implementation takes about 5-7 biz days. We have a very specific process. I'm wondering if there's something we are missing that can make it more streamlined, and get more buy-in from the customer. I wish i could give more detail as to what our service is and who our clients are, but i can't.
i can say, making the sale is fairly easy. pulling the client through and getting them to utilize our services is VERY challenging.

adrienmc

Good Citizen

Founder @LaGrowthMachine

It is 5-7 days of workshop together ? Or just you have an internal lead time of 5-7 days? But the client only spend a few hours on this?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

wow very interesting.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

good question! this would make a big impact on the direction depending on the answer.

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

there it is. we do the heavy lifting, and ask them to show up prepared to the onboard meeting. they don't do much work, we just ask for their availability.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Why do you not use contracts, Statements of Work, and contracts?
Set expectations of what they get from the sale, what implementation looks like, and what they get from you over the life of your service...

Show them why you are better overall for your services, and help them understand that *with a contract* they are receiving better, standardized service and you want them to make sure they are receiving the full value of your solution.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, I'm scratching my head. Our SOWs outline clear steps and sequences, and we have timelines together with resource requirements.

I'd say that the SOW contract itself IS an agreed upon mutual plan - and it's in writing, with clear expectations.

CoachUp

Contributor

SVP of Sales

Most communication is with a contract. Why not draft a moving video that identifies the onboarding steps, timelines and actionable items. I find this a highly successful communication exchange. And a regular communication cadence needs to be on the calendars with a heat map for scoring and organizing tasks.

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

No contracts are an odd business model unless the product you're selling is built to be transactional. For implementation advice, it's hard to give without fully understanding your clients, industries, internal/external technical resourcing, and the current tech stack being used by your clients. Typically, you should have an assigned "Onboarding" resource that's dedicated to carrying out the implementation. You DO NOT want sales running point on it cause it takes them off the front lines closing deals.

doingthehustle

Good Citizen

Most Recently Account Director

People are not being vey helpful. Go to LinkedIn and join their Customer Success groups and connect with people in those groups. Also join https://gaingrowretain.com They are a very helpful community of CS people that will be happy to provide insight and advice. Good lick!

doingthehustle

Good Citizen

Most Recently Account Director

**luck

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

you are helpful! others, are not! "yOuR cOmPaNy sUcKs and is STUPID" is just so helpful

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

You have to be also very transparent, be brutally honest that implementation will be more difficult and prepared to work on it

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Strange..

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ventox35

ONBOARDING: The death of a company

35 comments

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