Onboard Your Way to Client Success with Megan Huber – E97
Success for clients goes beyond achieving great results. There are several pillars that make up client success, with onboarding being just one of them. Megan Huber of Structured Freedom joins Hands-Off CEO to share her unique perspective on onboarding and how it plays a role in scaling a service-based business.
Megan Huber is a scalability expert for coaches and expert-based businesses, specifically those that are teaching based on a curriculum-based learning model. Her organization, Structured Freedom, transforms hustling entrepreneurs into successful leaders and CEOs. Megan is a great resource for coaches looking to scale their business.
You’ll hear me and Megan talk about:
- When clients first work with a business, they assess the quality of service and the experience during the first 90 days. Megan stresses the importance of building trust and a new relationship with them. [2:41]
- Client success is not only about achieving great results, but also about client satisfaction and loyalty, Megan explains. The pillars of client success include onboarding, retention (meaning clients are engaged and participating), expansion (meaning they’re buying other products or services), and advocacy (meaning they’re spreading positive word-of-mouth about the company). [7:00]
- The idea that a higher paying client will have a higher commitment level is not always true. Clients are already filling up their time with something, whether it is useful or not. As a service provider, it is important to provide clients with the environment, tools, skills, and knowledge to fulfill the promise made to them, but also to understand that resistance will come up in the minds and emotions of the new clients. [14:54]
- “Never Lose Another Customer” aligns with Megan’s observations that the majority of drop-offs happen in the first 90 days. In her previous role as Director of Client Success for a large-scale coaching company, she observed a significant drop-off in participation and engagement around 2.5 to 3 months into the program. She and her team investigated this phenomenon and found that it was related to a specific concept, the “ideal client,” that caused confusion and embarrassment for some clients. [20:17]
- There are seven forms of communication that are important in the onboarding process. These include trust, introducing clients to the team, setting expectations, providing a clear roadmap, providing tools and resources, creating accountability, and fostering a sense of community. By incorporating these forms of communication, companies can help prevent drop-offs. [29:21]
KEY QUOTE
“It’s really empowering for your clients to take the ownership and think for themselves so that they are not so reliant. Because if they’re reliant on you, at some point they’re going to get really resentful because something is not going to go the way they wanted it to.” – Megan Huber
Resources
Megan Huber on the Web | YouTube
Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days