You’ve signed a new coaching client. Now what? A strategic, customized onboarding process sets the tone for an incredible client journey. Thoughtfully designed onboarding packages get your relationship off to a productive start and delight clients from day one.
Provide Clarity on the Process
New clients may feel unsure about the next steps. Allay anxiety by walking them through what to expect in your onboarding package – the welcome call, assessments to complete, program materials, ideal preparation, and scheduling the first session. Visual journeys help.
Share Excitement and Congratulations
This is a big investment for new clients. Recognize their commitment by sending a warm, enthusiastic welcome message. Share how excited you are to be part of their growth and congratulate them on investing in themselves.
Send Program Workbooks and Resources
Provide clients with any workbooks, online course access, readings, or materials associated with their coaching program so they can dive in before your first session. Getting primed accelerates progress.
Guide Through Personality Assessments
Personality and motivational assessments during onboarding provide insights you’ll leverage when coaching. Guide clients through recommended assessments and send debrief questions to prompt self-reflection.
Outline Communication Cadences
Be transparent about how you typically communicate in between sessions, your availability, and response time expectations. This head’s off client frustrations.
Suggest Ideal Preparation
Give clients targeted suggestions for how to prepare mentally and emotionally before your work together really digs in. Recommend journaling, creating a vision board, or listing goals.
Introduce Your Approach
Briefly introduce clients to the coaching frameworks, exercises, and models you use as part of your methodology. Familiarity makes sessions more effective.
Check-In After First Session
After an initial session, check in to see if they have any lingering questions and reinforce commitment. Adjust expectations if any aspects confused them initially.
Onboarding sets the trajectory of the coaching relationship. A stellar welcome package eases clients in and gets the momentum going from day one. Delight and retain clients with VIP onboarding.
Here are some additional tips to optimize client onboarding:
- Send a handwritten card or small gift as a special touch.
- Setup their client profile in your management software.
- Have them journal hopes, fears and goals pre-kickoff.
- Share a roadmap linking sessions to their aspirations.
- Check tech and access ahead of time to prevent glitches.
- Provide relevant freebie resources like videos or worksheets. Using SaaS platforms for Onboarding
ClientFol.io has a fully customized client onboarding package with as many variations as you would want. Each one can be structured for different types of clients, different programs and with different attachments, links and files. The power of having a fully customizable onboarding system for coaching clients cannot be dismissed, it sets an immediate impression and shows your clients what to expect as the engagement begins.
