Three Essential On-boarding Questions

You only have one chance to make a first impression. On-boarding is absolutely critical and goes a long way in determining if your newly won customer will be around next renewal.

It’s low-hanging fruit to tell you that the customer needs to know how to use your software/product/service as quickly as possible. Every offering is different and will have a sequence that is optimal for education. That’s on you to identify and implement.

In this article, we’ll present three questions that will directly help with establishing a great working relationship with your customer beyond the table stakes of product education.

What does success look like in the next 60 days?

This first question is so simple and obvious, but you’d be surprised how often it is overlooked. There’s quite a bit of subtlety here, so let’s start unpacking.

In my experience, 60 days is is long enough that the customer has to think beyond what’s in the forefront, but short enough that the answer is meaningful. This time frame drives towards effectiveness and moves away from “learning what to do”.

Moreover, the subtext of the question is asking the customer “what is important to you?”. Establishing a relationship of communication and trust will lay a foundation of openness. Setting this behavior makes it easier to solicit the customer in the future whether that is to tighten up service before renewal or distributing NPS and other surveys.

What (other) technologies will we be working with?

This question acknowledges that we live in a connected world. Inevitably whatever you sell will interface with something else, whether that’s a full blown integration or managers looking to aggregate data into reports.

The faster and deeper you can integrate with a company’s established infrastructure the, the stickier you will be. Moreover, your customers will absolutely talk your ear off about their own business and problems. Opening up that line of communication educates you on the specific challenges of a customer and will make customer advocacy that much easier.

What can we do to be your favorite company to work with?

Aim for the moon, simple. Have a good response and re-focusing question when the customer jokingly responds about being free, but otherwise you’re establishing a standard of excellence in this newly minted relationship.

Companies who are ready to move you through the proverbial turnstile will not stop to ask such a loaded question. In fact, don’t be surprised if your customer is taken aback and doesn’t even have a good answer right away. That’s perfect.

In my experience, you’ll be surprised how often the answers revolve around the relationship and less about the service/product that you offer. The reality is that your product being effective is table stakes.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, onboarding has to focus on demonstrating value to the customer as quickly and as painlessly as possible. “What does success look like in the next 60 days” cuts through the b.s. and addresses this short-term need.

However, the transition from onboarding to steady relationship can be awkward. Without a logical next step after a customer is stable, communication can break down and instead of continuing to get deeper with a customer, a familiar distance will begin to grow. “What (other) technologies will we be working with” identifies that next step early on while helping you learn more about their business.

Yet, without developing a strong trust with your customer, they will not be forthcoming with the information needed to become truly sticky. “What can we do to be your favorite company to work with” pushes the customer to express what things are important to them. While the invoice may be “B2B” success is always going to be person-to-person.

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