Client Onboarding is a catchall phrase for the process of taking on a new client. It’s not as simple as just showing up at their house and taking care of their pets one day when they are out. A LOT of information has to exchange hands before you can ever go to the first appointment. Generally, this is the step where both parties describe their expectations and ensure that everyone is on the same page. However, this is a time-consuming process that can be a real struggle. You can make it a lot easier by changing over to a paperless client onboarding system!
Why Paperless Client Onboarding Is Essential
Overall, you’ll find that a paperless client onboarding system will make everything run better. We could go on and on about all the benefits of having an automated client onboarding process, but we will limit ourselves to just the three biggest ones.
Your whole process will be simpler for both you and your clients in the long run. Once you get it set up, every time a new client joins your company, you’ll get to reap the benefits of this easy process. A new client can sign up any time, day or night, and you don’t have to be there to walk them through the process. That’s true freedom for both of you.
The quicker you can get somebody to the paperwork, the less time they have to change their mind. You’ve heard the old phrase, “Strike when the iron is hot.” We live in an instant gratification world, and that iron seems to cool off faster and faster every year. Immediately sending a client their paperwork will keep them from backing out. It will also give them the impression that you are attentive and prepared. Both of those are comforting traits in a pet sitter!
It’s also a lot cheaper. Sure, you’ll save on printer ink and paper, but that’s just the beginning of the savings. Think about how long it takes you to do this task yourself and how much that adds up. Then remember that even if you hire someone else to do it, you’ve got to pay that person in actual cash. Since you can use all free tools here, it’s a LOT cheaper to automate this process.
Tools You Need for Paperless Onboarding
- Your Company Website – You literally can’t do the rest of this without a website for your company!
- Email Marketing Service– There are a lot of legal complications involved with sending out emails to strangers. Anti-Spam laws are no joke. Email Marketing services don’t just save you time; they also keep you legally compliant! MailerLite or MailChimp are excellent free options, but if you don’t mind paying, ActiveCampaign is a compelling choice.
- Form Builder- We recommend Jotform. They let you make up to five forms on their free service.
Paperless Client Onboarding Steps
There are many different paths your paperless onboarding can follow. We’re going to discuss one approach you can take. In our YouTube video above, Shelley will show you how all of these work together. That way, you can get an idea of how this workflow, well, works!
Become a New Client Button
The first step for the paperless onboarding automation is the one that will get the whole ball rolling. The Become a New Client button! We recommend putting it in your website’s footer and header, so it is easy to access from any page.
The Become a New Client button will take them to the form you made in your Email Marketing Service. They fill this out, and it triggers an email from your email marketing service. Once they open that email, a link will send them to the client portal to start their paperwork!
New Client Welcome Packet
Yay! Everyone’s favorite thing! (That was a joke.) Most people find paperwork to be exhausting and stressful. Thankfully, you can make it easier by sending them the new client welcome packet digitally. Having it delivered automatically means they can get this without needing you to do a thing!
Now, there are three major types of paperwork we recommend sending to your clients in this welcome packet. We actually have an entire article right here on that topic! After they finish filling out those items for you, they’ll automatically go to the last step.
Thank You Page
This last step is a little simpler. Once your client finishes submitting their paperwork, they are automatically sent to a special thank you page on your website, that tells them what will happen next. Because it answers many of your new client’s questions without them having to call you directly, this is extremely helpful. You can take several different approaches to how you deliver this. Some people like to use a video for it, and others simply give written instructions.
The most important part of the Thank You Page is that it lets them know what to expect now. Clients will appreciate knowing what comes next instead of being left in the dark!
Client Onboarding Doesn’t Have To Be Stressful!
The client onboarding process should be enjoyable for everyone. It should be like making new friends, not like dental work! Each of these steps is necessary, though. In truth, with a bit of practice, you’ll be navigating them like the boss you are.
PetBrainy can help make that even easier on you. In particular, how would you like to automate entire portions of your pet sitting business? It’s not a dream! We have tutorials inside the PetBrainy Circle to streamline processes using your website and some innovative online tools. What’s more, we’ve also got templates you’re welcome to customize and use. It’s our mission to make your life easier. Sign up here so that you can start improving your pet sitting business today!
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