Auctor purus, aliquet risus tincidunt erat nulla sed quam blandit mattis id gravida elementum, amet id libero nibh urna nisi sit sed. Velit enim at purus arcu sed ac. Viverra maecenas id netus euismod phasellus et tempus rutrum tellus nisi, amet porttitor facilisis aenean faucibus eu nec pellentesque id. Volutpat, pellentesque cursus sit at ut a imperdiet duis turpis duis ultrices gravida at aenean amet mattis sed aliquam augue nisl cras suscipit.
At elit elementum consectetur interdum venenatis et id vestibulum id imperdiet elit urna sed vulputate bibendum aliquam. Tristique lectus tellus amet, mauris lorem venenatis vulputate morbi condimentum felis et lobortis urna amet odio leo tincidunt semper sed bibendum metus, malesuada scelerisque laoreet risus duis.
Ullamcorper pellentesque a ultrices maecenas fermentum neque eget. Habitant cum esat ornare sed. Tristique semper est diam mattis elit. Viverra adipiscing vulputate nibh neque at. Adipiscing tempus id sed arcu accumsan ullamcorper dignissim pulvinar ullamcorper urna, habitasse. Lectus scelerisque euismod risus tristique nullam elementum diam libero sit sed diam rhoncus, accumsan proin amet eu nunc vel turpis eu orci sit fames.
“Sit enim porttitor vehicula consequat urna, eleifend tincidunt vulputate turpis, dignissim pulvinar ullamcorper”
Nisi in sem ipsum fermentum massa quisque cursus risus sociis sit massa suspendisse. Neque vulputate sed purus, dui sit diam praesent ullamcorper at in non dignissim iaculis velit nibh eu vitae. Bibendum euismod ipsum euismod urna vestibulum ut ligula. In faucibus egestas dui integer tempor feugiat lorem venenatis sollicitudin quis ultrices cras feugiat iaculis eget.
Id ac imperdiet est eget justo viverra nunc faucibus tempus tempus porttitor commodo sodales sed tellus eu donec enim. Lectus eu viverra ullamcorper ultricies et lacinia nisl ut at aliquet lacus blandit dui arcu at in id amet orci egestas commodo sagittis in. Vel risus magna nibh elementum pellentesque feugiat netus sit donec tellus nunc gravida feugiat nullam dignissim rutrum lacus felis morbi nisi interdum tincidunt. Vestibulum pellentesque cursus magna pulvinar est at quis nisi nam et sed in hac quis vulputate vitae in et sit. Interdum etiam nulla lorem lorem feugiat cursus etiam massa facilisi ut.
Kristi Faltorusso
If you’re in SaaS, you understand the importance of Customer and User Onboarding to ensure your customers are set up to succeed in using your product and services. But, when we start with Onboarding, we miss a HUGE opportunity.
Think about a perfect world, where you and your customer are aligned on goals, expectations, roles and responsibilities as well as the overarching success criteria. Imagine having all of this established BEFORE you start Onboarding; to influence the focus of your work and to enhance the joint experience for all involved. Well dream no more! This is possible.
Over the past few years, I’ve redesigned how I kickoff the initial engagement with our customers by starting with a Partnership Kickoff Meeting. The intention is to start with an Executive engagement to align on the journey ahead. During this well-orchestrated meeting, you have the opportunity to elevate the conversation and facilitate relationship building with your customer across all levels of the organization.
The Partnership Kickoff does not necessarily replace the Onboarding Kickoff, although it can, depending on the complexity of your Onboarding process. The objective of this meeting is to accomplish the following:
In this case we mean for both parties. You AND your customer will have expectations on what will make this partnership a success long term, and this is your opportunity to lay it all out there. Discuss the work that both teams will need to do and when; align on roles and responsibilities; clarify working styles and nuances. Cover whatever it is you have to upfront, so there are no surprises and everyone moves forward together.
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Your customer has purchased technology to change the way they’ve done things previously for a very specific reason. It could be to save time, move faster, increase productivity or profitability, reduce headcount, work on other projects, etc. Whatever the reason, you need to make sure you’re crystal clear on those goals. Without them you'll never know if you’ve been successful together. Now even more so, you need to map out the KPIs, (key performance indicators) to ensure you’re tracking the right metrics, that if improved, will help achieve their goals.
Establishing real relationships with your customers is critical for the long-term success of your partnership. As they say, people buy from people. Having the opportunity to meet the team upfront will help open the lines of communication in the weeks, months and years to come. This will help ensure relationships are not single threaded and that you understand who is involved, the role they will play, and how they are defining success personally through the lens of the partnership.
By shifting to this discussion as your first engagement with your customer, you’re guaranteed to change the nature of your partnership. Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression.
