Keeping Clients on the Same Page During SaaS Onboarding

After years of working in customer-facing roles, I understand firsthand the challenges of working with customer teams to implement new SaaS software. Our job is to help these teams achieve a readiness to use the software and ultimately realize the business outcomes they hoped to achieve.

However, it's essential to recognize that SaaS onboarding is not just a one-way process in which the onboarding team provides guidance and support to the client team. Instead, it is a "co-creation" process in which the onboarding and client teams work together to achieve a successful outcome. This requires a high level of collaboration and teamwork and a shared commitment to "walking together" towards a common goal.

Our director of onboarding, Stacey Kimmett, and I recently discussed what happens when client teams are not all "on the same page" and face challenges hindering their ability to onboard and use the software effectively. There can be several reasons why a client team may struggle during the onboarding process, including:

1. Lack of understanding or knowledge: The client team may need to fully understand the onboarding process or how to use the software, which can lead to delays and setbacks.
2. Insufficient resources: The client team may need more resources (e.g., time, staff, budget) to devote to the onboarding process, which can hinder their progress.
3. Changes in priorities or business needs: The client team's preferences or business needs may change, which can cause them to shift focus away from the onboarding process.
4. Communication breakdown: There may be a breakdown in communication between the software company and the client team, making it difficult to coordinate efforts and resolve issues.
5. Resistance to change: The client team may resist implementing new software and may need extra support and guidance to help them overcome this resistance.
6. Feature Expectations: The client may have made assumptions that needed to be better addressed during the sales process, causing a gap between what they expected and what the software could do.

In these situations, the onboarding team must ensure that all stakeholders are up to speed and can "catch up" with the rest of the group. This may involve providing additional support or resources to the client team or working with them to identify and address any underlying problems or challenges causing delays or obstacles.

As an onboarding specialist, it's essential to be aware of these potential challenges and to look for clues that a client team may be struggling. In these moments, it is critical to stop, listen, and resolve any issues. If you try to push forward, you will damage the customer experience and possibly derail the entire process. Some signs that a client team may need extra support or guidance could include the following:

• Frequently missed deadlines or milestones
• Lack of progress or slow progress
• Frustration or dissatisfaction among team members
• Poor communication or coordination among team members
• Clients ghost you or go silent without notice

At the same time, it's also vital to ensure that the high-level leader sponsoring the project knows the issues impacting the client team's ability to onboard and use the software effectively. This can be a delicate task, as it may be necessary to "tactfully" bring these issues to the leader's attention in a way that does not disrupt the relationship or create unnecessary conflict. One approach could be to communicate openly and honestly with the leader about the challenges the client team is facing and to provide concrete examples of the issues or delays that have arisen. Another approach could be to focus on the customer experience and the value that the client team seeks to achieve through the use of the software, highlighting the software's benefits and how it can help the client team achieve its goals.

Ultimately, the key is to communicate openly and honestly and work collaboratively with the high-level leader to identify and address the challenges impacting the client team's ability to onboard and use the software effectively. By taking a proactive and solution-oriented approach, the SaaS onboarding leader can help ensure that the customer experience is positive and that the client team can achieve the value they seek through the software. This may require designing a process where you communicate specific onboarding journey details with the client as early as the sales cycle before the onboarding team has been introduced. Additionally, by focusing on "walking together" and ensuring that all team members are "on the same page" at every step of the journey, we can help customer teams overcome challenges and work together towards a successful outcome. This requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to go the extra mile to help customer teams achieve their goals and realize the software's full potential.