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228. Onboarding Strategies for Solopreneurs That Keep Customers Coming Back for More · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: After finally meeting in person for the first time in nine years last week, Joe and I are back to being thousands of miles apart. But that doesn't stop us from diving into one of the most important and often most overlooked parts of the solopreneur journey, onboarding. From preventing buyers remorse to turning customers into raving fans, we break down why onboarding isn't just a box to check, but a powerful part of your success cycle that can fuel retention, referrals, and repeat sales. So if you've ever wondered how to make clients feel great about working with you from day one, this episode is packed with practical ideas you can start planning today. You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for anyone on the solo business journey, whether you're just toying with the idea, taking your first bold step, or have been running your own show for years and want to keep growing, refining, and thriving.
• 0:48
  I'm Carly Ries, and along with my cohost, Joe Rando, we're your guides through the crazy but awesome world of being a company of one. As part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all things solopreneurship, we help people design businesses that align with their life's ambitions so they can work to live, not live to work. If you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the place for you. But if you want real world insights from industry experts, lessons from the successes and stumbles of fellow solopreneurs, and practical strategies for building and sustaining a business you love, you're in the right spot. Because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone.
• 1:24
  No matter where you are in your journey, we've got your back. Joe, this is sad. We're hundreds of miles apart again.
• 1:34
  Joe Rando: Thousands, thousands of miles apart.
• 1:37
  Carly Ries: Thousands of miles apart after. So for those of you who may not have listened to last week's episode, even though you totally should, Joe and I met for the first time in person in nine years. When I say that out loud, we sound ridiculous.
• 1:53
  Joe Rando: Yeah. But you kinda sound like we met nine years ago, but we never met. We've known each other for nine years. We worked together for nine years on and off, but never met until last week
• 2:02
  Carly Ries: Yeah.
• 2:02
  Joe Rando: In San Francisco where neither of us live.
• 2:04
  Carly Ries: I know. Now we're back in Massachusetts and Colorado. But we were able to talk about marketing strategy and the sales process and the planning phase of both of those realms last week. This week, I wanna talk about or at least wanna start with onboarding. And so how many conversations do you think we've had about onboarding in the past, let's say, six months?
• 2:27
  Not even a year. Six months.
• 2:29
  Joe Rando: Yeah. A lot. And, you know, it's really important.
• 2:34
  Carly Ries: Yes.
• 2:35
  Joe Rando: It's really important. And it's kind of like one of those things where it's almost like you probably should have a different name because you kinda should never stop. You know, you're really trying to always bring people along. but anyway, I'm gonna let you talk
• 2:50
  Carly Ries: Well, what I liken it to, for the buyer's journey, a lot of people end at the sale when really the sale is kinda the beginning with the wedding analogy. once somebody buys, now you're married. Now you have to maintain that relationship and make people be like, oh, yeah. Did the right thing marrying this person. But onboarding is so important, it's basically the delight phase of the buyer's journey.
• 3:12
  Once somebody makes a sale, that's when you really have to get in there and make them feel good about that purchase. Because so many times, whether somebody's buying a product or a service, buyer's remorse kicks in. so it's up to you to make sure that doesn't happen. it's so important, we're talking about the planning phase of the solopreneur success cycle. So this is when you're putting all of your ideas down, not necessarily the implementation.
• 3:39
  And the reason why you need to be thinking about onboarding is it will save you time in the long run. It establishes expectations from the get go with your new client or customer. It builds trust because you get in front of them right after purchase, and you're like, hey, you did the right thing. Good on you. Like I said, it's part of the delight phase.
• 3:59
  It increases retention and upselling opportunities. So if you can get in there right after the purchase, hold their hand, show them what they did, make them feel good, you'll have a lot more opportunities to upsell in the future as well because you had a good onboarding plan.
• 4:17
  Joe Rando: Upsell or renew. You know, just one of the things to think about is, you go in, let's say you're online and you buy something, and nothing happens. Right? You don't get an email. This happened to me the other day, from somebody that I'm very surprised that happened with,
• 4:38
  But, yeah, I've got nothing. I committed to a $20 a month payment, and I've got nothing. And, it's just not how it should be.
• 4:48
  I should have gotten an email. Should have told me what I got, what I bought, how to use it, why it's a good idea, what I'm gonna get out of it. remind me all the reasons that I clicked that buy button. and I got nothing.
• 5:02
  Carly Ries: It goes back to the marriage analogy. When you think you know your future spouse, then you marry them, they become a different person.
• 5:11
  Joe Rando: when I got married, I'm telling silly stories here. But one of the things my wife said she liked about me when we were engaged is I've never really been into watching professional sports. I would rather be out doing something than watching TV, so I wasn't really a professional sports watcher, which, of course, isn't always great when you're trying to bond with guys because it's what they like to bond over. so we get married. The first week of our marriage, the Red Sox finally make it into the World Series, like, for the second time in my life to that point.
• 5:44
  And I am sitting there every night glued to the television set, she's like, you lied to me.
• 5:50
  Carly Ries: this is a cultural thing, not a sports thing. But anyway, we digress. We could tell these marriage stories all day long. But just before we get into kinda some ideas to kick off the onboarding process, the other thing is it's really good for referrals. again, if you can give somebody the warm and fuzzies, once they make the purchase, they'll be like, oh, Joe, This company, I signed up for them.
• 6:14
  They've done this, this, this. It's amazing. It's so much more than I even thought it would be. I mean, always exceed expectations when it comes to your onboarding process. But just to get the wheels turning, the first thing with an onboarding experience is a warm welcome and preventing that buyer's remorse. it could be sending a personalized message in a video, and again, it depends on what you do. If you're a coach, maybe send them a video. Maybe call them. actually do that human connection portion if its more one on one experience. Obviously, if you're selling a product, it's hard to call a lot more people and do that one on one.
• 6:54
  But you could certainly send a personalized video if you want for that, or next steps guide. I don't know, resource. I'm trying to think through even our process right now.
• 7:04
  Joe Rando: Anything that's gonna help people feel, that they are gonna get the value from the purchase, or something that makes them just feel good about you,
• 7:15
  And, again, it really depends how , we talk about the touch level of sales. Right? So is it high touch where you should probably call them up and say, hey. You know?
• 7:24
  And if it's low touch, if they're buying a 1995, gadget that you sell on Etsy, you're not gonna be able to call them on the phone. I hope, or you aren't selling very many if you have time for that. But, I mean, just something to make them feel good. I remember I bought nail clippers one time on I think it was on Amazon . And I got a little handwritten note with the nail clippers just saying, you know, we really worked hard to make this a high quality product. And I'm like, wow.
• 7:54
  You know, but it was a handwritten note. I mean, they probably cranked them out, but I don't know. It's just stuff like that. just something to make you feel good.
• 8:01
  Carly Ries: Totally. So once you make them feel good, then start delivering your product or service. Once you've kicked that buyer's remorse out the door and everything, make it easy for them to use your product or continue with your service. So whether that is further instructions on what you need to do, a q and a, live events. There are so many different options, but make the receiving part of your product or service enjoyable as well.
• 8:28
  Again, the whole point of onboarding is to make them feel good about their purchase. And that doesn't stop. Like you were saying, it's funny that we call it onboarding, because really it's called the delight phase of the buyer's journey.
• 8:41
  Joe Rando: Because there are so many different ways. You know, Sweetwater, they are a musical instrument seller online. And whether I buy an expensive guitar or, a cable from them, it comes with a little bag of candy.
• 8:53
  Carly Ries: Yes.
• 8:54
  Joe Rando: And I know that's goofy, but there's a little bit of just something like, hey. You know, we're thinking about this. We're thinking about you. And, I'm not saying that a gimmick is gonna make up for really caring, but just depending on what you're doing, there are just ways of kind of standing out a little bit. But the main thing is to make sure that people feel like you care about them, that you've got their back, that you're doing what you said you were gonna do, and then, you know, it all flows better from there.
• 9:22
  Carly Ries: Yeah. And then once they have your product and service in hand, help them find success with it. Check-in on them and say, hey, how are things going? Here are some q and a's that some of my previous clients or customers have found helpful. Here are some tutorials.
• 9:35
  I have a whole library of tutorials that could help you figure out x y and z. Hey, I noticed you're doing my online course. Are you struggling? We have an online group, support group that can help with this. just because they have your product, that doesn't mean they know how to use it, or use it well. Remember Kevin that we had on? he created a theme for HubSpot websites that he's done, like, over a million. This is going back a couple of years ago. He had done over a million dollars in revenue selling this one website theme. but he's always reaching out. He's always sending little updates, but he has this thing I think he calls it the happiness center, and it's basically a bunch of videos of how to use his stuff that you can go to, and he'll remind you about it in an email every once in a while. You can go there. Whatever you wanna do, click on the video. It shows you how to do it.
• 10:26
  Joe Rando: And, he really gets it. you know, kinda keeping that, I care about you. I wanna make sure you're successful. Here's some stuff to help you, kind of attitude.
• 10:37
  Carly Ries: Yeah. And then once they find success with your product or service, turn them into fans, and then turn those fans into evangelists. Because those are the people that will start referring your business. They'll be telling their friends about it. You'll be at a dinner party, and the name of your business will come up because they're just so excited and want to share.
• 10:54
  And that makes your sales process so much easier. It makes your lead generation so much easier. I mean, if you can turn these people into super fans, they'll end up doing the selling for you,
• 11:05
  Joe Rando: Any secrets to that? Like, kinda taking them from that kind of evangelist to super fan, or am I mixing up the terms here?
• 11:13
  Carly Ries: No. I mean, it's just to continue nurturing, continue fostering that relationship even after they've found success with your project or service. Because that's where a lot of people fall out. They're like, okay, they succeeded.
• 11:26
  Bye. And then I mean it's a cycle. I feel like we've been talking about loops and cycles a lot the past two weeks. But it really is like once they've found success, continue to woo them. Continue to keep that spark alive, I guess, is what we'll say.
• 11:43
  It's funny because even the company that we work with from a podcast guest standpoint for us, I remember when I got the notebook from them and a personalized card and a pen, and it was just cute. Or even dummies. The dummies team did such a good job. The team over at Wiley sent us cool swag like, wear my dummies shirt. I have my little, bag that I bring for groceries.
• 12:05
  And I just felt very VIP. I get that there's so many other authors out there. I get that there are so many other podcast guests out there. But in that moment, I felt like I was carrying the company. I was like, oh, look what I have.
• 12:22
  And just continuing to make them feel important. That doesn't mean you have to talk to them every day. It doesn't even mean that you necessarily have to talk to them every week. But just don't forget about them. Once they have found success, continue to check-in.
• 12:34
  Maybe that's meetups. Maybe that's, hey, we have a new feature. Again, the upsell opportunities. We know you found success with x y z. Have you considered this? And then you restart the cycle again. So onboarding, like you said, is funny because it never ends. But it doesn't have to be as consistent as further parts of the onboarding process as in the beginning when you need a lot of touch points.
• 13:02
  Joe Rando: Yep. Cool.
• 13:03
  Carly Ries: Well, that's my spiel for today. I just wanted to give my 2¢ because I feel like we are always revising our onboarding process. You likely will not get it right the first time, but hey, you're a solopreneur. And we're all in this together. So Joe, anyway, that's all I have.
• 13:19
  Listeners, thank you so much for tuning in today. As always, please leave that five star review. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and share this episode with a friend if you think they'll find it helpful, which we think they will. And we will see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur.
• 13:34
  Joe Rando: I just wanna say, this is the episode where you actually really do go and leave the five star review because we haven't had one in a while. I think we should start naming people that give us five star reviews, and maybe then we can send them something, I don't know. We don't have bumper stickers. A laptop sticker. what do you think?
• 13:54
  Carly Ries: I like it. Go over all my best ones on the back of my laptop.
• 14:00
  Joe Rando: I'm gonna get on that right after you get off of this podcast.
• 14:04
  Carly Ries: Sounds good.
• 14:05
  Joe Rando: See you. Bye.
• 14:09
  Carly Ries: You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.