Think about your onboarding system for a prospect coming into your small business.

If they wanted to pay and start, how difficult would it be for them to get started working with you, and how quickly could they begin?

Some small business owners place a lot of steps in between the lead becoming a prospect, and them starting to use your services as a paying customer. The more steps and the longer it takes, the more friction there is.

When a client reaches out to you to begin, it’s because they are experiencing some type of friction with their problem, and they’ve come to you for help solving it. The more difficult and the longer it takes for them to work with you, the more friction there is.

When there is more friction, and when it takes a long time for them to begin working with you, they are less likely to experience success solving their problem, and they most likely won’t stick around for a long time.

The less friction you can hold between making contact and getting started, the longer this customer will stick around, and the better success they will experience.

Here’s 3 ways you can help your customers get started faster, and with less resistance.

Respond Faster

Believe it or not, one of the easiest ways to detract your customers or frustrate them more, is simply not responding in a timely fashion. Often, this mistake is made because the owner doesn’t have a Prospect Journey established – the set steps a prospect takes in their pathway from initial contact to sitting down for a consultation with you.

Simple things like having someone dedicated to nurturing your leads with an expected timeline, and a Prospect Journey for that prospect to flow through, backed up with automations to boost contact time, are just a few simple ways to make this easier for you as the owner.

A slow response time is a surefire way to lose a prospect’s interest.

Clear Pathway

Many of the prospective clients we talk to in Perfect Day Business Mentorship can’t tell us the exact pathway a client flows through their business. They might be told to use this one service, but then could venture over to another, or whatever decision the client makes is best for them.

Having a clear pathway that your clients follow from the moment they become paying clients has the highest level of clarity associated with it. It will make your sales process smoother, and the lead will have a complete understanding of the immediate future ahead of them, but also what the longterm strategy is for them.

Not to mention, this also makes your consult more professional, and shows that you’ve established a system that will get the client results. A clear timeline means the client can see the timeline, and they know exactly what they are getting themselves into.

Meaningful Steps

I once was speaking with a brand I wanted to do business with, but they tossed me between four individuals. I already knew I wanted to purchase their services, but they couldn’t take my money without me speaking to all four people.

The worst part was that I really only needed to speak to one person. But because they didn’t have their systems ironed out in a logical flow, paired with a clear pathway for me as the client, it made it extremely difficult and delayed my start with them.

If I didn’t need their services when I did, I probably would not have chosen to work with them just based on how disorganized the initial contact and sales process were.

Think about your own steps that a lead must take. Is it smooth? Does one step flow into the next? Does each person they are speaking to have a meaningful impact for both the business and the client? Does it make sense? Or are you just bouncing your lead around with no real purpose but to take their money?

The amount of friction between your lead making contact with your small business and becoming a paying client is crucial. Remember that the lead is contacting you because you are an expert at solving their problem. A problem that they’ve already experienced friction with, and is ultimately why they’re reaching out to you. Don’t increase the amount of friction they experience. Instead, make it easy to work with you.

If you want to asses your processes and systems that determine how leads and customers flow through your business, book a Brainstorm Session with our PDBM team here.