The Transition from Sales to On-Boarding
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After the partnership is signed, the job is not over for the salesperson.
The Kick-Off Call
After the partnership is signed the job is not over for the salesperson. This is the final stage in the agency sales process. In case you missed the other steps they are as follows. The connect call, the qualifying call, the solution call, and the decision call.
If you haven’t gone through the other episodes in the series I recommend doing so. The onboarding call is a crucial last step in the sales process and one that some agency salespeople are not taking advantage of.
Before the Kick-Off Call
Before the call starts you need to have a conversation with the project manager for the client to brief them. Your project manager should know your new client’s internal team structure, what their major pain points are, what the expected timeframe is, who their point of contact will be.
You should have had a conversation with the client giving them some brief history about their project manager and their qualifications.
Send a welcoming reminder message to all involved on the call explaining how excited you are to kick things off.
During the Kick-Off Call
At this point, you, as the salesperson, are the one with the relationship. Your main job during this call is to set the project manager off on a great start with the new client. You want them to feel as confident as possible that you are leaving them in good hands.
The best way to do this is to educate the project manager ahead of time on what they are walking into. They should have a clear understanding of who is who on the call.
The project manager should lead the call and explain the process that is going to take place over the next month. The two of you need to clearly define your roles. That way the client has an understanding of who to direct different types of questions to.
Make sure the client knows that you still intend on checking in with them at least once per month. You have the opportunity to come alongside them through the process and continue to build the relationship. You also will have chances to upsell them into a retainer if you have sold a GamePlan first.
After the Kick-Off Call
I recommend sending a personal thank you to whoever is the original point of contact with who you began the sales process. Odds are that they helped you along the way to get to the decision-maker if it was not them.
Set up calendar or task reminders to check in once per month to make sure things are going smoothly. Sometimes clients are willing to voice concerns to the salesperson who helped initially that they won’t bring up to the project manager.
