What Keeps Onboarding Reps Up At Night | Biggest Frustrations

At Setuply, we're dedicated to helping organizations improve their new client onboarding processes and experiences. To better understand the challenges B2B client onboarding reps face, we conducted surveys and discovered three key issues that are frustrating them.

Our mission is simple: we're dedicated to helping B2B SaaS organizations improve their new client onboarding experiences and processes. Understanding what’s driving the different stakeholders involved is a critical step in finding the right solutions to meet their needs. In this post, we will share key findings about what’s top of mind for onboarding reps.

Issue #1: Gathering Data from Clients

More than 50% of B2B customer onboarding specialists surveyed consider gathering new client data to be the most challenging aspect of their job. 

Here are some examples of why this may be the case: 

• Obtaining historical data from prior vendors is often a struggle. Clients sometimes have to enter or modify data manually, which requires substantial time and effort.
• Access to some historical data in digital format may be limited. For example, some historical data for a new client consists of paper enrollment forms. A broker may have a thorough understanding of the relevant information. Even so, accessing and using the data may prove challenging.
• Some data a new client onboarding rep wishes to gather might not be available at all. This situation may be the case if, for example, a client is migrating to a new provider and has not tracked certain types of information in the past.
• Clients may lack the bandwidth necessary to access and provide needed data.

The solutions to this problem start with leveraging appropriate onboarding software that can assist with data management and remind clients to provide necessary data, allowing onboarding reps more time to focus on other essential tasks.

Issue #2: Managing Project Scope Creep

In an ideal world, a vendor and a client would align on the project’s scope even before the deal is closed. In the real world, the ongoing changes to the project scope, also known as “Scope creep,” frustrates about 39% of the onboarding reps we interviewed. 

There are many causes of this phenomenon:

• A client realizes they forgot an important detail that requires modifying the project scope. Clients’ corporate changes or reorganization can also require modifications or expansions. For example, if a new client purchases a new business unit, this could affect the implementation scope of the payroll or HR solutions. 
• A new client hesitates to embrace a new process and would instead do things the “old way,” often disregarding the fact that one of the main reasons they may have chosen a new provider is because the old way didn’t work. When this happens, a client might continue requesting modifications so the process more closely resembles what they’re familiar with.
• Some clients are generally resistant to change and request project scope changes as a delay tactic.
• The scope needed to be better defined from the start, and no formal sign-off procedure was established.

Ways to manage and guard against scope creep include establishing a thorough and accurate scope either during or immediately after the sales process, scheduling regular status calls to ensure everyone is still on the same page, and defining what constitutes a change request and what the approval process for a change request might consist of. For more information on this topic, check out our blog post about scope creep.

Issue #3: Prioritizing Tasks and Clients Appropriately

Onboarding reps must often navigate conflicting priorities, especially when onboarding multiple clients at a time. The prioritization can be driven by the value at stake, project completion deadline, regulatory or other requirements, or a combination of these. The best way to manage this is to establish consistent guidelines regarding how reps should prioritize their tasks. 

If you're experiencing any of these concerns, using the right tools can make your life much easier. Choose the right new client onboarding software to streamline your processes, help you focus your energy in productive ways, and prevent sleepless nights and headaches.

To deliver great client onboarding experiences, it's important to understand the needs and perspectives of the stakeholders involved. By understanding the needs of all stakeholders, organizations can develop effective onboarding processes that ensure a successful and satisfying experience for everyone involved.

Next Up: Considering Other Perspectives

In this blog post, we focused on the challenges onboarding reps face. At the same, it's also essential to consider the perspectives of clients, solutions provider leadership, and operating experts. 

Stay tuned for our upcoming survey discussions that will reflect these perspectives and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the client onboarding process. Add your voice to the conversation by participating in the surveys or joining the discussion!