Why You Need a Welcome Packet

Every interaction with your client can either increase their doubts or help them confirm it was the right choice to work with you. Often entrepreneurs are focused on strategically and consistently working with leads, only to ignore them after payment has been received. Instead of ignoring the closed clients, a well thought-out welcome packet can direct your time together and resolve any remaining jitters.

This is how we work

While you should cover policies and what it’s like to work with you during the lead process, having a document that spells out how your business operates is critical at the beginning of a relationship. These could be reminders like “payments must be made on time” or courtesies such as “please send files 24 hours in advance of calls for review.” 

Often these are non-enforceable requirements that are requests of your clients in addition to items covered in your contract. It’s up to you to set the boundaries in any relationship but you can’t reinforce a boundary that doesn’t exist. The welcome packet is your way of saying ‘this is how we work with clients’ before any issues arise.

Setting expectations early resolves the question of wondering what comes next and gives the client a sense of comfort.

A welcome packet shows you’re not a newbie

If you’ve ever worked with a brand new business you can usually tell. They often seem to be scrambling, you may be the first person in a program and everything seems to come later than expected. Clients don’t like to feel like guinea pigs, they’d much rather know that you’re not a newbie and have experience.

A well thought-out welcome packet will inform your new clients of how you can work successfully together, presupposing that you’ve done this before with other clients to some success.

What’s in a Welcome Packet?

Your welcome packet can start out very simple and evolve over time. Initially you may want to cover working hours, the typical return time for documents, copy or other deliverables, how to contact you, and introduce any key members of your team.

As you continue to work with clients you’ll find yourself adding to the standard welcome packet. A few things that prompt me to edit mine include:

working with a non-ideal client
when a client crosses a boundary I didn’t clarify
any time I’m frustrated by a circumstance
when we make a policy shift
if I observe the policy of another business I respect

Even as they’re edited, my welcome packet is a standard document that goes out to every new client, regardless of program.

How do you send the Welcome Packet? And when?

If you have a Client Relationship Management tool like Infusionsoft then you can create a new client campaign that delivers this document automatically. If not, simply add it this step to your new client process and manually email it.

We don’t share our welcome packet with any client who hasn’t paid and signed the contract associated with the program or package. Once those two items are in place, the welcome packet goes out and includes instructions on scheduling the first call.

The strategic importance of a welcome packet goes beyond confirming that your client made the right decision and setting expectations. If you operate your business under the premise that you have a full practice of clients (whatever that looks like in your industry) then you realize that a welcome packet is an essential piece to communicating with each new client. Additionally, as your practice fills you won’t usually be able to sign a contract in the morning and start working in the afternoon. The welcome packet helps fill this gap as the new client gets scheduled, without them feeling lost and confused.

And in the case when a client has crossed your boundaries, abused the relationship, over demanded of your time and more, the welcome packet is a clear point of agreement that you can refer to when sharing that the client’s behavior is unacceptable.