Our 47-step onboarding process (step 46: invoice)

People ask why our onboarding takes 14 weeks. Simple: we care. And caring, done properly, takes a lot of meetings. Here are some highlights from the Reach Around 47-Step Onboarding Journey™.

1. Welcome email. Warm, personal and sent from a no-reply address.
2. Welcome pack. A tote bag, a kombucha voucher and a 22-page questionnaire asking for everything you told us in the pitch.
5. Kickoff call. Introductions to six people you'll never hear from again.
9. Access request. We'll need every login you have. Please email them in one spreadsheet titled "passwords."
14. Discovery workshop. Two days of sticky notes. You'll leave with a photo of a whiteboard and a feeling.
21. Brand immersion. Our team "lives your brand" by following you on social media.
28. Re-kickoff. Your account manager has moved on. Let's meet the new one.
33. Strategy alignment. We align on the strategy. Then realign. Then hold an alignment retro.
39. Onboarding the onboarding. A meeting to review how onboarding is going. It's going well.
46. Invoice. Fast, accurate and on time, every time. This step has never once slipped.
47. Work begins. Scheduled for next quarter, pending step 28.

Why not just start?

Starting quickly sets expectations, and expectations are dangerous. A 14-week onboarding gives everyone time to forget what they were hoping for, which makes results much easier to exceed.

What about steps 3, 4, 6 to 8 and so on?

Those steps are proprietary. They mostly involve calendar invites. One of them is a survey asking how you're finding onboarding, which counts as two steps because it has a follow-up survey.

P.S. Good onboarding is usually a short call, the right access and a plan you can read in five minutes. If that sounds better than 47 steps, see the real agency at the bottom of this page.