Have you taken the time to assess your commercial client onboarding process?
Better question: Do you have a commercial client onboarding process?
According to a study conducted by Jack Hubbard, Chief Experience Officer at St. Meyer & Hubbard, and his team, only about 8% of banks and credit unions have a commercial client onboarding process. Hubbard also believes that the banks and credit unions that onboard new customers well have a competitive advantage over those that do not.
He shared these thoughts during a recent PrecisionLender Webinar, “Welcoming A New Commercial Client.”
So what should a smooth onboarding process look like at your bank? Hubbard identifies six key elements, which we’ve listed below. To go deep and in-depth on them - and on onboarding in general - be sure to check out Hubbard’s webinar.
1. You need infrastructure and a process
A strong onboarding process, if executed correctly, will change the way your bank does business. It should not be a short term project. The onboarding process must also be consistent across the organization with a defined foundation, so that leaders can say, “This is how we do onboarding here.”
2. Adopt tools and technology
The onboarding process should go beyond phone calls and speeches. Tools and technology should be used to help new customers through their onboarding process. Banks that have done this well have connected everything back to the CRM system. As an added bonus, these banks have also seen their CRM adoption rates go up, especially at the senior leadership level.
3. Training is crucial
It shouldn’t be a difficult training process, but it should be one that leads to everyone knowing their role and the kinds of client conversations they should be having. These conversations shouldn’t be scripted, but should be a list of bullet points that help the onboarder know what they need to get from the call.
4. Measurement is a must
Out of the banks and credit unions Hubbard and his team interviewed, only about 3% said they do any measurement at all around onboarding.
Without measurement, the onboarding process becomes just another thing to do. Measuring this process also helps determine what’s working and what’s not working.
5. Coaching leads to better onboarding
Having coaches who observe those doing the onboarding leads to more opportunities for growth. These coaches can make sure the conversations are rich and serving the customer. Through this coaching and guidance, performance can be improved.
6. Keep it alive
The banks and credit unions who’ve done onboarding well have also put effort into sustaining the process. They do this by tweaking it to make it better and communicating success stories along the way.
Again, to go deeper on this topic, we encourage you to check out the full on-demand webinar. It’s packed with more information on the best onboarding practices.
You can also check out recorded presentations from other banking experts on a wide range of topics in our on-demand webinar page. And you can learn more about Jack Hubbard and St. Meyer & Hubbard at https://www.smandh.com/.
About the Author
Follow on Linkedin More Content by Maria Abbe
