Customer onboarding mistakes such as overpromising and “making it about YOU” can be problematic for a managed service provider.

And ultimately, these errors may cause an MSP to alienate its customers and risk losing them to rivals.

So how can an MSP streamline the customer onboarding process?

Here are three things every MSP needs to know:

1. Establish clear roles during the customer onboarding process.

An MSP needs to manage the transition of the account from sales to service delivery teams.

And at this time, a dedicated account manager, or customer success manager (CSM), should be assigned to assist a customer immediately upon contract execution. 

“Trust has to be earned, and the onboarding process represents the first chance the MSP gets to earn that trust from a new customer,” independent software provider CA Technologies (CA) wrote in a white paper. “During this phase, MSP representatives are frequently in contact with customers. All teams involved need to be consistently communicating, and executing, in order for this stage to be a success.”

2. Provide an overview of the customer onboarding process.

Explaining the onboarding process to a customer reduces the risk of a communication gap between an MSP and a customer. 

An MSP should provide details about its services, including information about the provisioning, installation/configuration and quality assurance processes, to ensure a customer remains fully supported at all times.

And if a customer ever has questions or concerns along the way, an MSP should be readily available to respond to these queries.

3. Make adjustments as needed.

Customers should be able to optimize the value of an MSP’s services day after day, and an MSP that works with its customers to fine-tune its performance can provide its customers with consistent support. 

Analyzing service level agreement (SLA) performance, tracking service incidents and implementing accurate reporting ensures an MSP and its customer can collect comprehensive data. 

And with this data, an MSP and its customer can work together to ensure this customer can optimize the value of its managed services.

What are your thoughts on the customer onboarding process? Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].