A 7-Step Process to Successfully Offboard Your Clients for Improved Customer Experiences
Do you have an offboarding (feedback) process and questionnaire for your clients once they finish working with you?
It can be tricky to know how to wrap things up with clients during their last coaching session but it’s important because you want to send them off feeling like they are equipped to continue on their journey and also feel great about working with you.
This week on The Wellness Business Podcast, we’re sharing A 7-Step Process to Successfully Offboard Your Clients for Improved Customer Experiences
Here’s what you’ll discover:
- The top 3 reasons why having an offboarding process is an important part of your coaching program
- A 7-Step Offboarding Questionnaire template that you can use again and again in your program for improved customer experiences
- Just how simple it is to assist your clients remember and document how far they’ve come while working with you and why they are so happy they made the investment in your paid program
If you don’t have an official offboarding process and questionnaire as you wrap up working with your clients, you’ll find this episode incredibly helpful.
Let’s address the top 3 reasons why this is an important part of your coaching program.
#1: It sets the stage to end your coaching relationship on a high note, solidifying the overall coaching experience as a positive. It also increases the likelihood that you’ll be able to collect a glowing testimonial.
Many coaching programs last anywhere from 3-6 months and your clients have been in the trenches with you the entire time. As with most of us, we’re not great at remembering how far we’ve come and don’t spend enough time celebrating our wins. When you help your client reflect back on where they were when they started with you and what life looked like then compared to now, they’ll begin to take stock of all of their accomplishments.
#2: When you end on a high note, the chance of them referring you to friends, family and colleagues goes up dramatically.
Let’s face it, people always recommend programs and products that they love so why should your coaching program be any different? Using our 7-Step Offboarding Questionnaire will help them appreciate how far they’ve come as well as an increased appreciation for their newfound confidence to move forward without you, which is priceless.
#3: It gives you a time and place to offer them a final piece of coaching advice inclusive of instructions for continued success as well as a heartfelt thank you.
It’s natural for your clients to feel a little nervous moving on without you but we already know that you set them up for success. Taking the opportunity to give them farewell assignments or homework to keep them on track will be much appreciated and tells them just how much you care. As you wrap up, it’s the perfect time for you to tell them how much you have enjoyed working with them.
Okay, now that it’s clear why you want to incorporate an offboarding questionnaire in your program wrap up, let’s talk about how to make it happen.
Here is our 7-Step Offboarding Questionnaire.
1. Where were you when you started this coaching program? What were your biggest struggles?
Starting with this question will help them establish a baseline of where they were at the beginning of the program. As we said earlier, as humans we never give ourselves enough credit when it comes to what we accomplish so asking these questions will help them remember what life looked like at the beginning of the program.
2. What was your favorite part about this program? Which features were the most impactful in getting your results?
This is a great question and is designed to help them connect the dots between their success and accomplishments with you and your program. Remember, your goal is to end the program on a high note and naming the features that impacted them the greatest is a perfect way to do that.
3. List your accomplishments, (please be as specific as possible).
This question is probably self-explanatory but let’s chat about it for a minute anyway. When your clients make a list of everything they’ve accomplished while working with you they’ll be amazed at how long the list is. Again, connecting the dots between how great things are now with you and your program is the perfect way to leave them feeling like the investment they made to work with you was well worth it.
4. Where do you feel you could have used more support? What suggestions do you have to make this program better?
While this question might feel a little nerve-wracking, remember that nothing is perfect. Giving them a place to share ideas or suggestions about how you can make your program better can lead to your best program updates. When we ran the Wellness Business Insider’s Club some of our best ideas and program updates came from our clients.
5. What are you most excited about as we wrap up your coaching program?
This question establishes their level of confidence and self-accountability. More than likely, they are feeling better than they have in years and it’s all because of you. Giving them an opportunity to contemplate and document what they are most excited about going forward is another great way to solidify that they made a great investment.
6. Referrals are always appreciated so I was wondering if you are likely to recommend this program to your family, friends, and colleagues?
This can be a simple yes or no response, however, if they reply no it’s important to determine why that is. You’ll need to do additional follow up to learn what’s holding them back from sharing your information with the people that they know. Don’t skip this step. It could be as simple as a misunderstanding or could be the catalyst for a necessary change in your program or coaching method.
7. Do I have your permission to compile this information into a program testimonial? (Of course, I’ll send it to you for your review before I use it in my marketing.)
Having the ability to compile their responses into a single testimonial statement is one of the top reasons to go through this process. Since your clients are not expert writers, offering to compile the testimonial for them will be greatly appreciated. It’ll be easy for them to review what you’ve written, make any tweaks if necessary, and get back to you quickly with their approval.
There you have it. You are now set up for success to incorporate an official client offboarding process into your coaching program.
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