Onboarding Call Basics
Last updated: January 3, 2022
Background/Purpose
Putting together an onboarding doc is all about information collection. Your onboarding call is one of the most important things once a company gives the green light on FareHarbor. By executing this (or these) calls in an efficient and accurate manner:
- You ensure that the company goes live with no hiccups
- You allow our Onboarding team to do their job with no friction
- You will prevent company rebuilds post-go-live
- The client will be happy, give an amazing reference, and trust our team 100% to make them more money and help grow their business moving forward.
EXAMPLE: If a dash is built with an incorrect schedule, a company will be very confused on the training, the Trainer will have to explain why this has happened, and then will have to rebuild the dashboard (doubling up on work). This stalls the company from going live immediately after training and could cost the AE a close.
These points are all extremely important and spending the extra 10 minutes on an OB call to make sure that all of the information is accurate and the build is appropriate could end up saving 10+ hours down the line and will create more and more FareHarbor superfans.
General Guidelines
- Make sure to call your client to collect onboarding information – email is slow and can lead to inaccuracies.
- Never assume that information is correct – ALWAYS verify over the phone with your client that their current reservation system/ website is accurate
Do not build the dashboard on the call with a client, collect the information and mentally build later. If you need to run a set-up by your client, schedule a follow up call.
- Depending on the complexity of the client’s setup, this could end up pigeon-holing them into a sub-par set-up
- PLEASE REMEMBER (for the UAE region): UAE has more specific regulations, so check the Onboarding International Accounts help page for more detailed information.
Onboarding Call Flow
Once a company gives you the go-ahead, it is time to start collecting the information to get the company set up. Here is the general flow. Click the link for more information.
- Use Current Reservation Software and Company Website as a Guide
- Collect “New Company Information”
- Collect Build Info: Walk through the company’s website and verify that all information is correct and all items (tours, rentals, etc) are accounted for
- Verify Affiliate Information
- Set Training Date and Go Live Date
Use Current Reservation Software and Company Website as a Guide
There are usually two written resources that you can use during your OB call to help guide you through the call:
- Information in the current reservation system (if applicable)
- Information on the company’s website (if they don’t have a website – wait to OB that account until they do)
Current Reservation System Log-in
To get this information, simply ask the company for the log-in to their current reservation system:
“So to get started is super simple, all I need is a log-in to your current reservation system. I will collect the information within the system and we will schedule a follow up call tomorrow so that I can verify this information and then send it along to our building team.”
Information on the Company’s Website
Some companies make it a point to update their website regularly, work with a web team, and always keep their website up to date. Others, not so much. For this reason, it is very important to verify that the info on company’s website is correct. Instead of simply copying the website verbatim, walk through each section and verify that it is correct (more below).
A few things to note:
- Just because you get a log-in/have access to the company’s website, do not assume that the information is correct. Make sure to VERIFY the information over the phone.
- A company’s pre-FareHarbor setup might not be the best for conversions, especially if they’re using a competitor. We have many ways of building a system, make sure not to hole yourself in to something that won’t be best for conversions/ ease of use.
Collect New Company Information
Collecting Company information is very necessary and should be the first thing that you accomplish on an Onboarding call. The Onboarding Doc has a tab that lists everything that you need to collect from a company before sending in the doc. Some of this information you can fill out yourself, some, you will need to ask the client.
To collect new company information, simply run through this tab in the Onboarding Doc. In order to submit the doc, this tab must be completely white (no red) so make sure you run through everything.
The reason we have this tab is to make sure all set up information is correct and all contact information is correct. It helps all of the other departments at FareHarbor know who the key players are and prevents massive rebuilds down the road. In order to provide the best customer service and account management in the business, the more these teams know, the better.
Collect Build Info
Go through each activity on their website to confirm which ones they want set up, and as if they have any others not listed online currently.
For each Activity/Rental/etc:
- What is being booked?: People, pieces of equipment, or one piece of equipment/ lodging for a certain length of time (customer types)
- Capacity: People they can take OR amount of inventory if they have vehicles, boats, etc
- How much does each “thing” cost?: Per person? Per vehicle? Flat rate?
How long is the activity or rental?
- NOTE: If lengths of time are being used for customer types, the duration of the item will likely be 0 hours.
Is there ever any overlap of resources/ inventory between items? What limits additional tours/ rentals from going out?
- NOTE: This is also known as determining the “Limiting Factor” of an account. More here.
How often do you run your tours? What is your seasonality like/ What months are you open?
- Is there any custom information that you need to collect from your customers while they’re making a booking?
- Does this activity require a special tax rate or a unique cancellation policy?
GIFT CARDS: Do they want to utilize gift card or gift certificates? Do they have any current promotions that need to be loaded into their dashboard?
- Special Features: Use the “Additional Features” tab to run through any additional features that the company might need. Use your instincts – if it’s obvious that a company won’t need a feature, don’t suggestion. Let them tell you what they need.
Verify Affiliate Information
Do you have any local partners that resell your tour?
- If yes, use the “Affiliates” Tab in the Onboarding Doc to collect this information
- If no, move on.
Do you connect to any OTAs via APIs?
- If yes, see here for more info
- If no, move on
Set Training Date and Go Live Date
- TRAINING DATE: At least 48 hours later, depending on current lead time. Remember MOUNTAIN TIME (8am MT is the earliest training except with permission).
- GO LIVE DATE: Will this company go live the same day of their training or do they need a few days? Set a date with the company so that you have a hard plan moving forward that you can work towards. This prevents a stalled account.