In project management, it’s not the project phases themselves that trip you up, it’s those milky grey transitions between them. One of the first and best chances you have to prevent those trips—while setting expectations and teaching decision makers how to treat you—is right at the shotgun start of your sales or intake cycle.
Our real jobs
Client relationships start the moment that client hits send on their first email to your company. Because of this, we often think of sales or account folks as the relationship wizards. They may get the client or project in the door and do a damn good job at closing that contract, but us digital producers (or project managers if that role floats your boat better) are there to keep them happy once they’ve taken off their proverbial coat. It’s our job to welcome them, to set the pace and tone of the project, to communicate the plan as it unfolds, and to offer consistency while defining the emergency route in case turds hit the Dyson (that’s shit hitting fans for the rest of you). We are their allies. We are there to listen, shape the goals of the project, and to help our clients avoid bad paths that will harm their project or their company. We are the gatekeepers.
And because these relationships often require us to work closely together for weeks or months (or years), we have to do it right. To help you slide right into your next project like Footloose, we’re sharing our approach to some of the most important (and often overlooked) aspects of stakeholder onboarding.
That’s right: if you learn to work closely with your sales team and executive decision makers, execute silky smooth handovers, balance your pacing with a calm and lovable tone, and know your fire exits, you’ll be setting that project up for success like a happy kindergarten kid on the first day of school.
Sales to PM in the pocket
How PMs help vet leads
Digital producers and sales folks should work closely together during the sales cycle to make any onboarding smoother than a glossy kitchen table. Here’s a quick summary of how a PM can support the sales process.
Catching any nasty or obvious red flags missed during or immediately following the initial sales call (depending on the salesperson’s comfort with vetting project related complexity and the frequency of leads).
Asking open-ended questions to uncover any more subtle or devious red flags that might inadvertently impact other projects or the team (e.g., stakeholders schedule holidays before their designated launch).
Supporting sales in developing criteria or checklists to help vet incoming leads.
Consulting with sales to review constraints, risks, and assessing team capacity and resource qualifications after the first sales meeting.
Discussing ideas with sales about how to turn prospect-related risk into trade-offs or mutual benefits (e.g., white labelling or licensing deliverables, consulting instead of implementation, building in education and onboarding into the budget).
Supporting or writing scope requirements and vetting Statements of Work (psst: we’d recommend a discovery before you do any scope and price firming).
Being a loveable hardass and resisting projects or clients that take your shop further away from its own business goals. Desperation is a funny beast: it can lower our defence response and sabotage us more deeply—PMs have great stink detectors by nature.
Your pre-flight check-in
Once you vet that lead and can move forward, make sure to ask and answer a few core questions. Often a quick chat between PM and sales will suffice before roping in the team for a proper handover:
Did the client prospect ‘pass’ the stink test? Should we work with them?
Did the client point of contact provide written approval on a contract or other document? If not, get that.
Do the client and your org each have a copy of this signed document? No? Make sure you do.
Did sales get a down payment or at least some sort of guarantee (like a letter of intent) for project start? No? Get one.
Did the sales identify a clear single point of contact? No? Ask them to.
Did sales communicate to the client that the project manager would be reaching out? No? Ask them to introduce the PM.
Is this project lined up with your goals and does it fit nicely into your long-term vision? No? Don’t risk it unless this client can bring some other sort of value.
Silky smooth PM handovers
Do a handoff meeting
It’s extremely important that you schedule a formal ‘download’ of all the information that’s been sitting in your salesperson’s brain since they first interacted with the client. This is a unique time for you and your team to ask direct questions about the knowns and so you can frame the unknowns and ask about things like:
- Stakeholder qualities and quirks
- Rogue stakeholders or third parties who need to be involved
- Unique constraints and challenges
- Available resources
- Gaps in understanding
- Gaps in requirements or technology
Reroute that power dynamic
When you’re ready for that download, you could sit wide-eyed, pencils cocked while your salesperson sprays you with every mind-numbing detail like a firehose from hell. You could. Or, you could flip the power dynamic and make sure you lead the extraction of information from your salesperson’s brain by doing some interactive communication (we’ve got a handy guide for you here). In other words, you do the talking in question form.
You, your team, and your salesperson should sit down and no one leaves that meeting room till everyone is out of questions. What does your designer need to know? How will this information affect the developer or content strategist working on the project? Give everyone on the team an equal chance to weigh in. This is key to a successful handoff. Book an hour or two at minimum depending on the size of the project. The more information you have in your own brains, the less likely you’ll be making assumptions about the project. This sets up the perfect opportunity to expose the gaps in your team’s knowledge and understanding of the project so you can talk through them with your stakeholders. Think of what happens if you don’t meet: assumptions mean guesses you didn’t test. That’s dangerous to the client and the project.
Related meetings you should schedule
Here’s a brief summary of the meetings you should schedule with your internal and external stakeholders (including the handover meeting discussed above). Adapt these for your own workflow and project type.
- Handover meeting (transition between new project request or sale and project start)
- Pre kickoff meeting (1hr meeting between your and point of contact to discuss prep for kickoff)
- Internal kickoff (1hr meeting to discuss kickoff prep with your team)
- Kick off (2-3 hr meeting with your clients and team to define the project goals, roles, and establish processes and next steps)
- Internal post kickoff (30 min. debrief with internal project team to discuss kickoff outcomes/gaps)
Onboarding your client
Set the pace and tone
Lucky you: the contract is signed and your sales or accounts person has handed over the project to your team. The next step is to send out a warm welcome to your decision makers. Whether you’re a client-facing team or an internal team working with execs or partners, it’s a good idea to introduce yourself warmly and clarify your intent and approach. This is your chance to set the pace and tone of the project. The language and terms you include, your level of confidence and authority you command, as well as the tone of your communication, will leave a lasting impression. Aim to frame yourself as natural and relaxed but capable and in control. And, partner, if you want your decision makers to respect your organization’s processes, you’ll have to maintain this poise throughout the project, even when things get lumpy like a bowl of porridge.
The key at this stage is to establish your style and approach as early as possible and then stick to it throughout the entire project. Here are some things to consider:
Speech
How fast or slowly you speak. Above all else, make sure you can be understood.
Written text
How short your written communications end up. Shorter is always better; if you need to write a dictionary-length email, consider a different format for communicating your thoughts.
Plain language
Your jargon. Words and concepts that are snacks to you are a full meal to your stakeholders—keep things simple, avoid abbreviations and jargon, explain necessary terms.
Posture
Your posture is important: relax your shoulders, open your chest, stand tall and confident.
Your gaze
Holding a gaze shows power and interest, so use eye contact meaningfully. Respect cultural differences, too. It’s rude to stare sometimes.
Body language
Other nonverbal cues do a huge chunk of your communicating work. Watch out because people are picking up the things you don’t even mean to put down.
Relationships are a two-way street. Don’t just go through the motions so you can get to work lightning quick. This step is about modelling the communication style you expect from your stakeholders and putting in the love that shows them they matter. If you’re nervous or new to project management, don’t underestimate the value of candour. Telling your clients you’re committed to learning and open to improvement shows a level of confidence and integrity that sets the tone for even the most experienced employees. It puts your eyes level and creates a space to be vulnerable together as you rally around the project itself.
Introduce a clear plan
After you’ve welcomed them aboard, help your new client understand how your organization’s processes are set up. Be clear about your team’s approach, style, and timelines. Make sure your client knows how things work at your organization (and clarify how they don’t). Remember to talk to them about:
What your expectations are for their involvement and behaviour (and be as clear as possible to avoid misinterpretation)
What format and channels you want them to use to communicate (maybe even draft a communication plan)
When you and your team are available and when you’re not
How many revisions are included (and how extra ones will be handled)
Other demands on your time or capacity
Define your fire route
Just as important as the plan is the anti-plan. You need a warranty for when the Dyson starts whirring and those project turds start to stink. This is why you make a plan for how to handle things when they go off the rails. Identify and talk about the common red flags your team looks out for and explain what stakeholders should do when it appears things are going wrong. Outline clear boundaries and expectations that help them feel safe. Your stakeholders should trust that your organization has a plan and a process for how all the work happens, even if things get a little choppy. Your clients should only grab the steering wheel if they feel completely uncertain about your driving. Teach them how to treat you. Help give them that confidence by outlining the following:
How should things work?
How will we know if they are/aren’t working?
What are the next steps if we feel something is wrong?
Who needs to be aware?
What is the best format for that communication?
How do we know we’ve addressed the problem?
How do we reinforce a good relationship after that problem been solved?
Talking about and agreeing on the answers to these questions helps set the tone for the project and puts you in a position of authority. When you set the ground rules and teach your decision makers how to play the project game while modelling trust and compassion, you create an environment where they want to work and play hard with you.
Stay steady as a rock
Once you and the stakeholders are on the same page, the biggest thing you can do to strengthen that relationship is to be consistent. Changes to processes or expectations will chip away at the trust you’ve built and lead you away from the processes and patterns that you sweated to establish. This means you need to have a clear idea of goals, behaviours, and outcomes before you reach out to your clients.
Yes—the transition process from sales to project start is a baton-passing flurry of activity, but it doesn’t have to feel that way. Set up a simple checklist of the most important stakeholder onboarding steps for your organization or team. Outline the processes that will help you gather the info you need while supporting your team and your clients. That way, you can relax and get down to businesses knowing that all the proper pieces are in place. Your stakeholders will feel supported and included and you’ll have everything you need.
Halfway there
Nothing affects the profitability and sustainability of your company more than the health of your projects. And those projects are dependent upon the relationships between your clients and your project teams. We teach our apprentices how to be allies to their clients so they can bring people into the fold with intention, care, and consideration during the onboarding process.
Maybe you’ll pull a few useful nuggies out of this little article and start tightening up your own onboarding processes. Or maybe you won’t. But mark my words: if you teach your clients how you to treat you, you’re already halfway there.
