Rant: Nobody in SaaS gets that onboarding isnt just setup

I mean, I keep seeing teams treat onboarding like its just getting the software installed and handing over a login. But I've been around long enough to remember when a client would get a full week of walking through their actual workflow, not just clicking buttons. Last month a buddy of mine at a mid-size shop rolled out a new CRM and their adoption dropped 40% after the first 30 days. Turns out their onboarding team was skipping the part where you map out how the sales team actually moves a deal through stages. I get it, time is money, but if you skip that step you are just setting everyone up for a headache. Has anyone else seen onboarding get stripped down to just a checklist and a 30 minute Zoom?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam6d ago

Hold up, they skipped mapping out the sales stages? That's wild. It's like building a house without checking the foundation first, just throwing up drywall. No wonder adoption tanked, they probably felt lost right out of the gate.

ray_williams6d ago

Flat out refused to define what a qualified lead even looks like, right? lol. They probably had reps chasing any random email signup instead of someone who actually had budget and authority. No wonder everyone hated the CRM, it was just a graveyard for bad data instead of a tool that made their lives easier.

ward.kim6d ago

Oh man, I totally used to think stage mapping was just busywork honestly! I figured people would figure it out as they went along, but your house foundation analogy really clicked for me. Without those clear milestones and definitions, the team doesn't have a clue what buying signals actually look like. You need that roadmap so everyone knows where they're supposed to go next otherwise you're just guessing. That's probably why the adoption fell flat, they didn't have any structure to build on.