Onboarding Therapy #7: Stop Worrying About Overwhelming Customers with Matthew Ruxton

Everyone's terrified of overwhelming their customers during onboarding.

But what if that fear is actually holding us back from delivering real value?

In our latest episode of Onboarding Therapy, Matthew Ruxton challenges this common misconception and shares some wisdom from his journey from customer support to implementation leadership to revenue operations.

Watch the video:

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Listen to the podcast:

The Myth That's Killing Your Onboarding Process

Here's a hot take that might ruffle some feathers: your obsession with customizing everything for every customer might be doing more harm than good.

"People try to make onboarding like it's different for every customer," Matthew points out. "But there's a prescriptive road they have to go down. They have to plug this in, turn this on, do this thing. And if you refuse to see that, you'll never get anywhere with your customers."

Here's the thing: this doesn't mean treating every customer like a robot on an assembly line. Instead, it means:

• Building a clear, repeatable framework for success
• Understanding the non-negotiable steps every customer must take
• Creating smart flexibility within a structured process

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Let's Talk About "Overwhelm" (And Why It's Not What You Think)

Remember that fear we mentioned earlier about overwhelming customers? Matthew has some thoughts about that too. "There's overwhelming and there's just preparing, and they're not the same thing."

Here's what customers actually want (spoiler alert: it's not less information):

• A clear picture of how long this is going to take
• Understanding of what resources they need to commit to
• Knowledge of exactly what steps they need to take
• Visibility into when they'll start seeing value

Think about it like this: have you ever started assembling furniture only to realize halfway through that you need a tool you don't have? That's not overwhelming – that's under-preparing. As Matthew puts it, "So many businesses just don't think about, what do I need first?"

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The Secret to Great Onboarding? Start Before the Sale

Want to know one of the biggest mistakes in onboarding? Waiting until after you close the deal to start talking about it.

"Inform them before closed won," Matthew advises. "Say 'Hey, if you want to launch in 30 days, we can help you out with that. But I just know as a sales rep, you're going to need X, Y, and Z. Successful customers have X, Y, and Z ready to go in order to launch in 30 days.'"

This approach is a game-changer because it:

• Sets crystal-clear expectations early
• Helps customers prepare effectively
• Reduces friction in the implementation process
• Creates alignment between sales and onboarding

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The Power Move: Being Proactive

Here's the secret to leveling up your onboarding game: being proactive. As Matthew shares, customers get frustrated when they have to be reactive, but they're "much happier and delighted when you're proactive."

What does this look like in practice?

• Spotting potential roadblocks before they become problems
• Getting resources into customers' hands before they ask
• Being upfront about requirements and timelines
• Setting realistic expectations from day one

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Making It All Work: The Systems Behind the Scenes

Now, let's talk about how to actually make all this happen. Matthew's secret weapon? Bringing onboarding into your core business systems, particularly your CRM. Here's why it matters:

1. Get the Full Picture

Many companies keep their onboarding and customer success processes separate from their CRM – living in spreadsheets, project management tools, or worse, scattered across team members' inboxes. But Matthew argues this is a massive missed opportunity.

When you bring onboarding into your CRM, you can finally connect all the dots:

• See how your onboarding process impacts long-term customer health
• Understand which implementation paths lead to the best retention
• Spot patterns across different customer segments
• Make informed decisions about where to focus your team's efforts

"It's wild if you don't factor product health and product usage into your health scoring metrics in your CRM," Matthew emphasizes. By centralizing this data, you can identify what's working and what isn't – before it impacts your customer relationships.

2. Give Teams Ownership

One of Matthew's most successful moves to improve CRM adoption across customer success teams? "We started giving each department in CS their own CRM object they are responsible for." Instead of forcing everyone to work in a one-size-fits-all system, he let each team customize their own objects and workflows. The implementation team got their space, the CS team got theirs, and each group could shape their tools to match their day-to-day needs.

The results? Better adoption, more engagement, and stronger processes across all teams.

3. Make Handoffs Actually Work

We've all heard about the classic handoff problems between marketing and sales, but Matthew points out an equally crucial transition that often gets overlooked: the handoff from sales to implementation. When your onboarding lives in your CRM, you transform these traditionally rocky handoffs into smooth transitions.

Here's what changes when implementation lives in your CRM:

• Sales reps can share crucial context about why a customer bought and what convinced them to sign
• Implementation teams can see the promises made during sales and prioritize accordingly ("You bought because of this integration? Great, let's tackle that first!")
• Customer success can track the complete customer journey, from initial pain points through implementation wins
• Teams can identify patterns in successful onboardings and repeat what works
• Everyone has access to the same customer data, eliminating the endless game of telephone between departments

As Matthew points out from his own buying experience, nothing kills customer confidence faster than having to explain their situation over and over to different teams. When you centralize everything in your CRM, you're not just making life easier for your teams – you're creating a more coherent, professional experience for your customers.

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Making This Actionable: Your Next Steps

After speaking with Matthew, here are the concrete steps you can take to transform your onboarding:

1. Document your non-negotiables

What are the essential steps every customer must take to be successful? Map these out first – they'll become the backbone of your process. Don't worry about overwhelming customers; worry about under-preparing them.

2. Create your preparation checklist

What tools, access, or information do customers need before they can be successful? Build this list and share it early – remember, it's not overwhelming if it helps customers succeed.

3. Bring sales into the conversation

Create a list of key information your implementation team needs to know about each customer. Have your sales team start collecting this during the sales process, and be upfront about implementation requirements before the deal closes.

4. Rethink your timeline communications

Instead of drip-feeding information to avoid "overwhelming" customers, give them the full picture upfront. Create a clear timeline that shows exactly what they'll need to provide and when they'll need to provide it (Arrows onboarding plans can help with this 😉). This helps them plan properly and actually reduces anxiety.

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The Bottom Line

Here's what it all comes down to: successful onboarding isn't about choosing between process and personalization, or between comprehensive preparation and customer comfort. It's about building thoughtful systems that support customer success from day one.

And maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop worrying so much about overwhelming our customers and start focusing on preparing them for success.