gtm-enterprise-onboarding

What this skill does

# Enterprise Onboarding

Four-phase framework for onboarding enterprise customers from contract to value realization. The goal isn't just go-live — it's sustained adoption that doesn't cliff at Week 12.

## When to Use

**Triggers:**
- "How do we onboard this enterprise customer?"
- "Customer went live but adoption is weak"
- "We keep losing customers 3 months after go-live"
- "POC to production transition"
- "How do I prevent Week 4 ghosting?"
- "Customer success onboarding framework"

**Context:**
- Enterprise or mid-market deals
- Complex technical requirements
- Multiple stakeholders involved
- 30-90 day implementation timelines
- Risk of churn during first year

---

## Core Frameworks

### 1. The Week 4 Ghosting Problem (And How to Prevent It)

**The Pattern:**

Week 1: Kickoff call goes great. Everyone's excited.
Week 2-3: Technical discovery, requirements gathering. Still good.
Week 4: Customer stops responding. Meetings get cancelled. "Too busy."

**What Happened?**

You started customer onboarding before internal alignment on their side.

**Who Owns This Project Internally?**
- Sales rep? (Already moved to next deal)
- Technical champion? (Day job took over)
- Executive sponsor? (Delegates, doesn't drive)
- Nobody? (**This is why they're ghosting**)

**The Framework: Internal Owner Validation**

Before kickoff call, answer:

**Who on customer side will:**
- Attend weekly project meetings? (Not "invited" — will actually show up)
- Unblock issues with procurement/legal/security? (Has authority)
- Drive adoption with end users? (Has influence)
- Escalate when things stall? (Has executive access)

**If you can't name a specific person for each, you don't have a project owner. You have a signed contract with nobody driving it.**

**How to Fix It:**

**During sales → CS handoff (before customer kickoff):**

Sales rep must identify:
- Primary project owner (name, not role)
- Their capacity (dedicated or side project?)
- Their authority (can they unblock?)
- Their motivation (what's in it for them?)

**If there's no clear owner:**

Don't start onboarding yet. Have sales introduce you to economic buyer:

"Before we kick off implementation, we want to make sure we have the right project owner on your side. In our experience, implementations succeed when someone owns driving this forward week-to-week. Who on your team should we partner with?"

**Common Mistake:**

Assuming someone will own it. Ask explicitly. If they can't name someone, the deal is at risk.

---

### 2. The Adoption Cliff (Week 12 Problem)

**The Pattern:**

Go-live happens Week 6. Usage spikes. You celebrate.

Week 8: Usage plateaus.
Week 10: Usage declining.
Week 12: Usage down 50% from peak.

**Why This Happens:**

You treated go-live as the finish line. **Go-live is the starting line.**

**What Drives Sustained Adoption:**

**Not:** Feature completeness, technical integration, training sessions

**Yes:** Ongoing value demonstration, user success stories, expanding use cases

**Framework: Adoption Stages Beyond Go-Live**

**Week 1-6 (Implementation):** Get it working
- Measure: % of technical setup complete
- Owner: Technical lead

**Week 6-12 (Initial Adoption):** Get people using it
- Measure: # active users, frequency of use
- Owner: Enablement / DevRel

**Week 12-26 (Sustained Adoption):** Prove ongoing value
- Measure: Use case expansion, team spread
- Owner: Customer success

**Week 26+ (Expansion):** Grow within account
- Measure: New teams, new use cases, upgrade triggers
- Owner: Account executive + CS

**The Handoff That Most Teams Miss:**

Week 6 (go-live) → Week 12 (sustained adoption)

Most CS teams celebrate go-live and move to next customer. **This is when churn seeds get planted.**

**What to Do Week 6-12:**

**Week 7:** First value report
"Here's what your team accomplished in the first week: [specific metric]. Here's what good looks like at Week 12: [target]."

**Week 9:** User success story
"[User name] on [team name] saved [X hours/reduced Y errors] this week. Here's how they're using it."

**Week 11:** Use case expansion conversation
"You're using us for [primary use case]. Teams like yours also use us for [adjacent use case]. Want to explore?"

**Common Mistake:**

Measuring "go-live completion" instead of "sustained active usage." Go-live is not success. Week 26 retained adoption is success.

---

### 3. Pre-Onboarding: Success Is Built Before First Customer Call

**The Pattern:**

Most onboarding failures trace back to pre-kickoff gaps.

**What Gets Missed:**

**Sales didn't brief CS properly:**
- Deal drivers unknown
- Stakeholder dynamics unclear
- Technical requirements assumed

**No internal project owner identified:**
- CS reaches out, nobody responds
- Meetings get scheduled with wrong people
- Decisions don't stick

**Customer timeline unrealistic:**
- They want go-live in 2 weeks
- Technical setup takes 6 weeks minimum
- Expectations misaligned from Day 1

**Framework: Pre-Kickoff Checklist**

Before scheduling kickoff call, validate:

**Account Intelligence:**
- [ ] Sales handoff completed (deal drivers, stakeholders, technical requirements)
- [ ] Past interactions reviewed (demo notes, proposal, emails)
- [ ] Organizational structure mapped (team sizes, reporting lines)
- [ ] Use cases documented (primary + future)

**Internal Setup:**
- [ ] Internal Slack channel created (#account-[customer-name])
- [ ] Account plan updated in CRM
- [ ] Project plan template prepared
- [ ] Roles assigned (CSM lead, technical lead, exec sponsor)

**Customer Readiness:**
- [ ] Project owner identified by name (not just "their DevRel team")
- [ ] Executive sponsor confirmed on both sides
- [ ] Timeline realistic (their goals vs your typical timeline)
- [ ] Known blockers documented (procurement, security, legal)

**Timeline Validation:**
- [ ] Customer's go-live date is realistic given technical requirements
- [ ] Internal capacity available (not overbooked)
- [ ] Dependencies identified (SSO, integrations, data migration)

**Decision Criteria:**

Only schedule kickoff when all four sections validated. If gaps exist, surface to sales or executive sponsor before engaging customer.

**Common Mistake:**

Starting onboarding without internal clarity. This creates confusion, missed deadlines, and erosion of customer confidence.

---

### 4. The Four-Phase Onboarding Flow

**Phase 1: Kickoff (Week 1)**

**Goal:** Align on objectives, timeline, success metrics

**Attendees:** Executive sponsors + project leads + technical leads

**Agenda:**
1. Introductions and roles (5 min)
2. Executive alignment on strategic objectives (5 min)
3. Success definition: "What does success look like in 3/6/12 months?" (10 min)
4. Timeline and milestones (5 min)
5. Meeting cadence (weekly project team, monthly exec review) (5 min)
6. Next steps (technical discovery call, success plan review) (5 min)

**Deliverable:** Kickoff recap sent within 24 hours with success metrics, timeline, next meetings

**Phase 2: Discovery & Planning (Week 2-3)**

**Goal:** Understand technical landscape, map use cases, plan rollout

**Three parallel workstreams:**

**Workstream 1: Technical Discovery**
- Current infrastructure (on-prem, cloud, hybrid)
- Existing tools and integrations
- Security/compliance requirements
- Timeline constraints

**Workstream 2: Success Planning**
- Use cases prioritized (start with highest-value)
- Success metrics defined (how to measure adoption)
- Training needs identified (who needs what)

**Workstream 3: Technical Setup**
- SSO/identity configuration
- Integrations required
- Data migration (if applicable)
- Pilot group identified

**Deliverable:** Customer Success Plan document with use cases, metrics, timeline, milestones

**Phase 3: Implementation (Week 4-6)**

**Goal:** Deploy to pilot group, validate use cases, prepare for broader rollout

**Three parallel tracks:**

**Track 1: Administration & Setup**
- SSO configuration complete
- Integrations live
- Data migrated (if ap