In onboarding, we interact with Sales, Product, CS, Marketing, and Support (and the list goes on depending on your company).
No other team has that view.
Or influence.
The problem I often see with clients is that the information flowing through the onboarding team isn't being used deliberately or strategically.
But Clare, I’m busy firefighting right now, why does this actually matter?
Well, as an example, expectations for onboarding are set during the sales cycle 52% of the time, before you've even met the customer.
That means what Sales and Marketing promises directly shapes your work.
When that promise and the reality don't match, you're the one managing the fallout.
That’s a downstream result of broken feedback loops between departments.
And when 76% of customers expect a consistent experience across all departments, it’s incredibly important to focus on it.
🧪 The Project: Feedback Loop Builder
This is how to turn your valuable cross-department position into a structured source of insight that makes every team better, and makes you indispensable in the process.
Step 1: Map your touch points honestly
Write down every team you interact with and what moves between you.
Information, requests, handoffs, complaints.
Don't make it aspirational. Write what actually happens today.
For example:
Sales hands off a deal - What comes with it? A CRM note? A call recording? A verbal summary? Or nothing?
Product releases a new feature - How do you find out? Slack, a release note, a surprise from a customer?
🔍 Note: Most people discover that information flows in one direction, towards them. That's the gap to recognise. The goal of this project is to make it flow back.
