What to tell a new customer straight after they sign

The first days after a customer signs are when they decide whether they made a mistake. In a trade where the product is a promise, a chit, a loan, a policy or a scheme, nothing visible arrives to reassure them. So tell them three things in writing, soon after signing: what happens next and when they will see it, one person to call, and which things look odd but are normal. A short note like that gives a nervous customer something to hold, and it costs less than a gift or a discount.

Why do customers panic after they sign?

Because the sale ended and nothing replaced it. During the sale someone rang daily and answered every question. After the signature the phone goes silent, and silence reads as "they have my money and have moved on".

A subscriber who paid the first instalment into a chit group sees no receipt for two days and wonders if it reached anyone. A small trader who signed for a business loan hears nothing while the file moves between desks, and asks a cousin at another lender whether they were fooled. A policyholder whose document comes late assumes the cover never started.

None of these is your failure. Each is a gap in what you told the customer.

What does the note say?

One screen of WhatsApp, five parts. This is a sample for a chit enrolment; change the nouns for your product.

[Name], thank you for joining today. Three things happen next. Our branch posts your receipt in its records; you can expect to see it by [the time the office can keep on its worst day]. The next due date is on page two of your passbook. If you want to check the receipt, send its number to the branch and the clerk will confirm. You need to do nothing else right now. For anything, call [named person] at the branch, [office hours], on [number]; if they are away, call [second named person] on [number]. A call from our records team may come: they will quote your file number and will never ask for an OTP or PIN.

That covers, in order: the thanks, the next three steps and who does each, what the customer must do, who to call with a second name, and what is normal.

Do not promise dates you do not control. Where a step depends on a bank, an insurer or an outside body, say "this step is theirs; we will tell you the day we hear". Never write that nothing can go wrong.

Which "normal" things belong in the note?

The ones your staff answer most in the first fortnight. Write down the most common questions and put the answers in.

Leave out the full terms, the list of conditions and any sales pitch. The signed paper already holds the terms. Rules on what must be disclosed differ by trade and change, so check with your own adviser or regulator what the note must contain. This note adds to that and never replaces it.

What happened in Mysuru, and what changed?

Take an invented branch of a chit company in Mysuru that enrols a dozen new subscribers across a busy week. The field agent signs the form, collects the first instalment and leaves. Two days later the branch phone rings: "I paid on Saturday. Where is my receipt? Is my money in the group?" Three of the dozen ask the same thing, and one asks to withdraw.

The branch manager lists the opening sentence of each call and finds the pattern. Every one is a gap and none is a complaint. So the agent now sends the note before leaving the customer's shop. It says where the receipt will appear, how to check it, where the next due date is, and which clerk to ring, by name.

One slip comes first. The note says the receipt will be posted "the same day", and on a Sunday it is not. Three subscribers ring on Monday, angrier than before. The agent changes the line to say when the receipt will be seen, with a margin, and sends a one-line message when a receipt is late, before the customer asks. Promises in the note have to be ones the office can keep on its worst day.

When is a note not enough?

Call instead when the customer signed in a hurry, was brought in by a relative, or asked the same question twice during the sale. Such customers can cancel without saying why. Ring soon after, ask one open question ("Is there anything on the paper you would like me to explain again?") and write down the answer.

The note also fails when the named person cannot be reached. A number that rings out in the first days does more harm than no note. Name a second person and test both numbers.

How do you know the note is working?

Count the calls received in the first fortnight and the cancellations in the first month, for the group before the note and the group after. Keep both counts in the sheet where you record the sale. If calls fall but cancellations do not, the note is answering the wrong questions, so read the opening lines of the remaining calls again.

For the shape of a fuller onboarding sequence, see creating a customer onboarding process. The wider picture for lenders, advisers, insurers and chit companies is on the financial services hub.

Write the note for your next three signatories

Take your last new customer and list what they saw, heard and did in the first ten days. Mark every day where nothing arrived. Write the note to fill those gaps, send it to your next three signatories, and count the calls. If you would like help turning this into a routine for your team, see customer onboarding or tell us what you need.