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What Steph Curry Can Teach Us About B2B Onboarding

Kelley Vallone
March 13, 2024

We talk a lot about how to identify the right customers and onboard them quickly, while still adhering to the most rigorous identity checks in the industry. The result is that companies that use Prove verify and onboard more customers faster than their competitors, and we have far fewer instances of fraud. Now, Prove enables enterprises to do the same thing for the onboarding process for businesses, which means we can create new business relationships with more, verified organizations, and do it faster.

A lot is going on to make this happen. Years' worth of identity-related data and voluminous sources feed Prove’s models to enable rapid, accurate validation of business customers. These two elements really are what embody the advantage that Prove delivers to its users – speed, agility, and accuracy. In a business context, this is invaluable because it means more and better. It seems like there’s no forum where those things, when they coexist, don’t provide a massive competitive advantage. And what better way to illustrate it than with another exemplar of speed, agility, and accuracy – the delightfully brilliant basketball player, Steph Curry.

When Basketball Imitates… Business Growth


Now, basketball courts of the world are filled with highlight-reel plays that make spectators jump out of their seats. Posterizing dunks, half-court alley-oops, and dazzling dribbling displays sell tickets and create legions of dedicated fans. But irrespective of how high flying it can get on the hardwood, a player like Steph Curry is going to beat you every time because he can release a shot faster than anyone else, and his shooting accuracy, even for shots that look unmakeable, is among the highest the game has ever seen. In other words, Steph Curry is going to pull up and make more shots than an entire team of slam-dunking phenoms. And he’s got four NBA championship rings to prove it.

If you need proof, treat yourself to this highlight reel of some of Steph’s most amazing shots:

what-steph-curry-can-teach-us-about-b2b-onboarding

As NBA players know, if a guy named Steph Curry is on the other team, there’s a good chance he’s going to use his speed, agility, and deadly accuracy to beat you. His passing and shotmaking are, well, mind-boggling. His ball handling is otherworldly. Steph has a huge bag of tricks he pulls from in every game, but they all rest on the fundamentals of speed and accuracy. No one gets a shot or passes off faster. And no one connects with the target more efficiently.

Consider how these elements – speed, agility, accuracy – apply to an organization like yours. For a business to thrive, it needs customers – it needs them now, and it has to have mechanisms to find and onboard new ones continuously. There are libraries of books and case studies on the best way to acquire these customers. Still, even with the most innovative tactics, the function of creating a new customer revolves around how quickly they can be onboarded and how well you can eliminate the potential for fraud in the process.

A Full-Court Approach to Onboarding Businesses


As businesses expand their services or explore new revenue streams, it makes sense to integrate other businesses into their customer ecosystem. The advantages of business customers are quite clear, as they typically engage in a higher volume of transactions, exhibit greater loyalty and repeat business, frequently opt for value-added services and products, and are conducive to fostering longer-term relationships. Business customers are like great teammates.

With these advantages in mind, companies are incentivized to make the entire customer experience for their business partners an engaging one. The companies that are doing this most successfully are actively pursuing methods to attract more B2B customers through the use of tools and processes that ensure a swift, seamless, and trusted experience. They recognize that, like a sharpshooting point guard who can control the pace of the game, digital identity verification for businesses is the most effective means of accurately validating customers. And even more than that, the right platform is capable of bringing these business customers on board faster than any other approach when implemented correctly.

Think about the role that Steph Curry plays for his Warriors. He’s far more than just an essential piece; in many ways, he’s the foundation for everything the team does well. Consider that in the 15 years that he’s been in the NBA, the Warriors have won 65% of their games. When he’s not in the lineup, the team has won 36% of their games. Clearly, there’s something about what he delivers that fuels all the other things that are required to win basketball games.

Just as every system needs a catalyst, Curry provides that for the Warriors. Identity verification is the catalyst for your B2B onboarding.

Adopting Customer Onboarding For B2B


The onboarding process plays a pivotal role in business expansion. However, it's essential to acknowledge a significant distinction between onboarding individual consumers and onboarding businesses. Undoubtedly, identity verification is a critical factor in assessing the legitimacy of the customer entity for both user types. Nevertheless, as the emphasis on onboarding businesses grows, customer experience teams can leverage best practices and business-specific tools to pave the way for an effective onboarding process.

Currently, the majority of B2B onboarding experiences face inefficiencies characterized by:

  • Prolonged onboarding process: The registration process is often protracted due to manual errors, both on the part of the user and the back office. This can result in delays in the onboarding process and, consequently, time to revenue.
  • Non-sequential onboarding: Typically, the review process involves multiple individuals each time new information becomes available. Additionally, there is variability in data requirements, contributing to a lack of sequential flow in the onboarding process.
  • Compliance concerns: Particularly significant for banks during the account opening process that involves Know Your Business (KYB) requirements, compliance issues can pose challenges to the efficiency of onboarding procedures.
  • Multiple providers in the ISV ecosystem: When onboarding an SMB business for services, companies often find themselves engaging with multiple providers simultaneously. This can introduce complexities and potential coordination challenges during the onboarding phase.

These are big challenges and if not addressed, you’ll simply be forgoing potential new customers because you can’t get them into your customer environment fast enough. Prove uses a playbook that enables companies to move past these issues and operate from a foundation of strength.

Over the past 10 years, Prove has become the leading provider of digital identity verification solutions for consumer identities. Now, extending the same level of onboarding enablement to businesses, Prove has introduced Prove Pre-Fill® for Business. This solution, powered by Prove Identity Network®, the company's identity platform, revolutionizes the business onboarding and verification process, delivering a seamless experience while effectively reducing fraud rates.

Prove Pre-Fill® for Business serves as the B2B counterpart to the Prove Pre-Fill® identity verification solution. It offers a comprehensive solution for organizations seeking to onboard businesses swiftly, with benefits including accelerated onboarding, decreased abandonment rates, and a reduction in fraud (relative to attack rate). Business customers can expect the same streamlined and frictionless onboarding experience, while organizations deploying Prove Pre-Fill® for Business can operate with confidence, knowing that their identity verification solution accurately confirms that the data entered by a consumer aligns with information from a trusted source.

Identity Verification Is Your Trusted Teammate


The strategy we implemented to deliver a solution for business customers began when we sought input and collaboration from Prove customers, prospects, and a diverse range of top-tier entities, including banks, lending companies, and marketplaces. These organizations share a common objective – significantly increasing business through high-volume B2B transactions, all within markets highly susceptible to fraud. While customer trust remains paramount, we understand that establishing it should not hinder the onboarding process.

In response to the valuable feedback received, it became evident that we needed to extend the same fast, easy, and secure verification experience provided by Prove Pre-Fill® to business customers. Our solution is designed to streamline the business onboarding and verification journey, delivering a more seamless, efficient, and trustworthy experience. The ultimate aim is to enhance the overall integrity of the registration process for businesses.

Throughout our collaboration with B2B customers, we continue to actively seek important input, integrating it into the ongoing development of a solution that provides users with substantial advantages. Together, we strive to create a solution that meets the evolving needs of businesses in today's dynamic landscape.

More companies are building customer trust with their customer growth efforts, and Prove Pre-Fill® for Business is delivering the foundation for how they operate in today’s economy. If you’d like to learn more about how Prove can help you improve and increase your business customers, learn more at https://www.prove.com/solutions/pre-fill-for-business.

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