On-boarding new clients is exciting, but if you don’t have a good system in place, it can take up a lot more time than necessary.
You want to make sure you’re making this process as easy and fast as possible to save you time, and get your client started off on the right foot.
These tasks are often things that you do repeatedly and can automate. It’s one of my favorite things to help my clients with first because it can truly transform so much of your business by taking these simple steps.
Write down your process
The first thing I recommend you do to create an effective onboarding strategy is to write down your process. Write down every step from the time you have a call with someone and they say they want to work with you, to sending a contract/invoice to the emails you send after that and the first steps you take once they’ve paid. Just doing this step alone may open your eyes to where you could cut or combine steps, or find a better way to do something.
2. Find a system(s) that can help you streamline
One of my favorite systems that is really comprehensive for all your onboarding needs is Dubsado. Instead of using a few different systems to do all of the things, why not focus on one system that can help you do EVERYTHING? Talk about efficient, right?
What I love about Dubsado is that once you add your client everything from that point on is as simple as clicking a button. Dubsado is always one of the tools I help set up for my clients during our 5-hour intensives because it can seriously transform your business in a matter of hours. You have the ability to set up packages, canned emails, contracts, questionnaires, workflows, payment gateways, reminders, etc. that once you do once, will save you SO much time in your business when onboarding new clients. It also helps to keep everything for your new clients in one place.
3. Create Templates
Templates are a LIFESAVER. When I think of templates I think of a few different things. First, I create templates in my project management tool, Asana. You can create a new project and then add tasks that outline each step that should be done when onboarding a new client.
For example that could look like this:
Add client to Dubsado
Start the workflow for Service XYZ
Create client Google Drive folder and share the link with the client
Set up/get added to Asana/Trello
After Strategy call assign next steps in PM tool
Once you had that template set up you can simply copy and paste as a new project when you add a new client. That way you’re not forgetting a step each time and you don’t have to retype every step out each time you bring on a new client.
Another way templates help me is for content planning. I have a content planning template I copy and paste each week to plan out my content and inform my VA as to what needs to be scheduled on social each week. It’s really helpful to not have to recreate the wheel with my content. I use THIS blog post and break it down into bite-size pieces mixed in with some promo posts and personal posts each week. It’s efficient and has helped me be consistent with my blog and social posts.
Finally, the last way I use templates is CANNED EMAILS. This is something you’d add in Dubsado but it really helps if you’re sending the same intro email to a client each time you bring someone new on. Instead of wasting time copying and pasting from a past email, you can set up a variety of canned emails to simply click, add a little personalization if needed and hit send.
4. Set up Automations/Workflows
Remember how I said Dubsado was seriously a game-changer? I wasn’t kidding. Workflows will make your life SO much easier. What is a workflow? It’s an automation that you can set up to basically do the “next step” for you. That’s not the official definition, but that’s the simplest way to explain it in my opinion. For example, if you have a service that costs the same every client such as a coaching package, you can add the package cost and contract into Dubsado and then create a workflow so all you have to do is add your new client and click Start Workflow.
Here’s what a workflow could look like:
Send contract immediately after the workflow is started
Send invoice as soon as contract is signed
Send email “Next Steps” as soon as an invoice is paid in full
Send Questionnaire “Testimonial” 30 days after the last step was completed
All of that is done automatically without you having to check-in or press send, or follow up. Genius, right? Now if your prices aren’t standard, it doesn’t mean there aren’t some things you couldn’t automate. Every business is different but there are ways you can use workflows to not have to recreate the wheel each time you onboard a new client.
Do you have an effective onboarding strategy? Where do you find yourself spending the most time in your onboarding process?
Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.
After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.
Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.
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