Client Onboarding That Is the Same Every Time

1. 1

   Make sales complete a real handover

   A handover is not a forwarded email thread. Make it a task with required fields, so the delivery team gets scope, commercials, contacts, and anything that was promised verbally.

   • Capture the agreed scope, the rate, the billing cycle, and the named client contacts as fields rather than prose
   • Anything promised in the sales process that is not written down is the thing that causes the argument in month three

   Carried byCustom fieldsTask management
2. 2

   Create the client and the onboarding project

   Set the client up once, then create the onboarding project against them. Every future project for that client hangs off the same record, so you can see the whole relationship rather than a list of unrelated projects.

   Carried byClient management
3. 3

   Load the thirty day checklist

   The same steps, every client. Kickoff scheduled, access granted, tools connected, first deliverable agreed, invoice raised. If it is a checklist, it happens. If it is in someone's head, it happens sometimes.

   • Build it once as a reusable checklist group and it arrives on every new onboarding task
   • A completion rule can hold the task open until the required boxes are ticked

   Carried byChecklists
4. 4

   Invite the client, with the right access

   Bring the client into the project rather than emailing them updates. Roles control what they can see, so they get their project and nothing else.

   • Unlimited users on every plan means inviting a client costs nothing
   • Give them a role that lets them comment and approve, not one that lets them see other clients

   Carried byUser roles and permissionsCollaboration
5. 5

   Agree the first deliverable and the dates

   Put the first four weeks on a timeline the client can see, with the dependencies that sit on their side clearly marked. Most onboarding delays are a client asset that arrived late, and a shared timeline makes that visible before it becomes a problem.

   Carried byGantt chartProject calendar
6. 6

   Put the documents where they belong

   Contract, brand guidelines, credentials brief, and the statement of work belong with the project, not in an inbox. Teams that must keep client documents inside their own network can use the self-hosted document management module.

   • Document management is available in the Self-Hosted edition
   • Cloud teams attach files to the project and tasks they relate to

   Carried byDocument managementWiki
7. 7

   Start tracking time from day one

   Not from the first invoice. From the first hour. Onboarding time is real cost, and firms that do not track it are usually surprised at how much of the margin it eats.

   • Log time against the task, so it is attributable rather than a weekly guess
   • Timesheets get approved and then become the basis of the invoice

   Carried byTime trackingTimesheet
8. 8

   Raise the first invoice, then review at day thirty

   Turn approved time into the first invoice while the engagement still feels new. Then hold a short internal review: was the scope what sales sold, is the margin what you assumed, and does anything need renegotiating now rather than in month six.

   Carried byInvoicingBudget and cost management

1. 1Create one onboarding project properlyUse the Simple or Task Tracking template, and build the thirty day plan into it as tasks with owners and offsets from day one.
2. 2Write the checklist onceTurn the repeatable steps into a reusable checklist group, so the next client's tasks arrive with the steps already on them.
3. 3Add the handover fieldsScope, rate, billing cycle, client contacts, and anything promised verbally, as custom fields on the handover task.
4. 4Decide the client roleCreate or pick a role that gives clients comment and approval rights on their own project only, and use it every time.
5. 5Set the billing rhythmAgree who approves timesheets and when invoices go out, and put those as recurring tasks so they are not somebody's memory.
6. 6Reuse itFor the next client, create the project the same way and load the same checklist. The point of the exercise is that client eleven gets what client one got.

If you run many small engagements at once, put every client's onboarding project under the same client record so you can see the whole book of work in one place.