The faster you get this process documented, the faster you can offload it to an account manager (hooray!).

To know how valuable it is to offload this process, document how long it takes to typically onboard a client, and any costs involved in the process.

The first step is defining your onboarding budget

Document:

1. How long does it take you to onboard a client?
2. How many team members do you need?
3. How much does it cost?
4. What technologies are needed?
5. Do you need a space for onboarding?

Darren, owner of a digital marketing agency, saved 20 hours per client by hiring a Success Manager and delegating his onboarding process! It pays to hand off the baton.

Process, Documents & Materials:

Select internal team to lead onboarding using the following criteria:

1. Who has the best understanding of this service or industry
2. Who has bandwidth to service this client
3. Who’s style is in sync with this client

Create a client brief

1. All the information gathered during the sales process that a team member will need to know and add to in order to service the client

Organize client documents & resources that you need (intake)

1. Identify what you need from the client to move the project forward ie. credentials, assets, strategy documents
2. Create a Plan B – What will you do when you realize they don’t have these items and they lied to you (p.s. 99% of the time, they did).

Create a client welcome pack

1. Send a welcome letter (or film a welcome video if you want ot leave a GREAT impression) that reassures your client’s decision to work with you + add anything else needed to make sure they’re a good behaving client

Define client metrics, create a client dashboard. This includes:

1. How do you measure client success?
2. How do you know if the client is being served at excellence? How do you know deadlines are being met?

Document client definitions and resources

1. Answer to common questions your clients constantly ask
2. Note: This is an opportunity to educate clients and have them prepared for upcoming pain points

Build a client folder taxonomy

1. Define standard folder structures
2. Define standard naming conventions
3. Create processes for storing and keeping track of version/iterations of deliverable

Pssst — This is almost always overlooked and always drives people crazy in the future.

CLIENT DASHBOARD

Build a dashboard to keep track of your activity and results, so you know your team’s progress

Your dashboard should include:

1. Deadlines / milestones
2. Signal that clients are on track or off track to succeeding (e.g. you could use color gradients)