Client onboarding checklist for agencies

The first month with a new client sets the tone for everything after it. Many onboarding problems start with missing information and unspoken assumptions. Use this checklist to get access, expectations and a first win in place, and adjust it to your services.

Before day one: the handover from sales

Onboarding starts the moment the deal is agreed. The person who sold the work knows things the delivery team does not. Capture them before anyone writes to the client.

• Signed agreement or approved proposal, with scope and exclusions
• Who the decision maker is, and who the day-to-day contact is
• What the client said success looks like, in their words
• Any promises made during the sale, written down exactly
• Payment terms and the date of the first invoice
• Anything the client is worried about

If your sales steps are still informal, how to build a simple sales pipeline for a small agency shows where the handover fits in the stage structure.

Day one

The goal for day one is that the client knows what happens next and feels well handled. Keep it short.

• Send a welcome message from the person they will deal with most.
• Confirm the kickoff date and who needs to attend.
• Send an access and information request list: logins, brand assets, existing documents. Ask for it all at once, not drip by drip.
• Create the client record and the project in your system, and link them.
• Set up the shared folder and the communication channel you will use.
• Confirm your invoicing details: who receives invoices and any purchase order number.

Time budget for day one: about 2 hours.

Week one

The goal for week one is a shared understanding of the work, and a clear first deliverable.

• Hold the kickoff call. Review goals, scope, timeline and roles.
• Agree how you will communicate: channel, frequency, response times.
• Chase any outstanding access items and note who is blocking what.
• Share the project plan with milestones and dates.
• Record decisions from the kickoff in writing and send them within a day.
• Deliver something small and visible, such as a one-page audit or a plan outline.

Time budget for week one: about 4 hours.

Month one

The goal for month one is confidence. The client should see progress, know where they stand and have no open surprises.

• Send a short written update every week at the same time.
• Hold a check-in at around day 30: what is working, what is unclear, what they need from you.
• Compare hours or effort used against your plan and flag drift early.
• Review the client's access list and remove anything unneeded.
• Confirm that the first invoice was received and paid as agreed.
• Update the client record with what you learned about preferences and decision-making.

Time budget for month one: about 3 hours beyond delivery work.

A worked example: what onboarding costs

Add the budgets: 2 + 4 + 3 = 9 hours. Say your blended internal cost is $90 per hour. Then 9 x 90 = $810 of internal time per new client.

That is a number to keep in mind when you price. If a client's first month fee does not cover the onboarding cost plus the delivery work, you start in the red. To check the hourly figure you use, the hourly rate calculator can help. The $90 here is only an example.

Owners

Assign each item to a named person, even on a small team. A checklist with no owners is a wish list.

• Account owner: welcome message, kickoff, expectations, week-one summary.
• Delivery lead: access list, project plan, first deliverable.
• Finance or admin: invoice setup, payment terms, records.

On a team of three, one person may hold all three roles. That is fine, as long as you write down who does what on this client.

Keeping the record in one place

Notes scattered across email, chat and personal notebooks are an easy way to lose onboarding details. Keep the client profile, contacts, communication history and project together. HireOrSell, for example, links clients to projects, which makes the handover simpler for whoever picks up the work. Whatever you use, pick one place and tell the team.

Common gaps to check

• No one confirmed who approves work on the client side.
• Access requested in pieces across three weeks.
• Expectations about response time never discussed.
• First invoice sent with the wrong contact.
• Kickoff notes never sent in writing.

Adjusting the list for different clients

Not every client needs every item. A small one-off project may need only the day-one list and a short kickoff. A retainer with several stakeholders needs the full set and a named contact for each. Mark each line as always, sometimes or never for each type of client, so that the team does not make the call from scratch every time.

When a client is slow to provide access, treat it as a scheduling fact and say so plainly in writing: "We cannot start the build until we have the logins. Each day without them moves the start date by a day." That keeps the onboarding on record and the responsibility visible.

Next step

Copy the lists above into a document, set owner names on each line and use it on your next new client. After the first month, note which items you skipped or added and update the master.