Client onboarding checklist: for service businesses
What to collect, agree and set up in the first two weeks with a new client, in one checklist you can copy for an agency, consultancy or any service firm.
Spodus team
Published 4 min read
On this page
A client onboarding checklist is the list of steps you run every time a new client signs. It covers what you collect from them, what you agree in writing, and what you set up on your side before work starts. Using the same list each time means nothing is forgotten and every client gets the same start.
The checklist
Copy this and remove what does not apply.
Collect from the client
- The signed agreement or statement of work.
- One main contact, and who approves work if they are away.
- Billing details: legal entity name, billing address, tax number, the email that invoices go to, and the purchase order number if they use one.
- Access to the accounts you will work in: ad platforms, analytics, website, social profiles, shared drives.
- Brand assets: logo files, fonts, colours, tone of voice notes, past work.
- Anything the work depends on: product lists, price lists, customer data, existing content.
Agree with the client
- The scope, as a numbered list of deliverables and a list of exclusions.
- The timeline: the start date, milestones and the first delivery.
- How you report: what, how often and in what format.
- How you invoice: the amount, the date, the payment terms and the deposit.
- How you communicate: which channel, how fast you reply, and when you meet.
- Who gives feedback, and how many revision rounds are included.
Set up on your side
- The client record: company, contacts, agreement, billing details in one place.
- The project board with the deliverables as tasks and the milestones as dates.
- The first invoice, dated and ready to send.
- A shared folder for files, with the brand assets in it.
- The internal handover: who works on the account, what was promised, what to watch.
- The welcome email.
Before the kickoff call
Do steps 1 to 6 before the call, not on it. A kickoff call spent chasing logins is a wasted hour for both sides.
Send one email the day the agreement is signed. It says thank you, it lists what you need from them, and it proposes two times for the kickoff. Put the list in the email body, not in an attachment; people answer a numbered list in an email and ignore a form.
Create the client record the same day. Enter the company, the contacts and the billing details from the agreement. If the record already exists from the sales stage, check it rather than trusting it. Billing details in particular are often wrong at this point, and a wrong entity name on the first invoice delays payment by weeks.
The kickoff call
The kickoff call has one job: to make sure both sides have the same picture of the work. It covers steps 7 to 12. Keep it under an hour.
Walk through the scope line by line and read out the exclusions. This feels slow. It is the single most valuable ten minutes of the engagement, because it is where the client says "oh, I thought that was included" while it is still cheap to fix. If you have a statement of work, share your screen and go through it.
Then agree the practical things: the day of the week you send reports, the day of the month you invoice, the channel for questions, and the name of the person whose feedback counts. Write the answers down during the call and send them the same day as a short summary. That summary is the document you will point at later.
The first two weeks
The first two weeks decide how the client feels about the next twelve months. Three things matter.
Deliver something visible early. Not the whole first milestone; one small thing that shows the work has started. A first draft, a first report, a plan on one page. Silence for two weeks after a signature is a common reason a new client starts to worry.
Send the first invoice on the agreed date. Not early, not late. A client who receives an invoice exactly when they were told to expect it learns that you do what you say. If a deposit was agreed, it went out with the agreement; the first regular invoice goes out on the date in step 10.
Hold a short check-in at the end of week two. Fifteen minutes. Ask what is working, what is not, and whether anyone on their side still needs something. Fix whatever they say. Then move the account to its normal rhythm.
Keeping the checklist alive
A checklist that lives in one person's head is not a checklist. Keep it as a document that gets copied for every new client, and add a step each time something is missed. Over a year the list becomes the agency's real onboarding process, built from the things that went wrong.
It is easiest to keep when the client record, the project board and the invoice live in the same tool, because the set-up steps are then a few minutes rather than three logins. Spodus is built that way. A shared document works too, as long as everyone uses the same one.
The rule is the same for any tool: run the list every time, including for the small clients and the ones you know well. The clients you skip the list for are the ones whose billing details turn out to be wrong.
Questions, answered
- What should a client onboarding checklist include?
- At least three things. What you collect from the client: the signed agreement, a main contact, billing details and access to the accounts you will work in. What you agree with them: scope, deadlines, how you report and how you invoice. What you set up on your side: the client record, the project board, the first invoice and a welcome email. Add steps your own work needs.
- How do you onboard a new client in an agency?
- Run the same list every time. Before the kickoff, collect the signed agreement, billing details and access. On the kickoff call, agree the scope, the timeline, the reporting rhythm and who approves work. In the first two weeks, deliver one small visible thing, send the first invoice on the agreed date, and hold a short check-in. Write the list down so nobody has to remember it.
- How long should client onboarding take?
- For most service businesses, one to two weeks from the signed agreement to the first piece of work. The collecting and agreeing steps can be done in one call and one email. The set-up steps take an hour if the same tool holds the client record, the board and the invoice. Longer than two weeks usually means a step is waiting on someone; the checklist shows which one.
