5 Steps You Need in Your Onboarding Process
Today we are talking about 5 steps you need in your onboarding process to help things run smoothly! You cannot control what the business owner has or doesn’t have in place to onboard you, but you can control what you require in order to work with someone and the process which your potential client then client once they book, go through to start working with you!
Inquiry Form
This is how people will get ahold of you and show their interest in what you offer!
❋ Ask specific questions here so you know exactly what they are looking for and if you are able to give them those hours or complete those services!
❋ How many hours
❋ List of tasks
❋ Have they worked with a VA before
❋ After they fill that out and I review it, we schedule a Discovery Call
Discovery Call
This is a 15-30 minute call to see if you and the client are a good fit. Don’t let this turn into a strategy call or what you would maybe go over during an onboarding call... It can get really easy to talk about all the things on this call but it's just a time for you to chat with the potential client, get to know them and their needs, for them to get to know you and you both see if you will work well together!
Proposal (Invoice and Contract)
I use Honeybook (here is my referral code is you are interested in trying it out! This link will get you your first 6 months for just $1/month!) and a proposal is just a contract and an invoice combined! So you are sending the contract of services and first invoice at the same time.
With this, I recommend your potential client already know your pricing and packages so the discovery call isn’t the first time they have heard of your pricing. During your discovery call you can give them an exact rate or a ball park idea if you need to take some time to figure out exactly how much it would be for what they are asking for, and then send your proposal with the exact amount!
Client Expectations Agreement
This is something I did not implement right away and learned the hard way the importance of needing this agreement. It's basically your expectations and boundaries in a document that will be signed by both you and the client. This is a place to make it very clear what you need from the client to do your best work, while also outlining what the client can expect from you!
Example: Outline communication and why it’s important, what clients will need to give you beforehand or during onboarding (SOPs), etc.
Onboarding Email + Onboarding Questionnaire
The onboarding email outlines my work and communication hours, and how I prefer to communicate (Voxer, Email, etc). Similar to the client expectations agreement, but it’s really just an email communicating a few things. This is also where I link the Google Drive/ClickUp space they need access to, and how we will receive their logins whether it is through LastPass, 1Password, or something else! The onboarding questionnaire is a place that I have the client answer some basic questions about their business as well as list out the different tasks we will be responsible for, but this quesntionnaire will be different based on the services you are offering!
Bonus: Onboarding Call
This is especially important if the client doesn’t have recorded SOPs but even if the client does, I think it's good to just get on one hour-ish call with the client and walk through what all you will be doing for them! I typically just work down the list of everything and we go through it together, ask questions, etc.
Okay, that’s all! 5 steps (and a bonus) you need in your onboarding process!
I hope I’ve saved you a bit of time by having this process outlined for you and a potential client!
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