7 Items to include in your client onboarding packet to explain your creative process
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When small business owners acquire new clients, there can be an abundance of information to share. Not only are there particulars like payments and contracts, but you might have information about contacting you as a service provider, timeline expectations, and policies to adhere to.
Providing your customer with a clear client onboarding packet or checklist is helpful to both you as a small business owner and for your new client.
You might go over some of these details during an initial consultation call, but it’s nice to have it in writing as well. As a client, you are able to reference anything that a business owner might have gone over that can be easily forgotten.
It’s not just for the client’s benefit that these procedures and policies are distributed. Not only do client onboarding packets hold you accountable, but it also helps small business owners stay accountable and draw clearer lines where their boundaries and abilities lie.
Setting up a client onboarding checklist or packet is mutually beneficial for the client and small business owner. It might take a bit longer to nail down your process and compile everything, but the effort is well worth the extra time.
Things like setting up a Square account or getting a thorough and thought out contract, like those from The Contract Shop, will show your client that you’ve set reliable and resourceful boundaries for your small business.
Lots of business owners don’t know where or how to start their client onboarding packet, however. Here are 7 items to include in your client onboarding process and how to convey each part of your checklist to your client.
Contact
It might be easy to let your clients contact you whenever they need your help, but feel free to set some limitations to when and how you choose to respond.
I’m not the best person to get in contact with through a phone call. I get enough spam calls, and I don’t know if it’s a potential client or a telemarketer contacting me (even with Apple’s new caller recognition features.)
So if you prefer one form of contact, let your customers be aware of the best way to reach you and when you’ll be able to respond. It might be during a specific time frame, like from 1-4 p.m. CST, or within a time range, like within 24-hours.
Let your clients know how and when to contact you with questions, so you aren’t the one bending backward to appease all their concerns at the drop of a hat.
Options
While you might be sending a client onboarding packet to explain the process of working with you, you might include helpful information about additional project options that would help them remember.
Please don’t make a sales pitch, but let them know of other package options, like how to upgrade your package or what additional services you offer. You might also provide a la carte options to help them in the future.
They might not intend to extend further services from you right then and there, but offering additional services would be an excellent option to keep in contact with your clients. Again, don’t be pushy, but be customer service oriented by offering your help in additional ways.
Timeline
I give all my clients custom laid timelines with their projects. A schedule is helpful to know for both you and your client based on their needs and wants concerning the type and style of the project.
I give a rough timeline in my consultation with each client and make it more specific when sending a client onboarding packet. Doing this allows the client to know what to expect in the onboarding process and then has concrete deadlines that I can reach with their project.
A timeline is also helpful to include in your client’s onboarding packet so that you and your client can account for the edits and corrections for a project. I’ve had a few clients who were not compliant when returning work with edits or confirmation on a job, so this timeline is reasonable to use when keeping you both accountable.
Payment
Whether you receive payments in cash, through Square, or by check, everyone has a preference.
Make it clear in your client onboarding checklist how you prefer to receive the money for your services. It doesn’t matter how you prefer your payments, but it is vital that you address it to your clients.
When I first started my small business, my clients approached me with a few different ways to pay me. It was daunting and something I wasn’t always comfortable bringing up, because money, but it’s essential to have a process and method in place when you onboard new clients.
Be clear about what you will and will not accept as acceptable forms of payment with your clients during the early stages of the onboarding process. Otherwise, it could be a pain later on.
Invoicing
It would help if you made it clear how you plan to ask for a client’s payment as well as any other stipulations that they might need to know about when it comes to prices.
I always let my clients know when I send out and how long they have to pay an invoice. Both for deposits and completions on a project, making the terms of your invoices clear and upfront in any client onboarding checklist will help keep both you and the customer clear on payment issues.
For my clients, I let them know I will send an invoice for the deposit, 25% of the project, and will begin working after I receive the payment. After a completed project, I’ll ask for the remainder of the payment from the client. Both invoices have ten days to be paid.
No matter your invoicing process, make sure to be upfront with your clients when you give them their onboarding packet.
Policies
Just like with payment, if you have any policies, like cancelation or late, make them known in the client onboarding process.
Policies are in place to protect the integrity of the project. While it helps both the client and the business owner stay accountable, they intend to make sure the plan is finished with the least rocky road to get there.
The most prominent policies are probably late or cancelation policies, but small businesses might include conduct, privacy, social media, and email policies in your client onboarding packet.
Your customers need to be aware of how you conduct your business and how you expect to work with them. If they are behaving a certain way that makes you uncomfortable, this is a perfect way to show you expectations on how to be treated and how you will reciprocate. If it becomes an ongoing issue, you can follow through on any of these policies, and follow-through.
Contract
Always include your contract when you give a client your onboarding packet. You’ll be able to keep it connected and keep everything in one place.
You can use a free contract, but you have little knowledge if it is valid or full of holes in your business. While I don’t suggest you contact a lawyer when they could cost up to thousands, I do recommend paying for reliable contracts that suit your needs, like those from The Contract Shop.
The Contract Shop allows you to find contracts for your small creative business or find general contracts. If you’re like me, you might need a graphic design contract, or if you’re looking for a non-disclosure agreement, you can also find one that fits your needs.
Setting a precedent with your clients and keeping cohesive records will help show your clients that you are organized and ready to work with them.
It can be overwhelming when you start your small business and be expected to have all the answers to your client onboarding packet, but it’s beneficial to let your clients know what to expect with you in writing. If you can’t have it in one packet, make a process to go over everything that might concern a customer in one setting rather than taking it as it comes.
Whatever you use and abide by, let your clients know how to approach you as a small business owner and what to expect when they work with you.
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