—Operations
Onboard every new client the moment they sign
An onboarding workflow that starts when a deal is won or a contract is signed: welcome message, intake form, document and access requests, kickoff booking and internal tasks, each chased until it's done.
The problem
The first weeks after a client signs shape their view of how you work. When onboarding runs on memory and email, that first impression is a string of overlapping requests.
The sale is done and the contract is signed. Then the work of getting started falls to whoever has time. Someone sends a welcome email. Someone else sends an intake form. Finance asks for billing details. The account lead asks for access to the client's website, ad accounts or files. Some of the questions overlap, so the client answers them twice and wonders who owns what.
Meanwhile, internal steps get missed. The project isn't set up in your tool. The kickoff isn't booked because nobody owns it. A document request sits unanswered for a week, and the start date moves.
None of this is hard. It is a dozen small tasks with no owner, repeated for every new client. That makes it one of the clearest cases for automation in a services business: the same steps, in the same order, every time.
What we build
We build onboarding on Maestro, our workflow automation, triggered from Cadenza, our lead follow-up system.
- We map your onboarding once. Every step from signature to kickoff: what the client needs to send, what your team needs to set up, who owns each step and in what order. Steps that need judgment stay with a person.
- Signing starts it. A signed contract, a deal moved to won or a first invoice paid starts the workflow. You choose the trigger.
- The client gets one welcome, not five. A single message introduces the team, explains what happens next and links to one intake form that asks each question once.
- Documents and access are requested together. The form or a secure upload page lists exactly what's needed: IDs, signed engagement letters, brand assets, access to accounts. Each item is checked off as it arrives and filed to the client's record.
- Kickoff is booked automatically. The client picks a time from your team's real availability, and reminders go out to everyone attending.
- Internal setup runs in parallel. The project is created in your project tool from the right template, the client is added to billing, a shared folder is set up and tasks are assigned to the right people.
- Everything is chased until it's done. Outstanding items get polite reminders. If something is still missing before kickoff, the account lead gets an alert with the list.
- You see where every client is. A simple view shows each new client's onboarding progress and what's blocking it.
Nothing here replaces your people. Your account lead still writes the personal note, runs the kickoff and makes the calls that need judgment. The workflow makes sure the admin around them is done on time, for every client.
How it connects
Onboarding is the hinge between the sale and the work, so it draws on both of our other automation services.
- Cadenza. The won deal is the trigger. Everything captured during the sale, such as scope, contacts and call notes, carries into onboarding, so the client isn't asked again.
- Concierge (AI sales and service agents). Clients can ask questions about onboarding by chat or email and get answers from your process, or a handoff to the account lead with the conversation attached.
- Onboarding follows naturally from quote follow-up: the quote is accepted, the contract is signed and onboarding starts, without anyone re-typing what the client said.
If you're weighing whether onboarding needs a custom portal or an existing tool, read custom software vs off-the-shelf SaaS. For how we'd scope it, see the Worcia Method.
What we measure
Before launch, we time a few recent onboardings with your team to set a baseline. After launch, we report the same measures against the agreed targets.
- Time from signature to kickoff. Days from the trigger (signature, won deal or first payment) to the kickoff meeting. Measured from CRM and calendar timestamps.
- Onboarding steps completed without manual chasing. The share of client-side steps completed after automated requests and reminders alone. Measured from the workflow's step log.
- Clients asked for the same information more than once. Measured by comparing the fields requested across every form and email in the workflow, and by asking clients at kickoff whether anything was asked twice.
- Staff hours spent on onboarding admin. Measured from before-and-after task logs your team keeps for a sample of onboardings.