Last Updated on March 26, 2022 by Paula

Are you a freelancer, consultant, or coach? If you work with clients of some type, you probably have some workflow in place. Onboarding a brand new client can be like picking out the perfect pair of high heels and getting them for a great price. If you’re a busy boss like myself, then you know that onboarding can be somewhat tedious and a bit boring compared to all the fun stuff.

Sending out contracts, invoices, and a million onboarding emails is taxing and takes up so much of your precious time! That’s time you could be used to provide those clients with your goods and services! I have always been a massive advocate for Dubsado because this online tool has many great features that are perfect for any service-based business. They make it easy to automate onboarding and create excellent workflows that you can use at every point of your business!

How do you want your onboarding process to look?

You don’t have to break out a pen and paper for this, but I find that the best place to start is by understanding what steps need to be taken during and in your onboarding process. Instead of memorizing everything you need to do for each client, take note of what happens the next time you go to onboard a client.

• What emails do you need to send?
• What documents or forms need to be sent, such as welcome packets, proposals, contracts, etc.?
• How do you get your client’s account information?

How to prepare EVERYTHING in Dubsado

Before you set up your workflows in Dubsado*, you need to look at the onboarding process and make sure that you design and have everything you need within the platform. For example, you may need to set up templates such as forms, canned emails, and payment schedules. Here are some tools you need to know:

• Scheduler: think of this like a Calendly set up for your clients to book calls with you.
• Contract: this allows you to do e-signing with your clients.
• Lead capture form: when a potential client fills out this form, all their information is saved so you can easily convert them into a project when they sign on.
• Questionnaires: if you need additional information about a client you’re going to work with, you can create a questionnaire to capture that information.
• Canned emails: these are ones you’ll regularly send, such as when the contract goes out, the invoice, and a scheduler link, etc. You can customize these, but these basic emails get sent to EVERYONE, so why not automate them?
• Packages: lastly, if you have 1-1 or group coaching sessions, you may want to have this so you can add your packages in and automate the invoice process.

How to create a workflow

Once you have prepared EVERYTHING in Dubsado, it’s finally time to work on your workflows! Of course, you want to ensure that you have your templates set up first to make the workflow process run smoother.

1. First, click on the templates, and then go to workflows. Next, hit add workflow. Give your workflow a name such as “client onboarding” or “new client process.”
2. Next, ensure that you attached the lead capture form to the workflow and apply it to your workflow.
3. Then, head back to your workflow template and add actions with the onboard process you outlined in the first step. Decide what actions and triggers should look like.

Testing your new onboarding process

You have everything set up, and it’s essential to make sure that you’re not testing this workflow when you are signing on an actual client! The most unprofessional thing you can do when signing on a new client is making them feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. This is why we created this testing process! Create a test project that you can use to play around with your workflow. Dubsado has one set up, so you can see where you might need to do a little more work.

Make sure you check the following:

• Did you get everything in the correct order?
• Do the forms and contracts look like you want them to?
• How are the emails worded? Do the smart fields autofill the way they should?
• Did the invoice populate with the correct amount?
• Did everything work the way you laid it out?

If you find that something in this checklist didn’t go the way you thought it would, or if something doesn’t look right, do some troubleshooting to work out the kinks. Check the actions and triggers to make sense, and see if you need to simplify or add something in.

What are you waiting for? Sit down and map out your next onboarding process with Dubsado! Once you know what it looks like, setting up a workflow makes it easy so you can onboard clients in minutes. By automating your workflows, you can finally free up your time to focus on clients, grow your business, and get back your precious time.

PS You can use my code pshvirtual* to get 20% off your first month or year with Dusbado!