229 | Effectively Onboarding and Offboarding Clients

The 6-Figure Freelancer Podcast | Freelancing | Entrepreneurship | Clients | Finances | Motivation | Personal Development | Mindset

Sometimes getting new clients or getting rid of existing ones can be a hassle. Over the years, I’ve worked on perfecting the best way to onboard and offboard clients. I'm excited to share a few of my tips and tricks on how I do this in a way that feels easy and effortless and gives the client a feeling like they're being taken care of.Here are some tips for both onboarding and offboarding, and why it's important to do these in a specific way in order to maximize your ability to use referrals for new business.

"Referrals are how I get clients. It’s the number one way I get the dream clients that I want. They're always high quality. They're always high paying because they're happy customers that told other people so that they could be happy customers, too. It's just an amazing ripple effect. And that's why offboarding and tying everything up nicely is so crucial.” ~ @avanimiriyala

Five Steps for Effective Onboarding 1. Everyone needs to sign the contract

As soon as the contract is signed, it’s go time for you and your team. This is your chance to roll out the red carpet and get everything in place to make sure your client knows working with you will be smooth.

2. Create your client profile in Clickup

Once the contract is signed, you can get to work on creating the client profile. Their needs, wants, how much attention they require, the scope of the project, all of it. This will help you move through their project quickly and efficiently while nailing the deliverables.

3. Create the necessary components to get the project moving

Whatever systems you're using to track and organize the project, now is the time to get them all set up. Slack channels, task management, time tracking, etc.. These are the nuts and bolts that you will need to make things run smoothly after the kickoff meeting.

4. Have a kickoff meeting

Make sure you have an agenda to help show your client what they can expect and on what timeframes. Set up your recurring meetings, get your processes and assets in line, set a timeline, get on the same page, and then dive into the first milestone of the project. After the meeting, make sure you follow up on your action items.

5. Complete action items from the kickoff meeting

Once you’ve actually held the kickoff meeting, you need to make sure you follow up with your action items right away. Whether they are internal or for the client, following up on these items is critical in making the onboarding process smooth and ensuring that all resources are accounted for.

Five Steps for Effective Offboarding 1. Prepare assets for delivery

This can be anything from image files to vectors to video tutorials. Just make sure that you have everything ready to go in a way that the client can understand and take control of.

2. Turn over the main files

For me, this is usually a Figma file, but for you it might be turning over the working files of the design or website that you’re working on.

3. Turn over additional files

This is when you gather up any other resources that might be floating around for your project, organize them, and hand those off to the client. This can include internal docs, links, or anything you think might be of value to the client as they move forward.

4. Handoff communication and send an invoice

You can do your handoff communication however you want (Slack, Email, etc…), but just make sure that you are clear and give them a list of what you handed off to them and what they will need to do with it. This way they can refer back if they have any questions or are looking for anything.

5. Schedule additional emails

About a week later, you should send a follow-up email looking for feedback and a testimonial if they are willing. Then about two weeks later, ask for a referral if they had a positive experience. Make sure to follow up on these because social proof means more clients.

6. Send a handwritten thank you

Sending them something personal shows that you enjoyed working with them.

Links

• Clickup
• Notion
• Figma
• Loom

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