So you’ve landed your first few clients in your Virtual Assistant, Web Design, Social Media Manager business, or any other type of Freelance business you may run. Fantastic! But what’s next? Do you feel like you’re just improvising when it comes to on-boarding your clients or managing their projects?
As a freelancer, the question “How to get clients?” is often followed by another common question: “How do I onboard a client?”
In today’s competitive business landscape, it is crucial to not only attract clients but also retain them. One of the most effective ways to ensure client satisfaction and build long-term relationships is through a seamless and impressive client on-boarding process.
Client on-boarding refers to the series of steps taken to welcome and integrate new clients into your business. It sets the tone for the entire client experience and can significantly impact their perception of your company. By wowing your clients with a well-designed on-boarding process, you can establish trust, demonstrate professionalism, and lay the foundation for a successful partnership.
In this article, we will explore as few simple and easy workflows you can create in Dubsado to wow your customer from their first point of contact with you, and through your entire client onboarding process. Whether you are a freelancer, small business owner, or part of an agency, implementing these easy workflows and forms will elevate your client on-boarding game and set you apart from the competition.
So, let’s dive in and discover how you can impress and delight your clients with a remarkable client on-boarding process!
Affiliate Disclosure: “I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read full privacy policy here.”
What is Dubsado?
Dubsado is a business management software and CRM designed specifically for creative entrepreneurs and small businesses such as Photographers, Coaches, Web & Graphic Designers, Virtual Assistants and Event Planners.
With Dubsado, you can create customized workflows, templates for things like contracts and proposals, and beautifully branded forms to save time and improve efficiency in your day-to-day operations. It also has great integrations with popular tools like QuickBooks, Google Calendar, and Stripe, making it easy to sync data and stay organized.
What I love the most about Dubsado is they are ALWAYS creating new features and improving their tool. And their Customer Support is second to none! You will not be left stranded trying to figure out how to do anything; you can even book a 1:1 session with their team to work out a solution to your problem. They are the BEST!
Overall, Dubsado is a powerful tool that helps businesses stay organized, professional, and focused on what they do best. Learn more here!
Make Your Initial Response in Your Client Onboarding Impress!
The first impression is crucial when it comes to client onboarding. With Dubsado, you can create a simply Initial Response workflow that will impress your clients from day one.
Once you have this workflow setup it will provide a quick personal response, schedule a discovery call, and create to-do’s for you so you don’t forget to vett the inquiry to ensure you are the right fit and that you are available for the work.
The best part is that most of this will be done on autopilot, so even if you aren’t working that day, your potential client will be none the wiser. They will always receive a professional, prompt, and friendly response. It will also save you a ton of time responding to inquiries and setting up discovery calls as this will all be done for you automatically.
Would you like a step by step guide on exactly what you need to do to get this workflow launched in less than an hour? I have a completely FREE workbook available HERE that will hold your hand through the complete process. Including wording to use in your emails, settings for your scheduler, and fields to use on your contact form.
Don’t wait, click here to get started today!
Here’s how to make an amazing first impression:
- Create a customized client intake form: Dubsado allows you to create beautiful and interactive forms that collect all the necessary information from your potential clients that you need to review their request and determine if you are the right fit. From contact details to project requirements, you can tailor the form to your specific needs. You can even add your branding to these forms for an even more professional look.
- Automate your initial responses and appointment scheduling: With Dubsado workflows, you can set up personalized automated emails to greet your clients and provide any additional information on how to book a Discovery Call with you. This prompt and personal touch goes a long way in making your clients feel valued and appreciated.
- Automate reminders for clients: Don’t leave clients wondering what the next steps are or forgetting about your appointment. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity to impress them in person. So set up automatic reminder emails within your scheduler to be sent at specific times. Within these reminders, you can make it easy for them to reschedule or cancel the appointment if the time no longer works.
🌟 WOW Factor Tip: With all three of these steps, you want to make sure you are adding your branding and a personal touch so clients have no idea it is being sent by automation. You can create custom email signatures, add images and logos to your intake form, and tailor the wording of your canned emails to make it sound like you are personally writing the email just for them!
Utilize Dubsado Forms and Workflows to Simplify Client Onboarding
Now that you’ve had your Discovery Call and booked the client, you need to keep the good impressions going. You can achieve this by creating a Client On-Boarding workflow that streamlines communication, gathers project documents, and signs contracts.
You are going to want to utilize Dubsado forms and workflows effectively to make your onboarding process seamless and professional. Here are a few tips for the steps you will want to follow to get this workflow up and running:
- Identify your onboarding process: Start by mapping out your current onboarding process for each of your services. Start with your most popular service, so you can get it going first. You can then duplicate this process and tweak it for any additional ones. Identify the different steps involved, such as gathering client information, sending contracts, collecting payments, and scheduling appointments.
- There are tons of free tools available that make this step easier such as GitMind, Gliffy, Diagrams.net, ClickUp Whiteboards, or Google Drawings to name a few.
- Create custom forms: Take a look at the process you just mapped out, and highlight any information that needs to be gathered from your client. Once you know what information is needed, use Dubsado’s form builder to create custom forms that capture all the necessary information. This can include proposals, contracts, project requirements, brand details, and any other relevant information.
- Streamline document signing: Utilize Dubsado’s contract feature to create legally binding contracts that can be signed electronically. This eliminates the need for printing, scanning, and mailing physical documents, making the onboarding process faster and more efficient.
- 🌟 Efficiency Tip: Create a Proposal that sends your Contract and Invoice at the same time. This way you can get all 3 documents signed and paid in one step.
- Schedule appointments: If you have determined, while mapping out your process, that you need to have a 1:1 meeting with your client to go over the Project Scope, you can use a scheduler to automatically schedule this. For example, you can set up your client onboarding workflow to send a request to book a meeting 3 days after the client intake questionnaire has been completed.
- Automate form delivery: Set up actions/steps in your client onboarding workflow to deliver the appropriate forms to clients at specific stages of the onboarding process. For example, you can automatically send a client intake questionnaire once they have signed a contract.
- 🌟 Customer Experience Tip: Take advantage of Dubsado’s incredible Client Portal feature to effortlessly send and store all your onboarding documents. Instead of sending forms via email, you can conveniently add them to the client’s portal within your workflow. The workflow will then automatically send an email to your client, providing them with a link to access their portal. From there, they can easily view, sign, and complete all the necessary forms. Say goodbye to the hassle of searching through emails and losing important documents!
- Create ToDo’s and Approvals: There will be certain things you need to do manually, or times that you want to double check something, before it goes out to your client to ensure accuracy or to make any modifications due to custom requests. For example, before you send out a proposal you need to tweak it to fit the clients requests. This is when you are going to want to add ToDo’s and Approvals in your workflow.
- ToDo’s are an excellent method for creating manual tasks that you need to complete. They effectively halt the workflow until you finish them.
- Approvals require you to approve a specific step in the workflow before it can be sent. For example, when sending a proposal form you can have a notification sent to you to review the form, make any edits needed and approve it before automation sends it out.
- Track progress: Monitor the progress of each client’s onboarding process using Dubsado’s dashboard. This will help you identify any bottlenecks or delays and take necessary actions to keep things moving smoothly.
By leveraging Dubsado’s incredible features, you can streamline your onboarding process, save time, and deliver a seamless experience for your clients. Talk about making a great first impression! A smooth onboarding process instills confidence in your clients, showcasing your exceptional project management skills from start to finish.
More Ideas to Consider for Future Dubsado Workflows
Once you’ve gotten the hang of how to use Dubsado Workflows there are SO MANY ways you can utilize them in your business to attract, manage and retain clients with a WOW!
Here are some ideas to consider for future Dubsado workflows that you maybe never thought of:
- Task management: Set up a workflow that assigns tasks to team members based on specific triggers or milestones in a project. This can help keep everyone on track and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
- Invoice reminders: Create a workflow that sends automated invoice reminders to clients who have outstanding payments. This can help improve cash flow and reduce the need for manual follow-ups.
- Client feedback collection: Set up a workflow that automatically sends out surveys or feedback forms to clients after a project is completed. This can help you gather valuable insights and testimonials to use for marketing purposes.
- Referral program automation: If you have a referral program in place, create a workflow that automatically sends out referral links or discount codes to clients who refer new business to you. This can help incentivize referrals and make it easier for clients to participate.
- Lead nurturing: Develop a workflow that sends targeted emails or resources to potential clients who have expressed interest in your services. This can help nurture leads and increase conversion rates.
- Project status updates: Set up a workflow that automatically sends regular project status updates to clients. This can help keep them informed and reduce the need for manual check-ins.
- Post-project follow-up: Create a workflow that sends a thank-you email or follow-up survey to clients after a project is completed. This can help foster client relationships and encourage repeat business.
Remember to customize these workflows to fit your specific business needs and goals. With Dubsado’s powerful automation features, the possibilities are endless!
I know you’ve been hearing all about Dubsado all over FaceBook, YouTube and the Internet. If you are still having doubts on whether or not it is worth the cost, or will work for you, I highly recommend just giving it a try. You can try Dubsado completely FREE for as long as you need for up to 3 Clients. Check it out here: Dubsado CRM
Don’t forget to grab your Free workbook with a step by step guide on creating your very first Dubsado workflow! Learn how to make your client onboarding process stand out!
