How to Onboard a New Client

Onboarding a new client is exciting but at the same time scary, if it’s one of your first few clients you want to make sure you're doing everything correctly. You have to show that you have it all together and figured out. I’ve been through it, it is okay, you will do great! I did the hard part for you and saw what worked and didn’t and here is my tried-and-true method to onboarding a client successfully!

Discovery Call

First it starts with a discovery call. This is the time where you both get to know each other. Ask them lots of questions, get to know them how they started the business, their passion, where they’re from. Ask them what they are looking for help with or if you already know say, “so you said you needed help with … can you explain more” keep them talking once it’s gotten to a good point in the convo you're going to veer to your sales pitch. Basically, if you vibe pretty well you most likely are already in, I mean they already took the time out of their day to chat with you so you know they are looking for help. 

Don’t be afraid, go right in say your rate, it won’t shock them they most likely already saw your price if it shocks them and they say “wow I didn’t realize or that’s a little to steep”, most likely they will not be a good client for you, they are not ready for your quality of work.

They said Yes….
Congrats! You got a new client now what’s next?! Onboarding; you want this to go as smoothly as possible with the least amount of back and forth. 

First is the contract. Have a contract made by a lawyer or there are great sites now that have pre-made virtual assistant contracts, there are many versions so you really have to search this out and find one that will work for you and your type of work/niche. Once you have a contract you like, you need to send it to them to sign/fill out. I use HelloSign you can sign up for a free account and get 3 free signatures a month before you have to upgrade to the paid version. Which is great when you are first starting out! You edit the form and select where to have them fill out and then send it off to them to sign. 

Most likely in the contract you specified when/how you would get paid. I prefer to send invoices and have everything tracked nice and neat. I have tried a few different invoicing softwares and have finally settled on my favorite, Wave. First it’s free to use which is awesome when your first starting your business, less money going out! Second its super easy to use and connect your bank account to. It really has so many great features that other paid bookkeeping softwares have, and this is free. They do take a small percentage of the transactions, but so do most other invoicing softwares. The other nice thing about this compared to my other top invoicing softwares like freshbooks was when you send them an invoice you can have different payment options, for instance you can select to only accept bank transfers and the fees are so much less. Which is an awesome feature and saves you even more money and I am all about that!

They’re Onboarded Now What?

So you signed them on and you're ready to start working together. From your discovery call with them, you most likely learned what they need help with the most and where to begin. Once they’re all signed on, I usually send them an email of everything I would need to get started, this is logins, logos, pictures, color schemes, and questions I might have and have them send me a list of their questions/ list of priority things they want to get done. Also, if you didn’t ask already ask how best they work if they want to send a task list or chat at the beginning of each week and make a game plan of what to focus on or if they are more of an email when they think of it type of person. If you prefer one way over the other make sure you make that known. 

Now that you are able to onboard a client you are well on your way to successfully growing your virtual assistant business.

Join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs who collaborate, and help each other. Click here to join our private Facebook group Virtual Assistants Essentials to Success.