Take the guesswork out of bringing a new client onboard

[Priya Chandra]

"What would happen Priya if you got hit by a bus?"

That's what my boss used to ask me on occasion - and no they weren't concerned about my physical health after a bus accident, but about business continuity and the creation of Standard Operating Procedures (or SOPs).

Which is exactly what Miriam's talking about in this complete guide to onboarding a new client.

The Local SEO Agency’s Complete Guide to Client Discovery and Onboarding

Lack of a clearly delineated, step-by-step onboarding process increases the potential for human error. Your agency’s Local SEO manager may be having allergies on Monday and simply forget to ask your new client if they have more than one website, if they’ve ever purchased reviews, or if they have direct access to their Google My Business listings. Or they could have that information and forget to share it when they jump to a new agency.

Above is just a snippet, so head over to read the rest and if you aren't already using some standardised onboarding documents, take a look at the ones Miriam's put together.

What do you think?
Are you using a standard type of onboarding?
Do you think you're more likely to do so now?


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[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Priya - you're a mindreader again.

This is another great post by Miriam and includes: a Client Discovery Questionnaire,
an Initial Discovery Phone Call Script, and a useful Location Data Spreadsheet.

Thanks Miriam!

 

[bczubiak]

Definitely a great post. There are things to do for sure when signing on a new client. We have created a checklist system in our backend software that we can build on over time. Here is an example of the items to add a new account. Some of these many vary based on your vertical market. We sign up mainly dentists. We will certainly incorporate more items from Miriams post.

Received client Paperwork
Setup Authorize.net For Client Payments
Copy From Pending Lead Type To Active
Send Information Sheet To Client
Create Gmail Filter to Dentist (We set up filter in Gmail so we don't miss client emails)
Add To DC Seotools in-house Back end Software
Complete Practice Info
Complete SEO Information
Add Dentist To Client Group Type List
Add Master Directories To Claim
Add Domain Information
Set Domain Expiration Date (We let client know when their domain expires)
Add Search Term 1 & 2 (Used for our quick dashboard so we can see all of our most important rankings for all clients in one view)
Ad Word "Main" in Domain Description
Create User Account For In-House Dashboard
Login With Client Name To Make Sure It Works
Complete Dashboard Configuration
Add Mobile Website Analytic Data
Complete Monthly Recap Email (We send auto-email every month to show client what we have done for them)
Add Client To A Group
Add User Access For Employees
Complete Information Update Email (Auto email goes out to ask client what changes have been made lately. New equipment, new employee hires etc)
Send Test To Client
Bright Local Setup
Add to Rank Checker
Add to SEO Check-Up
Add to Citation Tracker
Add to Google+ Local Wizard
Add to Google Webmaster Tools
Change International Targeting To United States
Add Client To Google Analytics
Add Custom Analytics Dashboard

 

[Linda Buquet]

Whoa, that's a whole lotta steps Bob, very thorough!

Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

 

[Priya Chandra]

Whoa, that's a whole lotta steps Bob, very thorough!

Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

I agree, that's an amazing list Bob! I especially like the domain expiration notification - I'm going to add that to my checklist, along with web hosting expiration dates.