Support
Client onboarding that stops depending on memory
Every project started differently, so the first fortnight was rebuilt as a written sequence with owners, triggers and one weekly check.
- Category
- Support
- Year
- 2026
- Type
- Operations and client onboarding
- Basis
- Client engagement
01
The situation
The practice is six people and signs between two and four projects a month. Everything after the signature depends on the founder: the welcome message, the deposit invoice, the folder, the kickoff call, the access requests, the brief.
None of it is difficult. All of it is remembered. When two projects start in the same week one of them gets a slower start, and the client notices the thing that arrived late rather than the six things that arrived on time.
The practice did not want new software. It wanted the first fortnight to happen the same way every time, whoever is running it.
02
What we looked at
- The last eight projects, reconstructed from the inbox, to see what actually happened rather than what was supposed to.
- Where each one lost time, and whether the cause was a missing step, a missing document or a decision waiting on the founder.
- The documents already in use, including three versions of the same welcome email.
- Which steps genuinely need the founder, and which only need somebody to own them.
03
What Toyzie did
- 01
Reconstructed the sequence that already exists
Before designing anything, the real steps were written in order, with the time each took and the person it waited on. Most of the delay sat in four places.
- 02
Cut the sequence to eleven steps
Some steps were duplicates and two existed only because a document was hard to find. What remains is eleven steps across ten working days, each with an owner and a trigger.
- 03
Wrote the documents once
One welcome email, one access request, one kickoff agenda, one project brief. Each written to be sent as it stands, with the fields that change marked clearly.
- 04
Moved the founder out of eight of the eleven steps
The founder stays on the kickoff call, the brief and the scope confirmation. The rest can be run by anyone in the practice following the written sequence.
- 05
Added one weekly check
A ten minute review of every project still inside its first fortnight, so a stalled step is caught while it is a small problem.
04
The work
- An onboarding sequence of eleven steps, with owners, triggers and expected timings.
- Four templates ready to send, replacing the versions that were being rewritten each time.
- A folder structure and naming convention matching how the practice already files work.
- A one page weekly check, and a short handover note so the sequence does not depend on one person.
| Step | Owner | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Send welcome email | Coordinator | Signed proposal received |
| 2. Raise deposit invoice | Coordinator | Welcome email sent |
| 3. Create project folder | Coordinator | Deposit invoice raised |
| 4. Send access request | Coordinator | Project folder created |
| 5. Confirm kickoff date | Coordinator | Access request sent |
| 6. Hold kickoff call | Founder | Deposit received |
| 7. Circulate kickoff notes | Coordinator | Kickoff call held |
| 8. Draft the project brief | Founder | Kickoff notes circulated |
| 9. Confirm scope against the brief | Founder | Brief drafted |
| 10. Add project to weekly check | Coordinator | Scope confirmed |
| 11. Send first weekly update | Coordinator | Project added to weekly check |
05
The result
The engagement moved the first fortnight out of the founder's memory and into a sequence the team could run.
- Eleven onboarding steps were documented with a clear owner, trigger and expected timing.
- The founder remained responsible for three decisions, while the other eight steps moved to the team.
- Four ready-to-send templates replaced documents that had been rewritten for every project.
- A ten-minute weekly check made stalled work visible before it became a client problem.
06
Closing thought
Support is often described as taking tasks off a list. The more useful version is making the list unnecessary: writing the recurring parts of a business down clearly enough that they no longer need the person who invented them.
If the same problem is sitting in your business, start there.
Describe the situation in your own words. The first reply will set out how Toyzie Studio would approach it and what could realistically be established first.