Free template
Start every new client the same organised way. Send a clear welcome document that tells them what happens next and what you need from them, and keep an internal checklist so nothing is forgotten before the work begins. Both come blank and as two completed examples.
Enlarge preview: Welcome document — for your clientSend it once the client has said yes, before the work starts.
What happens next, key dates, how you will keep in touch and how fast you reply, how to prepare, who does what, and how access will be arranged — without asking for passwords.
Blank and 2 examples · Word and PDF
Enlarge preview: Onboarding checklist — internalKeep it for your team; nothing on it goes to the client.
The agreement, the information you need from the client, approvals, access and setup, and the first steps — each line with an owner, a due date and a status of to do, waiting or done.
Blank and 2 examples · Word and PDF
Choose a document, a version and a format. After the first download, the others need no new form.
Word files open in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages and LibreOffice; we checked them in LibreOffice. The welcome document is US Letter portrait and the checklist US Letter landscape; change the paper size in your editor for A4. In the blank welcome document, replace the shaded [placeholders] and delete the instruction box before sending. The examples use invented businesses and clients.
They have different readers. The welcome document is written for the client: what to expect and what to do. The checklist is for your team: who is chasing what, and what is still waiting. Keeping them separate means internal notes never end up in front of a client.
Through an invitation they control: most accounting, file-sharing and website tools let the owner invite another user and remove them later. The documents say you will never ask for passwords, and ask clients not to send passwords, PINs or door codes by email or text.
Yes. The kitchen example is a two-week project with fixed dates; the bookkeeping example is a monthly service with a catch-up period first. Delete the sections that do not apply.
No. It explains how the work will run. The price, payment terms and the work itself belong in your quote, proposal or scope of work, which the welcome document refers to.