Client Onboarding Brief Generator
A questionnaire your new client fills in — before week one. Captures access, brand, contacts, and goals so you don't lose 5 hours to back-and-forth emails.
Stop losing 5 hours per client to back-and-forth onboarding
The first week with a new client is where most VAs lose hours they'll never bill. You ask for tool access in one email, brand colors in another, three days later realize you didn't get the team's contact list, by Friday you're guessing at tone-of-voice. By the time you actually start producing work, you're already 5-8 hours unbilled and looking unorganized.
Replace all of that with one PDF the client fills in on day one. The good intake questionnaire covers four areas: (1) Access — every login, tool, and credential you'll need; (2) Brand — voice, do/don't, examples of approved past work; (3) People — who's on their side (team, vendors, escalation); (4) Goals — what success looks like in 30/60/90 days, and how it'll be measured.
This generator builds that one-pager (sometimes two) from your form inputs. Send it the same day the contract is signed. Most clients fill it in within 48 hours — and you walk into week one already 5 hours ahead of where you'd otherwise be.
Common questions
Why send a brief instead of just emailing questions?
A formatted PDF gets answered. A long email gets postponed. The brief gives the client a single document to fill in once, and you to reference forever — instead of 12 back-and-forth emails over week one.
What do you include in the brief?
Account access (passwords, tools), brand voice, tone, do/don't lists, contact preferences, key contacts (their team, vendors), goals for the engagement, success metrics, and emergency-contact protocol.
Should clients sign this brief?
No — the brief captures information, not commitments. Your contract handles commitments. Use them together: contract first (signed), brief next (filled in), kickoff call third.
What if the client won't fill it in?
Pre-fill what you can from the discovery call and send a 70%-complete brief. Most clients will correct/complete what they see; many won't start from zero. Anchoring works.