Once a new client books you for your services, what’s next? More specifically, is your service-based business ready to set up your new client project — without you having to do all the work?
If you’re a service provider who’s still manually creating client folders, labeling everything, and assigning roles and due dates…it’s time for a change. Take a look at our very own ClickUp project management flow we use at DaSilva Life that you can borrow for your biz!
You might’ve seen our blog post about using HoneyBook to map out a streamlined, organized system for inquiries and booking. HoneyBook is wonderful for responding to leads; whether you want to send a brochure, book a call first, or follow up with someone, that all can be customized in HoneyBook.
But once a client has gone through inquiry, booking, and onboarding, what happens next? ClickUp takes over.
Let’s say we’re setting up a new client getting one of our custom HoneyBook builds. At some point during setup, ClickUp is scheduled to create a project list and complete specific onboarding steps. What does this include? Well…everything!
We like to organize client projects by phase. For example, Phase One might include kickoff, Phase Two is all about asset creation, and Phase Three wraps it all up and trains the client.
Within each phase is a list of tasks. Each task includes custom data fields like:
You can view a project by each of these fields, which is very helpful in checking the flow of a client project.
If you’re thinking, “Well, that sounds great, but I don’t have time to set all this up myself!” Then we got you covered! Our ClickUp Workflow Template will help you map out your projects in a snap.
Plus, when you apply our Workflow Template to one of your client projects, you can remap dates automatically by start date or end date, without having to change them all yourself. (There’s that elimination of manual work we love!) Our HoneyBook projects are typically about three to four weeks long, so we love that this feature can map a project out for us.
Need to label the status of each of your client projects so that you can tell how each one is progressing by a quick glance at your ClickUp sidebar? Use list colors! Apply colors to label the status of each project. For example, we use yellow for onboarding, red for building, and green for completion, among other colors.
Now, let’s say you have retainer clients as part of your service provider offers. Since they’re an ongoing client, a one-and-done workflow template based on phases that end might not necessarily work. Instead, we like to create categories for retainer clients (rather than phases) that include their individual tasks.
And hey, if you’re feeling overwhelmed at the thought of customizing projects and lists for all your retainer clients…we got you covered on this, too! Our ClickUp Client Management Bundle includes a Retainer Client List template, plus a Project-Based Client List template, Client Task List, and lots more.
To recap: depending on your types of clients and types of projects, how you set up your project management flows in ClickUp may differ. For one-off clients that have end dates to their projects, use our ClickUp Workflow Template to set up projects in phases. For retainer clients, use our ClickUp Client Management Bundle to set up recurring tasks in ongoing projects.
One more thing! It’s crucial to have a good structure for your client space in ClickUp, plus know the difference between organizing in HoneyBook vs. organizing in ClickUp.
For example, our ClickUp projects have a folder, while HoneyBook projects have folders that each contain lists. Each of our HoneyBook client folders are very similarly structured because the work is similar, while in ClickUp, everything is super customized to the client.
ClickUp is a wonderful tool for running an online business overall. And when paired with HoneyBook to onboard new clients and set up their projects automatically? It’s a godsend for service-based business owners!
If you liked our ClickUp Workflow Template and Client Management Bundle, we have even more goodies in our shop for both ClickUp and HoneyBook. Organize your business and help it grow with our resources!
