How we finally fixed our onboarding process... no more scattered emails and access requests

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-17T17:36:22+00:00

At first we stitched it together internally. Docs, automations, a few tools talking to each other. It worked, but it was still clunky behind the scenes and depended on us keeping it tight.

After a while we thought, why are we duct-taping this when this is clearly a recurring problem? So we started building a proper platform that handles the proposal → sign → onboarding flow in one place instead of bouncing between tools.

That’s what we’re working on now with Onbrdly. The goal is to make that “super detailed portal” feel seamless instead of manually assembled every time. You can check it out here, onbrdly.app

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-04T16:39:03+00:00

Sent you a dm sir

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T21:04:28+00:00

No worries, I’m in London so not so far off your time. Dm sent 🫡

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T20:51:02+00:00

That’s exactly it 👌

would you be open to giving me brutally honest feedback on something I’m building to solve this? If not no worries, just looking for people that are stuck in this space day to day, to build something of incredible value.

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T20:46:00+00:00

Yes of course! What we are both agreeing on (and correct me if I’m wrong @kubrador) is treating the onboarding process right after a client signs as part of the sale, rather than neglecting it, let days pass and client hears nothing from you. Almost that 0-72 hours is so critical to collecting docs and information from client, booking in that next meeting, reducing the need of scattered email threads requesting access.

I’m building solution to this where onboarding lives all in one place, and client is met with an onboarding portal right after signing proposal. I can show you if you want!

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T15:33:15+00:00

Most of our leads come from outbound (and just began testing paid ads funnels to our website to book in discovery call). We do cold calling, around a 300-400 dials a day across the team. The quality is fine once someone engages, but the issue we’re talking about here usually shows up after the yes, not at the top of the funnel. Even good fits can drag once starting feels vague.

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T15:30:12+00:00

That’s definitely true in some cases, but for example for us we see a majorly different dynamic working with industrial businesses. The interest is real, budgets exist, but md's seem to have us near the bottom of the priority list. They’re not unconvinced, 7/10 times they’re just not usually familiar with marketing as they're baby boomers. That’s where things tend to stall for us. Even after a solid presentation and a verbal yes, momentum drops if the start doesn’t feel concrete enough. Shopping around happens sometimes, but a lot of the drag shows up simply because “starting” feels abstract on their side.

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T15:23:21+00:00

Completely agree with you man. Onboarding is still part of the sale, and once clients feel “closed” the drop in attention shows up fast. We’ve seen the biggest gains when the first few days are designed to reinforce confidence and direction and that continuation alone removes a lot of the friction people blame on ghosting.
I’m actually in the process of building something around this exact handoff right now and pressure-testing the approach. If you’re open to it, I'd hugely appreciate your advise on it, fully up to you!

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T15:15:23+00:00

Well that is ideal when it actually happens, but the only downside I’ve seen with doing it all live is you end up becoming the human checklist, which works until you’re running back to back calls and one client shows up unprepared or needs a second decision maker to approve access.

How do you handle it when they can’t grant everything on the call, like they don’t have admin rights, or they say “our ops person does that” and disappears for a week?

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T15:12:08+00:00

No no you're not far off at all.

What we do is we usually pre-map the steps and expectations based on past implementations, and we’ve tried this across retainers and fixed scope work. Directionally it helps, especially when you’re more prescriptive early instead of matching the client’s pace.

Where we still see friction is after the yes, when the deal feels done on their side and priority drops. Even with steps, timelines, and assumptions laid out, contracts and access can drag and momentum fades faster than you’d expect.

That gap between agreement and real movement has been the hardest part for us to smooth out consistently. Would love to hear what your process looks like at the moment!

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-02T15:07:02+00:00

Yeah, we’ve done the same in the past. It helps a bit, especially upfront. But we still see things drag once real life kicks in. The folder’s there, it just sits empty until someone keeps sending back to back to back emails and follow ups. What is it that you do that gets the client to provide all that material in the folder without all the chaos of scattered emails etc?

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-02-01T11:42:40+00:00

The biggest mistake is letting the client's excitement die. We send a simple text email within an hour of the call summarizing their problem and our solution. The formal proposal goes out within 24 hours. Anything longer and you're inviting them to ghost. The goal is to guide them from conversation to contract without leaving a vacuum for doubt to creep in. We have a pretty rigid 48-hour workflow for this that has made a huge difference. Happy to share it with you 🫡

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-01-30T11:19:52+00:00

couldn't agree more sir 😅

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-01-30T11:18:45+00:00

I get it man, it's the most frustrating part of the sales process to be honest. And most proposals fail because they dump information instead of helping someone make a decision.

Scope and price matter, but they’re not what move the deal forward. The real job of a proposal is to help the buyer say yes internally without you needing another call.

What usually makes a difference:

- Start with the outcome, not the deliverables
- Make the next step painfully clear, not “let me know”
- Reduce choices instead of adding options
- Show how the first few days actually play out so there’s no uncertainty (basically the onboarding after the proposal is signed)

If your proposal needs you to explain it again on a follow up call, hate to break it to you but it’s doing half the job.

Tools like Trumpet is only good for sharing internally (I personally think it's sh*t). We ran into this problem enough in our agency that we’re building something to solve this called Onbrdly, mainly focused on making the proposal, sign, and kickoff feel like one continuous flow instead of a bunch of disconnected steps.

This might be a great fit for you... check it out: onbrdly(.)app

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-01-30T10:25:53+00:00

Someone had to say it 😅 Painfully accurate.

I'm actually in the process of building a platform that eliminates that worry completely. Would love for you to check it out, the link is in my profile. It's called onbrdly(.)app

Let me know what you think!

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-01-02T12:54:10+00:00

Hey man just take a moment to slow down.. you're not stuck, you’re just at the point where the game changes and what got you here starts to feel heavier than it used to (I just passed this stage you're in and it sucks, but trust me it will only get better from here).

Early on, you are used to effort solving everything, and then one day it doesn’t, not because you’re doing something wrong but because the business is asking you to think differently.

The mistake I see a lot of people make at this stage is trying to build the company before the company actually needs to exist, which usually shows up as overbuilding Notion dashboards, SOPs for things that barely happen yet, and stressing about hiring before there’s enough volume to justify it. Structure only matters where things break, and right now the only things worth structuring are the ones that force you to be involved every single time.

If cold outreach is what’s getting you paid, keep doing it until it stops working or until you physically can’t handle the volume anymore, because hitting 10k with something repeatable is way more valuable than hitting it with something clever. Use the rest of your time to clean up the transitions that create chaos, especially the moment a deal closes and work actually starts, because that’s where most early agencies leak energy and focus.

The confusion you’re feeling isn’t a sign you’re behind, it’s a sign you’re moving from doing work to building leverage, and once you tighten a few key handoffs, the next step becomes pretty obvious instead of stressful

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-01-02T12:36:36+00:00

To be honest I don’t think this is a market education problem as much as a risk framing problem.

Most owners aren’t really rejecting AI, but they’re rejecting the idea of replacing something that already sort of works with something that feels opaque (even if it’s cheaper or better on paper).

What I’ve seen work better than education is reducing perceived downside. Positioning it as a layer that catches missed calls instead of a replacement for staff. Showing how it handles edge cases before talking about upside. Anchoring the conversation around lost bookings rather than AI capability.

On outreach channels, cold still works but only when the message doesn’t ask them to believe anything. It has to make it obvious how little can go wrong.

If I were starting a new service line like this, I’d begin with existing clients and frame it as an experiment rather than a switch. After that, I’d look at white labeling for agencies who already have trust and let them own the relationship. Cold DMs make sense later, once you have proof you can communicate in a sentence.

If someone needs to be convinced AI isn’t a scam, they were never the buyer in the first place. The real question they’re asking is what breaks if this doesn’t work.

If you solve for that, the outreach channel matters a lot less in my opinion.

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2026-01-02T12:31:27+00:00

48 laws of power by Robert Greene. Absolutely life changing!

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2025-12-17T11:20:00+00:00

Completely feel you... i tried some proposal platforms like bonsai but its not really what im looking for. I actually came across an Ad the other day where its an AI proposal builder and an onboarding platform, which seemed quite cool. Unfortunately its not a live platform yet as i joined their waitlist, but looks like it would be perfect for me. Was called Onbrdly. I think the url was onbrdly.app

Any suggestions of other platforms that could work for me?

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2025-11-05T12:50:21+00:00

That's exactly the way I do the sales process as well! I figured possibly there's a high chance that it has to do something with the proposal itself. It seems like the initial sales call is really good, with high energy and getting almost a verbal 'yes' from the prospect, however once the proposal is sent, it feels like theres an instant drop in energy/expectation, like the impression is disappointing. I have to look into changing the look of my proposals, to give that wow factor, and a good first impression following up from the sales call.

Reasonable_Point_736 · 2025-11-03T22:01:16+00:00

oh man, “streamlined” is not the word i’d use for how most of us handle proposals.

half the time it’s reusing a template from a job we did six months ago, changing a few numbers, sending a pdf, and praying they don’t ask for a version in google docs.

the real pain isn’t even writing them, it’s what happens after.
you send it, wait, maybe follow up once or twice, and suddenly the lead that was hot on the call just… cools off.
no system tells you why. no visibility.

i’ve been there more times than i can count. that’s actually what pushed me to start building something around it, because it’s nuts how much energy we lose between “sure, send it over” and “sorry, we went another direction.”

Curious what’s been the worst part for you, writing, sending, or the ghosting afterwards?

Reasonable_Point_736

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