2d • The Weekly Stack
TATT: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟰𝟴-𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗢𝗣 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱
Alright, DE fam. Grab your coffee.
This one's long because I want you to build the thing this week, not agree with me and go back to your inbox. Two scripts and a full form spec in here. Steal all of it.
𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲'𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜: a repeatable system that moves a new client from "payment received" to "kickoff call done" inside 48 hours, every time, without you chasing anybody.
The stretch between paying you and starting with you is the most dangerous window in your business, and most of you leave it wide open. Let's fix that.
𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
The assumption is that the sale ends when the money hits.
It doesn't.
The day a small business owner pays you is the day he has the most doubt and the least proof he will ever have. He moved real money to somebody he met three weeks ago, he has not seen a single thing yet, and his wife is going to ask him about it at dinner.
Every day you leave him sitting in that, it gets louder.
Now the bad version, and almost everybody in this room runs it.
You send the welcome email. It's warm. It has 12 questions in it. It wants his Google login, his website login, his logo "in vector format if you have it," his top five competitors, and his goals for the next 12 months. It ends with "just send all this over whenever you get a chance and we'll get started!"
He opens it on his phone, between jobs, standing in somebody's crawlspace.
He does not answer. Not because he's flaky. Because you handed a guy who fixes water heaters a homework assignment with no deadline and no instructions.
So you wait, then follow up twice, and now you sound like a guy chasing money instead of the expert he hired.
"Whenever you get a chance" is not a process. It's a hope.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆
Run your own numbers on this one.
Say you sell a $1,500 a month retainer and you bill on the first. The client pays. Intake drags. Kickoff finally happens on day 18.
You billed a full month and delivered 12 days of it. He paid about $50 a day for 30 days and got work on 12. He may never say it out loud. He did the math.
Now your side. Three clients a month, six chase messages each, ten minutes apiece once you count the context switching. That's 36 hours a year spent asking grown adults for passwords, and not one minute of it is billable.
Here's the part that should make you pause.
The client who kicks off on day 2 gets something visible inside week one. The client who kicks off on day 18 gets his first visible win in month two, which is right about when he starts wondering what he's paying for.
Slow onboarding doesn't just cost 16 days. It shoves your first proof point past the point where he needed it.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗙𝗼𝗿, 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗳
Open a doc. List every single thing you have ever asked a new client for.
Now go line by line with one question: can I start the work without this?
Most of you will find that more than half of it is stuff you could get in week three, stuff you could look up yourself in four minutes, or stuff you asked for once in 2024 and never opened.
Cut it. All of it.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗦𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀
This is the move that makes the system work, and the one nobody makes.
Take your trimmed list and sort it into two columns.
- 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐀: 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. Ad account access. Website admin. Profile manager access. What you genuinely cannot do the job without.
- 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐁: 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. His words for his services. His three competitors. The keywords he thinks he should rank for. The photo folder.
Bucket A is small. Usually two or three items.
Bucket B is everything else, and none of it stops you from starting.
So a quiet client blocks one piece of the work instead of the whole engagement. You can run a competitor pass, pull his profile, and audit his service pages on day 2 while you're still waiting on a Google Ads invite.
Most agency owners treat onboarding as one locked door. It's two doors, and one of them is already open.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹.
Bucket B goes in a form. One link, one submit button.
The spec:
- Business name exactly as it appears on Google
- Link to their Google Business Profile
- Website URL
- Service area, and how far they will actually drive
- Storefront, service area business, or both
- Top three to five services, in their words, not yours
- Three local competitors, in their words
- Any keywords they think they should rank for
- Best phone and email for the account, and who else can approve things
Nine fields. Under six minutes on a phone. Every one is something only he knows.
Notice what is not on there. No essay questions. No "what are your goals for the next 12 months," which has never once produced a useful answer from a man who installs garage doors.
Two rules. Put a real date on it, not "whenever." And write every question in his language. "Three local competitors" beats "please identify your primary market rivals."
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲
Three minutes. Your face. One take. Record it once and it goes to every client you sign after today.
The beats:
1. His name and his company name. Ten seconds. The only piece you re-record per client, and if that's friction, cut it and go generic.
2. He made a good call, and you are already working. Present tense.
3. Exactly what happens in the next 48 hours, in order.
4. Share your screen and walk through the form so he sees how short it is. This kills more stalling than anything else in this post.
5. The one thing you need from him, when you need it, and what he'll see first.
Do not make it pretty. A polished video from a stranger is worse than an awkward one from a guy who clearly just recorded it at his desk.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Bucket A is where onboarding dies, because "can you send me access to your Google Business Profile?" requires the client to already know something he does not know.
So stop asking. Show him.
For every item in Bucket A, write out:
- What you need, in one line
- Exactly where to click, step by step
- What email address to add
- What it does 𝐧𝐨𝐭 let you do
That last line matters more than you think. "This lets me edit your profile. It does not let me read your email or see your bank." Owners stall on access because they think you asked for the keys to everything.
And never take his password. Request manager access with your own email, every time. A client password in your notes app is a liability.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟲: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟰𝟴-𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸
Payment is hour zero.
𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝟎. Payment confirmed. Fully automated. Receipt, a one-paragraph welcome, the form link, the kickoff booking link, and the welcome video. One message. Not five.
𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝟏. You personally send one text. Not automated. "Got it, we're in. I just sent a short form and a link to grab your kickoff time. Ten minutes total. Anything you want me to make sure we cover on that call?"
That message does one job. It proves a human is on the other end inside the first hour.
𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝟐 𝐭𝐨 𝟐𝟒. You start Bucket B work. Yes, before the kickoff call. Competitor pass, profile pull, a real look at the website. You walk into kickoff already knowing things about his business, and that's the biggest trust move you get all month.
𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝟐𝟒. If the form is not in, one nudge. "Still need that form to aim the first 30 days at the right services. Six minutes, here's the link again."
𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝟒𝟕. Kickoff call. Twenty minutes.
𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝟒𝟖. Recap email. What you learned, what you're doing first, the date he sees the first thing, and what's still open in Bucket A.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟳: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬-𝗠𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹
Twenty minutes, not an hour. Long kickoff calls are where scope gets invented.
Four parts, five minutes each:
1. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. You did the work yesterday. Lead with it. "I pulled your profile and your top three competitors, here's what I'm seeing." He walked in expecting an interview. You showed up with findings.
2. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫. What you're moving, by when, and how you'll both count it. Written down where you can both see it.
3. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝟑𝟎 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. What you're building, what he sees, and when.
4. 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬. The access you still need, plus how requests get made from here. One channel. One turnaround time.
Send the recap in writing. The call is not the record. The recap is.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟴: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗽𝘀
Everything above works on the client who responds. You already know how to serve that guy.
This step is for the other one, and it's the only part of onboarding most agencies never write down. So they improvise it, badly, at the exact moment they're most annoyed.
Write it once, now, while you still like the client:
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟑, 𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦. Text, not email. "Hey, need six minutes from you on this form so I can aim month one at the right services. Link's here."
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟓, 𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦. Offer to do it for him. "Easier if I just fill it out with you? Give me ten minutes on the phone and I'll type." This one converts better than every nudge combined, because the problem was never willingness. It was a form on a cracked phone screen at 7pm.
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟕, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. Change the frame, and say it straight:
> "I want to be upfront with you. Billing started, and right now I'm working with half the information. I'll keep moving on the parts I control, and I am. The parts that need you are on hold. What's the best way to get 15 minutes from you this week?"
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟎. Pause the work or the billing, in writing, and tell him exactly what restarts it.
Uncomfortable, and you should do it anyway. A client who's unreachable in week two will be unreachable in month three, and you'd rather learn that before you've built an invoice you have to defend.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸
You can run all of this free. Most of you already pay for something that does it better.
Free and enough:
- 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐬. Intake form, access instructions, recap template. Free.
- 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧. 25 videos, five minutes of screen recording each. A three-minute welcome video fits.
- 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲, 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧. One event type, which is all a kickoff call is.
If you're already in a CRM:
- 𝐆𝐨𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥. Forms, calendars, payments, and the payment-to-sequence trigger in one place. Starter $97 a month, Unlimited $297, Agency Pro $497, 14-day trial. If you already pay for it, build this inside it instead of bolting three tools together.
- 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, $18 per user a month, $24 with the AI features, about 17 percent off annually. Worth it past 25 videos.
- 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝, $10 a seat a month, Teams $16 if you need round robin for an account manager.
- 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐔𝐩 for the internal checklist, so the same twelve tasks fire on every client. Free plan covers it. Unlimited is $10 per user monthly, $7 annually.
𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐮𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭. Every number here was accurate the day I wrote it, and every one of them is a moving target.
One caution. The automation is the easy half, and it's the half people fall in love with. The hour-one text, the day-5 call where you fill the form out for him, and the kickoff minutes where you show him what you already found are the parts that keep the client. None of those automate. Try it and you'll have built a very efficient machine for losing people politely.
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗽
𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝟏: 𝐀𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞. Twelve questions and four logins in one email reads like a project. Projects get scheduled for later. Later never comes.
𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝟐: 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭. You sit on your hands nine days and call it "waiting on the client." He did not hire you to wait.
𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝟑: 𝐍𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤. Four emails that all say "just following up" is noise with a timestamp. Every nudge should change something: shorter ask, different channel, or you doing it for him.
𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝟒: 𝐍𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥. So you improvise while irritated, then either go quiet for three weeks or send something passive aggressive at 11pm. Neither gets you the password.
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸
Steps 1 through 3 only. Nothing else.
Write the full list of what you ask new clients for. Cut it in half. Sort what survives into Bucket A and Bucket B. Then build the Bucket B form, nine fields or fewer.
Do not record the video. Do not build the automation. Do not open your CRM.
No clients yet? Do it anyway with the last proposal you sent. The form is the artifact, and it's what turns the other seven steps into an afternoon instead of a quarter.
Drop your Bucket A and Bucket B split in the comments, or just paste your form fields. Tell me what you sell. I'll tell you which field to cut and which one you're missing.
That's it for this Tactic Tuesday. Go build something.
𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑍𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚, 𝑇𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑊𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑, 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑤, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑊𝑖𝑛.
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TATT: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟰𝟴-𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗢𝗣 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱
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