A client onboarding checklist for brokers
The first ninety days decide whether a new client has a broker or just a policy. Eleven tasks, an owner against each, free CSV, no email address required.
Onboarding is where the data that everything later depends on is either captured or lost. Get the expiry date wrong here and the client quietly never appears in a renewal list again.
What it does not ask you to collect
There is no column here for a date of birth, an address, a licence number or a banking detail, and that is deliberate. An onboarding template that invites you to type sensitive personal information into a spreadsheet is a liability dressed up as a helpful download. Those things belong in the system that governs them.
What it does record is a consent_basis and the date. CASL governs commercial electronic messages in Canada, and the moment to write down how consent was obtained is onboarding, not the moment somebody asks you to prove it. This is an operational prompt, not legal advice; check your own obligations.
The four stages
Intake — days 0 to 1
While the client still remembers the conversation that sold it.
- Record the client and assign one named owner.
- Capture the best channel and best time to reach them. Asking once beats guessing for five years.
- Record consent to contact, the basis, and the date.
- Write down what they actually asked for, in their words. It is the brief for everything after.
Validation — days 2 to 3
Before the file goes quiet and nobody looks at it again until renewal.
- Check the policy record against the binder: dates, carrier, premium.
- Confirm the expiry date, because a wrong one silently removes the client from your renewal pipeline.
- Record the commission rate and premium basis while the paperwork is open.
Welcome — days 5 to 7
The gap where a new client decides whether they have a broker or a policy.
- Send the welcome message and name the person who looks after them.
- Say what happens next and when they will hear from you.
Review — days 30 and 90
The two touchpoints that stop the silent first year.
- Check whether anything has changed since binding.
- Note any coverage gap you saw while reviewing. A workflow note for the broker, not advice to the client.
The columns
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| stage | Intake, Validation, Welcome or Review. |
| day | Days after binding. Day 0 is the day cover starts. |
| task | The thing to do, written so anyone can pick it up. |
| owner | One name. |
| due_date | YYYY-MM-DD. |
| status | not started, in progress, done or blocked. |
| source_system_ref | The policy number in your BMS or CRM. Not the client name. |
| consent_basis | express, implied or none, plus the date you recorded it. |
| next_action | What happens next, so a colleague can take over. |
| notes | Anything that changes the relationship. |
What happens after day 90
Onboarding ends and the renewal clock starts. The renewal checklist picks up 90 days before expiry, which for most policies is about nine months after this one finishes.
Related: how CovioIQ holds client records, welcome and onboarding emails.