PROBLEM
Updated on
EVERY NEW CLIENTSTARTS WITH A CHAINOF CHASING EMAILS
The client isn’t slow: they no longer know what you asked for.
THE ANSWER
I automate document collection for professional practices. I replace the chain of emails with a single request. The client gets a live list of what’s missing, and uploads from a phone. Reminders go out on their own, and the file assembles itself as documents arrive. That’s a process automation: €1,500–€10,000, VAT excluded, in two to six weeks.
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IN SHORT
Process automation: €1,500–€10,000.
Delivery: two to six weeks.
Above €8,000, a definition sprint comes first.
I connect to your system, not replace it.
THE COST
WHAT ONBOARDING BY HAND COSTS
Onboarding is the first work a client watches you do. If it is made of chasing emails, that is the first impression — and the bill doesn’t stop there.
Chasing becomes its own job
Someone keeps in their head who owes what. They rewrite the same email a third time. That’s qualified time spent asking, not working.
Nobody’s sure what’s missing
The list lives in an email, in someone’s head, in a spreadsheet. The three versions never agree. You end up asking twice for one document, and never for another.
Documents arrive wherever they like
Attachments in an inbox, photographs in a chat, a folder handed over at reception. Renaming and filing always falls to the same person. That person becomes the block for the whole practice.
The work starts late
While one detail is missing, the matter doesn’t open. And if it doesn’t open, it earns nothing. A slow start is a slow invoice, every time.
The right version isn’t obvious
An expired document, an updated one, a signed one: same filename, three different folders. Looking for it is the least valuable work there is.
Nothing records what happened
Nobody logs when a document was requested, or when it arrived. Six months later, there’s no way to reconstruct it. That isn’t a problem, until the day it is.
HOW IT GETS FIXED
AUTOMATING CLIENT DOCUMENT COLLECTION
The steps follow this order: each depends on the one before it. A reminder built on a list nobody wrote chases documents you don’t need.
I write the list
What you genuinely need to open a matter: split by individual, company, type of engagement. Written once, it becomes the source of every request that follows.
I make one request
The client gets a personal link showing what’s still missing. They upload straight from a phone, no account needed. No email with seven attachments to reply to.
I make status visible
The client sees what has been handed over and what hasn’t. You see the same thing, across every open matter, on one screen.
Reminders move into the system
After the days you set, anyone who hasn’t uploaded gets a reminder. It lists exactly what’s outstanding. Nobody retypes anything.
The file assembles itself
Each document lands already renamed by your rule. It goes straight into the right folder or record. With the date, and the name of whoever uploaded it.
I close with checks, alerts
I check what arrives: format, legibility, required fields. I alert when a connection fails. I leave written instructions for whoever runs it daily.
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THE HANDOVER
WHAT YOU KEEP
The document list, by matter
Written once, used by every request. Change it in one place, and it changes everywhere.
The request the client receives
A personal link with your name on it. It opens on a phone, and asks the client to learn nothing new.
The open-matters screen
Who is complete, who isn’t, for how many days and on which document. One view instead of a question asked out loud.
Reminder rules
When the first reminder goes, how often it repeats, when it stops. And who inside the practice gets told.
Automatic filing
File names, folders, destination in your system: your rule, followed exactly. Applied the same way, every time.
A record of what happened
What was asked for, when, and when it arrived. This is the part that matters months later, when somebody asks.
THE TERMS
RANGE, TIMING, WHAT I NEED
- Offer
- Process automation.
- Range
- €1,500–€10,000, VAT excluded. It moves with the number of matter types, integrations and exceptions inside the perimeter.
- Timing
- Two to six weeks, from the spec to handover.
- Definition sprint
- Required with sensitive data, several integrations, or a perimeter above €8,000. That applies when nobody has written it down. Range €800–€2,000, VAT excluded.
- What I need from you
- Someone who knows what opening a matter genuinely requires. They need to be able to decide. Plus access to your archive and practice system.
A portal you must learn is just another chasing email.
QUESTIONS
- Where do my clients’ documents end up?
- Where they already are: your practice system, your cloud storage, your archive. I don’t build a parallel repository in my name. The access stays yours, and if you change supplier tomorrow the system stays where the data is.
- Any install or sign-up needed?
- No. They get a personal link showing what is missing and allowing an upload from a phone. If they have to create an account, a share of them won’t, and we are back to emails.
- What about clients who send nothing regardless?
- They remain, and the system helps with them too. You see them all together: days stuck, and on which document. The automatic reminder removes the work of remembering. Persuading someone stays human work, done knowing exactly what to ask for.
- Does it work with my system?
- If it has an API, or a documented way to receive files, yes. Otherwise I connect what can be connected, and declare the rest as manual. That beats an integration that breaks quietly. You get it in writing before the proposal, not after handover.
- Does sensitive client data change things?
- It changes how I build the system, not just protect it. You get permissions by role, and a record of who saw what. A definition sprint comes first when data’s this sensitive. I write the perimeter; compliance is judged by whoever answers for it.
- Is this only for professional practices?
- No. Onboarding has the same shape in any service business. A list of things must arrive, someone must ask for them, and a moment lets the work start. The documents change; the shape doesn’t.
Someone spends Monday morning chasing clients for paperwork. Almost all of that work can be taken away. Tell me what you collect when a matter opens, and where it comes from today.