Client onboarding
What to do the moment a practice says yes. Onboarding is a short, ordered sequence: capture the facts that make the receptionist sound like their office, set up the number and forwarding, walk the owner through their dashboard, and prove it works before a single patient call routes through it.
At a glance
- Ground truth first: the facts you capture are what stop the receptionist from sounding generic.
- Their number stays theirs; forwarding is reversible in minutes.
- Nothing goes live until the launch gate is green. This is healthcare.
- Your first client is concierge with your SpiderLabs contact; you run it yourself after that.
Onboarding is where a signed client becomes a running one. Done well it takes days, not weeks, because the steps are short. The care is in doing them in order and proving each one before you rely on it. The shape is always the same: intake facts become ground truth, and ground truth becomes launch proof. This guide is the client-facing launch you run; the same sequence, written for the practice, is in Getting started.
- Capture the intakefacts from the client
- Number and forwardingreversible in minutes
- Dashboard walkthroughowner and front desk
- Go-live checksevery gate green
Your first client is concierge
For your first launch, your SpiderLabs contact does it with you: the setup, the forwarding cutover, and the go-live checks. That is on purpose. You learn the launch gate once, on a real client, with someone who has done it many times. After that first launch you run onboarding yourself, and this guide is your checklist.
From your Partner dashboard
Capture the intake (ground truth)
The single biggest difference between a receptionist that sounds like the practice and one that sounds like a bot is the facts you feed it. Collect these from the client directly; do not guess:
Hours and coverage
Led by The client answersRegular weekly hours, holidays and date-specific closures, and exactly which calls they want covered: after hours only, overflow during the day, or full coverage.
Services offered and not offered
Led by The client answersWhat the practice does and, just as important, what it does not. Knowing what to decline politely keeps the receptionist from promising something the office cannot do.
Staff and handoff
Led by The client answersWho should be called back and how urgent things are escalated. Set the callback owner and the expectation for how fast the team responds.
Tone and answers
Led by The client answersHow they greet patients, the questions they get most, and the answers they want given. This is what makes it sound like their front desk.
You are done when- Every answer above came from the client directly, not a guess.
Thin intake makes a thin receptionist
Number and call forwarding
The client keeps their existing number. You set up a dedicated number for the AI receptionist, then the practice’s phone system forwards the calls they chose (unanswered, after-hours, or overflow) to it. There is no number change and no downtime, and the cutover reverses in minutes. The coverage modes and what staff experience are in Phone setup and forwarding.
The dashboard walkthrough you give the client
Owners adopt what they understand. Give a short, guided tour so the front desk knows exactly where to look on day one. Walk them through:
- The inbox: every call and chat in one place, with a summary of who called and why. Deeper tour in Your dashboard.
- Transcripts and recordings: how to open a call and read or listen to what happened, and that access is audited.
- The callback queue: the day-to-day workflow. How requests come in, how to work and complete them, and how staff are alerted. See Callback queue.
- Appointments: how booking requests appear and how they are confirmed, which depends on the booking mode in Booking modes.
- Notifications: where alerts go so new callbacks never sit unseen.
Customer-visible language
What you call things in front of the client matters as much as what you set up. Two rules cover most of it: the only brand your client hears is yours, and a booking is only called booked once it is actually on the schedule. The rest is in this table; use it in your walkthrough, your emails, and your proposals.
| Say this | Not that |
|---|---|
| Your AI receptionist, or the product name you set in your brand. | Any internal platform, vendor, or engine name. Clients should never hear the plumbing. |
| A requested time your front desk confirms (callback-first practices). | "Booked" or "confirmed" for anything staff have not confirmed yet. |
| Appointments written to your schedule (only after the create and cancel proof passed on their practice). | Promising schedule write-back before that practice passed its own gate. |
| Launch checks: a test call, a test booking, and a confirmed staff alert before patients rely on the line. | Internal gate jargon, or telling the client the line is live before every check is green. |
Go-live checks
Before a single patient call routes through the receptionist, every check below must pass. This is the launch gate, and it does not bend, because these are healthcare workflows.
Compliance on file
Led by You + the practiceThe agreement is signed, the first payment is in, and the required compliance paperwork is executed before any patient data flows.
Test call
Led by YouTypical time: MinutesA real call from outside the practice network reaches the receptionist and appears in the dashboard with a transcript. This proves the phone path end to end.
Test booking
Led by YouTypical time: MinutesThe appointment path works for the client’s booking mode: a callback request lands correctly, or, where booking-to-schedule is enabled, a test appointment writes and is removed cleanly. See Booking modes.
Working staff notifications
Led by You + the client teamTypical time: MinutesA real notification reaches the client team and is confirmed, so callbacks are seen once the practice is live.
Dashboard verified
Led by You + the clientThe dashboard is checked as the staff will actually use it, and only then does patient traffic move over.
You are done when- Every check above is green: none skipped, none waived.
- You are clear to move patient traffic over.
Green gates only
Every green check leaves evidence you can point at: the test call sits in the dashboard with its transcript, the test booking shows the appointment path working (including the create and cancel proof where schedule write-back is enabled), and the staff notification was confirmed received by a named person. That launch proof is your answer, on day one and in month six, when the owner asks how you know it works.
Booking integration (part of the launch, gated)
The booking mode is decided at launch, not bolted on later. For dental practices on Open Dental, appointment write-back is set up as part of the founder-led launch and gated by a create and cancel test on that practice: the go-live checks above include it, and the receptionist writes real appointments from day one. Businesses without a supported practice-management system run callback-first, where booking requests land in the queue and the front desk confirms each one. Promise whichever mode the client is actually launching with, and never promise write-back before the create and cancel gate is green. How the two modes differ is explained in Booking modes.
After go-live
The first week is where trust is won. Check in with the client, review the calls and callbacks together, and tune the answers based on what real patients ask. You own the relationship and the support experience; we keep the platform running underneath you. When it is going well, that client is your best reference for the next one, earned honestly, on a real result.
FAQ
How long does onboarding actually take?+
Days, not weeks, when the intake is complete. The pace is set by two things you can control: how fast the client answers the intake questions, and how quickly their phone system’s forwarding is set. The launch gate itself runs in an afternoon.
Do we need the practice's phone vendor involved?+
Usually not. Forwarding is a setting in the practice’s existing phone system, set by the front desk or their phone vendor in minutes, and it reverses just as fast. The options are in Phone setup. On your first launch, your SpiderLabs contact is on the line for exactly this step.
What if the practice is not on Open Dental?+
They launch callback-first: booking requests land in the queue with everything staff need to confirm the time. That is a complete, honest launch mode, not a downgrade; see Booking modes. Promise the mode they are actually launching with.
Can we skip a go-live check to hit a promised date?+
No. The gate exists because these are healthcare phone lines. If a check is red, the honest move is to tell the client the launch is holding a day to fix it; that sentence builds more trust than a shaky go-live spends.
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