If you plan to grow your firm's capacity this year, you cannot dodge a simple reality: repeatable processes are non-negotiable.

Not someday.

Right now. 

I learned this the expensive way.

During my first three years in business, I treated process documentation like kale, something I knew was good for me but kept pushing aside. 

Roughly 75% of the firm owners I coach are in the same boat. 

Here is what that procrastination cost me:

• Hundreds of thousands of dollars in hidden inefficiencies
• Endless frustration (and churn) from my team
• Most of the hair on my head

I've included the 5 must-have processes below.

If you're missing any, now is a great time to get to work on them.

Let's dive in.

Process 1: Client Onboarding and the Graceful Goodbye

Immediate impact: stellar first impressions, tighter scope management, brand ambassadors even after churn.

Your first 30-60 days with a new client set the tone for the entire engagement.

Win here, and the client's lifespan goes up significantly.

Whiff, and you'll get the inverse.

It pays to map every step.

1. Kickoff call agenda
2. Data request templates
3. Communication cadence setup
4. An expectations deck that clarifies what you will own and what they will still own
5. A 30/60/90 day roadmap with milestone dates and deliverables

Just as critical, design an offboarding process.

The reality is that, at some point, all of your clients will churn.

You'll want a clean offboarding checklist to make their departure as smooth as their start: final report, file handover, access removal, and next-step resources.  

Remember: they'll remember how you made them feel when they left (not when they started).

Finish strong, and you might even get referrals from them in the future.

Process 2: The Sales Call Playbook 

Immediate impact: higher win rates, calmer nerves, increased revenue.

Most Fractional CFOs would rather juggle spreadsheets than handle sales calls.

I used to get a ton of anxiety around sales calls.

I thought I needed more confidence, which would come from experience.

It turns out that confidence actually comes from having a process.

I put together an entire how-to video that details my entire playbook for discovery calls and sales calls.

You can check it out HERE.

Having a process like this won't just help you - it's actually going to be a prerequisite before you're able to hire a biz dev or sales person one day as well.

Process 3: Team Onboarding and Offboarding

Immediate impact: smoother ramp up, stronger retention, tighter security.

Top-tier employees want to work for top-tier employers.

They'll be looking for a solid onboarding process that gets them caught up to speed on company culture, the client roster, and your operating system. 

Create an onboarding sequence.

1. Tech stack access, including email, share drives, project management, and chat channels
2. Firm orientation call covering culture, mission, and direction
3. Client portfolio briefing
4. Deep dive into your firm's scope of work, client deliverables, communication protocols, etc.

Mirror that sequence in reverse when someone exits.

Disable logins, reclaim hardware, update the password vault, and notify clients.

Process 4: CFO Report Preparation

Immediate impact: reclaim six to ten hours per month per client, accelerate delegation, ensure a consistent work product.

If prepping for your monthly CFO calls feels like living in a time loop, you need a checklist.

Map the analysis flow once and stop reinventing the wheel. 

• Data extraction using standardized queries or API pulls (we like G-Accon)
• Ratio and trend review focused on the handful of metrics you actually discuss
• Story mining prompts that spotlight what changed and why it matters relative to the client's goals
• Slide or dashboard assembly with branded templates

Drop each step into your project management tool of choice. 

When you onboard an analyst or a new CFO, you will hand them a play-by-play rather than a fire drill, and your margin per client will look a lot healthier.

It will also help ensure that you have a consistent product that meets your standards.

Process 5: CFO Report Delivery 

Immediate impact: higher perceived value, tighter meetings, more capacity 

Great analysis is only half the battle.

The other half is helping the client grasp the story and feel good about paying for it.

Our firm follows a six-segment agenda that rarely exceeds sixty minutes.

1. Client check-in covering wins, worries, and contextual updates
2. Financial dashboard overview with 1-2 headlines max
3. Statement review that translates income, balance sheet, and cash flow into plain English
4. Forecast walkthrough with 12-18 months of projections
5. Budget versus actual spotlight highlighting what shifted and why
6. Strategic initiatives that are directly related to the business's goals and the owners' personal goals that will materially move the needle. 

Because the agenda never changes, no one wonders what's coming next, and we never drown in rabbit holes. 

Copy the structure, tweak the details, and make it yours.

The Unsexy Secret to Scaling

Documenting processes will never trend on social media.

You will not brag at the next barbecue that you spent Sunday tagging SOPs.

Yet few things unlock trapped profit, scalability, and peace of mind faster.

• Recover lost time, turning minutes today into hours you can spend on strategy or family.
• Reduce brain drain, because tribal knowledge that is already documented cannot walk out the door.
• Raise your valuation, since buyers pay a premium for firms that run on rails rather than memory.

Take it from the guy who waited too long and paid a six-figure stupidity tax.

Block three half days this quarter.

Pick the process that screams the loudest, map it, test it, and refine it.

Have your team poke holes in it. 

Remember, you don't need the perfect process for it to make a big impact.

Just get something written down.

And, in case you're wondering, I have made significant progress when it comes to processes, but I still won't eat kale.

I don't care how good it is for me.