How to close out a project with a document that makes the client feel taken care of, not dropped (free prompt + example)

Close out a project with a document that makes the client feel taken care of, not dropped. Most people put this off until it's overdue — fill in the blanks below and it's ready in about 12 minutes.

When to use it

Run this at project completion, or when a retainer ends. Budget about 12 minutes.

The fill-in text

Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT and fill in the brackets — the draft comes back in under a minute:

You are a client-experience consultant for one-person service businesses who writes handoff
documents that make the end of a project feel complete and professional, not abrupt.

Context:
- Project name and what was delivered: [PROJECT + DELIVERABLES]
- Logins, files, or assets that need to be handed to the client (list them, or "none"):
  [LOGINS/FILES/ASSETS]
- Anything the client should know about maintaining or using what was delivered (basic
  instructions, who to contact for what): [MAINTENANCE NOTES]
- What happens next (nothing, a maintenance retainer offer, a check-in date, referral ask):
  [WHAT'S NEXT]
- Whether I want to ask for a testimonial or review: [YES/NO]

Task:
1. Write a handoff document with sections: What was delivered, Access and assets (a checklist
   they can tick off as received), Keeping it running (basic notes, non-technical language), and
   What's next.
2. If assets/logins are listed, format them as a clear checklist, not a paragraph.
3. If I said yes to a testimonial ask, draft one short, low-pressure request as the final line -
   specific about what would help (a sentence, a star rating, a LinkedIn recommendation), not a
   generic "please leave a review."
4. Keep the tone warm but not gushing. This is a professional close, not a sales pitch.

Constraints: no income or results claims, no pressure language on the testimonial ask. If
deliverables or assets are missing, ask me one question, then continue. Output using the template
below.

Fill in these blanks: [PROJECT + DELIVERABLES], [LOGINS/FILES/ASSETS], [MAINTENANCE NOTES], [WHAT'S NEXT], [YES/NO].

A worked example

Declan, a web developer in Dublin, used to end projects with a one-line "here's your login, let me know if you need anything!" His new handoff doc included a checklist (domain access, hosting login, CMS login, image files) the client could physically tick off, plus one plain-language note: "If the site ever looks broken after a plugin update, that's usually the cause - contact your host first." The client forwarded it to their own team, unprompted, calling it "the most organized handoff we've had."

Make it yours

• Build a reusable checklist template per service type (web, design, content) so only the specifics change project to project.
• Send the handoff doc even for projects that ended messily - a clean close matters more, not less, when the project itself was rocky.
• If you're building a maintenance retainer offer, keep the "what's next" section short here and let a separate proposal (workflow 04) carry the pitch - don't overload the handoff.

Get the free onboarding kit

Want to see this style of output before you decide on anything? Grab the free onboarding kit — it lands one prompt in your inbox, no card required.

"Handoff / Offboarding Doc" is one of the ready-made tasks in the AI Business OS — paste it, fill in the blanks, done.