How to Build Partner Onboarding Pipelines in Kiflo

Create onboarding pipelines, set up stages and actions, start partners through the process, and track progress from a kanban board or partner page.

Partner onboarding in Kiflo gives you a structured, trackable way to guide new partners from sign-up to fully active. You define the process using onboarding pipelines — each pipeline contains ordered stages, and each stage can include actions that partners must complete from their portal. This keeps partners self-sufficient, reduces manual back-and-forth, and gives you real-time visibility into where every partner stands.

How Onboarding Pipelines Work

An onboarding pipeline is different from a prospection or deal pipeline. It represents the series of steps a new partner goes through to become ready to sell — things like completing a welcome survey, signing an agreement, attending a training session, or passing a product quiz.

You can create a separate pipeline for each partner program. For example:

• Reseller onboarding — stages tailored to resellers with actions like reviewing pricing guides and completing deal registration training
• Solution provider onboarding — different stages with different actions suited to technical partners

A partner can belong to multiple onboarding pipelines at the same time if they are enrolled in more than one program.

Set Up an Onboarding Pipeline

1. Go to Partner Onboarding

   In the main menu, click Manage, then select Partner Onboarding.

2. Create a New Pipeline

   Click New pipeline. Enter a descriptive name for the pipeline — for example, “Reseller Onboarding” or “Affiliate Getting Started”.

3. Set Visibility for Partners

   Choose whether partners can see this pipeline in their portal:

   • Toggle on — Partners see the pipeline, its stages, and their assigned actions. They can complete actions directly from their portal, giving them autonomy and reducing your workload.
   • Toggle off — The pipeline is hidden from partners. Use this when you want to track onboarding internally without exposing the process.

   Click Add to create the pipeline.

   Make pipelines visible to partners whenever you include actions they need to complete. Empowering partners to self-serve through onboarding saves your team significant time.

4. Add Stages to the Pipeline

   Open the new pipeline and click Add stage. For each stage, fill in:

   • Stage name — A short, meaningful label that is visible to both channel managers and partners (for example, “Welcome”, “Training”, “Certification”)
   • Description — A brief explanation of what happens in this stage

   Add as many stages as your process requires.

5. Customize Stages and Add Actions

   Click on any stage name to open the stage editor. From there you can:

   • Rename the stage or update its description
   • Add actions — tasks that partners must complete before moving to the next stage

   Actions are the specific to-do items partners see and check off from their portal. Examples include watching a video, signing a document, or completing a quiz.

   You cannot delete a stage that currently contains partners. Move those partners to another stage or pipeline first.

Start a Partner on an Onboarding Pipeline

Once your pipeline is set up, you can enroll partners in two ways.

From the Kanban Board

1. Open the Partner Onboarding Page

   Navigate to Manage > Partner Onboarding to see the kanban board view of all partners in the selected pipeline.

2. Select the Pipeline

   Use the top-right dropdown to choose the pipeline you want to add the partner to.

3. Click Start Onboarding

   Click Start onboarding, search for the partner you want to enroll, then click Start. The partner is automatically placed in the first stage of the pipeline.

From the Partner's Page

1. Open the Partner's Page

   Navigate to the specific partner’s profile page.

2. Click the Onboarding Tab

   Click the Onboarding tab on the partner’s page.

3. Start Onboarding

   Click Start onboarding, select the pipeline the partner should follow, then click Start. The partner is automatically added to the first stage.

   You can only start onboarding from a partner’s page if that partner is not yet enrolled in any onboarding pipeline.

View and Track Onboarding Progress

You have two places to check where partners stand in their onboarding.

The Onboarding Kanban Board

Go to Manage > Partner Onboarding to see all partners currently in the selected pipeline, organized by stage. Switch between pipelines using the dropdown in the top right. This board gives you an at-a-glance overview of how many partners are in each stage and where bottlenecks may be occurring.

The Partner’s Onboarding Tab

Open any partner’s page and click the Onboarding tab to see and manage that specific partner’s onboarding progress. From here you can review completed actions, move the partner between stages, and track their overall status within the pipeline.

Managing Pipelines

You cannot delete an onboarding pipeline that still contains partners. Move all partners to a different pipeline before deleting.

You can change a pipeline’s visibility at any time by opening the pipeline, clicking Edit in the About this pipeline section, and toggling the Visible to partner main contacts setting. This lets you hide a pipeline from partners during setup and make it visible once it is ready.