The 12-Point Setup Checklist We Run on Every GoHighLevel Account

We inherit a lot of accounts. Some were set up by a previous agency, some by a founder over a weekend, a few by a very confident intern. The problems are almost always the same, and almost always come from steps being done out of order or not at all. So this is the list, in the order we run it.

Foundation (1 to 4)

1. Decide the account structure

One location or several? One brand or a group? For agencies, which sub-accounts will share a snapshot? Getting this wrong means rebuilding later, so we draw it before we click anything. Rule of thumb: one sub-account per business unit that has its own phone number, calendar and pipeline.

2. Connect domains

The funnel domain, the email sending domain and the link-shortener domain are three separate things. We connect and verify all three before building a single page, because unverified domains are the most common reason "the funnel worked in testing but not live".

3. Set up users, roles and permissions

Owners see everything. Sales reps see their own contacts and the pipeline. Contractors see only what they need. We create the roles first and assign people to them second, so nobody ends up with admin because it was quicker.

4. Write the naming convention

This is the step everyone skips and everyone regrets. Workflows, tags, custom fields and calendars all need a pattern: [Area] - [Purpose] - [Version], for example Leads - Speed to Lead - v2. Two years later, with eighty workflows in the account, this is what keeps it maintainable.

Data model (5 to 7)

5. Build the pipelines

Stages are named the way the team already talks about deals, with a clear rule for entering and leaving each one. We cap most pipelines at six or seven stages. If a stage doesn't change what someone does next, it isn't a stage.

6. Create custom fields

Every field must answer "which automation or report uses this?". If nothing does, it doesn't exist yet. Typical keepers: lead source detail, service interest, budget range, preferred contact time, and the campaign that brought them in.

7. Define tags and smart lists

Tags are for state and segmentation, not for storing data. status:hot, source:google-ads, service:implant. Smart lists are built from those tags so the team has one-click views of who needs a call today.

Channels (8 to 10)

8. Phone numbers and A2P registration

Buy the numbers, then register the brand and campaign for A2P messaging before sending a single business text. Unregistered traffic is filtered by carriers, which means your automations look like they're working while nobody receives anything. This takes days to approve, so it starts on day one.

9. Email authentication and warm-up

SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the sending domain, then a gentle warm-up rather than a blast to the whole database. We also set the reply-to address to a real, monitored inbox.

10. Calendars

Team availability, buffers between appointments, time zone handling, round-robin rules and the confirmation and reminder messages. We book a test appointment from a customer's point of view before we trust it.

Launch (11 and 12)

11. Core automations

Only three go live on day one: speed-to-lead, appointment confirmations and reminders, and internal alerts for hot leads. Everything else is added once those are proven, because three tested automations beat twenty untested ones.

12. Documentation and training

A one-page flow diagram, the naming convention, and a short recorded walkthrough of where things live. The team should be able to answer "what happens when a lead comes in?" without opening a workflow.

What gets skipped

None of these are hard. They are just easy to postpone, and the cost of postponing them is invisible until you look at how many enquiries went quiet. If you already have an account and recognise a few rows in that table, the audit call is the fastest way to find out which ones are costing you.