A new site not ranking is normal, and the cost of not saying so early is a client who concludes the work is failing before it has had a chance to start.
Distinguish not indexed from not ranking
These are different problems. Check indexing first — a new site with technical barriers may not be in the index at all, which is fixable this week. A site that is indexed and ranking on page six is on a normal trajectory and needs patience, not intervention.
The timeline is quarters, not weeks
For a genuinely new domain in a competitive market, meaningful organic traffic typically takes six to twelve months. Say that before the contract is signed. Saying it in month four sounds like an excuse regardless of how true it is.
Show progress with leading indicators
Impressions, indexed page counts, average position and the number of distinct queries the site appears for all move well before traffic does. Reporting those gives a client something real to see during the period where the headline number is still flat.
Where the early effort should go
Technical foundations and a small number of genuinely strong pages beat volume on a new domain. Publishing two hundred thin pages before any authority exists produces two hundred pages that do not rank and a thin content profile to clean up later.