I've got a bunch of customers and clients that I've been introducing Steemit to and some have been waiting up to a week.

And then along comes my kid.....

Signs up and within 24 hours he gets his account set up and he's already blogging LOL

Doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason on what helps speed it up if you go through the traditional ways. But I think you are right, it might even be manually and people have to create the accounts and delegate it themselves. I think it'll speed up over time though, big things ahead!!