Client Work Matters: Your Clients By the Numbers

In the world of professional services, dealing with complex reporting and evolving metrics is a common challenge. Many businesses lack efficient ways to gather and analyze client-driven metrics, as traditional business intelligence platforms often focus on operational or financial metrics.?

This week’s edition of Client Work Matters explores the importance of collecting and analyzing client-driven metrics and offers tips to help you start making the most of your client data.?

1. Elements of an Effective Reporting Setup

To establish an effective reporting system, prioritize the following foundational elements:

• Powerful CRM: It's essential to have an integrated CRM that connects sales, project management, ticketing, billing and other activities to client records.
• Automated time tracking: Real-time billable utilization data requires automated time tracking within the same platform used for client work.
• Tracking project profitability: For businesses offering various services, tracking profitability for each service type is vital.
• Tracking project expenses: Like revenue, project expenses are? important for getting a true sense of profitability.?
• Managing client requests: Monitor the impact of client requests on billable time by logging them in a way that can be attached to time records.

2. Unify Your Data

The elements listed above should not operate in isolation. They must be part of a unified system where your client work flows seamlessly into your reporting solution.

TIP: Customizable platforms designed for client-based businesses can support your entire client journey — collecting important client data at every stage and avoiding disjointed processes.

3. Optimize How Your Team Records Activity

Training is essential to ensure employees use your reporting tools and processes correctly and will ultimately reduce errors and maximize ROI. Proper training covers:

• Sales or project categorization
• Custom field entry
• Expense and budget tracking
• Issue resolution and documentation
• Communication archiving

4. Engage in Meaningful Analysis

Access to key client data provides an opportunity for meaningful analysis. This data can help identify trends among clients and your overall client base. It can reveal areas for improvement, such as:

• Adjusting billing rates
• Focusing on the most profitable clients
• Knowing when it is time to break up with certain clients

5. Get the Full Story About Your Clients

In addition to revenue, billable time and profitability, other client-driven data can offer valuable insights:

• Client retention duration
• Projects completed per client per year
• Relationship between client requests and project profitability
• Correlation between budget overages and overdue invoices
• Percentage of clients renewing or upgrading services

In conclusion, a robust reporting setup that integrates client-driven metrics throughout the client journey can be a game-changer for professional services businesses. It enables data-driven decisions and helps uncover opportunities for growth and improvement.

Ready to explore your data even further? Check out the following blogs:

• Revenue Expansion: It Starts With Understanding Your Data
• Acting on Yesterday's Data? 3 Steps for Moving to Real-Time Reporting
• Best Business Intelligence Tools for Small Businesses: Boost Your BI