One thing I have noticed is that often it’s hard for clients to understand exactly what I am doing. They paid me for ten hours of social media help but they don’t know what they purchased unless I tell them. At the end of the month, it’s hard to validate the money they’re paying since they aren’t sure what happened with it.
Here are some things I recommend to improve your time tracking for clients. These have all been very beneficial to helping my clients understand exactly what they get when they hire me.
Start with a Regular Report
Every week, I send a brief email to my client and let them know what I did. If you decide to do the same, don’t say something vague like, “I spent three hours on your social media.” That doesn’t give the client an idea of what you were doing.
Instead, provide relevant details. One recent report for a client included things like "one hour spent uploading 15 posts to your social media scheduler. Then I researched popular Pinterest group boards. I followed the rules of each board then pinned your latest blog post so you can get more Pinterest traffic. I also updated the branding for your Facebook fan page with the new logo we discussed.”
Measure Results
After you share what you did, include any metrics that might be helpful. For example, I wrote a new blog post that resulted in two big sales for the above client. I was sure to mention that in my week’s report.
Keep in mind that the results you measure should match the client’s goal. If the client’s goal is to become a social media influencer, then mention that their new video tweet got 103 RTs and 1.5K views on Instagram. If you’re not clear on what your client’s goal is, you need to talk with them. Figure out what it is they’re looking for and develop a strategy to help them achieve it.
Schedule a Review
Here are some things I recommend to improve your time tracking for clients. These have all been very beneficial to helping my clients understand exactly what they get when they hire me.
Start with a Regular Report
Every week, I send a brief email to my client and let them know what I did. If you decide to do the same, don’t say something vague like, “I spent three hours on your social media.” That doesn’t give the client an idea of what you were doing.
Instead, provide relevant details. One recent report for a client included things like "one hour spent uploading 15 posts to your social media scheduler. Then I researched popular Pinterest group boards. I followed the rules of each board then pinned your latest blog post so you can get more Pinterest traffic. I also updated the branding for your Facebook fan page with the new logo we discussed.”
Measure Results
After you share what you did, include any metrics that might be helpful. For example, I wrote a new blog post that resulted in two big sales for the above client. I was sure to mention that in my week’s report.
Keep in mind that the results you measure should match the client’s goal. If the client’s goal is to become a social media influencer, then mention that their new video tweet got 103 RTs and 1.5K views on Instagram. If you’re not clear on what your client’s goal is, you need to talk with them. Figure out what it is they’re looking for and develop a strategy to help them achieve it.
Schedule a Review
As a service provider, you want to make sure that you’re spending your time on projects that matter to your client. It’s smart to request a 15-minute call every month. You and your client can use this time to review what you’ve been doing.
I prefer face-to-face time with some clients and so will schedule a monthly meeting. We might meet for lunch or coffee and then spend some time actually looking at their social media accounts and discussing what has been done and the results we are seeing.
This monthly review ensures that you and your client are working toward the same goal. Your client might see what you’re working on and say, “Yes, do more of that please!” or they might say, “No, I want to change direction on this project.”
Tracking Your Time is Good
It’s not just clients who benefit from your time tracking—you do, too! Even if you’re doing an unpaid internship or bartering with someone, track your time.
Plotting how long it took you to complete a task can be helpful so you know how much time to budget for future projects. For example, I write fairly quickly and was only budgeting 30 minutes to write a blog post. But that is for my own topics. I discovered that when I am trying to write for a client it often takes longer. Once I realized this, I began to block off a full 60 minutes so I can write without feeling rushed or frazzled.
Take my advice. Email your clients a weekly report. Your clients will appreciate it and and you should start getting more repeat jobs. And this will enable you to spend less time marketing your business and more time doing what you love — serving your clients.
I prefer face-to-face time with some clients and so will schedule a monthly meeting. We might meet for lunch or coffee and then spend some time actually looking at their social media accounts and discussing what has been done and the results we are seeing.
This monthly review ensures that you and your client are working toward the same goal. Your client might see what you’re working on and say, “Yes, do more of that please!” or they might say, “No, I want to change direction on this project.”
Tracking Your Time is Good
It’s not just clients who benefit from your time tracking—you do, too! Even if you’re doing an unpaid internship or bartering with someone, track your time.
Plotting how long it took you to complete a task can be helpful so you know how much time to budget for future projects. For example, I write fairly quickly and was only budgeting 30 minutes to write a blog post. But that is for my own topics. I discovered that when I am trying to write for a client it often takes longer. Once I realized this, I began to block off a full 60 minutes so I can write without feeling rushed or frazzled.
Take my advice. Email your clients a weekly report. Your clients will appreciate it and and you should start getting more repeat jobs. And this will enable you to spend less time marketing your business and more time doing what you love — serving your clients.
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