The Technique to Track Time Spent on Client Work
Published: 27/09/2022
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We will be educating senior ops executives and managing directors on creating a perfect technique to track time spent on client work. Many dismiss the importance of the process by underestimating its impact on overall business success. We will highlight it for you.
If you’re charging clients for your services based on the hours your team puts in - this blog article is for you. Assumingly, you already have some procedure in place to ensure your time is being paid for accordingly; and if you don’t - now is the time to come up with one. But have you ever stopped to consider that you should record your company’s time for purposes other than raising client invoices? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t as it’s a common mistake and therefore the topic of our today’s article. By the time you read it, we hope to have widened your horizons and inspired you to assess time tracking from a completely different perspective.
The reason we want to change your mind is that the wrong approach to time tracking may be what prevents your company from growing at the desired pace. It can also be the solution you’re struggling to find to improve your project and team management. Do we have your attention yet? If so, let’s start talking business.
The easy answer is that you need to track time spent on client work to bill them for it, but you already know that. However, time tracking brings more benefits to your business. Small teams and startups often have one mistake in common in that regard. They either fully dismiss timekeeping or decide to postpone it for when they are bigger, often convinced it’s either something they have no use of or that it’s a secondary process. Those that successfully scale, in reflection, admit their growth would have been faster had they not disregarded time tracking.
Truth is, it can drive better utilisation of your team’s effort, improve individual performances, build client relationships and many more. The perfect technique of time tracking strategy begins with understanding the copious number of areas it can better. It’s not a tool addressed to improve client-facing tasks, but also a powerful aid to smoothening internal communications and workflows. The second step is the realisation client billing isn’t the priority. Without further ado, let us tell you what is…
Did you know that it’s no longer the quality of the product or the service you offer, nor its price, that dictates your success over the competitors? Affordability and quality still play an important role, but their value fades if the customer’s journey and post-purchase experiences aren’t smooth. Your business will only prosper if you prioritise the client experience.
No one likes surprises when it comes to finances. Therefore if you’re inconsistent with your invoicing, be it the timing or details within, your client experience will suffer. If you’re utilising an external workforce, you are more than likely to run into this issue as your independent contractors most likely use different invoicing processes than you do. While this may seem understandable from your standpoint, you must understand that this is no concern of the client. They will therefore be confused why the invoice looks different, isn’t as detailed as before or even has a different rate listed.
All this can be avoided by adopting a centralised time tracking platform. Once you start working with a contractor, you will onboard them through the system, setting their rates and deliverables. From there on, they will only need to be logging their hours and the tool will automatically translate them into invoices. If you utilise this system across your company and when outsourcing, the clients won’t be able to tell any potential internal misalignments. Simply because there won’t be any. Which will lead to a smooth, consistent client experience.
Consistency and transparency aren't the only benefits of timesheet-based invoice automation.
Another key reason you should rely on time-tracking solutions to improve the overall experience of your clients is the accuracy it provides. When using spreadsheets or paper timesheets to calculate what you’re owed, you’re at a high risk of raising an invoice with mistakes due to human error. When invoices are automatically generated based on the data fed into the software? The errors only occur if the data wasn’t correct.
Accuracy is then supported by the ability to deliver invoices on time. Everyone is busy, we get that - and that’s why you might sometimes miss the deadline of raising an invoice, ultimately leading to decreased consistency and delayed payments. Here’s the kicker: the right piece of software won’t just generate invoices for you - it can also be set to automate their distribution. Whether it’s done upon creation of the invoice or at the set date within the selected period is something that’s completely up to you.
While every company should be focused on serving the customer, it’s important to remember the importance of internal processes. Keeping track of the time your teams spend across different tasks can help you improve multiple aspects of the business. Inevitably, better performance will lead to bettering client experience - which we’ve outlined to be the key to success. Next, let’s explore how to implement time tracking internally to delight your customers.
Younger companies tend to be hesitant to track time as they see it as ‘micromanaging’ and are committed to their values of not engaging in such practice. This is a crucial mistake some come to realise as they scale. With no time tracking in mind, you’re bound to burn through budgets as you will never have accurate data needed for forecasting projects, therefore your work allocation will mostly be based on guestimation. Although this may not seem like an issue in the early stages of the company, this becomes a big issue further ahead as the volume of clients and their demands grow.
When you track both team and individual time expenditure on various tasks across the project, you equip yourself with quantitative data on how much time your workers spend handling specific assignments. This can help you build better plans moving forward as you will have definite knowledge, backed up by numbers. It might also uncover that you aren’t generating as much revenue as you should, leading to having to rethink your entire business model. In other words, you should track time spent on client work to become more efficient in using it.
Using a centralised time tracking solution doesn’t only give you a better overview of how your teams perform. It also keeps them aware of each other’s progress and input. This kind of transparency makes it easier to plan workloads accordingly, create smoother workflows, manage handovers and provide assistance when needed. In other words, it becomes an invaluable tool for in-team communication.
Naturally, when your employees are equipped with tools to be aware of each other’s performance, not only can they collaborate better but also hold each other accountable. This will make it easy to spot who’s underperforming in certain areas, becoming an opportunity for extra training. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of employees can be your key to improving individual performances that will inevitably drive team results. It will also gather valuable insights for future project planning, taking us back to the previously discussed workforce allocation improvements.
There are multiple ways to track time spent on client work. From old-school ways like spreadsheets to a vast market of digital tools, it can be seen as a matter of preference. However, the preferred way may not always be the most efficient, and you should therefore seek a solution addressing the direct needs of your business. Again, with so many options to choose from it can be daunting. But fret not, we have a foolproof suggestion for you.
Granted, it’s not impossible to find a way to track time spent on client work that ticks all of your boxes - but it’s rather difficult. Very often, in fear of missing out on functionality they might not be aware they need, companies overpay for solutions that offer the biggest range of features. Such tools, as one would expect, are normally on the pricier side too. And here’s a hard pill to swallow: unless the additional functionality is being actively utilised, the business is actively losing money. If anything, you end up overpaying for the specific features when you pay for a pre-built software package you don’t fully use.
At Timesheet Portal, we prioritise the needs of our clients and aim to add a layer of convenience to their operations. This is why we allow our users to build their platform for their business. Depending on the size and needs, every company can choose the modules and number of users they need, and then pay exclusively for that. They can just as easily upgrade and downgrade moving forward; circumstances change - and we are here to accommodate them.
It’s true that you need to track time spent on client work - but there are many ways of doing so. Unfortunately, not all of them are equally effective. Some, in fact, can hinder the rest of your business operations. Others, on the other hand, will do exactly what you want them to and nothing beyond. The best choice would be sticking to the options that not only do the job but go beyond its primary functionality, enhancing multiple areas of the business. Such an option is more accessible than you think.
The most effective technique for tracking the time you charge the client involves a digital timesheet solution. Top-tier tools such as Timesheet Portal won’t stop at providing the service of easier client billing; they will also contribute to bettering the overall client experience and fluidity of your internal operations. Combine that with the flexibility of the pricing module and you’ll be positively surprised by the ROI in no time.
It’s time you rethink your time-tracking strategy. Let us help you.