Taking good care of your clients means taking care of your business, and one of the simplest paths to taking care of both your clients and your business is by tracking the numbers.
Tracking allows you to spot patterns, and make adjustments that will serve your clients well. You get to decide what to track, and how what you’re tracking affects the care you take of your clients.
Here are some suggestions of things you might track:
- Number of billable hours per week. Are you working so much you don’t have time to truly take care of your clients?
- Amount earned each month. Are you earning enough so that you feel taken care of? If not, you could be unconsciously projecting neediness onto the clients you do have.
- Hours spent on admin and marketing. How much time are you spending on your back-office items, and how does that affect the bandwidth you have left for client care?
- Dollars per hour earned. Are you earning too little for your efforts? If so, you may end up resenting the work you’re doing, and possibly the client you’re doing it for, too.
- Discovery sessions and conversion rate. Are you conducting enough discovery sessions, sales conversation, or their equivalent? Tracking how often those conversations turn into clients can tell you a lot about how you’re connecting with clients, and how taken care of they feel.
- How long clients stay with you. Are your clients staying as long as you’d like them to? This is a clear indication that you’re offering something they value, and they appreciate the care you’re taking with them.
- How many hours you’re working. Do you have the bandwidth to keep up the pace you’re at now? If you’re overworking, your client care is likely to suffer.
- How many clients you have. Do you have the right number of clients? Too many and you may feel overwhelmed taking care of them all, too few and you may lose your rhythm or expose yourself to a possible business famine.
Choosing from this list, or thinking of other elements you know are important, pick one or two items you’d like to track over the next three months. Create a chart to keep track of how it’s going, and bring a spirit of curiosity and adventure to this experiment. Pay attention to the story the numbers tell, and adjust accordingly. As you track, you’ll notice how your business and clients both feel taken care of as a result of these adjustments.
Tracking just a few things can mean a big leap forward in client care — something your clients and your business will thank you for!
