If you are in business selling a service and have experienced trying to juggle multiple client projects simultaneously then you may have found yourself trying to avoid or put off your clients inquiries until you get ‘caught up’.
I suggest beginning to work out a weekly plan. Lay out all of the client work you have in front of you – the amount of hours you anticipate needing per step and the deadline.
Try doing this on Fridays because well meaning plans for Mondays often don’t work out very well when you’re catching up on all of the correspondence that came in over the weekend. So you might try reserving a half hour or so at the end of the work day on Friday creating your schedule and setting client specific milestones for the following week.
The next step is to create a weekly report template that you can use to inform your clients of your plans for the upcoming week. Include of course everything that you have completed in the past 5 days. Make references to the budget and deadlines. Are you still on track? Has the project developed some ‘scope creep‘? If so – this is the perfect time to address it.
Imagine yourself in the shoes of your client… wouldn’t a weekly report like this communicate organization, follow through and concern? It would eliminate the need to ‘check up’ on progress through out the week because you know what is being worked on and that you’ll be updated again on Monday.
This is going to save you a ton of time answering emails and fielding phone calls. More time to actually work and it’s going to build your service brand. Clients are going to be much more apt to refer you to colleagues when they trust your professionalism and organization.
