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For agencies, professional services, consultancies, and any other client-based business, delivering great work is only half the job. The other half is working alongside your clients to provide exceptional experiences, stellar communication, and flexible collaboration.
It’s a constant balancing act between ensuring client satisfaction and staying profitable. To help you walk that tightrope, you need client management software. The right client management platform enables you to stay on top of deadlines across multiple clients and projects, flexibly allocate your resources, and respond to last minute changes with ease, so you can profit from every client demand.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about client management software: what it is, why you need it, what to look for, and which tool is right for you. Read on to learn:
What is client management?
Client management is the process of overseeing and developing your client relationships to drive better results for both your clients and your business.
It’s a simple term for a deceptively difficult task. As anyone who’s ever worked with a particularly client-y client knows, there’s a lot that goes into getting it right. In order to stay profitable and still deliver world-class service, you need to:
Effectively organize and manage projects
Accurately forecast how long work will take
Foster collaboration between your team and theirs
Outline (and meet) due dates and key project milestones
Provide visibility into the status of tasks and deliverables
Communicate clearly and openly
Set reasonable expectations and clear boundaries
This is where client management software comes in. Client management software is a digital tool or app that streamlines how you engage with clients throughout the project lifecycle and beyond. Industry-leading client management software (like Teamwork.com 👋) combines project management with client operations to help you work together productively, so you can stay efficient, organized, profitable, and happy—and build long-lasting client relationships that grow your business.
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6 benefits of client management software
Client management software is a game-changer for busy teams who want to be more efficient, optimize their resources, and win back more time for meaningful (and billable) work. Here are some of our favorite benefits of client management software for teams of all types.
1. Simplify client management from beginning to end
Using a client management platform gives you full control and visibility over your team’s workload, enabling you to effectively manage even the most complex projects—and the most demanding clients.
See who’s working on what for better capacity planning, understand which resources are available for your next project, and balance major deadlines across multiple clients to avoid last-minute crunches that risk derailing your project timeline.
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2. Centralize all client communication
Have you ever missed a crucial client email because it was locked in a team member’s inbox while they were on holiday or out sick? Client management software breaks down information silos by centralizing all project communication, increasing alignment and transparency.
With all client communication—like feedback, project updates, and approvals—in one accessible place, your team never has to waste time trawling through email threads or looking for updates, and your client is confident their voice has been heard.
3. Streamline project scheduling and delivery
Get a big-picture view of how work is distributed across your agency or team to identify opportunities—and potential issues. Client management software helps keep your project schedule on track by enabling you to spot blockers in advance.
Free up bandwidth and avoid burnout by reassigning tasks to underutilized teammates. Proactively identify when you need to add headcount or have availability to take on new clients, so you can maximize your utilization—and your profits.
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4. Organize your data for improved reporting and decision-making
Your client management software creates a single source of truth for all data about your project, making it easy for teammates, clients, and other stakeholders to quickly find the up-to-date information they need.
But don’t stop there: use the data from previous projects to fuel your analysis and continuous improvement. Understand where previous projects went right (and…less right) to forecast how long similar projects will take, and get more accurate reports for both clients and internal use.
5. Collaborate with clients to build stronger long-term relationships
Invite clients into your client management software to boost collaboration, build trust, and strengthen relationships. A user-friendly client management tool lets you create a true partnership without requiring them to undergo time-consuming training, so you and your clients can focus on what really matters: working together to get results.
⭐ Pro tip: Deliver a delightful onboarding experience every time by using a client onboarding checklist. Collect important documents, understand how each client likes to work, and help them get up and running quickly, you can build productive client relationships from day one.
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6. Save valuable time by automating tedious processes
Best-in-class client management platforms leverage automations, integrations, and AI to help you win back hours every week. Whether it’s repeatable project management templates that cut out setup time, workflow automations that effortlessly scale your best practices, or an AI assistant that improves your writing, the right client management software takes care of time-consuming, repetitive tasks so you don’t have to. The result? More time for you to invest in creative work and growing client relationships.
Key features of client management software
To help you effectively manage your clients and your work, look out for these features as you consider your client management software options.
Client communication and approvals
With the right tool, you can do more than just manage clients—you can build real partnerships that lead to lasting client relationships. To level up your client experience, try these three game-changers:
Special user license types let you bring clients directly into your platform without incurring extra costs for your team. With client users, you can give clients exactly as much (or as little) visibility as they need, and enable them to add items, complete tasks, and communicate in context via comments and messages for more efficient collaboration.
A dedicated hub for all proofs lets you manage the entire client review and approvals process from one central place. Quickly see what still needs sign-off and what’s ready for next steps. Create a record of all client feedback and previous file versions to keep everyone aligned.
A shared help desk for all incoming client queries breaks down silos and increases transparency. Centralize client communications to provide faster responses and more consistent experiences, and easily prioritize requests from key clients.
Resource management and capacity planning
Resource management and capacity planning go hand-in-hand with client management. After all, no client is going to be happy if their project is under-resourced or you end up pushing due dates because your team is over capacity. Similarly, knowing exactly which resources are at your disposal at any given moment helps you understand if you can take on that last-minute client request or if you need to push it out.
“With Teamwork.com, we get more visibility over the team’s capacity and resources available, as well as more visibility in terms of who owns a task and what exactly needs to be done."
~ Nicci Beacham, Project and Quality Manager, Liberty Marketing
Project management
Project management features are a must-have to help you plan, organize, and deliver client work. By bringing project management and client operations into one seamless platform, you and your clients can collaborate effectively, communicate in context, and stay aligned, resulting in a better client experience. Look for a flexible tool that adapts to your (and your clients’) preferred ways of working, so you can tailor your workspace to meet your needs.
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Budgeting
Understanding how many hours—and dollars—each task equates to is crucial for planning client projects. With time tracking features, you can log team time, improve project scoping, and get a clear record of how resources were spent across the project. Identify at a glance when projects reach certain thresholds so there are no nasty surprises (for you or your clients) and ensure the books are always balanced, even for fluctuating retainers.
Automations and templates
Managing clients and keeping projects on track involves a lot of repetitive admin. Now multiply this same level of care and attention by your total number of clients, and it’s easy to see how automations can save your team hours every week. Easily automate steps in your workflow and instantly spin up projects from pre-made templates to remove tedious admin tasks and keep projects running smoothly, freeing up more time for valuable client work and relationship-building.
Reporting
With all your data in one powerful client management platform, you can get real-time insights on your project’s health, utilization, and profitability. See how your work is progressing against targets to gauge if you’re on-track or need to make adjustments. Then, analyze your data to understand which clients and projects were most profitable, and use your learnings to better plan your work in the future.
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Integrations
Whatever software you pick, make sure it integrates with the other tools you use every day. Whether you’re exporting invoices or embedding a new website mockup jpg into a task for review, integrations help you sync your data and streamline your workflows to deliver a seamless experience for your clients.
“I personally cannot put a dollar figure on the impact of Teamwork. To be able to track tasks, timelines, details and then have that information in report format to pull at a moment’s notice has made my job immeasurably more efficient."
~ Stephanie Deits, Director of Accounting and Corporate Operations, IDEA PLANET
5 best client management tools
With all of these features in mind, how do you pick the best client management tool for your business? Here are some popular options to choose from.
1. Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com empowers you to manage the entire client lifecycle in one easy-to-use platform: from onboarding new clients to delivering work they love. Keep your team on track and your clients happy at every stage of your project by breaking things down into granular tasks and subtasks, assigning owners for accountability, and adding client-level tags for extra context. Get a big-picture overview of your client portfolio to see how work is tracking across your business and stay organized even as you scale.
Teamwork.com has all of the client management features you need to provide an excellent experience at every stage of the journey, empowering you to focus on work that drives real value for your clients and business.
Key features
Projects, milestones, tasks, and subtasks help you keep track of client work and communicate in context with comments
Time tracking lets you record and manage every billable and non-billable hour
Teamwork Desk centralizes client requests and communication for a more streamlined, consistent, and transparent experience
Client users enables you to collaborate with clients in one shared workspace so they can review work without needing to pay for more licenses
Proofs lets you share deliverables (and works-in-progress) with clients, manage version histories, and track approvals from one dedicated hub
Templates turn your best successes into your future blueprints, and are perfect for onboarding new clients quickly while still ensuring they get a five-star experience
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2. HubSpot
HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that can also be used to manage clients. It works across marketing, sales, and customer service to help you deliver a unified, personalized customer experience from acquisition right through to ongoing support.
Key features
Lead generation
Automation
Analytics
Pipeline management
Dashboards and reporting
AI chatbot
⭐ Pro tip: Already use HubSpot to attract and convert new clients? Use the Teamwork.com-HubSpot integration to sync your data and create seamless handovers from the sales team to the project team.
Create projects, tasks, and log time in Teamwork.com right from HubSpot, and link project information to relevant deals, contracts, or campaigns in HubSpot. Leverage automations to take action when updates occur in HubSpot to remove manual admin and keep work flowing.
3. Keap
Keap is a business automation and CRM software that can help small businesses manage their clients. It lets you organize all lead and client information in one place and use automations to trigger follow ups, like emails and text messages, to boost conversions and nurture relationships. While it works as a client tracking software, it doesn’t have any project management or resource management capabilities to help you execute client work.
Key features
Automated lead capture
Lead management
Email marketing
Text marketing
Automations
Sales pipeline management
Invoices and payments
4. Semrush CRM
Semrush CRM is a client management solution aimed at online marketing agencies. It provides an integrated customer workflow for SEO teams and professionals working on search engine optimization, allowing you to create a connected view of your client that includes domain metadata, analytics and marketing tools, social media links, and contact information. Sync Semrush projects and reports to the client view in Semrush CRM, track metrics right from the client page, and share insights with dedicated client portals.
Key features
Semrush integration
Unified client view
Basic task management
Reports
Client portal
5. Nimble
Nimble is a relationship manager for solopreneurs and business teams. It brings information together from contacts, calendars, and emails, and automatically updates records so you don’t have to. It enriches your data by matching social profiles to contacts and companies, and provides business insights like the number of employees, revenue, and industry, so you can personalize your outreach and communications.
Key features
Sales prospecting
Contact management
Data enrichment, like social profile matching and business insights
Group messaging and email sequences
Workflows and automation
Reporting
Over 100 integrations
Impress your clients with Teamwork.com’s client management system
While most client management software focuses on simply creating a record of the client relationship, Teamwork.com combines robust client operations with powerful project management to meet the unique challenges that agencies face. Manage your clients and your work from one central place to enhance team efficiency, collaborate more effectively, and build stronger client relationships that grow your business and your revenue.
Client management software - FAQs:
What is the best way to keep track of clients?
The best way to keep track of clients is with purpose-built client management software. The best client management software lets you manage, monitor, and grow your client relationships from one central place, and gives you the tools to plan and deliver work across your entire client roster so you can collaborate more effectively.
What are the benefits of client management software for agencies?
Some of the benefits of client management software that agencies can expect include:
Simplified project management and planning
Centralized client communications
Streamlined project scheduling and delivery
Improved data collection and insights
Stronger client relationships
Reduced manual admin
All of these benefits lead to improved efficiency, time and cost savings, and happier clients.
What are the different types of client management systems?
Client management systems can include customer relationship management (CRM) tools, sales pipeline management tools, marketing automation tools, and project management tools. The most effective client management systems combine client management (such as communication and collaboration features) with project management capabilities (like project tracking and resource management), helping you work together in context to deliver work they love in a profitable and efficient way.
What is the best client management tool for agencies?
Teamwork.com is the only platform built for managing client projects, combining client operations and project management in one streamlined, powerful tool. Obviously, we’re a little biased—but don’t just take our word for it. Read over 1,000 glowing reviews on G2 or hear directly from our happy customers.
More client management resources:
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