Ever get nervous before heading into a client meeting? Things can be stressful when you don’t know what to expect and have to anticipate curve balls clients may throw at you. Thing is, when you keep a close relationship with your clients and keep everyone (both them and your team) in the loop as work and projects progress, they’ll be less skeptical, more trusting, and have fewer surprises for you when you show up to that meeting.
The good news is that keeping you and your clients on the same page isn’t that hard - all you need are the right tools. Whether you’re consulting or managing projects, here are some things you should look for to keep all your work streamlined (and delight your clients every time).
When you meticulously track your projects to proactively manage deliverables, you’re going to come out on top. That means not exceeding your scope on things like time and budget, and that’ll leave your clients smiling (or, not hounding you with questions at your next meeting). So when it comes to project tracking, where do you start? If you have a team, it starts with them. Managing work schedules and the resource utilization of your team is something that’s directly in your control. You can ensure that all the tasks that need to be completed are accounted for and that, more importantly, your team has the capacity to do them. With that in mind, it’s really helpful when you can push your scheduled work or client meetings from the actual tool you use to manage projects right into your calendar (think: Google or Office 365) so that everything is synced up and no deadlines are missed.
On the other hand, what if you could add tasks to your to-do list and calendar right from your business emails? You’d literally be leaving nothing to fall through the cracks. Manage your tasks, time estimates, and deadlines efficiently with something like Google Apps that can connect directly to your business or project management tool. Alternatively, work from your Google calendar, update tasks there and have them automatically update in the tool you use to manage your projects. Again, it’s just a good idea to have your projects synced up with your email. That way, if clients go in via a client portal and make some changes or take some actions, you can be notified through your inbox (and not walk into any surprises in your next meeting). Like Google Apps, Office 365 also allows you to do all of this, so you can stay up-to-date and organized with your sales and project meetings.
When you make a point to collaborate with your team and give your clients a means (like a platform) to contribute to or feel included in the process, you’ll create a greater sense of trust and avoid any mishaps at your next meeting. Collaborating with your staff and clients with tools like email sync, tickets and providing clients with a client portal fosters transparency and accountability. That way, you can be on top of everything. With email sync, it’ll feel like you have a central business inbox that’s linked to all our client work. Plus, if you find a platform that integrates with Google for Work, you’ll be able to manage projects and communications very easily since your business-related emails won’t be buried in isolated inboxes (again, making it easy to collaborate and know who’s on top of what). Plus, the Gmail Gadget lets you know who’s replied to an email you’ve sent - so you’re always in the know (especially before meetings). To help with collaboration, you can choose a smart technology platform that also integrates with Office 365 so that you can get multi-user access to an integrated, client database and sync your team’s address books to build a centralized client database for your business.
Finally, using a platform that’ll send you automated notifications when projects are slowing down or held up is key in helping you stay proactive (so that clients never call you out). That way you can stay up-to-date and organized with your sales and project meetings without any headaches. If you create tasks in your business management tool, have them push automatically to Google with 2-way sync and easily manage tasks with special task lists there (Office 365 can do this too). Task notification emails keep managers and assignees informed, so all you need to do is pick a smart technology platform that can integrate with these tools.
When you can view client relationships and the status of conversations, sales, projects and more before your meeting, you’re not going to walk into any surprises. When you know what to expect and you’re on point, there’s no need to be nervous. More importantly, when you’re on top of everything, your clients will love you.
If you’re looking for a platform that’ll help you be even more successful, you need to check this out.
