Simplifying the process is always a good thing.When you look at where your efficiencies are—and more importantly, where they are—you may find that the effort spent tracking time exceeds its value, especially when it comes to Building retainer business.
The more customers you can retain from month to month, the more reliable your revenue will be. This is the problem with the time tracking model, which tends to do more harm than good in keeping customers satisfied and persevering.
There are various problems with the timetable, including inaccuracy and lack of attention to actual results.If you charge customers by the hour, you miss a better opportunity Prove the value of your agency Through what really matters: performance.If you want your customers to know, this is a big mistake How much value you provide.
This is why time tracking is about to be phased out-and a better billing model you should adopt.
Why institutions use time tracking
Why did time tracking become the preferred model in the first place?
Although customer retention has always been the main goal of agents, they do not always have such a wide range of tools to illustrate value and performance. This means relying more on alternative billing practices that somehow tie the points between the work done and the work delivered, and a timetable is better than nothing.
Many industries are billed by the hour. But unlike the legal field, marketing clients have every reason to believe that the fees they pay are a guarantee of positive results. If they don’t get them through one agency, it makes sense that they will look for another agency.
There was a time when the hourly time tracking model was the best billing method for agents. However, that time has passed, and the new model is value-oriented, focusing on target measurement instead of minutes. Therefore, if you are still using time tracking, you are showing your customers that you are ready to work on their behalf—but you have failed to show why this work is truly valuable to them.
Switch to a better option
What is an hour’s work Look like? How do you prove that it is well spent?
Time tracking cannot convey the returns your customers receive in exchange for the time recorded on the worksheet. It is also often full of inaccuracies, especially if you are not using software to record the hours, minutes, and seconds your team members spend on each task (if you have used this type of software yourself, You know how distracting and distracting it is).
Fortunately, there is a better model: Pricing based on value and performance.
Charging your customers based on results rather than time spent provides many huge benefits, all of which can help you keep their business and increase income This will make your agency run smoothly.
It is both qualitative and quantitative
Unlike hourly billing, value and performance-based pricing shows customers the quality they get from your service—not just the time they pay.
It’s better for your book
From a project to a quarter, from a quarter to a quarter, you may not know exactly how many hours you will spend on behalf of your customers. However, all you know is the deliverables you provide and how these deadlines will be allocated.
This is better for your customer relationship
Good agency customer relationships are based on trust and transparency, both of which can be lost in the time tracking model.Billing for completed projects and results can provide a deeper understanding What do your customers get from their investment, Which helps turn the contract into a partnership.
How marketing automation can help
Today’s institutions have more tools available Help them move to value and performance based pricing, which includes Marketing automation.
Marketing automation helps eliminate the guesswork of proving value, leading to more retained business. Some of the things it can help you do include:
- Track the number of new leads or contacts being captured
- Establish and monitor activities for those contacts who are being tracked
- Create a continuous funnel for customers
- Measure workflow, deadlines, and other pipeline deliverables
- Track customer recommendations and recommendations
- Collect and report activity performance data
Because marketing automation is an ongoing strategy, it also allows your customers to understand how your work has evolved over time in terms of projects and results.
The goal of a marketing agency is not just to check off hours on the timetable-it is to help customers reach more customers and reach them more effectively. Use marketing automation to prove to your customers that this is exactly what you do, and they will not only be happier, but also more likely to retain your service.