On this blog, we will discuss the importance of maintaining client records within your small business.

The  Small Business Association points out that the success of every small business depends on maintaining accurate and complete records.

Throughout this blog, we will discuss the following topics:

1. Best Practice: Maintain a record of all correspondence with the client
2. Track project deadlines in project management software
3. Maintain a record of all payments and invoices
4. with a 360-degree view of the client: Best Practice

You can ensure that your client records stay organized and up to date by following these best practices. By doing so, you’ll be more productive and can run your business more smoothly.

Maintaining Client Records Best Practice: Maintain a record of all correspondence with the client

In order to maintain client records, you are required to track all communications between your team members and clients.

It’s critical to keep track of not only client meetings and activities, but also all email and phone interactions. This way, you can make sure that everyone in your team is constantly updated on what’s going on.

Skhokho Business Software comes with all of the tools you’ll need to keep track of your clients. Your company can use the Meeting App to plan meetings with clients, make invites, and keep track of minutes, as well as the Notes App to keep track of more casual notes like phone calls and observations.

A central location for records ensures –

• The preservation of data when members join and/or leave your team and
• At any time, you can revisit historical data and analyse it, draw insights and use those insights to make future decisions.

It is a good idea to keep all client records in one place.

A cloud software system like Skhokho can be accessed wherever there is an internet connection. The information you provide to Skhokho is safe and secure because we utilise the best cloud security and firewalls.

Skhokho can be accessed by your team members at any time, so that you can collaborate even with remote teams or in a modern workplace.

Keep records up to date: Maintaining Client Records

The upkeep of client records is also important. As soon as an organisation’s details change, make sure they’re reflected in your records. If any new contact information becomes available, make sure it’s added as soon as possible. By maintaining accurate records, your team will have the most up-to-date information on hand and be able to provide high-quality service.

Review and update records regularly

Lastly, it is essential to update client records regularly. Thus, they can be checked for accuracy and relevance, and any areas where improvements may be needed can be identified. Regularly reviewing your client’s records will also allow you to keep informed of the latest developments within the client company, which will allow you to best serve your client.

Track client project deliverables details, milestones and dates

In order for small businesses to track client project deliverables, milestones and dates, it is essential to have tools, methods and systems in place. The use of tracking systems will make it easier for business owners to stay on top of client projects and communication, and allow them to easily refer to information when they need it.

Our business software includes an integrated project management tool designed to:

1. Gives you the ability of creating specific projects in a database – defining project requirements, deliverables, and scope.
2. Provide milestones for deliverables in your project and the dates by which they must be completed.
3. Track milestones through specific tasks created by your team.
4. Provide project and department-level reports based on the above information.

Keeping track of invoices and payments: Maintaining Client Records

In order to preserve client data, small businesses must keep record of invoices and payments. You might find yourself desperately trying to keep up with payments and invoices if you don’t have a system already in place to track this data.

The following are some of the advantages of having correct invoice and payment records:

• You can keep accurate financial records and invoices more conveniently.
• Track down clients who haven’t paid their bills.
• Avoid billing mistakes.
• Keep track of your revenue.
• You can acquire a complete sales record to integrate into your accounting software.

Accounting software like Skhokho can help you accomplish all the above and extra. This data is combined to provide an appropriate customer profile.

Bring everything together to gain a 360-degree perspective of the client’s data.

The following items should be included in a client record file:

• The name, address, and phone number of the client.
• Specific contact information, job titles or individuals within the client organisation.
• The date the client first contacted you.
• The date of the last contact with the client.
• A description of the services provided to the client.
• The amount of money charged for each service.
• Any payments made by the client.
• Any outstanding balance owed by the client.
• Quotations issued to the client in the past.

Accounting software like Skhokho makes it easy to keep track of these details in a digitised client database that can be accessed by any employee of the organisation anywhere at anytime.

One of the most difficult aspects of keeping client profiles up to date and correct is that data is frequently collected from many departments of the company:

1. The sales department is typically in charge of contact with the client, and they keep track of meetings, notes, and sales attempts.
2. The operations department then focuses on delivering products and services to that client while keeping track of completed projects and effectiveness.
3. Accounting is in charge of billing the client and keeping track of invoice data, bills, and payment information, among other things.

It’s critical that the original data from these various activities in various departments, and often different software, is consolidated into a single client profile so that your team can view a complete 360-degree profile of the client, including sales records, completed projects, financials, and client value.

Skhokho takes an integrated approach to business management, bringing data from several business divisions together in a single customer profile dashboard.

This ensures that client information is constantly correct and up to date, as well as reachable when necessary.

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For more info on Project Management, read the article here.

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Read Skhokho Documentation: https://skhokho.io/documentation/guide/