| By
Kelly Lothringer
A job can start with a clear estimate and detailed creative brief, but
along the way the client changes his mind, loses focus, or begins making
huge demands. The project mutates into a monster—one that sucks
your company’s resources, time, and profits dry.
Use Clients & Profits to bring those resource-draining clients into
the sunlight. Identifying vampire clients can be easy with a few reports.
The Client Time by Staff report analyzes how much time staffers spend
by client, and the Monthly Client Time Summary shows how much overtime
is being logged.
The Unbillable Time Analysis shows how much unbillable time staffers
use on each client. To see if clients need too much extra help, run
the Freelance Time Analysis to see client hours for employees vs. free-lancers.
A client changing the path of a job can raise costs, and you might get
stuck with the bill. Find out for sure: run the Write-offs and Markdown
reports to see by client how many
|
costs
were forgiven when jobs were billed.
Want to find out how deep the client is biting? Then look at the Gross
Margin by Client. It shows just that, as well as the ratio of job billings
to job costs. The Client vs. Client Gross Margin is a snapshot revealing
profitable and unprofitable clients.
Now that you know who the vampire clients are, how can you stop them
from draining your shop? Drop the wooden stakes (although using them
may be tempting) and use reports in Clients & Profits instead.
Revisit the Creative Brief and remind the client of the original objectives.
Use change orders to document all changes and have the client sign-off
on them so he knows the cost of the demands.
The client may show his fangs, but if you stay focused and communicate
you can keep your shop from being drained dry.
Kelly Lothringer, C&P's marketing/PR coordinator, was a senior
Help desk rep for four years.
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Controller = YTD trial balance See twelve
months of financials in less space than the front page of
today’s newspaper. Review month-over-month balances
for freelance expenses, studio income, A/R and A/P balances,
and much more.