Client Management Software

Why Do You Need Client Relationship Management Software?

Would you rather spend hours on the phone and have all vital information scribbled down on pieces of paper or have a system that thoroughly organizes your contacts? Contact management via phone calls and correspondence on social media is inevitable, but you can reduce them to a minimum if you introduce a more systematic line of communication in your relationship with clients.

For example, working in sales means having contact with many customers, dealing with a lot of numbers, scheduling meetings, and sending out follow-ups. Not to mention you also have to track all the leads in the sales pipeline. You'd need a calendar, spreadsheets, phone books, email sorting software, etc. Instead of dealing with various apps, you could organize your entire workflow through a single powerful tool that includes all these features.

Organized Workflow

Some of ActiveCollab's users create a project for each account, while others maintain a smooth collaboration with one client through different projects. Once clients are included in the system, teams can chat directly with them through task comments. Organizing the entire process with tasks allows everyone to get familiar with the context in a heartbeat. Marketing automation can make or break a company's sales pipeline, not letting any information or contacts slip.

Increased Sales

Features such as custom project templates free a manager's and the team's time through automation. Letting the system work for you and having a powered sales assistant means having more space for building robust relationships with existing accounts, adding new ones in the pipeline, and improving your performance. Follow-ups no longer need to rely on endless email threads and dreaded phone calls when contact management software is on your side.

Improved Overview

Without CRM software, you can get lost easily in a long list of contacts, deadlines, and tasks. That's why the management software ActiveCollab lets you group tasks into lists that you can arrange as columns, simple to-do lists, or a timeline. Gantt charts are common in production enterprises, while Kanban boards are usually applied by software teams, but we believe they can be equally useful to marketing or any industry.

Estimates

When you contact a potential client and understand what they need, use the ActiveCollab feature to produce an estimate with essential details. Insert its name, your client's company, address, currency, and preferred language. Then, add items of the service you're offering, their prices, and their quantity. The total will be calculated by automation. If you like, add a note, send via email or download as PDF, and then send it away to your client. Made a mistake or want to add something? No problem, edit your estimates as much as necessary. You can always view the history of changes and access logs.

Automation of the process

If you're applying the same type of work to various addresses, simply duplicate the estimate and change the necessary details. The automation of the process it's easy, and will save you plenty of time that you could invest in more important activities!

Mark as Won or Lost

You'll have an overview of all your estimates on the main page, sorted by their status. Once a client accepts your offer, you can mark the estimate as "won" and transform it into a project. The sum you agreed upon will be automatically set as the target budget, but you can change it at any time. In case you're not managing your projects in ActiveCollab, you can also turn the estimate directly into an invoice and send it to your client to be paid.

Client profile page

Keeping all the information about every client, maintaining relationships, and customer support can become a messy business without CRM software. Between spreadsheets, documents, emails, and contact lists, it's easier to lose than find something. In ActiveCollab, you can create a profile for each company you're working with and store all their details in one place. In the menu on the left, go to People > New Company, and insert all the necessary data.

Personalized hourly rates

You can also personalize your hourly rates by company and job type. For instance, you could agree to charge translating services $10 per hour to Company A and $9.5 to Company B. When creating invoices, all you need to do is select a company, and the rest will be automatically filled in. Also, you'll be able to access and review all the invoices you've sent to a company from their profile page.

Client+

You'll have an overview of all your estimates on the main page, sorted by their status. Once a client accepts your offer, you can mark the estimate as "won" and transform it into a project. The sum you agreed upon will be automatically set as the target budget, but you can change it at any time. In case you're not managing your projects in ActiveCollab, you can also turn the estimate directly into an invoice and send it to your client to be paid.

They can:

• Create, open, and complete tasks
• Create and arrange their task lists
• Be assigned to and assign others to tasks
• Create and manage recurring tasks
• View who's on the project
• Access logs on a specific task
• See Time and Expenses (if the option "Allow Clients to see time and expenses" is enabled)
• See budget details in Project info

For example, you could attach the files they requested on a task, tag them, and then assign them the task for approval. They'll be able to see a list assigned to them in My Work and provide you the necessary feedback.

On the other hand, you'll still be able to hide tasks from them by checking the "Hidden from clients" box. They won't see projects they're not invited to, nor your estimates, invoices, reports, and the People section.

Different budget types

ActiveCollab lets you run projects with different types of budget: non-billable, fixed, and time and expenses. We recommend non-billable projects for internal projects. Fixed budget, implies a specific sum you've agreed upon. Bonus tip: set up budget alerts, so you don't breach any limits. The Time and expenses option is useful when you're getting paid by the hour. Either way, you can invoice your work item by item.

Go to Invoices > New Invoice, choose the company you're sending it to, select the invoice's due date and the items to be billed. You can create a free form invoice or select items from your existing projects, even invoice only items from a certain period of time, add discounts, notes, a QR code, and private comments. Once you're happy with what you've created, send it via email or download the PDF.

Recurring invoices

If you're invoicing your clients on a regular basis, set up a recurring invoice, kick back and relax. Go to Invoices in the menu on the left, and find the tab "Recurring invoices". Create it, set up a recurrence, and let the system work for you!

Accountant Client Management Software Add-ons

We've also enabled an add-on for one of the most popular accounting tools, QuickBooks. Once you cover the basics of ActiveCollab, you can continue processing your invoices in this tool. All the changes you make there will also be reflected in ActiveCollab, so they will automatically be marked as sent, paid, etc.

Late payments reminder

We all know how awkward it is to remind people to pay for your work and spoil relationships over payments. Most people would rather forget about the money than having to sit down and email or call their clients, especially if the company in question is a small business. So, we've automated the process for you. Go to System Settings > Edit invoicing settings > Overdue reminders. Set up their recurrence, along with a message (a default one will already be waiting for you).

Online payments

The last step is obviously getting paid. You can connect several gateways to receive payments online: PayPal, PayPal Payflow Pro, Authorize.Net, Stripe, or Braintree. This completes the process from an offer to a successful payment!
You can begin your journey to a successful customer relationship and support by giving ActiveCollab a go in a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at only $3 per member!