After Hours© 014: Clients portals: Yes? No?

This week I am grateful for my systems and organisation which make moments of turmoil in life much easier to manage and stay on track.

So today, I want to chat about something that makes running your client-facing business 100x easier.

Today's topic: How to use a client portal effectively

Estimated read time: ~4 minutes (Skim time: 90 seconds)

What kind of problem is this?

Not using client portals is a clarity problem because maybe you don't know how to make one, use one or even that you need one.

But once you have a client portal set-up, you'll never go back.

Why you need a client portal for every client

As client-facing businesses, the most important part of our business is obviously the clients.

We are service providers so our clients need to be happy with the service we provide them.

How?

Clients should be given the silver service. High-paying clients expect professionalism, expert advice, clear processes, industry standard documentation and an overall seamless experience.

And with a client portal, you're showing the client you're professional and operating at an expert level.

It provides clients with their personalised spot for a seamless experience to;

• View progress of the project
• Contact you
• View important documentation
• Upload information or inspiration
• View assets
• Feel included

Clients that are well taken care of means;

• The client could become recurring
• There's less back and forth through emails
• Good testimonials
• Referrals for new clients (their friends)

And finally for selfish reasons, a client portal also;

• Keeps you on track and organised with projects and timelines
• Houses multiple clients with personalised client portals so you don't mix them up
• Keeps clients from constantly calling or emailing you
• Houses proposals, contracts and other important documentation so theres no funny business like "you said I could have 4 revisions."

In short, client portals keep your client work seperate for each client, keeps each client happy and involved and they keep you organised and knowing exactly what needs to be done daily.

What's in a client portal?

Unfortunately, I can't delve into how to make a client portal because this isn't a tech newsletter and I'm afraid I wouldn't do a very good job in explaining it.

There are many paid client portal systems online but most will be;

• A monthly paid subscription
• Not designed for creatives with client-facing businesses
• Overpriced and overhyped
• Never truly yours to own
• Missing crucial aspects for creatives
• Seperate to the rest of your business

When searching for a client portal subscription for your creative business, here's what it should include.

Documentation

Every client portal should include a place for;

• Onboarding
• Invoices
• Contract
• Proposal

So make sure you have frameworks for both of these documentation.

The Work

• A place to upload assets and deliverables
• Editable projects and tasks
• Clear and editable calendar and timelines

Everything Else

• A welcome and how-to-use guide
• Questionnaire for the client so you can reference their notes when creating.

Want ready-made client portals that are a one-time purchase, designed specifically for client-facing creative businesses? Join CBOS early access.

Client Portals+

CBOS is designed for creatives ready to impress clients with their own personalised client portal (and more).

Unlike competitors, CBOS;

• Is yours to own forever (including lifetime updates from us)
• Has no monthly subscriptions
• Includes all documentation you need for clients
• Is designed with creatives in mind
• Includes your whole business back-end in one
• Includes a CRM to track your leads (potential clients)

A whole system to run your entire creative business?

Honestly, its a no-brainer.

If you haven't already, join the waitlist here or get more information below.

Chat soon,
Penelope