When working on a bigger project or on a retainer, you want your clients to feel like you’ve got this – like they’re in the loop, without being spammed with unnecessary updates. 

Credit for this system goes to fellow Storybrand Guide Curt Stockwell, who mentioned it in a coaching call when I had just became a Certified SB Guide – I started applying it right away, my clients LOVED it, it made my work easier, and I haven’t looked back since.   

The 4 Parts of Every Report

Every report we send out has this basic structure: 

1. What happened in the past week/month
2. What we’re working on next week/month
3. What we need from you so we can do our work
4. Additional comments & suggestions

The three or four categories (you can leave out the fourth if there are no extra comments or suggestions) make it easy for us to mention everything that needs mentioning – and they give the report a natural flow: celebrate achievements first, then look at what’s next, and finally communicate to clients what you need from them. 

When we send out a monthly report, we’d usually attach the actual report document (including all the metrics) to the message – and we’d include important metrics (e.g. big successes or issues) in the reporting message. 

#1 What happened in the past week/month 

A short update of achievements in the past week (or month), that gives you a chance to celebrate successes and milestones.  

This is not an overview of completed small tasks (unless the client would want to know you’ve completed them, and there’s no other way to communicate this clearly). If something is in progress, leave it for the next section. 

This section shows the client when you’re making progress and shows the value you’re providing, but also gives you a chance to acknowledge and explain things that aren’t going so well (e.g. our sales numbers went down because of X) or reveal issues like “we didn’t receive your materials in time so we were unable to work on your account this week”. 

#2 Focus for next week/month

This is when you list what’s on your radar for the following week(s). In this section, you show the client that you’re clear on your priorities for the upcoming time. 

It’s also a chance to make sure you’ve got the necessary time blocked for this – or to give the client some extra clarity on when work will be done e.g. “we’ve got time blocked to do this on Wednesday & Thursday, so we can deliver the copy by Friday morning at the latest”. 

#3 What we need from the client

This part tells the client what actions they will need to take so you can do what you get paid to do. When writing this, always try to 

• Give the client a clear deadline e.g. “Please send us these materials by Tuesday night at the latest, so we can start work on this on Wednesday”
• Give the client clear instructions on what you need and where. E.g. instead of “please send us the materials we requested last month”, you can link them to the list of materials you requested + tell them exactly how you need those materials and where. 
• Add links whenever relevant (= when it might make things easier for the client). E.g. “Please share the materials in this list by uploading them to this Google Drive folder before Tuesday night”. 
• If the client didn’t give you what you needed last week, don’t be afraid to get repetitive. If they haven’t done it yet, they clearly need the reminder! 

Reduce friction or hurdles as much as you can for best results. 

I subscribe to the idea that we’re the experts hired to do what we’re good at and we’re not going to jump up at their every whim…

But I’ve also learned that it’s often a small effort for us to make it easy for them to give us what we need to do a better job 🙂 

#4 Additional comments or suggestions

This is where anything else goes, e.g. 

• Prepare the client for what you want to discuss on the next call e.g. “Our Instagram numbers are still not going up, and we’d like to discuss a change in strategy on our next call” 
• Bring up any issues e.g. with scope creep: “You asked us to make changes to your website, but that’s not part of our current agreement. We can however do this for the extra cost of X” (or: “Let us know if you’d like us to send you a proposal for this”, or “we can discuss this on our next call”,…) 
• “We’re raising our rates”
• Let them know if you’re taking time off
• Etc. 

Benefits of using this system

Sending clients a regular and structured report on your work puts clients at ease and avoids micromanagement. You’re basically showing that you’re “on it” – and since they get regular updates, they don’t feel they have to check on you in between. 

If you need a lot of input from your clients, it groups requests for your clients. They receive an overview of their “homework” e.g. every Friday, or every 1st of the month. Many prefer this over getting random (non-urgent) requests throughout the week. 

Also if you work with a team or with subcontractors, it’s a great way for them to keep you in the loop, raise flags, or add their own comments and suggestions as well! 

Tell us in the comments…

Are you using this reporting system, or something similar to it? Or something completely different? Tell us all about it below!