The 3 Client Communication Risks (& How to Avoid Them) w/ Susan Fennema

Agency Life

It can be terrifying to allow your clients to “see how the sausage is made,” and this is one of the main concerns related to handling client communications within your project management or professional service automation software.
While there are benefits to streamlining your client communications and inviting them into the system that runs your agency–benefits like visibility, client perception & efficiency–each of those benefits comes with some pretty intimidating risks.
What if internal communication accidentally goes to a client?
What if we give clients “too much visibility?
In today’s conversation with Susan Fennema, CEO at Beyond the Chaos (an operations consulting firm that helps service-based businesses bring order to the chaos), she answers those questions and also shares:

• The 3 primary risks to client communications within the software where you manage client work
• How to mitigate those risks through a few key communication strategies
• Tactical tips for making your team more efficient without making it harder on your clients (hint: it has to do with a few specific integrations you can leverage)

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Connect with Susan on LinkedIn
An Agency’s Guide to Measuring And Improving Billable Utilization (Ebook)
3 Steps to Avoid Furious Clients w/ Jackie Hermes
How This Agency Reduced Churn by 50% (with AI's Help) w/ Erik Huberman
How to Talk to Your Clients about Money (Blog)
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Check it out here: Agency Life Podcast on YouTube
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Chapter

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. “I Can’t Yell at My Team” (00:01:17)

3. Visibility, Perception & Efficiency (00:02:30)

4. The Impact of Client Involvement on Efficiency (00:08:25)

5. Mitigating Risks in Client Communications (00:10:18)

6. The Perception Risk (00:12:35)

7. The Efficiency Risk (00:27:06)

8. Agency Life Fast Five (00:31:49)

9. Conclusion & Resources (00:35:54)