How do agencies stop chasing client approvals?
Agencies stop chasing client approvals by taking the approval round out of the inbox and handing it to a system. Each round goes to the client from one place, with the version, the decision asked for and the date it is needed by. Reminders run on a schedule and stop the moment the client acts. The sign-off is recorded in the project tool, the next stage is released, and a stalled round goes to a named person.
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How does an approval round run without the chasing?
The system sits on top of the project and time tools the agency already runs, Asana, Monday.com, ClickUp, Harvest and Scoro among them. Nothing is replaced, and every step below is a rule your agency sets rather than a black box.
Start the round from a scoped brief
Every job begins with the brief captured against the same fields: what is being made, who approves it, how many rounds are included and when each is due. A round that goes wrong usually went wrong here, when nobody wrote down who the approver was.
Send the request with everything the client needs
The client receives one link to the version, a note of what changed since the last round, the decision being asked for and the date it is needed by. Nothing has to be dug out of an email thread to answer it.
Remind on a schedule, in the agency's voice
Reminders run on their own, on a sequence you set, addressed to the person who owes the decision and copied to nobody who does not need them. They stop the moment the client acts, so no client is chased for something they signed off yesterday.
Record the sign-off where the work lives
The approval is recorded against the task in the project tool, Asana, Monday.com or ClickUp among them, and the next stage is released from it. The account manager is no longer the system of record for which round the client is on.
Escalate a stalled round to a named person
When a round passes its date, or the client replies with a question instead of a decision, it goes to a named person with the thread and the version history already gathered. Nothing is left circling an automated loop.
Reconcile the timesheets before the invoice
Timesheet reminders go to the people whose hours are missing, and the hours are reconciled against the scoped brief in the time tool the agency runs, Harvest or Scoro among them. The invoice is drafted the moment the work is signed off, and waits for a person to approve it.
Chase the invoice and report the week
Payment reminders run on the schedule your terms set. Each week you get a plain-language report: which rounds are open and with whom, how long each has waited, and the days from delivery to invoice paid, which is the number the review measures first.
What does this replace?
The email and spreadsheet status quo
- Approval requests sent from an account manager's inbox and chased when someone remembers
- Feedback scattered across email, chat and the comments on three versions
- Nobody sure which round the client is on, or whether the last one was signed off
- Timesheets filled in late and reconciled by hand at month end
- Invoices raised days after delivery and chased by whoever notices
After
- Every round sent from one place, with the version, the decision asked for and the date
- Reminders that run on a schedule and stop the moment the client acts
- The sign-off recorded in the project tool, and the next stage released from it
- Timesheet reminders to the people whose hours are missing, reconciled against the brief
- The invoice drafted at sign-off, chased on a schedule, and the days to paid reported each week
What is the chasing costing the agency?
Margin leaks in approvals and invoices, not the work. We will not put a number on it before we have measured your projects, but the mechanism is plain. A round that waits on a client holds the schedule, and the people who chase it are the people who should be delivering the next job. A late timesheet makes a late invoice, a late invoice makes late cash, and an invoice nobody chases is money the agency has already earned and does not have. None of it shows on the job sheet, because the work itself was fine. The number the review measures first is the days from delivery to invoice paid, on your own projects, before anything is built.
How long does it take to set up?
It starts with a review, about a week, that finds where approvals, timesheets and invoices stall in your agency and what each fix is worth. A first working version is usually live in two to four weeks: one client journey, usually the approval round for one account, live in your systems against a written baseline. Then the timesheet reminders and the invoicing, once the first journey holds. After that we run and extend it, monthly, and you can cancel at any time.
When is this not worth doing?
- If approvals run only a few times a month, a checklist and a person are enough
- If one product already sends the reminders and records the sign-off and nobody has set it up, set it up
- If most of the chasing is one client, the fix is a conversation with that client before it is a system
- If your rounds already close on time and you already know your days from delivery to paid, the gain is small and we will say so
- If you are about to change project or time tools, wait until that settles rather than building twice
Frequently asked questions
How do agencies stop chasing client approvals?
By sending each round from one place with the version, the decision asked for and the date, reminding on a schedule that stops when the client acts, and recording the sign-off in the project tool. A round that stalls goes to a named person with the history already gathered. The system sits on top of the tools the agency already runs, so nothing is replaced.
Does this work with Asana, Monday.com or ClickUp?
Yes. We build on top of the project and time tools the agency already runs, including Asana, Monday.com, ClickUp, Harvest and Scoro, rather than asking you to move to a new platform. The sign-off is recorded where the work already lives.
Will a client receive an email nobody at the agency has read?
Only the kind you choose. Every action sits behind one of three gates: confirmations, reminders and filing run on their own; replies, quotes and documents are drafted, then wait for a person to approve them; payments, anything sensitive and anything else leaving the agency, a person decides. Which gate each action sits behind is agreed before anything is built.
What happens when a client replies with a question instead of an approval?
It goes to a named person at the agency with the thread, the version and the round's history already gathered, so the answer takes a minute rather than a search. Nothing is left circling an automated loop, and the reminders pause until the question is answered.
How much does it cost to stop chasing approvals?
It starts with a review, about a week, that finds where approvals and invoices stall and what each fix is worth. The build is then scoped and quoted at a fixed price, against acceptance criteria written before it starts: what the system will do, measured how, by when. If it misses, the fix is ours.
Will it replace the account manager?
No. It removes the chasing, the re-sending and the month-end reconciliation, so the account manager's time goes on the client and the work. Anything the rules do not cover goes to a named person with the context already gathered.
See where the time is going
Book a private review. On a short call we map where work is getting stuck in your firm and whether there is a system worth building. No pitch, and if there is nothing there worth doing, we will say so.