Real Use Case: Growth Suite Client Reports

Agencies and freelancers across the globe have quickly discovered the powerful agency-branded billing and invoicing functionality of Growth Suite. 

The all-in-one suite of tools includes features (including automated invoices and streamlined service offerings) that can make late or incorrect payments a thing of the past, and its MRR tracking feature is a simple way to see your progress and identify what’s working, what’s not, and where your growth potential lies. 

But the magic of Growth Suite goes far beyond invoicing and billing. As we continue to innovate our product offerings to better serve the needs of our customers, a specific pain point we’ve focused on is the need for a simple, streamlined reporting process that allows our customers to  better communicate with their clients. 

That’s why, in addition to powerful billing and invoicing tools, Growth Suite also provides automated client reporting, which helps growing agencies and freelancers build stronger relationships with their clients, and earn more business from those clients over time.

This has filled a crucial gap for many of our agency customers, some of whom have begun using Growth Suite for its client reporting features alone! Since those features/tools were released last year, hundreds of our Growth Suite customers have started providing more value to their clients with automated reports about their websites. 

Such was the case with Ryan Rudolph, Chief Technology Officer at GetPhound. In the paragraphs below, we’ll explain what their client reporting process looked like before Growth Suite, the catalyst behind their decision to try it, and what the future looks like with automated client reporting at their side.

High Growth Becomes High Stress

Since 2013, GetPhound has been building websites and shaping SEO strategies for local businesses in and around Conshohocken, PA and across the U.S. As an agency with a core team of just 10 people, each person’s expertise—and their time—is in high demand.

“Organization has always been an issue, especially in terms of the customer relationship and connecting the dots between our web and SEO efforts.” 

Ryan Rudolph

When GetPhound underwent a period of rapid growth last year—arguably a great thing—they found they had less and less time to manage their existing client relationships. With just one dedicated sales development representative whose time was focused on new business, finding the time to educate and showcase their value to existing clients became increasingly difficult.

So, Rudolph and his team  were left with some difficult decisions. Hiring another team member would help, but it would cut into their hard-earned upward growth. Creating and implementing a system for clients to ask questions and have conversations about their sites would also work, but doing so would be time consuming, and who’s to say that clients would even take advantage of it?

GetPhound needed a solution that would save them time; something with little initial setup yet enough customization to make it their own.

Enter Growth Suite Client Reports

Because their billing process was already squared away and streamlined prior to GetPhound’s introduction to Growth Suite, Rudolph wasn’t immediately sold when he was first approached about using it.

“At first I was skeptical that it would be helpful, especially since I saw it as a billing software, which we didn’t need. But once we started using the reports, I saw its true value. Now, Growth Suite is what we’re using as the foundation of our communication strategy.”

Ryan Rudolph

The initial setup was simple enough, and after a short data-aggregation period, Growth Suite-powered client  reports were up and running (although Ryan admits he’s still fiddling with the platform to create the best template(s) for GetPhound’sneeds). Today, the GetPhound team is  using Growth Suite’s automated reporting feature to create frequent touch-bases with the majority of their clients.

Since enabling Growth Suite, around 130 of GetPhound’s approximately 160 clients are receiving reports that cover billing, updates, and critical information about their sites—about 380 sites out of the ~500 GetPhound manages.

“Before, we just weren’t doing reporting on the web end. Now that these communications exist, we have the opportunity to upsell our web services without interrupting the work of our sales representative whose focus is elsewhere.”

Ryan Rudolph

Building a Foundation for Communication

The next step for GetPhound, Rudolph said, is to continue watching the data to see how the client reporting feature is impacting business. Ultimately, he’s glad Growth Suite was able to fill a hole in his  client communication strategy. “It’s a conversation starter between us and our clients,” he said.

Rudolph also shared that he’s looking forward to what’s next for the client reporting feature, and our Growth Suite team is always looking for the next integration, feature, or customization to make our customers’ lives easier. As far as Ryan’s advice to other freelancers and small agencies, it’s simple.

“I’m not a person to tell anyone what to do, but I can tell you what’s worked successfully for me. There are tons of creative ways to organize a business, but I do know that the Growth Suite reporting feature has specifically been helpful to us and our client communications.”

Ryan Rudolph

Growth Suite, Reporting for Duty

Growth Suite is so much more than a billing tool. From reporting to MRR tracking to site management features, Growth Suite is the all-in-one agency tool for success! And our team is always working toward improvements that will help our customers better serve and communicate with their own clients. 

Are you using Growth Suite for client reporting? Have an idea for improvements we can make in the future or feedback for the team? Let us know in the comments! Or, head to our Growth Suite page to learn more and find out if it’s right for your needs.