Anna Maria Richards
If your business depends upon a lot of direct client interaction, you know just how much time is lost reaching out to customers to have them pay bills, contact you to set up appointments and meetings, and collect information for client accounts. In addition, it can be hard to get people to actually show up for these meetings or to take care of tasks without providing lots of legwork via reminder phone calls and emails. Businesses expend a lot of manpower and money trying to keep clients on task using older methods of client outreach, but thankfully, those days are over.
Client portal software for small business can change the way that your company provides outreach to the customer by allowing your customers the chance to set up their own meetings, pay bills online, and take care of account-related tasks on their own time. Imagine being able to put some of the responsibility for these tasks on the shoulders of your client base so that you can take care of their accounts and provide quality services on a daily basis without distraction! Client portal software can change the way that your business operates in many positive ways.
What Can a Client Portal Do For You?
Client portals can be arranged to offer the kinds of tools and access that you want your clients to utilize. You do not have to use every associated offering within these tools, but the more access that you give your clients, the better, in most cases.
1. Online Scheduling
When your clients can see your business appointment and put their own meetings and appointments on the schedule, they will be much more likely to actually commit to showing up. No one wants to have to take the time to call a business and wait on hold just to schedule an appointment. Being able to take care of this task when you are thinking about it and then moving on with your day is a powerful motivator for clients to stay in touch with your business.
Best of all, your clients can also cancel or reschedule meetings and appointments, and you can even set up a system that automates charges for missed appointments when they forget to take care of these tasks. This frees you up to actually run your business, and it makes it simple for clients to show up to events and meetings without being nagged or reminded.
2. Offer Access to Secure Payments
Clients really don’t like being nagged to pay bills over the phone or via the mail. Allowing them to have access to an online payment portal that is safe and secure can help to ensure that they pay on time and that they don’t feel pressured to take care of payments. Secure payment portals can save you so much time and effort when it comes to collecting payment that you will wonder how you were getting by without the benefit of this tool.
Most secure payment tools also make it simple for people to pay using PayPal and other services, which can help to ensure that you get paid for your time promptly. This kind of payment flexibility makes it simple for all of your clients to take care of this key aspect of your relationship without feeling pressured.
3. Direct Messaging
You and your clients can take care of questions and inquiries via direct messaging that remains private. This can be a great tool for use for a variety of purposes since most people don’t have time to sit on hold waiting to speak to an actual person. Being able to send messages directly to clients and allowing them to reach out to you when they have a question that needs to be answered can save you both time.
Direct messages can be accessed by specific people on your side of this kind of app, but they are not available to just anyone who has access to the tool. This promises that your clients will not be sharing information they want to keep private with the wrong people and that the correct staff is checking on these communications during the business day.
4. File Sharing
People don’t always come to their appointments with the right documents in hand, and this can lead to slowdowns in billing or delays in accomplishing goals based on projects that you are completing for the client. Allowing your clients to head home and upload the items that you are missing can save everyone time and headaches.
File sharing will also allow you to share this information with the correct parties internally, which can help to ensure that important business tasks can be completed in a timely fashion.
5. User-Friendly Dashboard
Client portals are a great way to offer a user-friendly and engaging dashboard that can be used to access all of the various services and perks that you offer through the portal. These dashboard locations cluster all of the various services and tools into one convenient space that looks great and makes the interaction between clients and staff easy and straightforward.
Inviting people to use your client portal services requires that they are easy to access, and you will want to make sure that the tool that you select offers this perk. Not all clients are comfortable with online payments and scheduling at first, but they can learn to be if they are given access to the right dashboard that takes the guesswork out of the process for them.
Client Portals Can Change How You Do Business
When you provide clients with the tools that they need to make payments, schedule appointments, and provide documentation to you, you will foster a more effective relationship with them. Clients want to be able to take care of these kinds of tasks and needs without being nagged with phone calls or emails. A quality client portal will allow your clients to engage with you directly when they need to, and it can save you a ton of time and money on a daily basis!
