Your team works hard, your clients are happy, and yet the revenue never quite matches the effort. Somewhere between the work and the invoice, hours disappear.
It is rarely laziness. A call on a Friday afternoon is not logged because the timesheet is on another screen. Two extra hours fixing something that broke feel awkward to bill. A receipt sits in a jacket pocket.
Free: the Professional Services course. A plain-language walk from pipeline to project to invoice. Start the course
What the gaps cost you
Across a team of five over a year, those small gaps add up to a meaningful number. You worked for it and never collected it.
Why hours go unbilled
Reality and the record drift apart: scope was never clearly agreed, prospects go quiet without anyone noticing, time is logged late, and expenses are never submitted. Each can be fixed with a small habit.
The process: five steps from prospect to paid
1. Agree the scope in writing
Put deliverables, timeline, fees and billing terms in a proposal the client accepts before work begins.
Example: “Proposal accepted by email on Monday.”
Pro tip: A signed scope turns “I thought that was included” into a thirty-second conversation.
2. Follow up on every live opportunity
Track each prospect with an owner, a next step and a date, and note when a proposal has been out too long.
Example: “Proposal sent 10 days ago, call Thursday.”
Pro tip: Most firms lose business by forgetting to follow up, not by losing a competition.
Free: the Professional Services course. A plain-language walk from pipeline to project to invoice. Start the course
3. Log time the same day
Record hours against the task on the day they happen, not from a calendar at month end.
Example: “Two hours on client A, logged before leaving.”
Pro tip: Two minutes a day beats an evening a month.
4. Submit expenses when they happen
Take a photo of the receipt and submit it right away, linked to the engagement.
Example: “Flight receipt photographed, tagged to the Smith project.”
Pro tip: Decide up front which expenses are billable so nothing is absorbed by mistake.
5. Invoice from the record
Build the invoice from logged hours and approved expenses so it reflects what happened.
Example: “Monthly invoice with hours by date and description.”
Pro tip: For retainers, set the invoice to repeat on a schedule and review it before it goes out.
Where this runs
All five steps work with a shared sheet and a calendar. When it gets heavy, we run the same process inside the business system we set up for clients (Odoo Community), with the pipeline, projects, timesheets and invoices connected. The process is the point. The tool just keeps it going when you are busy. The free two-minute Enquiry Leak Check will show you where enquiries slip away in your business.
Your next step
Choose the step where you lose the most and fix that one this week. If you want to see the whole path from pipeline to invoice, the free Professional Services course walks through it.
Free: the Professional Services course. A plain-language walk from pipeline to project to invoice. Start the course