You open a client’s record before a call and find a phone number, an old address and a note that says “spoke to Sam”. The useful details are somewhere in your inbox, or in someone’s head.
A client record is the one place that holds what you know about a client and the work you do for them. It might live in a CRM, a spreadsheet or a shared document. What matters is that anyone who needs to pick up the work can find the current picture there.
What is a client record for
A good record answers three questions quickly: who is this client, what have we agreed to do, and what happens next. If it answers those, you can prepare for a call in a few minutes, cover for a colleague or return to a quiet project without rereading months of email.
It isn’t an archive of everything ever said. Keeping too much makes the important details harder to find, so choose what earns its place.
What should every client record include
Use this list as a starting point and adjust it to suit your work.
| Section | What to keep |
|---|---|
| Contacts | The day-to-day contact, the person who approves work and who to send invoices to, with how each prefers to be reached. |
| Agreed work | The current scope, what is excluded and where the approved quote or agreement is stored. |
| Key dates | The start date, the next deliverable and any renewal, review or end date. |
| Decisions | Important choices, who made them and when, with a link to the confirmation. |
| Conversations | A short note of recent calls and meetings, and where the email history sits. |
| Files | Where the current working files and approved versions are kept. |
| Next action | The next thing to do, who will do it and the date it is due. |
How much detail is enough
Write for someone who has never spoken to the client. If a colleague could read the record and handle a call tomorrow, you have enough. If they would need to ask you five questions first, add the answers to those questions.
Short and specific is better than long. “Prefers a call on Tuesday mornings and wants costs confirmed in writing” is more useful than a paragraph about how the last meeting went.
Label anything you aren’t sure of. An estimated budget or an assumed deadline should say so, otherwise it will be read as agreed.
What should you leave out
Leave out anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with the client reading. Opinions about a person, guesses about their finances and personal details unrelated to the work don’t belong on the record.
Collect only the personal information you need to do the work, and check the privacy rules that apply to your business if you’re unsure what you can keep.
How do you keep records up to date
A record goes stale when updating it is a separate job. Tie the update to things you already do.
- 01Update after every conversationAdd a line or two after each call or meeting while you remember it: what was discussed, what was decided and what happens next.
- 02Record decisions when they are madeWhen a client approves a change or confirms a date, note it with a link to the email or message. This saves a search later if the decision is questioned.
- 03Always leave a next actionBefore you close the record, check it has one next action with an owner and a date. If nothing is due, write when you plan to check in.
- 04Review active clients regularlySet a regular time to read through your active clients. Fix out-of-date contacts, close finished actions and note anything that has gone quiet.
If you run a weekly review, add this check to it. For a suggested agenda, read A weekly operations review for a small agency.
Where should the record live
Choose one place and make it the place everyone checks first. A spreadsheet can work when you have a handful of clients and work alone. It gets harder when several people need the email history, files and tasks alongside the contact details.
Whatever you choose, the test is the same: can someone find the current picture without asking you? For the product overview, see Stack’s client management.
Start with your five most active clients. Fill in the seven sections for each, and you’ll quickly see which details you’ve been carrying in your head.