The pattern: a consultant has a 30-minute call with a client. They forget to log it. By Friday, "the meeting" is one of nine they had that week. The time is gone. The revenue is gone.
One Port Harcourt accounting firm we work with discovered each consultant was forgetting ~4 hours per week. At N15,000/hour and 6 consultants, that's N1.4m of monthly revenue donated to clients.
Three rules that fix it
1. Time tracker on the phone
Not a spreadsheet, not a weekly form. A start/stop timer in Supreme ERP, on every consultant's phone. Tap when the client call connects, tap when it ends.
2. Default to billable
Every entry is billable unless the consultant explicitly marks it non-billable. The friction goes the right way.
3. Weekly approval, not monthly
Friday afternoon: 5-minute review, 1-tap approve. Don't wait for month-end — nobody remembers Tuesday by then.
What changes
- Billable hours typically jump 12-20% in the first month
- Client invoice queries drop — line items are dated and described
- You can finally see which clients are profitable, which are charity