Most of the chasing in client work is not about nagging. It is about work that is waiting on someone, with nobody sure who. A design sits in an inbox for a week. A draft is “looking good” but not approved. A launch date moves because a yes never arrived.
Approvals are worth treating as a small process of their own. Here is a simple one that works with any tool, and how it looks in BravaSpace.
Ask one question
“Thoughts?” invites a paragraph of mixed opinions. “Can we publish this on Thursday, yes or no?” invites an answer. Before you send anything for review, write down the single decision you need, and put it at the top.
- Say what the client is looking at, in one line.
- Say what you need from them: approve, or tell us what to change.
- Say what is not up for discussion in this round, so feedback stays on the right thing.
Put a date on it
An approval with no date is a suggestion. Give the date you need an answer by, and agree in advance what happens if it passes. Many agencies write this into the statement of work: the client has a set number of working days to respond, after which the schedule moves by the same number of days. Said calmly at the start, it is a fact about the plan. Said for the first time during a delay, it sounds like blame.
Limit the rounds
Say how many rounds of changes are included, and count them out loud: “this is round two of two.” It keeps feedback focused, and it gives you a reasonable moment to talk about extra work if a third round is needed.
Keep the answer next to the work
The record of a decision should live with the thing that was decided. If the approval is in a chat message from three weeks ago, nobody will find it when it matters. In BravaSpace, setting a task’s status to Client Review shows the client a Review & respond button. They can Approve, Request changes or Comment, and the answer stays on the task. Photo galleries work the same way for pictures: clients comment on photos and you can download the approved list.
Chase with information, not pressure
When a date passes, a short message works better than a long one. Say what is waiting, what it holds up, and what you need. Offer to talk it through on a call if that is easier. If the same client is often late, that is useful information for the next scoping conversation.
A message you can adapt
“Hi Maya, the homepage design is ready for your decision. Please approve it or tell us what to change by Thursday so we can keep the launch date. This is round one of two. Everything is in your space, and you can answer there in one click.”
If you are setting up for the first time, our first portal guide shows how to switch on the Work tab and invite your client. For the agreement behind all this, see the statement of work template.