How to Run a Quarterly Client Review Using Your Own Time Data Before You Decide What to Keep

Most freelancers review their clients once a year, if at all. Usually when something feels off. A client starts to annoy them. Revenue dips. They get a bigger opportunity and need to make room.

By then, the decision is emotional. You're reacting, not deciding.

A quarterly client review using actual time data fixes that. It turns a feeling into a number. And numbers are easier to act on.

Here's how to do it in about an hour, four times a year.

Pull the Last Three Months of Hours by Client

Open Time-Trak and run a report filtered by the last 90 days. Group by client. You want to see total hours logged per client for the quarter.

Write down the number next to each client's name. Add the dollar amount invoiced to each client over the same period. Now you have two columns: hours and revenue.

Calculate Your Effective Hourly Rate Per Client

Divide the revenue column by the hours column for each client. What you get is your effective hourly rate for that relationship.

This is not your stated rate. It's what you actually earned per hour when you account for all the time you spent, including emails, calls, revisions, admin, and anything else you logged to that project.

Some clients will be at or above your rate. Some will be noticeably below. The ones below are worth looking at closely.

Look at the Time Entry Descriptions, Not Just the Totals

Totals tell you the outcome. Entry descriptions tell you how you got there.

For any client where the effective rate is low, scroll through the actual time entries. Are there a lot of short revision entries? A lot of call time? Unbilled admin work that you logged but didn't charge for? Scope that crept in without a change order?

This is where the quarterly review gets useful. The total hours number is a symptom. The entries are the diagnosis.

Check the Screenshot Record for Context

If something looks off in the entries, the screenshot record in Time-Trak gives you more context. What was actually happening during those logged sessions? Were you waiting for feedback? Reworking something that was already approved? Doing work that wasn't in the original scope?

You don't have to review every screenshot. But when you see a block of hours that doesn't match the value you remember delivering, screenshots help you understand what actually happened.

Make a Decision for Each Client

After you've run through the data, assign each client to one of three categories. Keep as-is. Keep with changes. Or phase out.

Keep as-is means the effective rate is solid, the work is sustainable, and the relationship feels healthy.

Keep with changes means the rate is low but fixable. Maybe you raise the rate on the next contract. Maybe you stop absorbing revision rounds. Maybe you add a call minimum. Something specific changes.

Phase out means the math doesn't work and you don't see a path to fixing it. These clients are taking time you could be using on better work.

Write down what you decided and why. You'll want that record in six months.

Update Your Rates and Project Setup Before the Next Quarter Starts

If you decided to raise a rate, do it before you start the next quarter's work. Update it in Time-Trak so the new rate applies from the first hour of the new period.

If you're phasing out a client, set a timeline. Finish the current project, decline the renewal, or have the rate conversation. Vague plans to phase someone out don't actually happen.

Why Four Times a Year

Annual reviews give you one chance to catch problems. Quarterly reviews give you four. That's four chances to notice a client drifting below your effective rate before you've lost a full year of billing potential.

The data is already in your time tracker. The review is just reading it.

Track your time, bill every minute.

Time-Trak is a native Mac and Windows time tracker with a floating timer, automatic screenshots, and one-click invoicing.

Free during beta.

macOS + Windows · Floating widget · Auto screenshots