How a Creative Agency Recovered $750K in Lost Revenue
A mid-size creative agency with 40 employees eliminated billing disputes and improved billing realization from 75% to 91% with automatic time tracking and proof of work.
Company Overview
A full-service creative agency specializing in branding, web design, and digital marketing for mid-market clients. With 40 employees including designers, developers, copywriters, and account managers, the agency manages 50+ active client projects at any given time.
- Team Size
- 40 employees
- Annual Revenue
- $5M
- Active Clients
- 50+
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
The Challenge
Lost Billable Hours and Billing Disputes
- Revenue Leakage
The agency's creative team routinely forgot to log billable hours, especially for short client calls, email revisions, and internal meetings. Partners estimated that 20% of billable time was never captured—representing approximately $1M in lost annual revenue.
- Client Billing Disputes
Without proof of work, clients frequently questioned invoices. 30% of invoices faced disputes, particularly for design revisions and feedback cycles. This led to write-offs, delayed payments, and strained client relationships.
- Manual Time Tracking Failures
The agency used manual timesheet entries that required team members to remember and reconstruct their day. Designers and developers consistently underreported hours, especially on internal revisions that clients should have been billed for.
- Low Billing Realization
The agency's billing realization rate had dropped to 75%, meaning for every hour worked, only 0.75 hours were billed and collected. This made it impossible to achieve target profit margins and forced the agency to take on more clients than they could comfortably handle.
The Solution
Automatic Time Tracking with Proof of Work
The agency implemented WorkComposer across all 40 team members, with a focus on automatic billable hour capture and verifiable proof of work for client billing.
- 1. Automatic Time Capture
- Designers, developers, and account managers no longer needed to remember to start timers. WorkComposer automatically tracked time spent on client work based on which files, applications, and projects they were working on.
- 2. Project-Level Time Allocation
- Time was automatically allocated to specific client projects and tasks. At the end of each day, team members could review and confirm their time allocation with just a few clicks, rather than reconstructing their entire day from memory.
- 3. Screenshot-Based Proof of Work
- Optional screenshots captured proof of actual design work, client communication, and development activity. When clients questioned invoices, the agency could show exactly what work was performed during billed hours.
- 4. Transparent Client Billing Reports
- The agency began attaching detailed time reports to invoices showing task breakdowns, time spent on each deliverable, and optional work samples. This transparency eliminated disputes and built client trust.
Implementation
Smooth Rollout in Two Weeks
Started with 5 team members across different roles (designer, developer, account manager). Collected feedback, refined workflows, and identified best practices for client project tracking.
Deployed to all 40 employees with live training sessions. Created project templates for common client engagement types. Set up billing report templates for invoice attachments.
Within the first month, the agency captured 18% more billable hours than the previous month. Client feedback on transparent billing was overwhelmingly positive.
Results
Transformative Impact on Revenue and Client Relationships
- $$750K Revenue Recovery in Year 1
- By capturing previously lost billable hours, the agency recovered $750K in revenue during the first year. This came from better time capture (15% increase) and fewer write-offs from billing disputes (25% reduction).
- ↑Billing Realization Improved from 75% to 91%
- The agency's billing realization rate jumped from 75% to 91%, meaning they now bill and collect for 91% of hours actually worked. This improvement alone added hundreds of thousands in revenue without taking on new clients.
- ↓Billing Disputes Dropped 85%
- From 30% of invoices disputed down to less than 5%. Clients now trust invoices backed by detailed time reports and work verification. Payment cycles accelerated by 12 days on average.
- ↑18% Client Retention Improvement
- Transparent billing and proof of value delivered strengthened client relationships. Client retention rate improved from 78% to 96%, reducing costly client acquisition needs.
- ⏱ROI Achieved in First Month
- At $2.99/user/month for 40 employees ($119.60/month), the software paid for itself within the first week from recovered billable hours. Annual ROI exceeded 600,000%.
- ★Improved Team Morale
- Team members appreciated not having to remember and manually log time. Automatic tracking eliminated end-of-day timesheet reconstruction, reducing administrative burden and allowing more time for creative work.
"WorkComposer transformed our business. We were leaving $750K on the table every year and didn't even realize it. Now we capture every billable minute, clients trust our invoices, and our team doesn't waste time on timesheet busywork. Best ROI we've ever achieved on any software."
Related Solutions
Explore How WorkComposer Can Help Your Business
Billable Hours Tracking
Capture every billable minute and maximize revenue with automatic time tracking.
Agency Time Tracking
Maximize profitability with project insights and transparent client billing.
Let’s get you started
Start tracking time, monitoring productivity, and generating insights in just minutes. WorkComposer is designed for ease, speed, and real results.
- ✓ Automatic and manual time tracking
- ✓ Real-time productivity reports
- ✓ Web and app usage monitoring
- ✓ Screenshots and attendance tracking
- ✓ Easy team onboarding
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