We’re welcoming Ilia Markov today for a new podcast segment called Tool Time, which gives us an opportunity to learn from an authority within the tool space. Ilia is the Marketing Director at Toggl, a time tracking software.
Like many other great companies, Toggl was born out of necessity. Toggl originally started as an agency, but when the need for a better time tracking tool became apparent, they invested in going into the direction of creating this product and never looked back.
If you think you don’t need a time tracking tool for project-based work, think again. Toggl can help you crunch the numbers on your projects and help ensure profitability. It’s also useful data for identifying scope creep—or in some cases, scope explosions. Using this data, you can justify moving away from clients who aren’t the right fit.
Toggl has the power to bring clarity on tasks and projects that are taking way more time than you think. Even something as simple as answering a phone call or responding to an email can drain your resources when repeated multiple times.
In one particular case, Toggl helped an agency owner realize how much time their senior developer actually spent fixing bugs for clients. This highlighted an opportunity to outsource to a junior employee, freeing up one of their more valuable resources. This is beneficial to the business, but in the end, it’s also beneficial to the team.
If you’re introducing time tracking to your team for the first time, open communication is key. It’s also important to walk your team through how they should use it and ensure every team member is on the same page. Emphasizing the benefits to them individually increases the chances of easy adoption.
A central feature of Toggl is their anti-surveillance statement. They’re not in the business of monitoring a team’s progress for the sake of catching lies on time sheets. Their primary goal is to help their users feel empowered and in control of the data. Surveillance doesn’t work and it doesn’t scale.
Furthermore, it’s important to distinguish between billable and non-billable time. In an 8-hour workday, it’s unlikely your team members will spend 8 complete hours on billable time. That’s something to keep in mind as you track employee efforts across time.
Toggl gives agency business owners and decision makers confidence based on the foundation of their data. It’s effective and there’s no steep learning curve. Toggl integrates with other applications and browsers so you can implement it easily. If you see the value in gaining more insights in where the time in your business is being spent, Toggl would be a good fit for you.
Industry Insights
Stay in the know
Get the latest insights delivered right to your inbox. Stay in the know on both SEO and agency life and connect with other like-minded professionals.
