How Do I Keep Track of What I Owe Each Client Across Several Engagements?
One List Across Every Engagement.
A consultant running three or four engagements owes different things to different clients, often from different inboxes. How to keep one list of what you owe and what you're waiting on, and walk into each client meeting prepared.
How do I keep track of what I owe each client across several engagements?
Keep one list across every inbox you work from: the client emails waiting on your answer and the clients you're waiting on
alfred_ reads up to six Gmail, Outlook and IMAP accounts, including a client-issued mailbox, and keeps that list in one place, sent to you each morning by email or text
Before each client meeting, ask for prep: the latest thread, what you owe them and what's still open
Suggested to-dos from your email catch the small asks buried in long threads; you accept the ones you want
Consultants rarely miss the big deliverable. They miss the "can you send me that deck?" in the third paragraph.
Three engagements, two inboxes. The retail client gave you an account on their own Microsoft tenant; the other two write to your firm address. On Wednesday the retail COO asked for the updated store-rollout deck “before Friday’s steering meeting.” On Thursday a partner at the second client asked if you could join a call next week. The third client still hasn’t sent the data extract you asked for ten days ago.
None of that is hard. Keeping all of it in your head while you’re on site is.
The short answer
Keep one list across every inbox you work from. alfred_ reads up to six Gmail, Outlook and IMAP accounts and keeps one list of the client emails waiting on your answer and the clients you’re waiting on. Each morning it sends that list by email or text. Before each client meeting, ask it for prep. alfred_ is an AI assistant for client-facing teams; on a consulting team, each person gets their own.
What the list catches
What you owe or are owed
Where it hides
Where it shows up
The updated deck before Friday
Paragraph three of the COO's email
Replies you owe, and a suggested to-do
A time for next week's call
The second client's thread
Replies you owe; ask alfred_ to find a time
The data extract you requested
Your sent folder, ten days back
Replies you're waiting on
Illustrative. Clients and requests are invented.
Before each client meeting
Ask “prep me for the retail steering meeting.” alfred_ pulls the latest thread, what you owe them and what’s still open, from your email, calendar and notes. It does this on request; it doesn’t sit in the meeting or take notes.
Setting it up
Sign in with Google or Microsoft and connect your firm email and calendar.
Add any client-issued mailbox you’re allowed to connect (up to six accounts).
On Monday, check the list against what you know you owe each client.
Plans start at $29.99 a month; teams are $49.99 a seat a month on one bill (alfred_ for teams). Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.
Keep client work from slipping through the cracks
alfred_ is an AI assistant for client-facing teams. Each teammate gets help with email, calendar, replies and follow-ups.
alfred_ keeps one list of the replies you owe and the replies you're waiting on across up to six email accounts, so a client-issued mailbox and your firm's mailbox are in the same list. It sends the list each morning by email or text. alfred_ is an AI assistant for client-facing teams, and each consultant on a team gets their own.
Can it read a client-issued email account?
If you can sign in to it with Google, Microsoft or IMAP, you can connect it as one of your six accounts. Check your client's IT policy first.
Will it prepare me for client meetings?
On request. Ask for prep and it pulls the latest thread with that client, what you owe them and what's still open, from your email, calendar and notes.
Does it track my billable hours?
No. It is not a time tracker. It keeps track of what you owe clients over email and your calendar.
About the authors
Written byPranav MishraAI/LLM Engineer at alfred_
Pranav builds the agents behind alfred_, the systems that watch your inbox and calendar, keep track of what is waiting on you, and surface what actually needs a response. He runs alfred_’s head-to-head field tests against other assistants.
Reviewed byConnor FataFounder & CEO of alfred_
Connor is the founder and CEO of alfred_, focused on making personal assistants accessible to business operators and individuals so they can focus on what matters and what’s important.
