From Good to Great: How Smart Project Managers Deliver Profitable Projects and Grow Client Accounts
Actionable tips you can use right now.
You’ve got the work on track. You’ve got the client calls. You’ve got that weekly status report.
You’ve totally got this. 👊
But have you got the BIGGER picture?
Here’s the thing: great project managers don’t just deliver projects. They deliver profitable projects.
They know how their work affects the agency’s bottom line. Know which accounts make money, which don’t, and when to raise the alarm before a scope gets bigger than an American pie eating contest.
By the end of this article, you’ll know how to:
Spot accounts that are making (or losing) money.
Deliver profitable projects without burning out your team.
Use smart resource management to boost efficiency.
Grow your client accounts organically.
Let’s get started.
Why the Business Side of Your Job Matters
You might think your agency’s financial health is someone else’s problem. It’s not.
When your projects lose money, the agency feels it—and so do you. Over-servicing a client or missing a deadline doesn’t just stress you out. It can damage relationships, stretch resources, and shrink profits.
On the flip side, when you understand the metrics that matter for your business, you can make decisions that can help it grow.
And you’ll quickly get that promotion that you’ve been grafting away for.
1. Find the Profitable Accounts (and Fix the Ones That Aren’t)
Some accounts keep the lights on. Others? They drain time and energy while delivering a steady stream of ‘not much’.
Your job is to know the difference.
Profitable accounts have:
Clear scopes and realistic budgets.
Clients who understand the value of your work.
Teams that deliver efficiently, without leaving late, regularly.
Unprofitable accounts often involve:
Constant scope creep (“Can I just make one more change?”).
Tight margins that leave no room for flexibility.
Over-servicing, where your team gives away time and expertise for free.
What can you do?
Look at the data. Use tools to track how much time and money each account takes versus what it brings in - track your budget versus time spent.
Speak up. If an account isn’t profitable, share your findings with the account manager and suggest changes—like tightening the scope or charging for change requests.
Spot opportunities. Sometimes, a struggling account just needs a more strategic lens to turn things around. Can your team create a proposal to make a project even bigger? Can you upsell an idea?
2. Stay Ahead of the Curve: Scope, Budget, and Communication
It can be easy to lose track of time, budget, or both. So putting a plan in place at the start, as part of your scoping and documentation, will help you to keep two steps ahead.
Here’s how to get it right:
a) Define the scope (and stick to it)
Clients love to ask for extras. Be ready to say:
“We’d love to help with that! I’ll work it out with the team and create a ‘Change Request’ so we can make it happen.”
This approach shows you’re open to collaboration, but clear about boundaries. You’ll soon know if they have any stretch in their budget or are willing to shift the deadline.
Remember, that if you do start to create change requests, then make sure the original scope is clear upfront and your client has signed off the Statement of Work.
b) Track costs in real time
Don’t wait until the end of a project to find out you went over budget. Use a budget tracker to monitor progress daily. Usually by reconciling against timesheets. Raise the alarm when needed.
c) Communicate consistently
Clients want to know they’re getting value for their money and that things are moving in the right direction. Show them by sharing the numbers that mean you’re moving toward the finish line.
A quick example:
You’re managing a website redesign. Your client suddenly asks for five extra pages. Instead of saying “sure,” you explain the project is 75% of the way through and if added now then there would be a delay of 3 days and a cost of ‘X’.
3. Make the Most of Your Team’s Time
People are your agency’s biggest cost—and its biggest asset. How you manage their time will have the biggest impact on billability.
Are you using your team wisely?
Who’s doing what? Make sure the right people are on the right tasks. Don’t put your senior designer on something a junior could handle.
Are workloads balanced? Burnout leads to mistakes, delays, and costly rework.
Are you planning ahead? Use tools like MS Projects or online software like Smart sheet to map out schedules and avoid last-minute scrambles.
When your team is working efficiently, projects run smoother, faster, and more profitably.
4. Grow Accounts by spotting opportunities
Leveraging that strategic lens to make the magic happen.
If you combine solid project delivery with a continual flow of new ideas, you will open the door to new opportunities.
How can you create this growth?
Set expectations from the start. Make it clear when you start working with a client that your agency will make growth recommendations, both during and after delivery. So they know it’s coming.
Prove your impact. Use dashboards and reports to highlight the results, then use the insights to optimise performance and make those recommendations.
Collaborate with your team. Run an internal workshop to identify upselling opportunities and pitch them to the client. Four creative heads are better than one 🙂 🤓 🥸 🤖
A great project manager doesn’t just work through their to-do list. They enable opportunities to happen organically.
5. Start before you get the job
Understanding the business side of your agency is something you should be doing before you even get the job - go to an interview armed with the right questions.
Numbers are the lifeblood of any business. So, knowing if your agency has their finances together, should give you an indication of job stability and of personal growth.
Then take that positive momentum into your new project management role from day one.
Take Action:
Ready to step up your game? Start by looking at the numbers. Which accounts are profitable? Where can you tighten scope or boost efficiency? And how can you use your skills to grow client relationships?
P.S… Have a friend or colleague who could find this valuable?
If you know someone that works for an agency in a project or account management role, or maybe they want help in getting their FIRST role, then please pay it forward and send them this post.
I’d love to help, and my articles are totally free.
Thanks in advance 🙏
Tim