How to Build a Client Report Card for a Calmer Business with Karen Sergeant

02/11/25 • 39 min

Engineering Calmer Agencies & Consulting Firms: Calm is the New KPI

Managing client relationships is one of the biggest challenges of running a service-based business. Expectations, boundaries, and communication all play a role in whether an engagement runs smoothly or goes off the rails. So, how do you actually know if you're doing a good job?

Karen Sergeant has a solution: a Client Report Card. This system helps her measure and manage client relationships proactively, identifying potential issues before they become problems. As a fractional COO, Karen has spent years refining this process to keep her work feeling calm—even when working inside chaotic businesses. In this episode, we break down her weekly client evaluation system—what metrics she tracks, how she uses the data, and how you can implement a similar approach in your own business.

If you’ve ever struggled with scope creep, unclear expectations, or misaligned client relationships, this conversation is packed with insights that will help you create a calmer, more intentional business.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why Karen created her Client Report Card—and how it helps her business
The 10 criteria she evaluates weekly to measure client relationships
How tracking qualitative vibe-based data helps prevent burnout
How you can build your own Client Report Card to keep your business running smoothly

Learn more about Karen Sergeant:

Learn more about Susan Boles:

We value your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to share them with Susan here. Your input is not just valuable, it's crucial in shaping future episodes.

(00:00) -
(00:36) - Managing Client Relationships
(02:06) - The Importance of Boundaries and Scope
(08:31) - Karen's Report Card Criteria
(14:35) - Applying the Report Card in Business

Grab your free ticket to the Autonomous Creative Conference for May 13-15 at beyondmargins.com/autonomous

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Why Karen created her Client Report Card—and how it helps her business
The 10 criteria she evaluates weekly to measure client relationships
How tracking qualitative vibe-based data helps prevent burnout
How you can build your own Client Report Card to keep your business running smoothly

Learn more about Karen Sergeant:

Learn more about Susan Boles:

We value your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to share them with Susan here. Your input is not just valuable, it's crucial in shaping future episodes.

(00:00) -
(00:36) - Managing Client Relationships
(02:06) - The Importance of Boundaries and Scope
(08:31) - Karen's Report Card Criteria
(14:35) - Applying the Report Card in Business

Grab your free ticket to the Autonomous Creative Conference for May 13-15 at beyondmargins.com/autonomous

Previous Episode

Fresh Content Inked: A Subversive Approach to Driving More Sales By Creating Less Content

In this episode of Beyond Margins, we explore the concept of calmer KPIs with guest Kendall Cherry, founder of The Candid Collective. Kendall shares her innovative metric, “Fresh Content Inked,” and how it has transformed her content creation process, business systems, and sales cycle—all while doubling her income. We geek out about how to build sustainable systems that create spaciousness in your business, reduce overwhelm, and prioritize what truly matters.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• What “Fresh Content Inked” is and why Kendall set a goal of writing six or fewer new pieces of content each month.

• How building a content library can create a “maintenance mode” for your marketing and free up time for other priorities.

• The benefits of an asynchronous sales process and how it aligns with calmer business principles.

• Why posting less—and strategically repurposing content—can lead to better results and higher-quality client connections.

• Kendall’s personal practices for staying creatively and emotionally balanced as a business owner.

Learn more about Kendall Cherry

Learn more about Susan Boles:

We value your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to share them with Susan here. Your input is not just valuable, it's crucial in shaping future episodes.

(00:00) - Introduction to Calmer KPIs
(02:04) - Exploring Fresh Content Inked with Kendall Cherry
(11:15) - Building a Content Library
(18:24) - Impact on Sales and Business Strategy
(24:14) - Communicating Your Value Effectively
(25:10) - Building a Content Ecosystem
(27:21) - Leveraging Email Newsletters
(29:45) - Streamlining Sales and Client Management

Grab your free ticket to the Autonomous Creative Conference for May 13-15 at beyondmargins.com/autonomous

Next Episode

Unsolicited Response Rate: The Only Content Metric That Actually Matters

We all want our work to resonate—but how do we know if it actually does? In this episode, I sit down with storytelling and speaking expert Jay Acunzo to explore the concept of resonance over reach and how we can track something that feels inherently unmeasurable. Jay shares his Unsolicited Response Rate (URR) framework, a KPI designed to measure whether your ideas truly connect with your audience. If you're tired of vanity metrics and want to focus on making an impact, this conversation is for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

What a KPI actually is—and why anything (even calm or resonance) can be one
How to measure audience engagement beyond likes and follows
Jay’s URR (Unsolicited Response Rate) framework for tracking meaningful interactions
The importance of putting in the reps before expecting results

Connect with Jay:

Connect with Susan:

Beyond Margins
LinkedIn
Bluesky
(00:00) - Introduction to KPIs and Calm as a KPI
(01:07) - Understanding Resonance with Jay Acunzo
(04:18) - Measuring Resonance: The URR System
(08:18) - Applying the URR System in Practice
(27:08) - Becoming Your Own Data Repository
(30:16) - Developing Resonance in Business
(34:36) - Embracing the Creative Process

Grab your free ticket to the Autonomous Creative Conference for May 13-15 at beyondmargins.com/autonomous

Engineering Calmer Agencies & Consulting Firms: Calm is the New KPI - How to Build a Client Report Card for a Calmer Business with Karen Sergeant

Transcript

Karen Sergeant00:00:00.080

I want to catch problems early before there's emotion wrapped around it before we start hating each other before anyone cries. I want to hear about the problem so that I can solve it one way or the other. It is a Calm KPI. It actually engineers Calm into a business if we all speak up about tiny problems and give each other permission to do that.

Susan Boles00:00:29.039

Hi, friends. Susan here, and this is Beyo