7 Best Ways to Track Approvals Without Chasing
A client says, “Looks good, let me check with the team.” Three weeks later, the work is still not approved, the start date has slipped, and nobody is quite sure who should follow up. The best ways to track approvals are not about sending more reminders....
Dariusz Mazur ·
A client says, “Looks good, let me check with the team.” Three weeks later, the work is still not approved, the start date has slipped, and nobody is quite sure who should follow up. The best ways to track approvals are not about sending more reminders. They are about making every pending decision visible, specific, and owned.
For a small agency, approvals are often scattered across email threads, comments in a shared document, Slack messages, and a founder’s memory. That works until you have five proposals out, two projects waiting on copy, a scope change awaiting sign-off, and a client who has not replied since last Thursday.
The deal did not necessarily die. The approval simply stopped having a clear next action.
1. Define what the client is actually approving
“Waiting for approval” is too vague to manage. Before you track anything, name the decision precisely.
A client may be approving a proposal, a revised estimate, a homepage design, a content plan, a change request, or a delivery date. Each has different consequences and may require a different person to decide. If the request is unclear, clients often delay because they do not know what answer is expected.
Write the approval request as a plain-language decision. For example: “Approve the revised $18,500 project scope, including the additional onboarding flow, so we can schedule development.” That is much stronger than “Thoughts on the latest version?”
This also separates a real decision from general feedback. Feedback can be open-ended. Approval should lead to a defined next step.
2. Keep one approval record, not a trail of guesses
Every pending approval needs a single place where your team can answer five questions quickly: what needs approval, who is deciding, when it was requested, what version is current, and what happens next.
A spreadsheet can handle this well for a small volume of decisions. Use one row per approval, rather than one row per client. Include columns for client, decision requested, approver, date sent, current version, status, next follow-up date, and owner.
The key is the next follow-up date. Without it, a spreadsheet becomes a historical list rather than a working queue.
A simple record might read:
Client: Northline Health Decision: Approve revised website proposal Approver: Marketing Director Sent: May 6 Current status: Awaiting client decision Next action: Send a decision-focused follow-up on May 10 Owner: Sam
That is enough context for any teammate to pick up the thread without searching through an inbox.
3. Set a follow-up date when you send the request
Do not rely on the client to remember, and do not rely on yourself to notice silence. When you send an approval request, decide when you will follow up before you close the email.
The right timing depends on the decision. A simple design approval might warrant a check-in after two business days. A larger proposal involving multiple stakeholders may need five to seven business days. A request that affects an active delivery schedule may need an earlier, more explicit deadline.
Avoid setting arbitrary due dates just to create pressure. Instead, explain the operational consequence honestly: “If we can confirm this by Wednesday, we can keep the planned June 3 start date. If not, we may need to revisit scheduling.”
That gives the client useful context without turning the follow-up into a threat.
4. Ask for a decision, not an update
Many approval requests fail because they invite a vague response. “Checking in” is polite, but it does not make the decision easier.
A better follow-up names the choice and offers a practical path forward:
Hi Maya, following up on the revised scope sent Monday. Can you confirm whether you approve the added onboarding flow at the revised budget of $18,500? Once confirmed, we will reserve the development slot and update the timeline. If you need changes, reply with the points you would like us to revisit.
This works because it restates the decision, gives a reason it matters, and makes a “not yet” response useful rather than awkward.
For design work, you might ask: “Please reply with approved, approved with the two changes below, or feedback for another revision.” For scope changes, ask: “Please confirm approval of the additional work and budget before we proceed.” Do not leave your team interpreting a thumbs-up emoji three messages later.
5. Separate approvals from ordinary follow-ups
Not every client conversation deserves the same tracking process. If you label every unanswered email as an approval, your queue becomes noisy and people stop trusting it.
Create a small set of statuses that reflect what is actually happening. For most agencies, these are enough: draft or preparing, sent for approval, client reviewing, changes requested, approved, declined, and overdue follow-up.
The distinction between “client reviewing” and “overdue follow-up” matters. The first says the ball is with the client and the agreed check-in date has not arrived. The second says your team owes a deliberate action. That is the moment when approval tracking protects momentum.
Also separate internal approval from client approval. A founder signing off on a proposal before it is sent is a different workflow from a client approving a proposal after receiving it. Combining both in one list can obscure who is holding things up.
6. Give each pending decision one owner
Shared responsibility is a common reason approvals go stale. The account lead assumes the founder will follow up. The founder assumes the project manager has it covered. Meanwhile, everyone sees the old email and nobody acts.
One person should own the next action, even if several people are involved in the work. Ownership does not mean they have to answer every client question alone. It means they are responsible for noticing the decision, preparing the follow-up, and moving the record forward.
This is especially useful after a client call. Record what happened while it is fresh: “Client will review revised navigation with their operations lead by Friday.” Then assign the next action: “Email Monday if no decision arrives.”
AwiFin can be useful here for teams that already have client notes and follow-ups slipping between inboxes. Its practical value is not replacing your project plan. It is keeping a visible record of what happened, what you are waiting for, and the next client-facing action due.
7. Review pending approvals in a short weekly routine
You do not need a long operations meeting to keep approvals under control. A 15-minute review once or twice a week is usually enough if records are current.
Look at every item waiting on a client and ask three questions: Is the decision still relevant? Is the right person being asked? What is the next action and its date?
Sometimes the answer is not another email. A proposal may be stale because the client’s priorities changed. A design decision may be blocked by an internal stakeholder you were not told about. A quick call may resolve more than a fourth reminder.
This review also catches decisions that should be closed. Marking an approval as declined, paused, or no longer needed is better than carrying it indefinitely as “awaiting response.” A clean list helps your team see real work, not wishful thinking.
Choose the tool that supports the behavior
A spreadsheet is sufficient when one or two people manage a modest number of approvals and reliably review it. A calendar can work if each request only needs a single reminder. Notion is a sensible choice when approval context belongs alongside project documentation and the team is disciplined about updating pages.
An existing CRM may be enough if it makes pending decisions, owners, and follow-up dates easy to see without extensive customization. The problem is not that these tools are wrong. The problem begins when people must search several places every morning to work out which client decision needs attention.
A dedicated client follow-up system becomes more useful when your agency repeatedly misses proposal follow-ups, loses track of promises made on calls, or cannot see what is waiting on clients without asking around. At that point, the operational need is simple: record the interaction, identify what is pending, assign a next action, and review it when due.
The goal is not to chase clients harder. It is to stop letting important decisions disappear into polite silence and crowded inboxes.