In the past couple of weeks, I have talked to several of you who have been in a little distress because you needed to put together a presentation for a BNI meeting.  I do not know about you, but when it comes to public speaking – my anxiety level goes through the roof and it is enough to put me into a tail spin.

At first you are in a panic because you realize that you need to speak in front of a group of 15 or more people.  Then you become horrified because you realize exactly what it entails, that you’ll need to stand in front of these people and talk for at least 15 minutes.  Your last thought is, what am I going to talk about for 15 whole minutes?

You need to stop, take a deep breath and take five steps back.  Remember, presentations and 60 second promos about your business are the best way to educate people on what it is you do.  Keep this in mind.  By doing this you are building relationships with the people that you meet and promoting your business.

Whenever I do a presentation for the BNI network, here is my approach:

1. We, as bookkeepers/consultants, should focus on the value of our service, not the price. Ie.  Our clients love us because we take the worry away from them and allow them to focus on their business.  They have comfort knowing that their bills are being paid on time and the work is accurate.
2. Define what makes you different from your competitor or companies in your area.
3. I define who is a good contact for you to meet with.  For example, I am looking to connect with Lawyers, landscapers or non-profit organizations.
4. Some presentation topics that relate to my business that I have talked about are
   1. Updates on what’s new with QuickBooks or Peachtree – Talk about the latest versions of software you work with and what changes they have made within the programs that could benefit different businesses.
   2. How to streamline your Clients Book- I have done a PowerPoint presentation before that showed areas that most people do not use QuickBooks and how to use them in order to implement better bookkeeping procedures.  Find an area most people are weak in and show them a way to improve.
   3. I have educated the members in my group on what the difference between a bookkeeper, a full charge bookkeeper and a controller is and discussed the different roles and expectations associated with each.  By discussing the different aspects of bookkeeping, you have the opportunity to educate others on what it is you offer.  Most people are pretty uneducated in this area, many business owners’ don’t realize there is a difference in these services.

Don’t let the fear of public speaking keep you from sharing what you love best about what you do and who you are.   As much as public speaking takes me out of my comfort zone, I do find that it ends up being worth the tiny discomfort that I have to endure.  I have gotten a ton of referral business from it, so it pays to put yourself out there.

The fees you charge have NOTHING to do with supply and demand,
and
EVERYTHING to do with VALUE.

That’s right - the fees that you charge directly correlate to the value you provide to your clients. The key is to show them and keep showing them that value. This keeps current clients happy and makes the buying decision for new clients that much easier.

Clients focus on value, we focus on price. Clients want a price they can justify and it is our job (besides providing the bookkeeping services) to EDUCATE them on the VALUE of the results your service delivers.

In order to educate your clients on that value, you must first understand what that value is and then, how it is perceived by your client. There are a couple of ways to do this but let’s start with pretending you are a customer who is buying a service. What are the questions you ask as you evaluate whether or not you are going to purchase the service? What answers are you looking for? What problems are you looking for this service to solve for you? How will you know they are meeting your expectations? 

It is essential for you to understand the value you provide first, so that you can then help your client to understand it. Remember, your client isn’t purchasing the number of checks that you write on their behalf. They are purchasing the end result - accurate and complete financial records! Of course, this is not the only result that you provide to clients.

Now let’s turn around those questions that we would ask when we are purchasing a service and ask them of ourselves as they apply to your service.

• What problems do I and my company help my clients solve?
• What am I an expert at helping people accomplish?
• What am I an expert at helping people achieve? What is the end result?
• What am I an expert at helping people feel?

You will want to write down as many answers that come to mind as possible. If you find yourself getting stuck, just pretend you are a customer looking to hire you. Looking at it from a different prospective will help you to think and ask different questions.

The next step is to quantify and qualify those answers by asking your clients what matters most to them. Asking your client will either give you confirmation of what you believe is the value you provide and/or you uncover something that is important to your clients that you had not thought of.

The important thing is to not accept vague, fluffy answers to these questions. Your objective is to find out how using your service will make a difference in their business. The answers give you the information you need to meet and exceed your clients’ expectations every time and the confidence in the services you provide.

A few years back, during a long legal battle that stemmed from all of my employees breaking an employee non-compete agreement and going to work for my largest client, I really started to examine my business model.  I was really dissatisfied with the whole process of going onsite to a client’s location and doing the bookkeeping work there.  I really wanted to get to the point where most of the bookkeeping work was done out of the client’s office and in ours instead.  I was tired of my clients liking who I hired and trying to steal them out from underneath me, not to mention their constant nickel and dimming of my time and services.  I needed to completely revamp my whole business model.

After doing some extensive research on how to make this “virtual bookkeeping” work, I ended up finding a company called RightNetworks. What caught my attention was something called an Application Service Provider (ASP).  “An application service provider (ASP) is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network.”  In english that means, you can host a QuickBooks file (or other accounting software) over the net.  My clients login via my website.  From here it takes them to a remote server environment with another login.  Then it looks like a computer desktop with an icon to their QuickBooks application.   My clients, and myself included, can be virtually anywhere and be able to access their file as long as they have access to an internet connection.  It comes with a universal printer system so you have the ability to link it to whatever printer you happen to be at and print anywhere.  You can even take documents from the remote server and copy them down onto the C: drive on your computer.

Although there are many different companies out there that provides services for an ASP environment.  Currently, that I am aware of, only two are approved vendors through Intuit, one is Insynq http://www.cpa-asp.com/ and the other is RightNetworks http://www.rightnetworks.com.

The key benefits of working with an Application Service Provider are:

1. You can access your documents anywhere.
2. It’s easy, reliable and secure.
3. They offer nightly back-ups.
4. They do all your software updates for you.
5. If your business was destroyed tomorrow your data is stored safely.

The best thing I did was transition my firm to be a more virtual practice.  With tough economic conditions and high gas prices this may be the solution you were looking for.

Copyright © 2008 Linda Hunt and Laurie O’Neil and The Bookkeeper’s Referral Network Inc.

If you would like to use this article on your website or in your own e-newsletter, please reprint in its entirety and include the following information:  Copyright © 2008 Linda Hunt and Laurie O’Neil, The Bookkeeper’s Referral Network, Inc.  Linda Hunt and Laurie O’Neil are the co-founders of The Bookkeeper’s Referral Network Inc., the place where business meets great bookkeepers. To sign up for free articles and insider tips to grow your practice, and add value to your clients while making more money, working less, visit www.bkpr-network.com.

By Linda A. Hunt

Last week I received an email, from a potential client who needed to meet with me the very next day on some important business. He left me his contact information, so I followed up with a phone call. I did not reach this person so I left a message. I immediately received an email back at his displeasure that I could not meet with him the next day. He then proceeded to seek free advice via email.

This inquiry had red flags flying from the moment I read it. Even though I knew that this was not someone I wanted to work with, as a professional courtesy I followed up.

This is where having strong boundaries in place comes in. How did I know I did not want to work with this person? I have created criteria (aka boundaries) that must be met during the first interactions with a potential client. This potential client did not even register on my scale.

Sometimes you cannot miss the red flags and other times they are not so easy to see. Like a couple of summers ago we had a client who knew that we do not handle cash, nor prepare/make deposits on behalf of our clients. This was an onsite assignment and the client assumed that they could literally bully my new staff person into preparing the deposits. Because I educated my staff person on the internal policies of the firm, my new staff person was able to bring this to their supervisor’s attention and the matter was handled.

Setting boundaries can be as simple as setting your office hours or be a bit more complex, such as what you will and will not spend money on and why. Once those boundaries are set, the next step is to clearly communicate them to all involved so that everyone is on the same playing field.

You can tell where you need to create and implement a boundary by what annoys or exasperates you and/or your staff the most. For example, you are in your office trying to finish your marketing letter and you are interrupted for “little” things that your staff has questions about. Creation and implementation of a boundary in this situation is easy, simply close your door and tell you staff you are not to be interrupted for an hour.

Sometimes creating a boundary is not always that easy. Here is an exercise I learned that has helped me tremendously in setting and communicating boundaries. It is called “My Spokesperson” and the exercise goes like this.

1. Sitting in front of you right now, is your “spokesperson.” It is their job to convey the “what” and “how” message of your business and get that information across crystal clear, without hesitation. Let the sense of relief that they will be the perceived “bad guy” wash over you. (This step was huge for me I didn’t want to be known as the bad guy.)

2. Now tell them or write down the information they need in order to communicate the “what” and “how” message that is to be done in this situation. The spokesperson has no ties to the baggage around fear, rejection, or confrontation. They are here to do a job: get your message across.

The first time you write or say what you need to have communicated, don’t be surprised by the emotion that may come out. That is okay, you are working it out so that the message can be conveyed simply and effectively. Simply try it again until the emotion, blame or justification has been removed.

3. Assume the role of your spokesperson and communicate your message.

Remember boundaries do not have to be mean, harsh, or sterile in how you convey your message. You can be firm and kind, clear and concise while being easy to deal with and all the while not violating your boundaries. Here are a few things I have learned about boundaries and why they are so important both professionally and personally.

□ Boundaries are the cornerstone of your business (and person) – it tells people where you stand and WHY.

□ Boundaries make the difference between being taken seriously or not seriously.

□ Boundaries are critical to your business and personal growth. They must be in place and adhered to.

□ Boundaries require applying the idea of tough love to yourself. If you yourself have established boundaries and stick to them, so will everyone else.

□ When learning boundaries, start with yourself and then move on to teaching others.

By Laurie L. O’Neil

Let’s face it everyone has had that difficult client that they stumbled upon. You know the one I am talking about, the one that makes you cringe when you see the number come up on the caller ID unit. So how do you recognize that vampire-like, energy-sucking client at first sight?

1. Watch for the warning signs. In that initial interview process you may recognize traits you do not like. It could be a behavioral issue, they may be needy, demanding, or just have unrealistic expectations. I recently was out on a sales call with a potential bookkeeping client. He was looking for someone to come on site weekly. He started to dictate to me how he was going to oversee and review everything we did and then told me how to write the proposal to him. In a very nice way, I told him really what he is looking for was an employee. He was not the type of client I was looking for.

2. Watch out for the drama! Let’s face it, all of our clients have drama but the ones who have constant drama are the hardest clients. Learn how to stay out of the drama. I recently terminated a client relationship because of all of the drama. He was an auto repair shop that had two employees embezzle from him. On top of that he had two previous bookkeepers that did not do him justice either; I knew about one of the bookkeepers but did not realize he had gone through two. One of them represented herself as a forensic bookkeeper – there is no such thing! He was being audited by the state as well. We cleaned up the books for his audit, but he just could not get past all the previous stuff that had happened to him to focus on moving forward. I did not want to be part of his drama.

3. Your client’s emergency is not your emergency. These clients can put you into chaos. I received a call the other day from a mechanical engineering company that was looking to get their books cleaned up in a day and wanted me to come in the next day to do it. One of my staff members took the call and nicely told him I book a week out and asked if he wanted to meet me then. It’s your choice whether or not you want to stay in chaos. People will only do what you allow them to do to you.

4. Set boundaries for your clients. When I take on a new client, I immediately set an expectation of when the client will send us the information or when we will be onsite to do the bookkeeping. If the client can not follow these simple rules, fire the client. These clients will run you ragged, with you constantly trying to chase down their information.

As you grow your practice, it is not necessarily the quantity of clients that you are looking for but the quality of clients. The next time you are out on a sales call, stop to really listen to that client and think is this really a client I want to have and do not be afraid to say “NO”.

By Linda A. Hunt

One of the things that has always been important to me, is creating long-term relationships with our clients. Whenever, I meet with a prospective client, that is exactly what I tell them. I make my intentions known upfront by saying, “My firm and I are looking to enter into a working relationship with you that benefits both of us for the long-term.” This simple statement really sets the tone for our forthcoming working relationship.

Here are the 6 secrets I use in my own firm to create great long-term client relationships.

1. Be a good listener. Taking the time to identify the needs of your client by asking them questions and concentrating on what they are really saying gives you knowledge. Knowledge is power.

Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Be careful to not make assumptions. Thinking you intuitively know what your client wants can get you into trouble. Do you know the three outcomes/deliverables that are most important to your client?

2. Identify and anticipate needs. Your clients are not buying your services – they are buying solutions to a problem they are experiencing. When we begin working with a new client, we review all of the requirements/deadlines they may experience throughout the year. This enables us to be proactive and anticipate upcoming needs well in advance.

3. Make your clients feel important and appreciated. In my firm we have created a client appreciation system where we are in contact with our clients throughout the year, letting them know how much we appreciate their business and care about what is going on with them. So when one of our clients obtained their 20th client, which is a very big deal for them, we automatically sent them a celebration cookie bouquet to share in their triumph.

People value sincerity – it creates good will and feelings of trust. Clients are very intelligent and will know whether or not you really care about them.

4. Help your clients to understand your process. You may have the very best process for getting things done and if your clients don’t understand what that is, they will get confused, impatient and angry. Take the time to explain how your process works, not the nitty gritty details, a broad overview so that they can visualize the way the work is being completed.

5. Get regular feedback. Encourage and welcome suggestions about how you can improve your services. This does not mean that you have to incorporate into your process what they are saying but it does give you good insight into what they are thinking. Find a simple way in which your clients can give you feedback. My computer host company actually sends me a short survey to complete each time a work order is completed.

6. Treat your staff well. Employees and subcontractors are your internal clients and deserve to be treated well. Thank them and find ways to let them know that they are important. Remember without them, you would be doing all of the work yourself!

We got so many great responses to our question “What’s Keeping You from Having Freedom in Your Bookkeeping Business?” Here’s a breakdown of what you are saying keeps you from having freedom:

 
 • Not Having Standard Processes In Place - 34%
 • Not Having Enough Time - 25%
 • Not Having Enough Clients - 25%
 • Not Having Enough Money/Cash Flow – 17%

Here’s our answer to YOUR biggest freedom buster:

Not Having Standard Processes in Place

Creating and implementing standard processes in your business, whether you are a solo-preneur or have a staff people working for you, is a key ingredient to creating the freedom you desire!

By streamlining your operations you not only pave the way to more business but bigger profits and a business that virtually runs itself! Systems create consistency and consistency creates the reputation your business is built on!

To learn more about how to create systems for your business, check out our brand new coaching program, Success Secrets Master Mind.

“I have total freedom in my business.  The only thing I would change is the speed at which I gain new clients.  I LOVE my business!”
Dawn B

Hi Dawn,
WhooHooo!  Thanks for sharing how much you love your business. 

It is important to remember that even though running your own business can be challenging there are also those moments when all of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and it’s smooth sailing.

If you are interested in learning more about creating freedom in your bookkeeping business, be sue to join us on July 29th for our free teleseminar, Creating Freedom In Your Bookkeeping Practice.

For more details and how to sign-up, go here.

By Laurie L. O’Neil

With today’s technological push, finding great ways to utilize some of the new technology out there can be time consuming and very painful. One thing you will learn about me is that I am a great proponent of pushing time to the end of its limits. Time is the very essence of our business. One of my biggest challenges was figuring out how to maximize my time.

Going on-site to clients in not always feasible so what are some other remote methods out there?

One of my favorites is a site called Log me In. www.LogMeIn.com. This allows me to remote into my client’s desktop. It has printing capabilities. It also acts in a real-time fashion and has easy set-up. You can use LogMeIn for any training capabilities you may have with your clients. You can even switch the control of the mouse back and forth between you and your client. You can use it on a Mac computer as well and you can download it free for 30 days.

Another similar software is webex. www.webex.com. Webex works in the same fashion as LogMeIn but setting up the printing can sometimes be cumbersome. I have also found that it can be sluggish as well. Webex is constantly making improvements to their product and sending out new releases.

Another software that has been around for quite some time is Go to My PC www.gotomypc.com. GoToMyPC is efficient and user friendly. It has some of the same features offered with LogMeIn and webex but it can be more costly.

No matter what your preference is, each package can help you to achieve great results in order to get the work done for the client remotely. Each package can support whatever your needs may be but can vary based on price. Research each and try them all out.

By Linda A Hunt

A couple of months ago, I referred a prospective client who was not right for my firm to another bookkeeper who I thought would be a better fit. I sent him an email and then I followed up with a phone call so that I could give him all of the details that I had learned in my initial conversation with the prospective client. I had not referred anyone to this bookkeeper before. I found it interesting that I was doing most of the follow-up to give him business and this of course, got me thinking – is following up a lost art?

Since I had told the prospective client that I would pass their name along, I set up a reminder in my calendar to follow up with both the prospective client and the bookkeeper in a few weeks time. When I did I ended up having a lovely conversation with the prospective client from whom I learned that they were working with my referral and very pleased with the outcome. When I called the bookkeeper, who I referred the business to – no response!

This is not the first time I experienced this and I am sure it will not be the last. Life, these days, seems to move at the speed of light and we have tons of technology to help us keep up that speed. To me, technology represents a double-edged sword. While on one side it can make our lives simpler by automating time-consuming tasks, it also keeps us running at a pace where we forget to slow down to be people and connect as people.

Following up takes discipline. Sending a handwritten note is the most powerful and least expensive way to deepen a relationship. A handwritten note denotes a relationship and leaves a lasting impact.

Over 80% of my business comes to me through referral. I have spent a great deal of time forming relationships with my colleagues and have to do very little other types of marketing. The day I receive a referral, I send out a handwritten thank you. I don’t wait until or if it turns into business. I believe that my referral rate is so high for two reasons:

1) All it takes to receive another referral is a simple acknowledgement to the source of the referral to keep them coming, and:
2) I ask them to keep referring to me.

It’s that simple. Remember to incorporate personal touches in all of your networking and you will set yourself apart from the pack and watch the referrals start to roll in. Following up is one of the easiest ways to distinguish yourself from others. Don’t under estimate the power of tangible appreciation.