Accounting Technology

41 Top Productivity Apps for Accountants In Busy Season

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 22, 2023 | 15 minutes

Client deadlines have been set. Engagement letters have been received. Software has been updated with the latest 2.0 version. A schedule of who is going to get what done, and when, is still up for discussion as your best person just put in their 2 weeks. The relaxed holiday break is now over and your stress levels have suddenly begun to rise.
January must be here already…

To help reduce some of your stress of running a CPA or accounting firm, I have put together a list of the top 41 productivity apps for accountants to implement this busy season.
Let’s get to it.

Email

1. Inbox by Gmail
Inbox by Gmail is a clean and minimalistic take on mobile email that uses gestures to help you quickly get your inbox to zero all while using your same old Gmail account. The app is focused on improving email productivity and organization by allowing the user to snooze messages for a later time, bundle similar emails together, and receive Google Now-style cards for things such as flight times.

2. Yesware

Originally designed to help salespeople keep track of their prospects, Yesware has gotten to be very useful in the accounting industry. With the ability to see who opens, reads and clicks in your email, you can start making better decisions about who you are connecting with and what you are saying. With Yesware, you can track email open and reply rates, link clicks, attachment opens and presentation pageviews. It’s all valuable information that will help you identify the best possible message to send, every time.

3. Boomerang

Ever wanted to wait to send an important email till after your boss wakes up? Well, Boomerang has your back. Boomerang adds scheduled sending and the easiest, most integrated email reminders to Gmail, helping you reach Inbox Zero. Draft an email, click a time when you want it to send and move on with your day. Boomerang will take care of the rest.

4. Contactually

Contactually is an app that can help you build and improve the most important relationships in your network. By allowing you to segment your contacts and assign follow-up cycles to each category, this app makes sure you never lose touch with your team or your prospects.

5. Grammarly

Honestly, every single person typing an email needs this app. With a simple integration, through extensions like Google Chrome, you can now have a widget that picks up spelling and grammatical errors. Nothing says “unprofessional” like content full of errors. So to rid you from sending another embarrassing email, allow Grammarly to catch up to 10 times more errors than your normal word processor. This should make it possible to boost productivity as you no longer will have to worry about hitting spell check before sending your next email.

Project Management

6. Jetpack Workflow

Have a never ending to-do list? Need to remember to close the books for 8 of your 15 clients? Having difficulty in delegating work and staying on top of client deadlines? This is where Jetpack Workflow app can significantly boost your firm’s productivity. Essentially, Jetpack Workflow helps small-medium sized accounting firms manage workflow, repetitive processes and build a paperless office.

7. Evernote

Just like its name, this is a note taking app that includes everything you want to remember. Evernote stores photos, web pages, notes, PDF files, audio clips, and to-do lists. Once you add things to your notebook they’re completely searchable and can be accessed on your desktop, the Web, or your mobile device. This making searching through digital sticky notes, so much more enjoyable.

8. Genius Scanner

Never find yourself scrambling for a scanner again! With Genius Scanner app on your phone, you can snap a picture, export by email and send signed documents without leaving the house. Equip your employees with Genius Scan and you won’t need them to be back in the office to access their documents.Therefore providing a way to boost productivity and minimize wasted time.

9. Vesper

The tagline for Vesper is to “collect your thoughts”. And that’s exactly what it does. Vesper is a note-taking app where you can easily tag each entry so you can search for a specific thought by keyword later, and all your notes will be synced to your Vesper account, free of charge. Reorganizing your notes is made simple with a hold-and-drag motion, and if you want to prevent a cluttered collection, a simple swipe archives your entry.

10. Hipchat

Hipchat is a great way for keeping in touch with your team at work without sifting through dozens of emails. It is a chat room of sorts, and you can tag users and create multiple channels for smaller team projects. Plus there is a video chat option to connect faster than a phone call. The desktop client sends non-intrusive desktop notifications to the corner of your screen, allowing you to stay on top of what’s happening while keeping your eyes on your work.

11. 1password

Imagine accessing all of your accounts with just one password. Then tackle on high-tech security features to make it almost necessary for everyone to have 1Password app. 1Password lets you keep all of your log-ins in one place, so you’ll never have to worry about forgetting passwords again. Out of all of the productivity apps for accountants, this should be at the top of your list. You’ll thank me later. I promise!

Staying Awake

12. Spotify

We all know that a few upbeat songs, and tunes to follow along with can help with the late night grind. Spotify, it’s easy to find the right music for every moment – on your phone, your computer, your tablet and more. Create playlists, search top tracks and star the best tunes to keep you knocking out those work papers.

13. Google Timer

This might sound a bit silly, but seriously, Google Timer might just become your next best friend in 2016. I recently read an article on Medium discussing how to work 40 hours in just under 16.7 hours. The way to do this is to set up 25 minute time intervals to knock out a single task, and dominate it. This is where Google Timer comes into play. Pick a task, set the timer to 25 minutes and get to it. You’ll be surprised with your productivity and might just get to leave by 5 o’clock on a Thursday in March. Crazy, I know!

14. Pandora

Want to listen to music without having to create your own playlist or pick a song? In comes Pandora to save your already stressful day. Pandora is free, personalized radio that plays music you’ll love. Discover new music and enjoy old favorites. Start with your favorite artist, song or composer and Pandora will automatically create a station surrounding the same type of music/genre. You might just run across a few old school songs that will hopefully keep you moving throughout your day.

15. Podcasts

As with all iPhones, you can select your podcast app to start searching for things to listen too. The Podcast app is an amazing way to discover, subscribe to, and play your favorite podcasts. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts in the Featured tab, or browse Top Charts to see what’s hot right now. This will keep help keep you focused and ultimately help boost productivity for you and your employees.

Team & Client Meetings

16. Skype

Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. They also have a Skype for Business which collaborates with your office apps and sets up professional meetings and collaborations.

17. Free Conference Call

Need a quick conference call line that is free to use? Then I recommend signing up for Free Conference Call. Upon registration, you are given a conference call phone number and user password to make setup and use of a conference line almost seamless.

18. UberConference

Conference calls on the go can be hit and miss, but not with UberConference. This app lets you see participants’ LinkedIn profiles and record your meetings so you don’t lose an important point.

Business Travel

19. TripIt

TripIt is an intelligent travel organizer that helps travelers manage their plans so that their trips go more smoothly. Travelers simply forward their purchase confirmation emails to TripIt and TripIt automatically creates master itineraries with travel plans and other critical information. This way, all of your travel itineraries and calendars are synced and easily accessible from your phone.

20. Airbnb

Prior to 2008, most business travels occurred through hotel bookings. Now, Airbnb has started to change the game for most business travelers. Airbnb Business Travel is making it easy for corporate travelers to plan their next business trip without sacrificing the comforts and amenities of home. With over 1,000,000 spaces around the world, employees will be able to find a space that helps make after-work feel like a vacation.This way, your employees can recharge and hopefully be able to boost productivity during business travel trips.

21. Google Translate

This is the best app if you are traveling internationally and might need some help with a foreign language. With the Google Translate app, you can type in sentences, voice record sayings and take pictures of words. All of which will translate into the language you need.

22. Hotel Tonight

If you are still sold on going with a hotel for business travel, I recommend checking out Hotel Tonight. It’s a great way to book travel at the last minute, while simultaneously getting the best price possible. Hotel Tonight makes it remarkably easy to book great hotels at amazing last-minute rates on your mobile device, for tonight, tomorrow and next week. When hotels have unsold rooms, they load them on the app, which means you get incredible deals.

23. Uber

I’m guessing you have already heard about Uber, but it’s still well worth it to include on this list. Uber is super easy to use, and you no longer have to wait to call a cab. With a click of a button, you will be given notification that your Uber driver is on their way. Plus, all payment transactions occurs on the app so you don’t need to worry about dragging around cash, unlike taking a cab who does not accept credit cards.

24. Google Maps

Need directions to your new client’s office? What about trying to find nearby places as you are in a new city and have no idea what’s around? I recommend checking out Google Maps. With this app, you can easily find local businesses, view maps of the area and get driving directions from wherever you are.

Client Payments

25. Venmo

If you need to send payments quickly and securely, this is your app. With no forms to fill out and no fees for payment, Venmo is a great alternative to solutions such as Paypal. Plus, if you are out to dinner with co-workers, paying with your debit card or bank account is free, and you can transfer money from your Venmo account balance to your bank account overnight.

26. Square

Whether you need to take payments on the go occasionally or frequently combine work and travel, Square is the app that can make it happen. Square can also help anyone take care of their business. Square’s complete register service is a full point of sale with tools for every part of running a business, from accepting credit cards and tracking sales and inventory to small-business financing

27. Paypal

PayPal provides online payment solutions to its users. It enables its users to transact money through their account balances, bank accounts, credit cards, or promotional financing without sharing financial information. To most people, it is the leader of client payments and has been integrated with most popular apps as it’s a subsidiary of Ebay. This is a great productivity app for accountants to utilize when it comes to making your accounts receivable seamless.

Calendar

28. Schedule Once

ScheduleOnce is a powerful meeting and appointment scheduler that works in tandem with your personal calendar and makes it easy to schedule customer appointments, group meetings and one on one meeting. This can reduce wasted time and hopefully boost productivity at your firm.

29. Timeful

Timeful is an intelligent calendar app mixed with a to-do list. The app’s algorithm learns how you get stuff done and smartly suggests ways to build new habits and get things taken care of, all on your own terms.The company takes an algorithmic approach to time management, and leverages big data and behavioral science to best determine how people can maximize their lives.

Data Storage

30. Dropbox

Dropbox lives on your desktop as a virtual folder. You can drag and drop files into your Dropbox and they’ll appear on all of your devices. In additional, there is Dropbox for Business which is trusted to store, sync, and share files securely with the admin tools IT teams need to protect business data. With easy-to-use controls, IT admins can get full visibility over how critical work files are accessed and shared, while letting team members continue to use the tools they know and love.

31. Google Drive

When it comes to productivity apps for accountants, Google Drive fights for the number one spot. Google Drive is an online productivity suite that can be accessed with any device that’s connected to the internet, either through an app or on the web. You can share and collaborate on documents and presentations, and it’s great when multiple people need to poke around a file at the same time, as you can always see who else is viewing or editing a document.

32. Box

Box is an online file sharing and cloud content management service offering unlimited storage, custom branding, and administrative controls. Even better, the program’s responsive design allows Box to be effective no matter what device you use.

33. Microsoft OneDrive

Microsoft OneDrive is an online file storage that enables users to store and share photos, videos, documents, and more. You are granted 15 GB of free storage when you sign up which makes it worthwhile for not having to shell out any cash. Since OneDrive is a Microsoft service, you’ll always know that your files will play nicely with other Office apps, so you don’t have to worry about if a document will open in Word or not.

Meal Planning (Including Late Night Takeout Meals)

34. Foursquare

Foursquare is a local search and discovery service mobile app which provides search results for its users. If you are out for business travel, or just looking for a place to grab lunch, the app provides recommendations of the places to go to your current location. Plus add on the reviews and stars to determine ahead of time, if the restaurant is actually going to be good.

This will stop the wasted time trying to determine what to eat, and instead be a helpful productivity app for accountants to utilize.

35. Happycow

Trying to find a place to eat for lunch can be difficult. Tackle on a vegan & gluten-free diet, it might feel nearly impossible to find a place for your co-workers. This is where Happycow comes into play. Happycow is a free online vegetarian restaurant guide, sorted by country and region, providing vegetarian and vegan restaurant dining and health food store locations.

36. Yelp

A competitor to Foursquare, Yelp mobile app publishes crowd-sourced reviews about local businesses, as well as the online reservation service SeatMe and online food delivery service Eat24. The company also trains small businesses in how to respond to reviews, hosts social events for reviewers, and provides data about businesses, including health inspection scores.

Marketing

37. Buffer
Save time on your social media marketing efforts by managing all of your social profiles in a single app with Buffer. It’s an easy way to take the pain out of maintaining and updating multiple accounts. With this now freed up time, you have availability to boost productivity in other aspects of your firm and career.

38. Zapier

Sometimes you use a variety of tools that don’t natively talk to each other. Fortunately, with Zapier, integration becomes simple. Set up as many zaps as your account allows, and watch your tools react to each other easily.

39. Active Campaign

Need a way to stay in touch with your current client and prospect list without having to send personalized emails, one by one? Active Campaign is an email marketing & marketing automation solution for small businesses that will do just that.

40. SalesLoft

Out of the list of top productivity apps for accountants, SalesLoft might be the best app for prospecting new clients. SalesLoft is the simplest way on the internet to build accurate and targeted lists of prospects utilizing its automated follow-up technology. I have started to grow very fond of SalesLoft. With the ability to send personalized follow-up emails, with a click of a button, I stay on top of my prospects as well as current clients that need to be connected with. If you are looking for a way to send more emails, with less time & effort, I highly recommend checking out SalesLoft.

41. Feedly
Feedly is a great RSS Feed alternative for curating content and staying up to date with the most current news, announcements, and mainstream trends applicable for your business. Once you’ve subscribed to a collection of different publications or blogs, the program automatically refreshes the feed and aggregates their content into a cohesive stream you can look at quickly and share on social. This is a great productivity app for accountants who want all of their new content in one place.

**Have any additional productivity apps for accountants that have worked for at your firm? Share with us in the comments below!

Accounting Firm Tips

How To Determine If A Prospect Will Become A Great Accounting Client

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 22, 2023 | 6 minutes

JPWF - Handshake - Finding great clients

“Treat all prospects like 5-star prospects and add value constantly. With that said, be sure to have a qualification process in place as well! ” – David Cristello

You’ll find many firms and salesmen to do the inverse of the above i.e. “Treat everyone like they aren’t 5-star prospects until they prove they are, then target them.” Having various friends spend time working in the service industry, I tend to generously tip waiters even with average service.

One evening, a friend and I were dining out in a national chain. Our waitress, unfortunately, acted very aloof, sighing with simple requests and slow to refill a glass. This wouldn’t upset us that much except right next to our table were a pair of men dressed in nice suits and shined shoes. With them, she was laughing, carrying on, refilling if the glass dropped below the lip of the cup and more.

We were not in suits but in plain street clothes. She treated us like 1-star prospects. Perhaps if we pulled out a fancy watch or purse, her attitude would change…we’d suddenly become 5-star.

Wrong.

With new clients in a firm, it’s easy to judge a prospect before you even sit down and start the discussion. You have other clients to speak with, phone calls to return, Chamber of Commerce events to attend. It’s easy to overlook prospects based on: look, age, reviews online, hearsay etc.

Instead of going in with preconceived notions that are damaging, follow these rules to treat them as 5-star prospects until they prove they are not. Also, how to tell if a prospect shows signs of being a great accounting client or someone you DO NOT want to work with.

Listen First, Respond Later:

Your first goal with any prospect is to listen. Typically, an accounting client isn’t just looking for tax returns and bookkeeping. They usually want more and it’s your job to dissect those needs and make sure your firm is the right fit for them. Prospects will normally not know what they need, you must educate them.

Treat them as someone who is already a client, as if they are already paying you. It changes the mindset and tone of the conversation instead of a “sales pitch.”

*Warning Signs of a Future Difficult Client: They fired their last firm due to growing fees, their old firm fired them for various reasons, their first question is about fees and not their issues, asking for a discount right away.

Provide Value Upfront:

With taxes and finance, you’d be surprised of how many wealthy individuals don’t understand the basics and how their taxes and money should be managed. It’s up to you to educate them right away (for Free) as a way to bridge the “trust gap” as well as showing your firm’s first priority is to help, not sell.

Initial meetings should be strategic, but also, more importantly, not a time-burner. This first meeting will show you how much the prospect will value your time and you have the opportunity to show them how valuable your service and expertise is.

*Warning Signs of a Future Difficult Client: They take a long time to make a decision on whether to work with your firm, they show up extra late (not valuing your time), they ask questions you already provided many answers to.

Be Enthusiastic with the First Initial Consultation

You’re going to have those days where you just want to shut out everything, put on some headphones and forget what’s going on. With new clients, they can sense in a heartbeat whether you are meeting them because you “want” to vs. “have” to.

Begin the meeting with a large smile, strong handshake and saying their name right back to them. The mood of the conversation forms its nucleus in the sentiment giving off. If you’re feeling the meeting is a waste of time, trust me, the client can sense it as well. Bill Clinton was famous for this, but it can work in sales pitches as well. He makes you feel as if you’re the most important person in the world when he talks to you.

You must do the same with prospects. Make them feel as if they are the most valuable prospect in the market.

*Warning Signs of a Future Difficult Client: The potential accounting client takes their time setting up the initial meeting, They look distracted while meeting, following up they don’t answer their messages, they are slow to set a meeting, you seem more excited about what to do with their money than they do.

Most Important Step: Are they your Target Market:

This is the first step , but we’ve left it for last. You must make sure this accounting client fits into your client demographic. Are they in your industry where your firm is the expert? Is there a minimum threshold for revenue they should be in? Are you geographically based?

You should be asking these types of qualifying questions early on with expectation they will be a good accounting client. At the same time, if they prove they aren’t in your target market, you simply shorten the meeting (so to respect both parties’ time) and directly let them know your firm isn’t a right fit. Typically, you should have some referrals to direct them to so as to be as helpful as possible.

*Warning Signs of a Future Difficult Client: They are disorganized and can’t give you straight answers to your qualifying questions, they are a lead from the Internet. In accounting, this isn’t as typical, but make sure you know 100% near the beginning of the consultation where they found you.

Every prospect deserves your respect and help. Listen early on and provide value right away. Treat them as a 5-star prospect until they prove otherwise.
What are your tips on determining whether or not an accounting client will be the right fit or not (rather than by comparison)?

Podcast

Defining Your Strategic Goals and Yearly Plan: The Dan Griffiths Interview

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 22, 2023 | 9 minutes

This week we’re excited to release our latest interview with Dan Griffiths, Director of Strategic Planning at Tanner LLC. Prior to this role, Dan co-founded a consulting firm, Proficio Services Group, where he was focused on strategy and leadership. In addition, Dan has recently been recognized with the AICPA Outstanding Young CPA Award.

In this episode, we dive into:

What firms should be focused on when outlining next year’s goals.
How to build a strategic tangible plan that is less than 1 page in length.
How to involve your team to champion your strategic plan

Click Below To Listen:

Key Resources

Key Summary

Around December of each year, most firm owners tend to stop and reflect on the year. Recognize their strengths and identify the key factors that could be improved upon. Then, look to 2016 to determine the tangible items needed, to accomplish their future goals.

This is where Dan Griffiths comes into play. In 2011, Dan co-founded a consulting firm focused specifically on how to help firms build their strategic goals and the leadership needed to implement these goals.

Seeing a tremendous opportunity to grow together with a very well-respected professional services firm, Dan merged his practice with Tanner, LLC and began serving a large number of clients to help them build successful companies.

In today’s episode, we discuss the exact steps accounting firm owners and companies should take to implement a strategic plan. In addition, we begin to discuss the importance of involving your team members and what it could mean for your firm, if they are able to champion this strategic plan for themselves.

Let’s dive in.

How Do You Build A Strategic Plan?

To start off, Dan mentions that the most important thing to do, when trying to build a strategic plan is to not develop a 5 year, 30 page daunting plan that will never be accomplished.

Instead, try breaking out the plan into smaller pieces with clear & measurable goals.

For example, Tanner LLC has a total of 100 headcount. Dan understands that they do not have the resources to engage in a long, drawn out strategic planning process. Instead, you need to stick to a one page plan.

The One Page Strategic Plan

The goal in creating a strategic plan is to make it simple to understand, clear to your team members, and tangible.

Dan calls it the “One Page Plan” rule.

He states that if you cannot fit the strategic items on a single page, then you need to go back to the drawing board and start trimming it down.

“The key is simplicity when building a strategic plan” -Dan Griffiths

As an example, with Tanner LLC, they have four key areas of their plan. They call these areas, “buckets”, and are outlined as follows:

Top Talent Bucket
Business Development Bucket
Client Relationships Bucket
Internal Process Excellence Bucket

Every 90 Days, Tanner LLC asks an important question:

What can we do to move the needle forward, in each of these four areas?

As Dan goes on to mention, “we’re not trying to change the world with things. We are just keeping it short and focused.”

How Do You Refine Your Strategic Plan To Stay Short & Focused?

These four buckets at Tanner, LLC have stayed relatively consistent from year to year. Since it hits every aspect of the firm, they do not anticipate a lot of change in creating these buckets.

Instead, the change comes from the context beneath the buckets on how to achieve their goals. This is where your team members come into play.

The Importance Of Involving Your Team Members, From Top To Bottom

The best way to create the context behind the buckets, and start developing tangible metrics, is to brainstorm with your team members, from staff to partner.

“I think the more you can do to involve people at all levels of your organization, the better off you will be in hitting those goals.” – Dan Griffiths

An idea on how to involve your team members can be as simple as creating small meetings with different members of your team. The meeting could be 45 minutes to 1 hour long where the context is to brainstorm. No idea is a bad idea.

Sticky notes can become your friend during these meetings. You can start outlining the wall with sticky notes that hold items your team believes are most important.
The main thing to focus on here is if your team is going to champion your strategic plan, they must be involved with creating it.

“If they are going to buy in to your plan, they have to first weigh in. Your team members have to see all of the relevant pieces of context that’s involved in the strategic plan. Once they can see this, they can align their own personal goals and objectives with the things that are most important to the firm.” – Dan Griffiths

Alright, I have my team members involved with creating a strategic plan. Now what?

Perform The “Bold Future” Exercise

One of the first things to do in your strategic planning team meeting, is to ask your team members to imagine that their firm has just spent the last 5-7 years accomplishing every goal they created. They are sitting in Hawaii, celebrating their success and proud of everything they have accomplished.

Once the setting has been set, ask your team members the following questions:

What does success at this firm look like to you?
What have you done to have this success?
What have you created together, as a team to call for a Hawaiian celebration?

The purpose of this exercise is to take yourself out of the current day grind, and think about 5-7 years from now. What does success look like in a perfect world and how can you accomplish those goals?

With regards to Tanner, LLC, below are their strategic goals that fall under their Top Talent Bucket. They imagined a world where:

Every single accounting student in the state of Utah really wants to come work for Tanner. They get the best and brightest students, even before the Big 4 has a chance to recruit them.
They have solid relationships with the college professors who recommend Tanner to their students.
The accounting professionals in Utah who are looking to move firms, know of Tanner and has Tanner on the top of their list.

Tanner, LLC knows this world does not exist, yet, but the purpose is to identify how they can maneuver their firm to have the best chance at hitting these goals.

“We know we are not there and we may never fully get there, but what are we going to do in the next 90 days to move us in that direction? We start at that point in driving the context of our goals.” – Dan Griffiths

Why Set 90 Day Goals Instead Of Yearly Goals?

Dan begins to discuss a research he came across that was performed by Deloitte. In this research, Deloitte found that companies that engage in a quarterly goal setting cadence, from top to bottom, are 3 ½ times more likely to perform in the top quartile of their industry than their peers who only set goals annually.

Dan goes on to mention that if you create bite sized goals, and just focus on hitting them in 90 days, the chances of hitting those goals are significantly higher than if you were just going to revisit them at the end of each year.

Do You Have Firm Overall Goals And Individual Team Member Goals?

At Tanner, LLC, each team member will create their own strategic goals that will line up with their personal & professional desires. Then, review the goals to see where they intersect with thier firm’s overall goals, or buckets.

For example, if a new staff member has the goal to pass the CPA exam, this goal is directly related to Tanner, LLC’s bucket of Top Talent. Their individual goal is perfectly aligned with what the firm has set as their own goals to accomplish.

Dan goes on to describe an incident where a new staff member was involved with building the strategic goals of the firm, and it aligned directly with Tanner’s buckets.

“We have had new staff set the goals along the firm buckets of client relationships & practice development. For example, one staff came up with the idea of researching all of the audit engagements they were assigned to and see how many of those client engagements that they also perform the tax work.’
‘If there are any audit clients that Tanner does not perform the tax work for, the staff mentioned that he could take the initiative to ask the client questions and see if there might be an opportunity there.” – Dan Griffiths

It can be a very powerful initiative if you can get your team to start thinking with the firm’s & their own goals in mind.
Now that the team is on board, and the goals have been set, what happens when the buckets wind up changing or a new goal needs to be implemented inside the strategic plan?

When The Buckets Shift, Here’s What To Do

Recently, Dan was working with a client who held a firm retreat to discuss their strategic plan. The outcome of the retreat meant a new bucket needed to be created.

It is important to consistently be reflecting on your buckets and making sure they are aligned with the future path of your firm (Your Firm’s Bold Future).

This means that when one bucket has been added, you need to make a decision as though another bucket now needs to be removed.

“Because the power comes from the focus. If you got 10 buckets, nobody can keep those in their mind. But if you have 3-4 buckets, then that’s much more doable.” – Dan Griffiths

The Overall Strategic Planning System
To recap the interview with Dan Griffiths, here is the key process in creating a strategic plan that is on track to creating a successful firm future:

Create A One Page Strategic Plan With 3-5 Buckets (i.e. Firm Goals)
Determine Your Bold Future (What does it look like if you hit all of your goals in 5-7 years?)
Set a Timer Of 90 Days To Hit, Reflect & Tweak These Goals
Request Your Team Members To Create Their Own Goals And Determine The Parallels Within The Firm Goals

With the strategic planning system in mind, what are your 3-5 buckets listed on your strategic plan for next year? Leave a comment to let us know!

Accounting Firm Tips

How to Ask a Client for Referrals (Without Feeling Uncomfortable)

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 22, 2023 | 6 minutes

You have that perfect client. They pay you on time. They don’t pester you 24 hours a day. They provide the PBCs (Prepared By Client Documents), on time, and are happy to answer any additional questions you might have. They are respectful of your time and are actually enjoyable to work with. All things CPA firm owners dream of.

Compare your perfect client to one of your other clients who: Micro-manages, demands the work done today but won’t pay you for 45+ days, then fire off a nasty email at 10pm asking: “Why did you classify this expense like this? And my financials were supposed to be ready yesterday…where are they?!?”

Imagine being able to multiply your perfect client so you can finally fire that other client. You will be happier and healthier working more with clients you love than those you don’t. Not to mention the additional free time you will have not worrying about how to please a frustrated and unhappy client.

We won’t go into how-to-fire-a-client now but instead, show you how to multiply the good ones you have.

Now, it’s going to come down to a tough, little 8-letter word. The R-word. REFERRALS! We love getting them, but we don’t love asking for them. It’s hard. There’s a major chance of another R-word…Rejection.

In your eyes, you think, “Well, I do a fantastic job with their books, they should want to refer me.” Here’s a newsflash, people are mostly worried about their own issues and not your virtual accounting practice.

But, they would love to help, they just need to know you are open to the help. Last thing they want is to send their colleague to you only for you to say “No thanks.” Then your client has to patch things up with their colleague who now feels foolish.

Dan Allison runs an agency that focuses solely on capturing more and better referrals. He says “80% of your clients are willing to take the risk and refer you to their friends.” This is based on thousands of surveys and sit-downs and is MUCH higher than most of us expect.

The problem Dan sees is that most business people do not know how to ask a client for referrals as it can be an uncomfortable topic. A startling find is the reason most clients don’t refer is….The Professional Never Asked.

Here’s How To Ask A Client For Referrals (In a way you don’t feel Icky):

1) Identify your Top 5-20 clients

Chances are you know, right off the bat, who are your favorite clients. Open up Excel and begin to list out these top clients who you would like to replicate as many times as possible.

If you have 0 clients, check out our post on 47 tips to generating accounting leads for your business that you can utilize to kickstart your practice.

If you work at a firm (not your own practice), you can still use this tactic and bring on more clients for the firm. Most firms will pay out bonuses for bringing in new business and you’re seen as more valuable. Learning how to ask a client for referrals and implementing these tactics, could be the difference in your next promotion.

2) Set up a time to sit down with these clients.

You can set up a meeting with other work to discuss or you can simply ask to get their feedback.
Here is A Referral Email Script You Can Use:

“Hi <Client Name>,

Looking forward to discussing how last quarter went. At the end of our meeting, would you be able to take an extra 10 minutes so I could get your feedback on how our relationship is going and addressing the good and bad spots?

Thanks,
<Your Signature>”

You want to respect their time and let them know this is coming (Don’t blindside them) but also don’t bring up referrals at this moment.

3) While in the meeting with the client, bring up the reminder to get their feedback.

Chat about struggles they may have, good things they value, what they wish you did more, etc.
After this, Dan has a great script, centered around the correct way in learning how to ask a client for referrals. Here is a script you can implement right away:

“I wanted to get your feedback on something. Our firm really likes to grow through helping our clients and people who are important to them. This can involve our clients referring us or introducing us to people that they know.

As you know, this can be an uncomfortable topic. On one hand, every time I see my clients I could say “Who do you know?” but I avoid doing this because I never want anyone to feel uncomfortable.

On the other hand, if I avoid the topic altogether I may have an entire client base that doesn’t even know whether or not we want to help more people.

How can I approach the topic of referrals with you, if at all, in a way that will be comfortable for you and will not compromise the relationship that we have?”

Notice you are not directly asking for a name. You are simply bringing up how to bring up referrals! Asking for them can be uncomfortable, but once that point is acknowledged, it is much easier to dive into who would be a great referral.

Remember, you want to get this feedback and ask this question to the clients you wish to multiply. Bad clients probably hang out with other people who would (probably) be bad clients.

You can take the feedback you get from the perfect clients and link up similarities. You’ll start to see trends in what your perfect clients: Value, Want, Need etc. Then, when you go out to prospect, you’ll be able to readily identify the prospects who would turn into perfect clients. See, learning how to ask a client for referrals isn’t as bad as you thought..right?

If so, How do YOU approach the topic of referrals with your clients?

Accounting Firm Tips

How To Repair & Improve Workflow Processes Without Agitating Clients

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 22, 2023 | 6 minutes

As your firm grows, you get more set in your ways. It’s normal. The need to repair and improve workflow processes gets put on the “after busy season” back burner, never really getting the chance to be addressed.

With the increase in new client engagements, brings the need for additional staff to take on the work. Your company begins to grow bigger and faster, than you previously expected. Yet your processes have stayed the same dating back to when it was just you and your partner, knocking out all of the work.

At some point, your processes will begin developing “cracks” and work will start to be late and suffer.

Usually, this brings up the discussions on updating technologies which will then update processes. Learning how to repair broken workflow processes can be quite a daunting task for

CPA firms. Especially when you have the potential of a clash between older members of the firm (namely, partners) and the younger, more technologically savvy associates.

Your role is not only going to be looking at new solutions and executing but also mediating the problems that will arise.

Realize you have a Problem:

Step 1 – Diagnose the issues

This is a crucial first step, if you ever want to repair and improve the workflow processes at your firm. You need to ask yourself: How do you know what to diagnose?

You can also ask your managers & staff what are issues they hear about again and again. Is it that work is late? Communication jumbled? Work quality taking a dive?

You will run across a couple issues, but hone in on 1-2 you see having the largest effect on your bottom-line. Take note of these.

Step 2 – Have A Discussion

In order to repair and improve workflow processes within your firm, you must sit down with your managers and discuss the 1-2 issues, diagnosed in the first step, to pinpoint where the issues are taking place (i.e. within processes, a certain need for technology, etc). Is it an employee, perhaps? Is it complacency? Those are questions to bring up first and then proceed from there.

Typically, when a firm reaches milestones in employees, the problems begin to arise. A good rule of thumb is when a firm hits 3-5 employees, a change is needed, followed by when you hit 20, 50, 100 employees than 200 etc.

The reason is simply the volume of people getting their hands on work and thus human error rears its head.

Potential Solutions:

In situations like this, usually there is a process improvement needed plus a technology improvement. The older your tech is, the fewer people will know how to use it. However, don’t forget about your Millennial associates, who become ecstatic with the idea of implementing new technology.

To kickstart a solution, start opposite of what you think.

Most firms will start with executives talking and trying to come up with an answer. Then they pass down their ruling to the lower employees. This is the wrong way to do it!

Instead, start at the bottom and work up from there. You start at the bottom as they are the ones in the trenches and there is usually more of them! Get their ideas, where the common struggles are and then work up the chain.

Take the solutions you hear from the lower employees and then bring them to the managers. Get their feedback and ideas. Only afterwards, bring it up to the partner-level.

Think of it as a benefit. If the processes and technology are efficient at the bottom, it makes the partners’ jobs MUCH easier.

For Software, Shop Around:

As mentioned, starting as early as 3 employees, processes begin to break down. Building workflow software, this was the problem we heard again and again and again.

Accounting isn’t going away anytime soon and is needed more than ever. Thus, firms are growing again which requires much more streamlined processes.

With software, look at some demos and get feedback from your team. Bring companies in, buy some lunch and watch and see how your employees respond. Figure out which brings the most value.

Pull the Trigger:

This is where many accounting firms struggle. They enjoy doing the talking and meeting, but then when it comes to making the decision, they clam up. It’s how accountants are, so it’s (again) your job to act as mediator but also the executor.

If you’ve done your due-diligence and worked with your team to get their feedback, the only hesitation would be when to roll out the new software and processes (preferably in the summer when your team isn’t deep in the trenches of busy season!).

A new way to do things is tricky, scary and hard. But think about it like this:

Can you afford to keep going on the path you are? With broken processes and upset clients?

It’s always easier to continue doing things the way you do things. We were working with one CPA firm and they were divided because one founder wanted to implement new technology to improve processes but the other wanted to continue doing everything on paper (even printing emails to read them!!).

As you can imagine, the first partner’s side of the firm is thriving and the other’s has floundered such to the point where the first partner has to supplement to the second.

This is the reality when an action doesn’t happen. As CPA’s, we love doing risk assessments and analyzing every dark corner, but this could lead to complacency. You won’t see the hole in your roof until it starts raining.

Where will you be when it starts raining? Dry and thriving? Or, like the stubborn partner above, scraping by because he didn’t see the storm coming?

Remember, you can repair broken workflow processes in your firm, before heading into the next busy season. Set up a demo time with Jetpack Workflow to help with your workflow so that client work doesn’t fall through the cracks

Product Updates

New Feature: Team Collaboration with Instant Sync for Your Inbox

By jetpack workflow | Updated on Dec 22, 2023 | 1 minute

This week we’re excited to release the brand new team collaboration feature inside of Jetpack Workflow.
This includes the ability to:

Communicate with your team that automatically sync’s with your inbox
Add a note inside of any job or client profile
Tag or mention any team member within a client file or job!

To view the full overview, watch the video below:

Are you a current customer ready to test out this feature? Click Here

Or if you want a test-drive Jetpack Workflow (For Free!), Click Here

Tag any team member in a Job or Client Profile

Track Job Progress with a Date Stamp of All Notes

Are you a current customer ready to test out this feature? Click Here

Or if you want a test-drive Jetpack Workflow (For Free!), Click Here

The Double Your Accounting Firm Book

41 Top Productivity Apps for Accountants In Busy Season

32 Free Workflow Templates

See Jetpack Worflow In Action

How To Determine If A Prospect Will Become A Great Accounting Client

32 Free Workflow Templates

See Jetpack Worflow In Action