Maura Wiser, Founder at Bluewater Bookkeeping Services, was living and working out of her inbox before she discovered how to manage workflow correctly.
She started using a special tool that helped her do it. You’ll hear all about that tool today…

In this episode of the Growing Your Firm Podcast, David Cristello and Maura Wiser discuss:

• How you can hurt your best clients when your workflow is messed up
• The #1 tool that got Maura out of her inbox and out of the office earlier
• How Maura never panics about a deadline again

ADDITIONAL LINKS: 

• TRIAL => Jetpack Workflow
• Email Maura at maurabookkeeper @ gmail.com
• LINKEDIN – Maura Wiser
• How one CPA earned an “extra week of vacation” (interview)

What Happens When Your Workflow Isn’t Organized: 

Maura Wiser, a sole proprietor bookkeeper for over 18 years at her own company (Bluewater Bookkeeping Services), was used to how others showed her how to manage workflow. It’s our natural tendency…

We wake up in the morning, put out fires at work, go to bed. Rinse. Repeat. 

Maura did what many of us did to manage workflow…we manage everything in our inbox. We put things on our google calendar and keep moving. We feel like a hamster on a wheel, but we do what needs to be done.

Here’s where Maura realized she needed to do something different.

Because she was dealing with the “squeaky wheel” syndrome. What’s that? It’s when you are only dealing with “emergencies” all the time and never what is actually due. 

Listen…we all have clients that are a bit…ummm….louder than others. And when you’re living in your inbox and putting out those fires, you’re only catering to those clients. 

What about those clients that only call in real emergencies? They are calm, easy to deal with. You actually like them. Why aren’t they getting the same attention? Why are you pushing their work off to take care of the “louder” clients? 

Maura saw this happening again and again.

She needed a solution.

Jetpack Workflow Got Maura Out of the Inbox and Out of the Office: 

If you’ve followed the podcast long enough, you’ve probably heard I’m the CEO of Jetpack Workflow. We are a software built to manage workflow and make sure your clients and deadlines don’t fall through the cracks.

Now, you also know if you’ve been a long-time listener, that we actually rarely talk about Jetpack on the podcasts. However, we’ve worked with Maura for a long time and heard her name for just as long. When she told me informally about how Jetpack how helped her, I had to get her on the show.

I brought her on not to do a pitch, but because most firm owners are going through the same problems she did.

Again, wake up, put out fires, go to bed.

Maura was living this and needed a solution. She found Jetpack Workflow.

She admits the first year was spent simply trying to get her inbox to zero. Meaning, she was moving slowly off of Google calendar and Gmail and into the software.

How Jetpack Workflow Saved Maura From Drowning in Deadlines: 

Today, she’s ‘all-in’ on Jetpack. She schedules deadlines, organizes workflow, sets reminders. She never goes to bed worrying if she forgot something. On top of that, she says she saves around one hour per week. She says for a larger firm with employees, that number would “multiply”. It’s true.

That extra time she gets, she takes off work earlier than she used to. 

Here’s what she recommends for you whether you’re a sole proprietor or not.

Most firm owners would want a 100% transition done before fully implementing new software into the workflow. Maura recommends a steadier move. As a bookkeeper, Maura’s busiest time of year is January.

She decided beginning the move into Jetpack would be best in January because it’ll force her to be efficient plus she’ll be touching most if not all of her clients’ files. Over one weekend, she began the transition of moving clients out of her inbox and into Jetpack.
But, she didn’t do it all at once. She migrated as she went along throughout the year. Doing it this way forces you to take action now and not sit on your hands. Plus, it gives you time to slowly learn the software instead of a crash course.

DAVID’S TIP:As a softwware CEO, I actually recommend not implementing a new software all at once. Do what Maura did and take baby steps. Just do what you need to function and pivot as you go. Play around with new buttons and slowly get familiar with the software. That’s much easier and it becomes muscle memory after awhile. Once you have it done, then move to adding more steps.

Maura highly recommends Jetpack Workflow. She doesn’t believe you need to integrate it fully all at once as mentioned. Get it and do it over time.
She’s happy to give advice to anyone who has questions about how to manage workflow.

Email her at maurabookkeeper @ gmail.com.

RELATED ARTICLES:

1. Time Saving Applications During Busy Season
2. 5 Software Applications to Ease the Busy Season Burden

Heather Smith is the founder of a cloud solutions practice and author of 9 books. She’s made it her mission to’educate accountants and in turn their clients about the cloud ecosystem and choosing between the 750 accounting apps out there.

She knows all the tips and tricks to make sure you pick the right application for your firm. Most owners are overwhelmed with the choices out there, but there’s a way to choose the best one for your firm.

In this episode of the Growing Your Firm Podcast, David Cristello and Heather Smith discuss:

• The future of accounting tech and how it could drastically change your practice
• The “team” secret to uncovering the best accounting applications
• Steps to get your team raving about your application choices

ADDITIONAL LINKS: 

• Heather Smith Website
• Sign up for Heather’s Newsletter here!
• Learn Small Business Startup in 7 days (Heather’s book)
• Xero for Dummies (Heather’s book)
• https://www.youtube.com/user/ANISEConsulting
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherSmithAU
• Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/
• Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind/
• How to create a tech ecosystem in your firm (interview)
• One trick to stop hackers for good (interview)

Where is Accounting Software Going in the Next 5 Years: 

Heather Smith, the self-proclaimed “hype girl for the online ecosystem”, is a well-known pro in the accounting application’s space. She advises and mentors clients, but is mostly notorious for her Xero trainings.

In the next few years, she sees big changes coming to the industry as a whole. These are important for you so you don’t implement a software that may not be around next year.

First, she foresees more growing and testing in the space over time. Right now, over 750 accounting applications are sprawled across Xero, Quickbooks, Sage, and others. It’s a lot to sift through. As more money and attention goes to the accounting space, new ideas will be brought in especially as technology advanced.

The biggest piece she sees coming is a lot of buyouts and mergers. Large companies (think Intuit) are going to swoop in and splash money in the pot. If they don’t buy out smaller companies, they will merge or set up deep relationships with them.

This will all happen relatively fast. You’ve probably already felt the whirlwind we’ve seen the past few years in the applications space.

Heather has some tips to adapt to the changing landscape.

How to Uncover the Best Accounting Applications for Your Firm:

If you jump on board with an application, only do so if you plan to stick around for the long haul. Implementing is hard enough without playing leapfrog. That doesn’t mean you’ll have to update your systems every time you switch applications.

Luckily, APIs (the configuration that allows multiple software pieces to communicate with one another and share data) are getting smarter and more efficient. Many solutions now allow you to digitally “unplug” from one application and “plug” back into another.

You probably just want to know how to choose between the various applications.
Here’s an insider tip.

Heather looks at and studies the actual team behind an application she likes. The reason is that she’s looking for longevity. Is the team behind this application aligned with the accounting industry? Or, are they planning to jump into other industries? 

Meaning, are they going to be around the accounting industry for a while, or is this just a stop on the way to trying to branch into other industries? That move alone could severely affect the performance of the application for your accounting needs down the line.

A second major tip to determine the best accounting applications is studying the application’s customer support. Obviously, this isn’t a ton of fun, but, unless you’re so tech savvy you can actually debug software, you’re going to want customer service in your corner. At Jetpack Workflow, we’re a software company so we understand how often clients need help with navigating software and overcoming problems. On top of that, we still buy software to use for the business in addition to our software, so we are needing customer service for ourselves as well.

Heather recommends definitely trying out their customer service before you get into a long commitment contract. Customer service is one of her #1 reasons for purchasing one software over another. There’s nothing worse than having an urgent problem with your software package and customer service is non-responsive.
Even if they have the best features, Heather will turn down a vendor if their customer service isn’t up to snuff.

DAVID’S TIP:Many companies brag about their customer service being the best. In software, you simply can’t take these claims at face value. We were recently choosing new software for our internal needs and one company was well-known for their features. So, we set up a call to demo it. They rescheduled. We set a new time. They didn’t show. I was disappointed as I loved their product, but if they don’t treat you well during the demo phase, what do you think happens later on?

Once you’ve nailed down what accounting applications you want, how do you about implementing in the best way possible?

How to Implement New Accounting Applications and Get the Team Onboard: 

Most firm owners are overwhelmed with the choices out in the marketplace. If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. Here’s the first thing to think about:

Don’t try and implement too many new applications at once. This leads to disorganization and frustration for your team. Get your team onboard first.

Before making any moves to implement, pull out the whiteboard. What I mean is get everyone who will be affected by the new application in a room. Listen to the ideas for what’s working and how future workflow will look with this new application.

Heather recommends getting buy-in from the team. Once the implementation starts, make sure you have a day set aside for training on just this software. After that,

Heather recommends two more follow-up trainings to make sure everyone is comfortable and iron out inconsistencies in the workflow.

Remember, you need to carve out this time. Implementation of a new software can take 6 weeks. After it’s up and running, you need it to go for one full month and then pull data on how well it’s working.

It’s only after the entire team is comfortable with the new application do you dare try and implement another. 

DAVID’S TIP:As the firm owner, it’s your job to train your employees or find the right person to be the go-to expert in the firm on the area. Because as you get more team members, you can spend all your days training new employees on software. You need a go-to expert inside your firm. Even larger teams could have multiple experts.

On top of trainings, if you have features you’d like to see, you can prepare pitches to the application’s team and see if it will make the rollout map.
BONUS: These new applications you implement can also become a new service offering you give to clients. If you believe your clients can benefit from your new application, offer to do a whiteboard training with their team. Could be a whole new revenue stream!

RELATED ARTICLES:

1. Time Saving Applications During Busy Season
2. 5 Software Applications to Ease the Busy Season Burden
3. Create A Tech Ecosystem And Implement New Accounting Applications

Jackie Meyer, Founder of Meyer Tax Consulting, is back on the show with more advice on creating the ideal accounting firm. Last time, she talked about increasing her revenues 35% adding tax planning services.

This time around, she’s here to reveal how she’s cut her client base from up to 300 to under 100. Yet, she charges 80% more on average per client. At the same time, she takes Friday off from client work to work on her business. You’ll want to hear her ground-breaking strategies.

In this episode of the Growing Your Firm Podcast by Jetpack Workflow Software, David Cristello and Jackie Meyer dive into:

• How to have a waiting list for clients
• Creating the ideal accounting firm where you charge 80% more and work 25% less on client work
• How Jackie and her team only check email 2X per day

ADDITIONAL LINKS: 

• Accounting Firm Influencers (Facebook group)
• The Concierge CPA (fill out the survey in this link)
• How to add 35% more revenue (Jackie’s last interview)
• Meyer Tax

How to Have a Waiting List for New Clients: 

Jackie Meyer is one of our rare returning guests because she’s done an incredible job building her firm fast. Today, she averages $10,000/client after cutting down her client base from up to 300. Most firms would be afraid of doing this.

Even better, she only works 4 days per week on client work and takes her Fridays to work ON the business. She uses that time to interface with some of my past guests including Ed Kless and Jeff Philips. If you’re worried about upset clients, wait until you hear about what she does.

First, since she’s chopped her client list over 65%, she’s much pickier about who she takes on as a client. In fact, now she has a waiting list for becoming a client.

That’s unheard of as most firm owners are happy to take who walks through the door.

Jackie did this because she wants customer service to be on a pedestal at her accounting firm. Too many clients could result in bad experiences. To combat this, she’s upgraded some roles to project manager in her firm.

Funny enough…when you tell someone they are on a waiting list, they want to be your client even more. Thus, this maneuver gave her control over who she works with and her time. Jackie recommends letting others in your firm control pieces. Clients may have come into your firm because of you, but you must teach your staff and your clients to work with each other. 

If you remain the focal point, you’ll always be stretched thin.

Currently, her client base revolves around high net worth individuals, wealthy retirees, and those high-up the corporate ladder. If they’re retired, they may typically have board and/or consulting income coming in. Jackie not only helps with normal tax work, she also forms family limited partnerships, management companies, creates structure around investments and much more. Like I mentioned, now her clients average about $10,000 in fees per year.

“Figure out where your value lies,” Jackie says. This is how you can raise your fees. Jackie shows these high net-worth folks visually how her firm is saving them hundreds of thousands per year in taxes with the entities she creates. Because of that, she expects to get her average client billing up to $18,000/year shortly.

Structure Your Time to Work 25% Less on Client Work

Creating the ideal accounting firm is not just about raising fees but also getting your time back.

Jackie is high on time blocking. Here, you create very tight, very specific appointments on your calendar for everything you need done. 2 hours of compliance work, 1 hour for lunch, 1 hour for consulting with her business coach. If you don’t structure your time, it slips away.

Like with new clients, Jackie takes control. She doesn’t let others dictate what she will get done. As mentioned, she blocks Fridays off for more ‘high level’ work. She thinks about how to grow the firm, better herself, plus learn from others.

Now, the question she often gets in the accounting world is “What about all the client fires we deal with every day?” 

Well, clear as day on her website, she says that employees only check emails at 10 am and 2 pm. This gets her employees out of their inbox and focused on tasks on hand. Time gets sucked away when we get pushed and pulled into “emergencies” that are never emergencies.

Jackie’s set up an admin@meyertax.com email to take care of general questions and concerns. This means less emails for her and her team.

She’s of the mindset that if a client pushes back on her email policy, they just might not be a good fit for the firm. You might think that’s selfish, but you’re actually helping your clients. If they get used to asking 20 questions every day, it’s time wasted for everyone. Not to mention, how often does a client email something like an IRS notice, and they’re freaking out.

Most of these events are not emergencies. There are very few actual emergencies in accounting. Tax deadline may be the only one. Jackie doesn’t want her firm to be known for dropping everything for small potatoes.

To help her clients who do worry, she set up a text alert number if they have any immediate problems. In two years, she’s received ZERO texts to that number. It’s because she’s training her clients.

DAVID’S TIP:Never panic when clients reach out with a so-called emergency. Train them by walking them through a protocol to follow. Do it gently but firmly. Make the process easy for clients to follow. They’ll feel taken care of.

One way to cut down on emails clogging up the inbox is releasing weekly videos or posts detailing different events that may be coming up. Maybe it’s the end of the year and clients will be receiving IRS notices for the following year. Send out a message alerting them of this. That saves hours of repeating the same information to each of your clients who calls.

Another idea is to have a system for email subject lines. In the subject, the client/employee can put a (U) which is for urgent. Or, an (E) for emergency. Maybe an emergency means you’ll answer in 24 hours. Urgent could mean in the next few hours. This lets the receiver know if they need to answer and act now or can wait.

How to Start Being More Productive Now: 

Jackie has a business coach to keep her focused and growing.

She’s also formed a Facebook group — Accounting Firm Influencers. Click here to view the group. 

I’m in the group so you can find me there. In the group, ask questions, help others. It’s an awesome way to learn from others and how to implement new ideas into your firm.

Another recommendation that was unsolicited was Jackie recommended Jetpack Workflow. She says having an application keep track of open projects gives her peace of mind and less stress when she wakes up. She likes how easy it is to use and for others too as well.

Lastly, she’s started a coaching business for established firms who are looking to be more profitable and grow. She’s offered listeners a free consultation after you fill out a brief survey. Here’s a link to see it.

RELATED ARTICLES:

1. [Double Your Firm Book] Ch. 3 Driving Growth in Your Firm

2. How To Craft A Strategic Vision In Your Accounting Firm

3. 5 Tools To Improve Your Firm (For Accountants & Bookkeepers)

Chapter 5 might be the most requested chapter we included in the book. It’s all about how to get referrals and attracting the right referrals to your accounting firm.

If you’re just joining us, we’re going front-to-back celebrating the audio release of our best-selling book, Double Your Accounting Firm.
To refresh, here are the first three chapters:

Chapter 1: Increasing Workflow Efficiency and Staff Capacity
Chapter 2: Solving the Pricing Problems in Your Firm
Chapter 3: Driving Growth in Your Firm
Chapter 4: Your Sales Appointment from Start to Close

Referrals may be your sole source of new clients at the moment. That’s okay. The question is whether they are the right clients for your firm.
In this audiobook chapter, you will discover:

• How to get quality referrals that you actually want
• Steps to nurture your clients so they want to refer you
• Actual scripts to have the referrals flood in

ADDITIONAL LINKS: 

• 2 simple techniques to get more referrals
• How to build a referral-based firm (interview)
• How to ask a client for referrals without feeling uncomfortable

Your Unique Selling Proposition Gets The Right Clients:

Referrals are a nice and welcome surprise. Referrals are proven to require less “sales-y” approaches. Plus, they are faster to pull out their wallets. There are, however, two approaches to referrals. You could be passive or active.

Passive = “we get who we get”

Active = “we tell our clients who we want”

It all starts with your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Think about what value you bring to the marketplace. Be specific. “We do tax returns” is general. You must have a target market in mind so you can craft the right message.

Your market is the type of industry/service you wish to be an expert in. You might want to be the “go-to for construction companies.”

Your message highlights the results you bring to clients. “We help 6-7 figure construction companies automate their bank finances, so they can increase cash flow.”
That’s a USP.

If you’re unsure what your USP is, just ask your clients!

Questions you can ask them:

• What keeps you coming back every year?
• What do you enjoy most about working with us?
• What trouble spots have you found?
• How does your relationship with us compare to other firms?

Your ideal clients will have similar answers. Those are the ones you want to attract. The good clients attract other good clients and vice-versa.

When you meet with new referrals and clients, it’s these USP signs you want to look out for. “Will this new client have similar answers in 12 months as my top clients?” Obviously, you don’t have a crystal ball to know how a client will act. But it’s good to have these questions in the back of your mind.

Now, that’s the start of a relationship, but how do you actually start generating the referrals? That starts earlier than you think.

Nurturing Your Clients to Prepare for Referrals:

The start of getting referrals begins with how you treat those who will refer…your clients.

Clients don’t just keep coming back for your service. With something as intimate as their finances, they want a firm that connects with them. The way to do that is starting every day with the mindset of “How can I provide value to a client today?” That means going above and beyond your call of duty.

Here’s how to do it in 5 steps:

1. Do something before a client requests it
2. Make a special deliverable for them. Maybe it’s a piece of content
3. Provide something that makes a difference in their personal or professional life
4. Do something special that’s pro bono for them
5. Duplicate across clients

The more a client trusts you, the more they open up to you. When you know them better, you can solve more of their problems.
Here are a few different ideas to add value:

• Invite them out to dinner one-on-one
• Send them a webinar invite
• Bring them along for a conference
• Plan a fun event
• Ask their opinion
• Follow and interact with them on social media

A surprise gift, even something like a book, can go a long way.

These are all setting the table for asking for a referral. None of what you’re doing is manipulating your clients. You’re making them more comfortable to recommend you. Everyone loves to give recommendations. How often do you try and get someone to try your favorite restaurant or listen to that up-and-coming musician you love?

It’s the same with referrals for an accountant except more complicated. Remember, finances are personal. Clients want to know you are someone to trust and recommend highly.

How to Ask for Referrals: 

We’ve all heard we should ask for referrals. We dream about a situation where we ask and receive right away. Unfortunately, reality usually goes like this. “Umm…yeah…do you know anyone that needs an accountant? No? Ok, well, see you next time.”

Pretty bad, right?

We also hope clients will just always naturally refer us. You may get that now. But are they the best clients for your firm?

The worse way to approach referrals is directly. That’s a path to awkwardness.

The best way to approach is indirectly. You want to prep a client first. You may say something like “Asking for referrals is a bit uncomfortable for me? And it can be uncomfortable for you. How would you want me to approach asking you for referrals that you feel the most comfortable?” A question like this lowers the tension. Many clients just need to be asked before they freely open up their address book. Here you can ask them in a non-confrontational way.

The Different Referral Sources and How to Get Referrals from Them:

You will probably get referrals from all over the place — not just from clients, but family members, those people from church, etc. Let’s breakdown the type of people you may get a referral from and how to approach:

NON-CLIENT: These aren’t the most powerful referrals, but still possible. You would approach like “I’m working with construction companies helping with their cash flow. Do you recommend any person or company to reach out to?” 

NEW-CLIENT (AGGRESSIVE): When a new client signs on the line, that is when you are aggressive and pounce. It’s bold but can work. “My clients refer me as thanks for the results I get them. For doing business with me, I require 3 referrals after I’ve proven I can give results to your company. That’s an aggressive ask, but that’s how confident I can help you. Will this be a problem for you?” 

NEW-CLIENT (DISCOUNT): In exchange for 1-3 referrals, you offer a discount to a new client. “We can continue with our agreement per usual. If you are able to refer me 3 people, I am happy to chop the price down to $XXXX each month.” 

CLIENT APPROACH #1: Here you have 3 business cards. You tell the client to keep one and give the other 2 to people that could be helped by your services. “If you know someone in the construction niche who needs cash flow help, give them one of my cards. Have them call or send me an email and I’ll get right to them.”

CLIENT APPROACH #2: Here, offer a free service in exchange for referrals. “I will train all your employees on QuickBooks for free if you send me 5 people who might be able to use my help.”

COMPETITOR REFERRAL TRICK: Work with your competitors to develop deals for sending over work. Here you send prospects who aren’t a good fit for another firm.

EMAIL SIGNATURE: Your clients are regularly getting emails from you. Why not add a slight ‘ask’ there? “Our firm is built upon referrals. If you know someone in the construction industry who needs help with their cash flow, we offer free consultations.” 

Try some of these tactics. You’ll be surprised to see the referrals to start flooding in.

RELATED ARTICLES:

1. The #1 Place to Get Highly Qualified Referrals for Your Bookkeeping Firm

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

3. 2 simple techniques to get more referrals for accountants and bookkeepers