Justin Pulgrano, from Finagraph, came on this week to talk about how he successfully expanded advisory services for his clients using a new tool called CashFlowTool. It helps you help clients with cashflow issues to improve and grow your advisory services.

But we didn’t just talk about software in our interview. We also talked about strategies for adding new services to an existing client base. This is a challenge that many firms face. Existing clients may not be interested in new services even when you know that a new tool or approach could massively transform their business for the better.

Before we get into the meat of the interview, be sure the check out the first link in the “resources” section of the show notes. It is for a special offer on CashFlowTool. Just add the coupon code “jetpack” to your checkout to get 10% off your purchase!

Summary of Points:

  • What CashFlowTool is.
  • Why cashflow is such a major issue for firms.
  • Who to approach first with a new service offering.
  • Why cashflow assistance is such a powerful service.

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Resources:

Adding a New Service as a Firm

Let’s say you want to offer a new service, such as giving cashflow advice using CashFlowTool, to your existing clients. How do you go about doing that? We’ll give you a few main takeaways from the show as action points. But first, why is cashflow such a major issue for small business owners today?

Cashflow Woes

Why is cashflow such a major issue for many small and medium businesses? Justin referred to a few recent studies in the show, which you can find links for above, that help us see what small business owners are going through these days about to this issue.

First of all, many businesses don’t have enough cash on hand to handle out-of-the-ordinary expenses. One study showed that many businesses only have enough money in the bank to pay for 30 days of operation. That’s cutting things very tight. As a result, many business owners stay up at night, worried about cashflow issues. Others aren’t always able to make payroll, putting pressure on them and their employees.

It’s easy to see how many business owners are one unexpected expense or one lost client away from closing their doors. How sad!

This is where CashFlowTool comes in. It takes the information you already have from your clients, such as their money in and out, tax information, payroll, and cash on hand, and creates projections and reports that will help you better help your clients with their cashflow worries.

Prepare Your New Service

So what is the first step to offering a new service, such as cashflow consulting to your list of offerings for clients? You must first understand your service backward and forward.

After all, you can’t offer something that you’re not good at. So you have to take time to understand the tool and what you can do with it. The folks over at Finagraph can certainly help you see if CashFlowTool is right for you, and they’ll offer the support you need to get the tool up and running and understand how to use the tool to help your clients.

Categorize Your Clients

Once you have a better understanding of your new service, you’re no doubt excited to start offering it to your existing clients. But what if you have dozens of clients? Who do you offer it to first?

Justin suggests putting your clients into categories. His three buckets are “Low Hanging Fruit,” “High Impact,” and “Low Impact.”

“Low Hanging Fruit” clients would be those that have specifically expressed concern over their cashflow issues. They may be exactly like the business owners mentioned in the studies linked above. They may have even asked in the past if you offer cashflow consulting.

“High Impact” clients are those that may not have specifically asked about cashflow, but from the information you have on them, you’re sure they need help in this area. They may or may not know they have problems with cashflow, but you know you can show them powerful benefits.

“Low Impact” clients are those that don’t seem to have major cashflow problems at present. They may still benefit from the tool and service, but the benefits would save their business from sure doom. Still, some clients are always looking to optimize their business, or they may be into using the latest technology to improve their business.

Of course, you’ll start with the low hanging fruit, since those clients need the service more than anyone.

Start with Selected Offerings

When first rolling out a new service like this one, you may choose to approach only one or two clients at first. You could even offer the service at a discount if their willing to be your guinea pig and prepare a case study or review of the service later.

Once you’ve cut your teeth with a few clients, it would be much easier to add new clients to the service over time. As you grow in experience with the tool and service, you’ll become an expert cashflow consultant. You may even be able to keep some of your clients from folding when times get tough for them!

RELATED LINKS:

  1. Workflow Tools Which Will Save Hours of your Time with Kellie Parks
  2. A Curated Directory of 100+ Accounting Resources & Tools
  3. 5 Tools To Improve Your Firm (For Accountants & Bookkeepers)

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