The Freelance Bookkeeper

It’s an important question.

I was reminded of this the other day when I happened to see an email that was sent to a potential bookkeeping client by an accountant.

The email left the potential client confused and overwhelmed. And this is also how it goes when I see fellow freelance bookkeepers attempting to offer their services to their potential clients too, whether in person or in writing.

The email was intended as a way to persuade the potential client into doing business with the accountant by illustrating the services he had to offer. In his lengthy message he ran through a technical list of all the customized functions he could perform for the client.

Whenever we do that, we often defeat our purpose and snag far fewer clients than we could, for several reasons:
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• We don’t realize we are using our own accounting jargon, which the vast majority of our clients don’t understand (Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Balance Sheet, Adjustments, etc.) They have no idea what we are talking about, and worse yet, it does not communicate ANY value to solve their problems
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• We tell them WHAT we can do laundry-list style, instead of demonstrating how we can truly BENEFIT their business. In an effort to show how experienced and knowledgeable we are, we often make what we do sound like a lot of work and complicated. Again, this defeats our purpose because it doesn’t communicate value to the potential client
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• We are oblivious to the true needs of our potential clients. Instead of asking questions and finding out what they really WANT, we tend to tell them all about us and what we do and what we think they need.
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Do you really know what you have to offer your clients? How is what you do for them different than what other freelance bookkeepers offer?

If you don’t know the answers to those questions, you will be treated as a commodity, just like any other bookkeeper they can find online.

Likely, more than a few of your potential clients will try to get your rates as low as possible, since your services provide nothing of particular benefit to them, at least none that you are communicating.

And that’s the crux of the problem. Do YOU know what unique VALUE and BENEFITS you are providing for your clients? It is impossible to offer value that your clients will be willing to pay for if you are not crystal clear about the value you provide them yourself.

In my own business history, I’ve found it extremely helpful to come up with a short “elevator speech” which is what you say to someone that you meet in person who asks you, “What do you do?” It is a short blurb you give to help show WHO your ideal client is and WHAT you do for them.

But I think we need to dig deeper and know what our core offer is that we are offering as individuals and as a business. In fact, here’s a great short video I saw by Jim Edwards (my own marketing mentor) that really boils it down to four main components. These help you enter the conversation that is going on inside your client’s head when they are considering hiring you to do their bookkeeping. It’s definitely worth watching.

“Your #1 Business Problem” (6 min video)

And according to Jim, you have to be able to communicate what you have to offer in only 3-5 SECONDS! Wow! But if you think about it, that’s what Federal Express has done, and it’s easy to remember. That’s very powerful.

“When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”

Companies sometimes come up with a slogan that communicates their true offer (and sometimes they don’t) So it got me thinking about what my own true “sweet offer” is. Hmm…

It really takes some thought to come up with just a few well-chosen words that “say it all” about what we have to truly offer our clients.

So, I’ve decided that it’s time to come up with a laser-targeted short phrase for my own business. Care to join me? What is the essence of the VALUE you provide your clients that you can express in 3-5 seconds?

We can do some brainstorming and then share ideas and compare notes. I’ll also do a follow-up post when I’ve come up with just the right “sweet offer” for my own business and share it with you.

It sure does seem that we can always improve how we communicate to our clients and our prospective clients. And being able to get absolutely clear on what VALUE we have to offer is probably one of the most important bits of communication we all really need to master.

What do you think? How do YOU communicate what value you provide your clients that sets yourself apart from all the other freelance bookkeepers in your area?

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An often overlooked way to get your phone ringing with calls from prospective new clients is by making sure you are where they are looking when they need help.

One of the first places people look for help is on the web, using search engines. The most popular ones are Google, Yahoo, and Bing (formerly MSN).

When someone searches for bookkeeping help in your local area, can they find you easily in the search engines? Do you Google yourself from time to time and know what prospective clients see?

A Chance To Be Found More Quickly

I just learned about a special program that Intuit Proline is running, especially focused at QuickBooks ProAdvisors, but even if you are not part of the program, there’s an important tip here for you.

Here’s the scoop.

From now until the end of June, there is a special for all QuickBooks ProAdvisors wherein you can not only connect your ProAdvisor profile (if you’re certified) to a listing in Intuit’s Business Directory, but you can also get their WebListing service for 90 days and then a discounted rate thereafter (only $9.99/mo.)

The listing service helps you with your local listings so that you will come up on the first page when people are searching for QuickBooks services, and it ties to your own website as well as your ProAdvisor profile. So you can really give a lot more good, enticing information to pull in new clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This price is far more effective than paying for a Yellow Pages ad, and it is optimized for your local area!

I’ve signed up for it myself just a few days ago, and I’m already listed #1 in my city (which is a very BIG metropolitan area). Amazing.

If you are a ProAdvisor, you can find the offer after logging into your account, it’s near the bottom of the page.

If you’re not part of the ProAdvisor Program, but have been thinking about it, this would be a good time to join! Here’s why:

You’ll not only be able to get in on this deal, but you can still get certified in QuickBooks 2009 until the end of June, as well as get certified in 2010, and 2011 will be coming out in the Fall. That will qualify you to go for your Advanced Certification.

Talk about the fast track!

And of course, you’ll get the 2010 software now, and the 2011 software when it comes out too. You can’t beat getting all that for a single annual membership. This is the best time of year to join!

Finally, if you’re not quite ready for the ProAdvisor program, and you’re just getting started in your freelance bookkeeping business, you can still get a completely free business profile listing (though it won’t get fed out to all the major search engines, at least not as quickly), but there is still a lot of traffic on the Intuit sites. So you will still get targeted exposure to those who may need your help.

So my best advice is to take advantage of ALL the free profile listings you can on the web (and there are a lot of them!), including this one at the Intuit Business Directory.

You want people in your area to be able to find you in as many places as possible. Even if you don’t have a website yet, you can link your profile to your LinkedIn profile or your Facebook business page.

So those are just some quick tips I thought you could use and get in on while the getting is still good. This is a great way to make your marketing dollars work overtime for your business this summer.

And just in case you’re wondering, no, I’m not an affiliate of the Intuit WebListing service or the ProAdvisor Program and don’t get anything but the satisfaction of knowing that I’m helping you fill your business with great clients!

There really are plenty of clients to go around!

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Recently an article was published in one of our industry organization’s newsletters that took me a bit by surprise. They claim to “raise your professional status as a bookkeeper by making sure you are up to date.” They touted that, “We also give freelancing bookkeeping tips, such as how to market and charge for freelance bookkeeping – and how to start your own freelance practice.”

Sounds good, right?

Well, you be the judge. They went on to hold up as a model freelancer one of their members who had started her own freelance bookkeeping business. Here’s how she did it.

She left her employer, but started doing their bookkeeping on the side at $500 per month while she pursued another full-time job. Then she took on another part-time job at night so she could save up some money to start her bookkeeping business full time.

She then created a flyer that simply stated the type of bookkeeping work she could do and sent it out to 20 local CPA firms, which she found in the Yellow Pages. She got one response and was interviewed. Thereafter she got a couple referrals. She stated, “That’s all it took…after that, it was all referrals and word of mouth.”

Her business grew and she went on to hire two “freelance workers”  and took on commercial office space. Her “freelancers” tended the office while she served her clients at their locations “sometimes because of the tasks (e.g. filling out payroll forms), sometimes because of the software (Peachtree and MAS 90), but mostly because she sees it as essential to good service. ‘If I owned a business, I would not want to wait to see my updated books until my bookkeeper delivered them,’ she says.”

She ultimately converted her freelancers into legal employees, paying them the same hourly rate as before, but with the added employment taxes and expenses. She acknowledged that “new IRS scrutiny of ICs who may qualify as employees was also a factor.”

The case study ended with the member stating how her business had caused her to become a different person because her clients’ depended on her so much that it had given her life new meaning.

While there are certainly some good lessons in this case study for new freelancers, does this strike you as an “up to date” example of how to start and run a successful freelance bookkeeping business?

Let’s take a closer look at the lessons that can be gleaned here. I’ll also make some suggestions for improvement. If you are just starting out (or need to update how you are growing and running your business) I can assure you that you can definitely work smarter and avoid some of the dangerous pitfalls you’d hit by modeling this case study too closely.

Good Lessons

She started her business part-time while still bringing in a steady income. Getting your business off the ground is a gradual process.

Getting your first client(s) from those who already know you. It’s the best place to start your marketing!

Marketed her services to local CPAs. They can be a good source of referrals, but they should certainly not be your only form of marketing! Most new bookkeepers will not be so lucky.

Updates for Service

She worked at her clients’ offices. There is still a market for this type of service, but it is the least profitable. Seek to work online for your clients wherever possible. Use web-based bookkeeping solutions (such as QuickBooks Online Edition), a hosted solution (such as RightNetworks.com), or at least a QuickBooks Accountant’s Copy and/or file transfer services for near immediate delivery. You will be able to serve many more clients in a day and it will be much more convenient for everyone involved.

The most popular bookkeeping software for small business now is definitely QuickBooks. Peachtree users are a dying breed, and MAS 90 is all but defunked. QuickBooks holds 95% (or more) of the market share for small businesses who use bookkeeping software. Join the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program to stay up to date and get certification.

Pitfalls

DO NOT hire freelancers if you need employees. The IRS is very clear on this and it is not “new” for the IRS to scrutinize “ICs who may qualify as employees.”

If you do not want to hire employees but consistently have more work than you can handle, raise your rates and refer your overflow to colleagues. My sense is that our “model” freelancer was not charging enough for her services right out of the gate. Don’t make that same mistake.

And by the way, her freelancers were being underpaid too. She was paying them the same hourly rate as employees as she was when they were ICs! You should not be paid the same rate as an employee.

My conclusions: Start your business where you are, but make sure you do so professionally. Educate yourself about advancements in technology to keep your skills up to date and running your business most efficiently. If you’re serious about creating a business (not just another job for yourself), hire employees if you need to, but have a consistent marketing plan and charge professional rates.

What advice could you share with those just starting out as new freelance bookkeepers?

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In last month’s post, I made reference to the importance of having a concise statement that communicates exactly what you have to offer prospective new clients and referral partners, especially in a networking situation.

That got me thinking.

As freelance bookkeepers, knowing how to network (both online and offline) is probably THE most important marketing skill we can develop. After all, bookkeepers generally get the vast majority of new clients through word of mouth, not from paid ads.

Networking is an extremely low-cost way to get a steady stream of new clients coming in. Even when you are fully booked, having more prospects coming in than you can serve helps build the confidence needed to raise your rates and/or make referrals to colleagues to build stronger strategic alliances. You should never stop networking.

But here’s the reason so many freelance bookkeepers have a real struggle finding enough clients on a consistent basis, even when they do make an effort to participate in networking events on a regular basis.

The Single Biggest Mistake Nearly Everyone Makes

In a word: Follow-up

Word-of-mouth marketing is built on relationships. To build relationships, you need to follow up with the people you meet! Hardly anyone bothers to do that. What about you?

Have you ever attended a conference with colleagues, or a Chamber of Commerce event, only to come home with a fist full of business cards and good intentions? What usually happens though?

That little pile of cards just ends up in your desk drawer, doesn’t it? When you eventually look at it again, you see the names and wonder, “Who the heck is this?” (Yeah, I’ve been guilty of that too.)

Even if you do follow up, are you doing it just once, and then dropping the ball after a little more time passes by?

Networking Done Right

The best real world networking expert I know, Ely Delaney of My Business Marketing Mentor, recently explained to me how the flow of networking should work, to result in a stream of new prospects and referrals.

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When you network consistently and correctly, your number of referrals and new customers should grow exponentially over time. And by building a simple personal networking system, it can be an easy process that will create a new problem – being booked solid all the time. (Wouldn’t you like to have that problem?)

Here’s the simple system I’ve been using in my own business:

Before a networking opportunity

Set a clear goal for how many new contacts you want to make at that event.

I will usually only give myself the goal of 3-5 new contacts, since I am focusing more on quality than quantity. While traveling to the networking event or conference, I think about the type of people I might meet there, and what I may be able to offer them for free to build a win-win connection.

During a networking event

Keep your Ideal Client and Benefits statement clearly in mind (as mentioned in last month’s post).

Here’s exactly what I do to make new connections:

1.  Get to know the people I sit next to during the event. This takes a little pressure off, since I’m not super gregarious in a crowd. I ask “tell me about yourself” type questions so I can learn about the person and their business. I’m looking for common ground and ways to build a friendship.

2.  Discern whether they would make a good referral partner, or if they themselves may benefit from my QuickBooks services. This will usually become evident during the conversation.

3.  Conclude the conversation with either an exchange of contact information and agreement to follow-up, or bid a pleasant farewell if we are not compatible and I do not wish to add that person to my networking contacts.

Immediately after a networking event

Start the follow-up process.

I send out an email to thank my new contact for the conversation and recap any key points we discussed. If I promised to provide additional helpful information, I include it with the email or mention that I’ll be dropping it in the mail to them right away.

I end the follow-up communication with the next step to be taken (either by my new contact or by me).

I then set up a task in Outlook to remind me to follow-up (even if the other person is the one who is supposed to take the next action) and stay in touch.

My system is not perfect, and admittedly, sometimes I’m not as diligent as I should be with following up. In fact, I recently found out that there are some easy ways I can substantially improve my system and even automate it. Ely Delaney will be doing a special webinar on this topic this Thursday called, “The Ultimate Prospect Follow-Up System” that lays it all out. Since it’s limited, I’m getting in on this class now! (If you want to improve your follow-up system too, see the link in the Resources section below.)

The results from steadily building and nurturing your networking contacts can bring you amazing new customers and friendships. (I know this from personal networking experience.) In turn, you will create a stream of new customers and referral partners on which to solidly grow your business for many years to come.

So what are you going to do this week to improve your networking system?

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Resources:

“The Ultimate Prospect Follow-Up System” online training by Ely Delaney of My Business Marketing Mentor

“Fearless Networking” – simple, no-fluff book that lays out a solid and do-able networking system for new business owners or the shy and not-so-aggressive self-promoter

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Please note, some of the links in this post are affiliate links

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Even though you may consider yourself a freelance bookkeeper by profession, marketing must be one of your top priorities as a business owner. That’s because building your business is not something you do once and you’re done. It’s not static. Your business is constantly in the process of either growing or dying.

That’s why it’s important that we keep an eye on our marketing efforts, even in busy times, so business is always moving in the right direction – growing and attracting more clients.

To that end, I’ve become an avid student of marketing methods and even psychology. In truth though, like many freelance bookkeepers and QuickBooks consultants, I hate playing the role of sales person. But I do love to help people. So I’m always looking for great ways to market my business that focus on helping people, and having fun in the process.

That’s why I enjoy watching a weekly web TV show (something we will see more and more of this year, by the way) put on by Andrew Lock, an Internet marketer who likes to help all kinds of small businesses learn how to effectively use marketing strategies and tactics, both online and offline. His show is called, “Help! My Business Sucks!”

Catchy title, huh?

In a recent episode I found two golden nuggets that are especially important for attracting prospects to our kind of business.

1.  The importance of communicating clearly what you have to offer.

Our services are intangible and people often misunderstand what it is we actually do. This causes them to undervalue our services.

Our best solution is to educate our prospects. This can be done with your website, a brochure you provide about your business, or even in one-on-one conversations while networking.

Here’s the formula for effectively educating your prospects:

• Use a one-line statement to clearly communicate what you provide from a big picture standpoint.
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Include a specific benefit, wherever possible. For example:

“ABC Bookkeeping will bring your books up to date so you can manage your business profitably, and minimize your tax bill”
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• Give examples of all the problems you solve. This demonstrates the value of having a professional bookkeeper and helps them envision how your services benefit them personally.
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People think in terms of solutions (results) not in terms of tasks. So it is not necessary to list off the accounting functions you know how to do. This has little practical value to your clients. Don’t speak your language, speak theirs. They want to know whether you can solve their problems.

2.  Use a limit to helps people make a decision more quickly.

The video gave the example of how Disney does this with how they sell videos of their classic movies. They periodically offer them for only a limited time, and then pull the videos off the market. They do this to create urgency for buying.

This marketing method is known as “scarcity” and is a powerful tool for helping people to make decisions quickly. When someone says they want to “think about it” and make their decision later, 9 times out of 10, they will not buy. Procrastination kills sales.

The famous book among marketers, Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini, includes scarcity as one of the 7 most powerful factors when it comes to influencing people.

Unfortunately, it is commonly misused by manipulative marketers, and we are all pretty jaded because of it. But used sincerely and ethically, scarcity can nudge a prospective client in the right direction.

The two usual ways to create urgency are…

• limited time
• limited quantity

By adding some kind of special time or quantity limit to the services you offer, you encourage potential clients to make a decision more quickly and not procrastinate. And as we know with bookkeeping, clients just love to put if off. Of course, that only hurts their business! So giving them a nudge to engage your services is actually beneficial for them too.

Give a real reason for limiting your services, such as, “We can only accept five more clients until April 15th due to high demand for tax season deadlines” and you will automatically attract more business.

It’s a psychological thing. None of us wants to miss out on an important opportunity.

The caution here is to not use scarcity with negativity. Encourage action in a positive way so clients are benefited positively by working with you. Scarcity does not mean using scare tactics to bring in more sales.

There are several ways to use these golden nuggets in your bookkeeping business, with much success. In fact, in my brand new Cash Flow Mastery course, there is an entire lesson devoted to specifically putting these principles to work at pulling in more sales on demand.

Sadly, most bookkeeping services I’ve seen don’t pay much attention to their marketing efforts. That’s why they struggle. But you can make yourself stand far above your competition when you learn how to communicate clearly the benefits of your services. Show your clients why they need you now with a limited offer of some kind, and you will become irresistable.

Hmmm. The irresistable bookkeeper. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

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Recommended Resources

Referenced episode of “Help! My Business Sucks” – Episode #91

Cash Flow Mastery – online training for cash-crunched entrepreneurs

Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini

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The book links in this post are affiliate links

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