What Is A Virtual Bookkeeper?

Do research on everyone you’re reaching out to and present your business as a solution to their problem. If you do it well, cold email can have over a 10% response rate. It’s also notoriously difficult to make direct sales on LinkedIn.

We guarantee it will be an incredible investment of time into your business. Hire and retain the best staff, to minimize turnover and keep your clients happy. When you get the right things done in your business you get the results you want such as more money, fun and freedom. Here’s a project template to help you get more things done in your business.

Bring in a consistent stream of clients for your business, and never struggle to get leads or convert prospects to clients. And starting off on the right foot (if you’re just starting out with your business). Once they start getting some clients, they work long hours for low pay. They constantly have to check email and voicemail, because they’re worried about upsetting clients if they’re not constantly available and “on call”. Many people launch their own businesses because they want to work from home, set their own hours, and stop working for other people.

How To Become A Virtual Bookkeeper In Canada?

Most on-site bookkeepers have accounting and business training, and you’ll need to have the same if you want to work as a freelance bookkeeper. In freelance accounting services, it is possible to use any combination of software programs so long as they meet the needs of your customers. When building a successful accounting, bookkeeping and/or tax business there are three stages. For some, it begins working with clients on the side, a supplemental income.

You can usually find these through checking various online job adverts. You only need to convince them that you’re the perfect person who can provide a better solution for their business’ bookkeeping needs. Social media marketing or SMM is the process of using social media platforms to create, maintain and grow relationships with customers and followers. It is an important tool for businesses in Canada that want to reach a large audience quickly and easily.

I’ve obtained almost all of my clients through the QuickBooks ProAdvisor directory or by word-of-mouth. Although I have Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook business pages, I don’t rely on them to get me business. I’ve come to discover that my typical client How do bookkeepers get clients is not active on social media and probably wouldn’t seek out an accountant that way either. Attending networking events hasn’t been that effective either despite my best efforts to follow up and engage in conversations after the event is over.

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Even in today’s digital age, in-person events are great opportunities to meet new prospects. It’s still hard to beat face-to-face interaction when done well. Networking events are even more effective for businesses who serve other businesses. There might be several issues that the customer faces such as budget constraints. You need to save your time for clients who know what they want and are willing to pay for the services they are getting. This is your opportunity to help build a vision with your client for their future. If they are clear about your firm’s working transparency and effective management, it will be easy for the client to make a decision.

By finding opportunities like this to follow-up at the moment when your prospects need you most, you’ll be more likely to be top of mind when they’re ready to reach out for help. In Close, you can set up email sequences to follow up automatically with leads that have gone dark. Do you have a list of people who promised to call you back but never did? It’s time to overcome your fears and start following up. Then, you’ll be able to successfully target the right people who are in need of your services. To figure out which events you should be at, go back to your ideal customer profile. If your ideal customers are all small businesses, for example, find out what local events geared towards small businesses are coming up.

As an insider in the cloud accounting world, I can tell you that many virtual bookkeeping services don’t follow the best practices that have been listed above. If you don’t walk away from your initial interactions with your prospective virtual bookkeeping service feeling 100% confident that this company has your back, then just say no. Do you have a specialty such as accounting for small businesses or for a specific industry? If so, get involved with that specialty’s trade associations and industry groups. Speak at their conferences, attend networking events and follow them on all relevant social media platforms. Staying close to the groups in your niche not only increases your chances of meeting new clients, but it also helps you stay on the cutting edge. You’ll be up to date on the latest concerns your target clients have and any emerging legislation.

These are proven strategies used by successful freelance bookkeepers to find clients and keep their calendars full. If you’re a new freelancer, it can be hard to figure out how to land your first bookkeeping clients. Now, growing your business’ online presence is more important than ever.

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Or, I can use Hubdoc which automates all of that for me. It’s an investment at $20/mo per client, but I feel like I am saving at least that much of my time by utilizing their system. If I run across a client that utilizes a bank that doesn’t work on Hubdoc, then I simply don’t put them on it. Hubdoc is all about saving me time and increasing my gross margins. I think you get this one by now, but I use QuickBooks Online exclusively with my clients by providing on-the-go bookkeeping services.

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• Some online courses, like Bookkeeper Launch, will connect you with a community of other bookkeepers who may be looking to hire help.
• Selling your firm’s services and finding new clients isn’t just about solving problems.
• If so, one of the ways to get your first client is through referrals.
• Although it sounds effortless, word of mouth marketing doesn’t happen by itself.
• This is a great way to gauge if you’re charging enough per hour for the bookkeeping work you are doing.
• For more content like this, join the discussion on our global partner community Orange Select.

2) Your small business will be far more streamlined if you only sell your core offering, as you can benefit from more standardization. After completing this step, you’ll have a clear path for your business in its first year. You’ll set up a long-term vision of what you want your own business to achieve and work backward to arrive at immediate priorities to focus on. There’s no reason why your firm can’t leave a lasting impression.

Accounting Practice Partnership

I opened in January and my most profitable resource has been Thumbtack with direct mail a very close second. I did not receive one phone call or any increase in web page visits from all of those clicks and I pretty much consider them to be a fraudulent company. I also contracted with a company to do Google Adwords and spent a large amount of money with only one $60 job to show for it. I’m always looking for other accountants in Phoenix to collaborate with. Sometimes I get prospects where it’s not a good fit and I like having a short list of accountants that I can recommend to them.

Teamwork is a real winner for a project management tool. Not only did I run my last accounting firm on it, but I also run my current business on it. Conversely, without uncovering that pain point, potential clients would likely be more price sensitive. The bad thing about Google and Facebook ads is that they can be super expensive and the traffic you get may not be the traffic that you want. Which means you would end up with the wrong kind of bookkeeping clients. 2) To get clients, write a well-optimized blog that increases your chances of appearing on the first page of Google.

Overall, I’m very pleased I like that the cost is so much cheaper than ADP – but it still seems up to par with that technology. I’m curious to know if you made the change to onpay and if you like it? I saw your post and was looking to use onpay as well but wanted to see if you experience so far was good.

That’s not any different than hopping on a video call with a Virtual Bookkeeper to talk about month-end numbers. You are more ready to make the jump to virtual than you think. The content of Part-Time Money® is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to ptmoney.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. I asked her what advice she had for someone who is thinking about getting started in this industry.

#3: Understand What Your Clients Value

As their bookkeeper or accountant, you’ll have to work with their accounting software, payroll schedule, and filing system. If they work with a third-party service, you’ll need to work with their system. Payroll challenges and mistakes are a common problem for businesses so your bookkeeper checklist for new clients must help you understand their payroll needs. Before discussing anything else, you need to have an idea of what kind of business your prospective client has. Your new accounting client checklist should start with this open-ended question. One common problem with both lead nurturing and on-boarding is that there’s too much talking and not enough listening. With the right questions, it’s possible to collect the information you need to close the deal with prospective clients and demonstrate your value to new clients.

• Sharing your knowledge can be a great way to build your credibility and your brand.
• Throughout the year, retail stores require bookkeepers to keep their expenses and revenues in balance.
• Just because social media advertising might not be right for your new bookkeeping or accounting firm, that does not mean you should avoid it entirely.
• While this may seem like a quick and easy route, that often isn’t the case.
• This is important if you want to charge premium prices because they have to be able to afford you.

There are a number of marketplaces/directories where experts can bid on quotes from clients for a reasonable price. A couple examples are Thumbtack in the States and Oneflare in Australia. You’ll need to search for your industry in your country to find the right matchmaking service. The best way to do it is Google “find the best ” and they’ll most likely pop up. Any space will really work though, don’t think you need a co-working space to run a workshop. Start small and don’t expect to get big speaking gigs right away. Large conferences usually have local events in the lead up that will take amateur speakers to fill their slots.

Connect With Your Past Clients Regularly

Bookkeepers and accounting firms should reach out to clinicians and doctors in their area to offer their services. Medical professionals are busy individuals and are often in need of reliable bookkeepers to help them with their books.

That being said, it can be a great way to target professionals like lawyers and accountants. Just be prepared to shell out at least $5 per click (as of writing this that’s the minimum). Take a peek at ReferralCandy’s epic list of referral programs to get some ideas for your business. Quora gets a ton of views around almost every topic imaginable.

By developing a clear target client market, you’ll be able to better focus your marketing activities which we’ll later discuss. Potential clients can be found in more places than ever before. Some of the channels and techniques you used in the past may no longer work. Once you have defined your niche, you might feel that you are missing out on many clients.

The more people you get to know and organizations you get involved with, the easier getting those first 10 paying accounting clients will be. Most organizations also have newsletters or membership guides where you can purchase a classified ad. In the case of a school, you could sponsor the annual carnival, talent show or sports team. Finding your niche will undoubtedly boost your chances of finding new business through https://www.bookstime.com/ numbers 1 and 2 in this Top 10 list. By targeting specific types of businesses, you can then make your firm the new go-to place for whatever it is those businesses do. You could be known as the best bookkeeper for restaurants, or the accountancy firm that knows everything about the gardening trade. This will of course increase the likelihood your clients will refer similar businesses in the same industry to you.

How Do I Find A Bookkeeper For My Small Business?

Make sure you meet key people and be sure to follow up afterwards. It may also pay to establish non-competitive relationships with other firms you trust. For example, a firm with strong company tax expertise may offer bilateral referrals with a firm that has substantial company advisory experience. Or if you’re changing your firm’s focus, you could partner with a less specialized general bookkeeping or payroll practice. They could take on the day-to-day functions as you begin to specialize in higher value services.