Let's face it some clients are just better than others. We have so many great clients for our bookkeeping service and they have a lot of common traits. Not all clients though are a great fit for your service and sometimes it becomes necessary to fire bad clients. It's typically not the fault of the client or the service provider; sometimes it's just not a good fit. Good clients on the other hand are the perfect fit. They produce good revenue in an efficient manner and both sides win. You know when you have a home run fit for your service and you should know how to define your perfect client and then target them. So, who makes a great client for our bookkeeping services?
Accountability
Accountability is incredibly important to us. We believe you should hold everyone accountable in your business. We hold our service accountable to our clients and expect the same of them. Creating an environment where everyone is accountable to one another really helps us get our job done efficiently as bookkeepers. Accountability on both sides of the client/vendor relationship promotes growth for everyone involved.
Responsiveness
We often hit road blocks in getting the books caught up or questions answered because clients become unresponsive. We totally get it; accounting is neither your highest priority nor that interesting at times. However, if you continually push it off it will never get done.
Clients that respond to our needs and questions in a timely manner get their books done. Additionally they are really fun to work with. Other clients wait until they absolutely need something and then call us in a frenzy because the books are not current. If questions are answered in timely manner and requests are fulfilled the books are always current.
We have a saying we use for these panic situations: "your bookkeeping neglect is not our emergency."
Use Finances as a Tool
Our bookkeeping services work best for those small businesses that want to use their finances as a tool to grow. An updated and accurate bookkeeping system has a lot of valuable information in it; you just need to know how to analyze it.
You should have a predetermined deadline for the books to be closed each month. In addition you should also have a set of reports that you look at on a regular basis. Developing a budget for your small business is a crucial step that many owners skip. A budget can be thought of as a roadmap for your business success. Without comparing actual results vs expectations you have no idea if your business is performing well.
If you are only keeping books to file taxes you are really missing out on a huge benefit of having a bookkeeping service. Keeping updated books only to have them go unused outside of filing taxes can be pretty frustrating as a bookkeeper.
Push our Services to be Better
We always want our bookkeeping services to exceed our clients expectations. In order to blow our clients expectations out of the water we need their help and feedback. What do you like and dislike? How can we be better?
We often ask clients if they are getting everything out of their bookkeeping system that they need. Sometimes they respond with something like, "Yes but I wish I could get (insert desire) out of the bookkeeping system." We love these situations and pride ourselves on being able to deliver custom solutions to our clients.
We believe that we are innovative, thought leaders in our industry, and an all-around smart crew. In order to remain at the top of our industry we need feedback from our clients that constantly pushes our services to be better.
Referrals
Lastly, we seek referrals from our clients. We often ask our clients for referrals to other businesses that they know that may need our services. If you are not asking your customers for referrals you should be. If your customer is hesitant about giving you a referral you are probably not knocking it out of the park for them.
Some of our best clients become evangelists for our services. Those clients that love us so much just need to tell everyone in their network about us. They set up opportunities for us that we never saw coming. Customer evangelists are great for your business because they become your 24/7 sales team. You don't sign up evangelists for your service; you earn them through non-stop, top-notch service.
Think you have what it takes to be a great client?
