{"id":341,"date":"2021-03-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisacampbellprofitcoach.com\/?p=341"},"modified":"2021-08-06T20:46:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T20:46:04","slug":"are-there-breaks-in-your-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisacampbellprofitcoach.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/04\/are-there-breaks-in-your-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Are There Breaks in Your Ecosystem?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The ecosystem of your bookkeeping business is what happens from the second someone contacts you as a prospective client through the entire intake system, the onboarding process, the delivery of the work you promised, and the exit of that same client. Every step of the way, you should have a system in place and that is what I refer to as your ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


As a bookkeeper, think of your ecosystem as this little bubble. Potential clients are outside it and want to come in. You want to make sure everything that happens when those clients reach the inside of your bubble is easy and repeatable. Of course, this is truly only possible if you are bringing in the right people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Finding Leads<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could spend hours on the phone, or via email, with people who are not your ideal client. This is why you should have a process established, so the right people are getting to you. If you have no clue who your ideal client is, this is the time to figure it out! A couple of questions to ask yourself include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Who do I want to work with?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Who do I not want to work with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Those are really basic questions, but they are ones that people forget to ask themselves!
Once you know who your ideal client is, you must find an intake process that will allow people who qualify to get onto your calendar. Those who do not qualify will have different options available to them, but meeting directly with you won\u2019t be one of them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Discovery Calls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am sure you have discovery calls with all of your potential clients. When you get on these calls, what do you do? Do you give them a quote immediately? Or do you tell them you can handle everything on their list and then give them a price?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


If you do this, please stop! Neither of those options is going to work well for either of you because you haven\u2019t had the chance to dive into their books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


On a discovery call, you want to establish a client\u2019s pain points, share how you can fix them, and let them know how you can be of service to them. After all of that, you need to review their current books. There is always going to be a charge for this review, you should never do it for free. And you should never skip this step because it is the only way you will know how much you should be charging this client and what you\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Trying to provide a quote without reviewing the books is like calling your mechanic and having them quote you for work on your car without them even knowing what is wrong! And if you even attempt to give a client a price range, they will always remember the lowest number you give them, while you will always remember the highest number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Onboarding Process<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to have a process for your onboarding, so you are not grabbing things out of thin air and second-guessing yourself with every client. If you are doing the same thing every time, having a process in place will ensure you never forget a single step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


You won\u2019t miss anything. Your team won\u2019t miss anything. And the client will never have to wonder if they gave you something!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Delivering the Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have one or two components for delivering work right now. The first will always be your compliance work. That work alone requires a system, so it is repeatable for every single client. This system should have the answers to how you do everything, the reports that are saved, where you save those reports, and how everything is labeled. The system should also be cloud-based, so everyone can access it when they need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The second component for delivering the work falls on the advisory side. You may or may not be there yet in your bookkeeping business. But if you are, then you should have a system in place for that work as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I understand all of your clients are different, but each meeting or checkpoint is going to be basically the same structure. Having a process in place is going to save you a lot of time because you won\u2019t need to think about the steps you are taking before you meet with each client. You can simply look at your process and know what information will be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Exit of a Client<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one ever wants to lose a client, but it happens and you must be prepared for it. Having an offloading procedure in place will make the exit of a client easier for you, the client, and their new bookkeeper. I recommend having this process in place well before you have a client exit because then you won\u2019t be scrambling at the last minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The process of offloading will include handing information over to someone else. As the high-level bookkeepers, we are, we want to make sure we transition the new person into their role with as much assistance as possible. They\u2019re going to get pristine books and you are going to tell the new bookkeeper exactly where you left off. You will tell them where the log-ins are stored and anything else that is necessary for them to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


There are many ways you can accomplish all of this, but client manuals, videos, or mini-tutorials are usually best.
Having this system in place will have you avoid wondering if you did this or that three months or six months down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Creating your own ecosystem is a lot of work, but once it is done, it\u2019s done. Yes, it may need to be tweaked when you add services. But the inside of this ecosystem, or bubble, will be pristine, predictable, repeatable, and understandable by everyone on your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Start building your ecosystem today, so you can start breathing easier tomorrow!<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ecosystem of your bookkeeping business is what happens from the second someone contacts you as a prospective client through the entire intake system, the onboarding process, the delivery of the work you promised, and the exit of that same client. Every step of the way, you should have a system in place and that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t