How To Start A Bookkeeping Business

By doing what 95% of bookkeepers do, you’ll get the same result that 95% of bookkeepers get. Often it’s not necessarily what you do, but how you do it

Nobody likes “Cold Calling”

Cold Calling
Nobody likes “Cold Calling”, and very few businesses like being “cold-called”. Let me ask how you respond to telemarketers and door-to-door salespeople?

Most times they get a negative response because they’ve put the prospect on the back foot straight away

Imagine an icecream vendor down the beach on a cold wintery wet day – compared to the same vendor on a hot summer day – same vendor, same beach, different circumstances

Have a look at what you’re doing, and think about how you’d be if you were at the receiving end of your campaign.

When bookkeepers have an “Ahah” moment

We speak to many bookkeepers and hear similar problems – what we’ve found is that some bookkeepers think they “know it all” and are not prepared to open their mind to new/ different ideas – whereas others will listen and have an “Ah-aha” moment

There’s so many cooking shows on TV, and when the presenter cooks up a meal, it looks so easy. We can use that same recipe and create a disaster at home

Why is that?
Maybe it’s because the methods that we use initially seems straight forward and often familiar, but the way the recipe is followed is what makes a difference

How open are you to hearing “the same old stuff” that you think you already know – how open are you to learning the “fine tuning” that it may take to go from getting what 95% of bookkeepers get, to getting achieving what the other 5% achieve

Having no experience as a bookkeeper would also make your task more difficult – business owners are not dumb – they can sense whether someone knows what they are talking about or whether they are just being “sold”

We have a program to help bookkeepers find clients – we will also work with those bookkeepers and actually source clients on their behalf

Can you find bookkeeping clients in your local shopping centre?

Chantall writes:” I have been trying to design a simple flyer to put up at the local shopping centre on the notice board and I was just wondering if you had any templates or designs that I could try.”

Good question.

If flyers on a shopping centre notice board were so succesful, every small business owner in the country could just stick one up and sit back and watch the clients flood in!!

Unfortunately it’s not always that easy. For example, have you ever cooked a meal for the family, and it just didn’t look appetising? Yet it still tasted delicious.

Not only is the presentation important, but so is the content. Many shopping centres have notice boards where people advertise unwanted furniture, kids bike etc for sale

Is your target market of bookkeeping clients going to be reading those notice boards?

Maybe. Maybe not.

The problem also arises that your flyer could be lost amongst all the other notices.

However, it can work very well. After all, just picking up one regular bookkeeping client would make the whole exercise worthwhile.

When designing your bookkeeping flyer, I’d be focusing on the “WHY”.

• What makes your service any different from any other bookkeeper in the area?
• So why should they choose you?
• Why does anybody want your service?
• Why is anyone going to call you after reading a notice on a shopping centre board?

Then I’d be asking myself:

• How often do you read the notice board?
• Have you ever called anyone from a notice?
• If so, why did you call them?

Start answering those questions and you’ll be closer to getting a succeful outcome

Do you want to know who to ask for bookkeeping referrals?

A good place to start is with your existing clients! We’re amazed at how many bookkeepers let slide a simple question. (more…)

The first thing many bookkeepers do when starting their bookkeeping business, or when they are looking to find new bookkeeping clients is to rush off and print some flyers.

Why Printing Flyers Can be Costly
The questions you should ask yourelf are these:

• “What do I do with Junk Mail that I receive in my letter box?”
• Why should other people do anything different with junk mail they receive in their letter boxes?
• How much response do I expect to get from my flyers?”
• What have I asked people to do in my flyers?
• When I have I asked them to do whatever it is that I’ve asked them to do?

Most bookkeepers that we know get a 100% success rate with their flyers
They get exactly the response that they have asked for – NOTHING

Here’s a couple of things to consider when producing flyers to help you find bookkeeping clients:

• What is the flyer for?
• Who is your target market?

When we ask this question of bookkeepers they say : Everybody (to both questions)

Really?

So an employed family are your target market? No, of course not. What about people who are employees? Again, of course not

Straight away we start narrowing down our target market – Small Business owners.

Aahha ! I’ll go down to the local industrial area and drop off my flyers – that will work!

If you’re printing flyers to build your bookkeeping business and you’re handing them out to specific people – then, who are you handing them out to? Are they “qualified” leads?

So what’s the purpose of the flyer??
If printing a flyer was a simple way of finding clients, every one would do it, and they wouldn’t need our help

Firstly: What’s the headline? Who you are and what you do is of little relevance until someone can see that you are solving a problem that THEY have

Secondly: When do YOU want a response? Where’s the sense of urgency?

Hardly Normal sell computers 365 Days a year, so why do they have
“Hurry down – This weekend only!”
- Because they are creating a sense of urgency

Thirdly:
How do you track the response rate to your flyers?
- Want to know what we do? Ask us!!!

To build a successful bookkeeping business as a sole trader, you are looking for between 16 – 20 regular clients.

When sourcing new bookkeeping clients we do not focus on “pro-forma” marketing letters or brochures because in our experience they are not that effective. If they were, everyone that did it would have huge businesses. In most cases direct marketing letters are treated like junk mail.

We’ve found that a properly constructed and worded website is far more effective than direct marketing. It’s easier to service someone who is looking rather than persuade someone who is not looking for your services.

If you want help with your bookkeeping website, then contact us NOW

You have a particular personality, and particular skills that sets you apart from other bookkeepers in your area – and its those qualities that you should focus on.

Bookkeepers build their businesses on word of mouth and business relationships.

Everywhere you go you are meeting potential clients – it’s how you handle those encounters that will determine the success of your business.

Understanding a what bookkeeping business is, and how clients respond, is an important part of the marketing of your business. It’s about “What’s in it for me (the client)” not what’s in it for you the bookkeeper.

The book “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients” is full of ideas and
strategies that bookkeepers can take on board. For bookkeepers that still need further help, we developed our marketing program.

This is tailored to suit the needs of individual bookkeepers to suit their circumstances – bookkeepers that have come on board have built their businesses upto +$50,000 pa in less than a year.

“I’ve just started my bookkeeping business, and I need some clients – can you please help me?”

Yes, yes, yes!

That’s what we do – we’ve helped bookkeepers all around Australia find clients, organise appointments, and set the fee structure – all the bookkeeper has to do is show up to the appointment ON TIME and then its “head down, bum up”

We’ve helped bookkeepers all around the world find bookkeeping clients – that’s why we wrote the Ebook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients” – in that book we reveal some very valuable tips to securing your bookkeeping clients.

Notice the difference between finding and securing bookkeeping clients? Finding clients is just the first part of the process – especially when there seems to be a bookkeeper everywhere you look, and clients “shopping around” for the “right” bookkeeper in their locality.

“One appointment with a new bookkkeeping client earned in excess of $200,000″

Ever had that dreaded question asked :”How much do you charge for your bookeeping?” Straight away you know that they’re shopping around for bookkkeeping rates. Many times we get those calls, and it’s from local bookkeepers wanting to know “the going rate”.

So if you’re reading this because you’ve just started book- keeping and you need clients, and you are wanting our help, then do yourself a favour – take advantage of our help. You’ll find everything you need and more to find some more bookeeping clients in our Ebook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients”

Yes, we know, you’re thinking “They just want to make money out of me by selling a book!” . What if, just by some fluke of chance, you picked up a tiny piece of information in that book that led you to finding a new client? What if that client started out being only a couple of hours a week?

What if that client was expanding their organisation, and ten years later you were stilll working with that client you’d earned in excess of $200,000 from that one initial appointment?

Nahhhh ! Never happens!! Well it has happened, we still have that client (amongst many others).

So if you’re reading this because you need help finding book – keeping clients, then order your copy our Ebook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients”

If finding bookkeeping clients is so simple, why do so many bookkeepers struggle to get their own bookkeeping business started?

We receive emails from accountants and bookkeepers that have been working in the industry for years, and then become frozen like rabbits in the car headlights at night. They become mesmerized by the prospect of having to find bookkeeping clients.

You may be a very good bookkeeper, but how do you tell that to a business owner who has had a few bad experiences with previous bookkeepers?

After you’ve spent money putting an advert in the local newspaper, or yellow pages, you sit back and wait for the phone to ring – right? Well, good luck with that. Consider this: the advertising industry tends to make the money on the sale of their product, not on the sale of your product / service.

The success of your advertisement is of no importance to your local newspaper or printed business directory. So now bookkeepers are turning to PPC (pay per click) campaigns on the internet.

That sort of strategy can be succesful, depending on a few factors such as bidding for the correct keyword, having the correct landing page, and then being able to convert your lead.

We receive daily enquiries from small business owners seeking a reliable bookkeeper. It’s not exactly rocket science, which is why bookkeepers have been asking us how to find clients themselves.

To make life simpler for everybody, we compiled a book, aptly named “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients” which will answer many of the questions you already have, and also some that you haven’t even thought of yet.

If you are struggling to find book keeping clients, then do yourself a favour and get yourself a copy of “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients and discover for yourself why finding book-keeping clients is so simple.

Do you want to know why finding bookkeeping clients is common sense? We received feedback from a bookkeeper who’s been reading our EBook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients”

Some bookkeepers may well find that most of the content is “common sense”. But have you noticed how so many people seem to overlook what is often right under their noses.

For some bookkeepers that have experience, much of the information will not be new. The feedback that we have had from other bookkeepers is that they had forgotten, or were not even aware of, many of the techniques covered.

Should a bookkeeper sit down and work through even only a handful of the suggestions, and really followed them through, then they would soon have more clients than they could handle

The book has not been produced to win the Booker Prize, or become an acclaimed literary mastepiece. Whether or not it is gramatically correct does not detract from the message, and many bookeepers have been able to boost their business from concepts outlined in the book

A business associate recently asked a computer techie to fix a problem with in his office, and was charged $300 for 15 minutes work. The client was stunned, and asked for a breakdown of the invoice

Was it worth $300? Maybe, maybe not – If the client was losing business because his computer system wasn’t working, then maybe it was worth it

We built a business from zero from trial and error. It took time and persistance. This book has helped bookkeepers by saving them time, and more importantly money, and even if they pick up only one tip, they are virtually guaranteed a return on their investment.

You want to know how much to charge your bookkeeping clients? That’s a good question – we’ve helped bookkeepers increase their income dramatically – here’s a video that may help

With Kind Regards

Jenny Newgate
Bookkeeping Team Pty Ltd

So you’re starting a bookkeeping business and you needs clients. And like many bookkeepers, you’ve arrived at this website in search of the “Bookkeepers Holy Grail”

The elixir to solve all your problems with starting a bookkeeping business. That magical potent that you can swallow and suddenly your telephone will start ringing, and bookkeeping clients will be queuing outside your front door.

You’ve found something that you can get for free on this website – lots of tips to help you find bookkeeping clients. There’s even a free chapter of our EBook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients”

Yet, somehow, that’s still not enough. Because you still haven’t secured any bookkeeping clients. And without any book keeping clients you are hardly in business as a freelance bookeeper.

We get enquiries every day from potential bookkeeping clients, wanting to engage a bookkeeping service. Indeed, we have more client enquiries than we can handle – so why don’t we just hand them over to you? After all, you’ve come to our website www.StartBookkeeping.Com.Au in search of ways to find yourself bookkeeping clients – and we have book keeping clients that we could refer to you.

Sounds like a simple win – win arrangement, don’t you think?

Well, for our bookeepers who join our Bookkeepers Marketing program, it is indeed a win-win situation. They not only receive some priceless tips and pointers to help them get their bookkeeping business started, but they have the added bonus of scoring new bookeeping clients

We have a service whereby we help experienced bookkeepers source clients – we do not work with every bookkeeper, and neither do we take on every client – we are looking to get the right / client / bookkeeper teamed up, so that everybody wins. … more details here

What is involved in the Bookkeepers Marketing Program?

The Bookkeepers Marketing Program is designed for bookkeepers who are starting, or who already have their own bookkeeping business, tailored to your business.

It’s designed for bookkeepers with knowledge and experience in doing bookkeeping. We do not train you in how to become a bookkeeper. We’ll help you through the hurdles and obstacles involved in getting your bookkeeping business operational.

This is not a franchise. You do not sub-contract to us as a bookkeeper, you will be contracting directly to the business owner / operator who is needing bookkeeping services.

Ask any small business owner, and they will tell you that certain sacrifices have to be made short term, for a long term gain.

We have many bookkeepers who have been very grateful for the service we offer, as they have found it to be a great boost to their business, and their income. These bookkeepers have gained insight into promoting their businesses, how to manage their time more effectively, and other tips that may have taken them years to learn.

They appreciate that our service is not “just about getting three clients”, it’s about gaining knowledge to build a self sustainable business, that has the potential for an income in excess of $100k. See our Bookkeepers Marketing Program for more details