LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIPS

How to leverage partnerships to unlock the power of QuickBooks software.

QuickBooks has an amazing product line. Between all the offerings it can accomplish so much for business owners. Even better, if you add on the right stack of apps and connections it becomes extremely powerful. There are thousands of additional applications, over a dozen financial options and several integrated products. As an end-to-end solution, customers can really be wowed! 

What does all this mean to you, the QuickBooks ProAdvisor? It can be super exciting to offer so many amazing tools to your clients and at the same time, it can be overwhelming. It’s literally impossible to learn all the applications available as well as all the many QuickBooks options. 

At the last Quickbooks Connect conference, Brad Smith shared that ProAdvisors should “build your wolf pack.” What he meant was, to build a team of experts you can collaborate with when you need support. Being part of a group of experts can allow you to lean on them when you get a lead across your desk that is outside your wheelhouse. Instead of turning away the business, you can leverage your partnership with experts to help you navigate through a challenging project. 

As you build your support network, figure out what expertise you bring to the table. What area do you specialize in? You do not have to narrow it down to one specific niche or vertical but keep in mind the type of projects you enjoy doing. Think back on projects that brought you joy, the customer raved about your work and you felt very proud – this is your area of expertise. 

One area that I specialize in and where I shine is cleanup. I love cleaning up a messy set of books, reconciling it to the penny, correcting or setting up inventory to flow correctly as the software was intended and setting up payroll with the correct year to date figures from January until current so that payroll can go live. There are other areas I can support but those areas bring me great joy! This is what I mean when I ask people “Do you love what you do?” It’s important to not only love what you do but take the time to become a leading expert in this area. Focus on learning everything you need to know to make your job easier and be the “go-to” person for these types of projects. 

When you become good at what you do you may also find you have a bandwidth problem. What do you do? As you build your support network, you may find someone that loves the same areas you do and you can collaborate with your knowledge. You can also pass projects back and forth. It’s important to know your options when you get stuck. If you allow your support work to take over your time, your existing customers may suffer. Try to under promise and over deliver early to exceed customers’ expectations.  

Keep in mind that when you are creating an end-to-end solution for your customer, you may also need to bring in additional resources to fill in the gaps. It’s important to present a united front to your customers when collaborating with other experts. Be sure to create marketing material to share with prospects that include your solutions as well as your team. Many options include product purchase so if you are a ProAdvisor that wants to accept commissions and residuals you can find partner programs as a great way to add to your bottom line. At a minimum, become a certified ProAdvisor so that you come up in the search of “find a ProAdvisor”. You should also make sure you are charging enough for your level of expertise. As you are finding your preferred vendors you should also join a partner program with a QuickBooks reseller. In these programs, they share commission and become a resource to help you select the right product and pass along low prices. Partner programs are a great way to meet experts in your field that you can collaborate with. Learn more about the CBG partner program.