A GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS ADVISORY RELATIONSHIPS TO GROW FUTURE SUCCESS

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1 Look to the future 5

2 Advisory – The rst steps 10

3 Training and development 15

4 Client and pricing 19

5 Showcasing your potential 23

6 Starting the conversation 27

7 Adding value to the data 29

8 Help when you need it 31

There’s no doubt about it, change can be daunting. While adding the role of ‘Advisor’ to the services you provide clients sounds good on paper it’s only natural to be apprehensive about how to execute this service or to think “what’s in it for me?”. The benets to repositioning your existing services or adding advisory work to your portfolio are that adding this value can help you strengthen your existing relationships and drive long term new clients. So let’s take this idea of becoming an expert partner (advisor) for your clients and make the dream achievable by breaking it down one step at a time.

Of course, technology is at the forefront of new directions in business however as it continues to drive transformation in businesses globally, the key to future success is to discover how you can use it to your advantage.

The simple rule is, you need to look at new technology as an opportunity. When you break down the various aspects of new software, programs or apps you quickly realise that you can use this new technology to upgrade your skills, expand your service o�ering and grow your business.

To put together this guide we have gathered the experience, knowledge and advice of leading bookkeeping and accounting associations and bodies as well as getting some valuable real-life stories from bookkeepers who are really putting technology to work for them, particularly in the area of advisory.

Essentially it’s about gathering and then interpreting a client’s data so you can present information and insights back to the business, providing value that can’t be ignored. It’s expert advice from a trusted source.

By the end of this guide you will have a good understanding of how you can plan for the future by upskilling, optimising your services and o�ering more value to your clients, and in turn create more success for your business.

Why read this guide?Contents

What is advisory?

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The main point to remember is that you don’t have to be an expert in everything to do with your clients’ businesses to be able to o� er advisory services. It’s not about stepping outside your eld of expertise but there is de nitely opportunity for growth if this is something that interests you.

A great place to start looking at potential advisory service options is to specialise in an area that you’re already pro cient in – such as point-of-sale systems, payroll or stock/inventory.

You could look at becoming an expert in a particular industry such as hospitality or retail, and then o� er expert knowledge in relevant accounting software add-ons or business processes.

Using the knowledge and experience you already have around systems and processes, you can feel con dent in partnering with your client by giving them advice on these things. You can help add real value to their business, and in turn, grow yours.

THE FOUNDATIONS TO HELP YOU BUILD A STRATEGY FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES.

The rst steps to starting advisory work

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“ I have been running a bookkeeping business for nearly 5 years now and have seen a lot of businesses su� er from lack of advice. One thing that always took time was preparing detailed management reports for my clients in a way they can understand. I started using advisor as soon as it became available. This has helped me be able to provide extra to my clients and give them some clarity on their accounts without spending a signi cant amount of time preparing the work. It is so important for business owners to be aware of what’s going on in their business. The most common issue I see in businesses is productivity. Owners believe they their productivity is at their maximum but upon review it is actually in some cases less than 50%.

I spend a lot of time working with not just clients but other bookkeepers, we have a strong bookkeeping community within the ICNZB and strive everyday to make a di� erence. It is important that business owners recognize what it means to be a ICNZB certi ed bookkeeper so that they can be reassured that they are in good hands. I have been apart of this community for a few years now and it is great that we can all work together to achieve the best we can for our clients.

This is my passion, to help other succeed and it makes it easy when you see businesses do just that.”

“ We’ve been o� ering Advisory Services (without calling it that) to all of our clients for as many years as I can remember. To me it’s a no-brainer. We’re in business to help small and medium business in NZ succeed. We’re not going to do that by just processing! Technology has helped make this easier by providing the ability to have much more up to date and accurate information.

Anyone that knows me will know how often I talk about relationships and how important they are – relationships with sta� , contractors, clients, alliances, strategic partners, legislative bodies and many more. To me advisory is about adding value to our clients in

whatever form that may take. We can’t be everything to everyone, so we concentrate on what it is we are best at and then bring in the “reinforcements” for other areas. These people might be other Bookkeepers with a di� erent area of expertise to us, they might be HR experts, Insurance experts, Accountants, Tax experts or anyone that we’ve created relationships with that we can introduce to our clients to give them the best possible opportunities to succeed. Every time, without fail, our clients win, our partners win and we win. Ultimately we become a vital cog in the wheel to success for our clients and that is when we feel like we are really achieving.”

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SUE INKERSELL– 3RD ARM ADMIN

JOANNE MANKELOW– MANKELOW ACCOUNTS

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Begin your journey with some quality ‘thinking time’. The best way to start is by setting aside time in your diary to actually map out where you want to take your advisory services. Think about how you can add more value to your clients’ businesses and in turn, grow yours.

We’ve created a suggested work� ow to help you build and prioritise your advisory plan.

Build your strategy

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Do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

Visualise what the ideal client might look like

Build a Target Market of potential clients e.g. primary production companies, small business, hospitality clients etc

Put together your ideal advisory service package

Identify what advisory means for your business e.g. benchmarking, cash© ow analysis, management reports, expense advisory services etc

Choose the advisory apps to help you deliver higher value

Compile a list of add-ons to evaluate for future use

“ Working in your own business can be lonely, so for me, being a Certi ed Consultant means that I have an account manager who I can discuss business growth ideas with.

Being part of the MYOB community, attending the MYOB seminars and conferences, and having a presence on the MYOB Approved Partner website has helped me grow my business.

There are great networking opportunities and I have met so many people, some of whom have become great friends over the years.”

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HEIDI BURDETT– BURDETT CONSULTING

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Before you can follow any of the tips and advice in this guide the very rst thing you will need to do is have your business fully prepared at peak eª ciency.

By having your business running at peak eª ciency means you will have more time and energy to dedicate to the execution of your advisory o� ering.

The essentials before you get startedHOW TO START MAKING THE MOST OF THE LATEST TECH.

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Kickstart your advisory business – 5 tips to save time

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Add-ons are independent solutions created by third party developers that solve specic pain points for a business. It could be anything from scheduling client appointments to managing sta� time. Over the last couple of years, literally dozens of add-ons have been created to extend the functionality of accounting software. Check out a huge range of add-ons that could simplify di�erent elements of your business here: myob.com/au/addons

Saving time when managing clients

Send a regular newsletter to keep clients updated with your business’s news or what’s going on in your industry and tips that can help them in their business. This is a great opportunity for getting valuable information out in bulk and can often save lots of phone calls or emails explaining the same thing over and over. Automate newsletters by using services such as Mailchimp, and automate your social media content by using services such as Hootsuite or Bu�er.

Collaborate with your clients in the cloud

By both being online it means you can upload your data le to the cloud and then provide password-protected access to your clients so you can both access the information in real time.

This allows you to become more eªcient by streamlining much of your day-to-day bookwork, compliance and tax updates, but just as importantly, gives you real-time business data and insights into your clients’ businesses.

By using a portal for document transfer and message communication you can reduce hours spent on phone calls, document chasing or face-to-face meetings, plus it means an end to frustrating processes such as emailing your data les back and forth, allowing you to deliver better service to your client.

Target 70% automation of tasks

Focus on automating processes within your business by moving paper-based processes online (job management, quoting and online invoicing), as well as integrating other technology systems such as payroll, rostering, etc with your existing accounting software.

Bank feeds

Set up bank feeds to save hours of time and take the hard work out of data entry by syncing your clients’ business bank transactions with your accounting software.

It means there is no need to manually key in every receipt and payment detail as the information will be automatically uploaded into your accounting software. There will be no missing data, no duplicates and no incorrect transactions if set up correctly.

After quizzing some of the brightest brains in bookkeeping we’ve put together a number of valuable ways technology can save you time in your business:

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The tools you’ll need

Once you have put in place the technological infrastructure that will help you automate processes, save time and communicate with your clients in real-time, you will need to focus on expanding your advisory operation.

Part of your plan will need to be knowledge-based, so training and development are both important. It’s a good idea to earmark events you might like to attend on the topic of advisory, such as workshops at MYOB Partner Connect or heading online and checking out the array of industry body resources available (more on these later) - anything that helps you enhance your understanding of the advisory space, and then work out how this could t within your business.

Training & development

Now that you have your advisory strategy mapped out, it’s time to consider how to develop your business to be in the best position to o� er these services to your clients. Thinking about your knowledge and experience in the industry, what kinds of advisory skills could you develop to o� er your clients? Could you upskill and o� er your clients specialised knowledge of certain add-ons, such as speci c industry or business processes?

As we mentioned earlier, you don’t need to become an expert in everything, focussing on a speci c area that you feel comfortable in is a great place to start.

UTILISING THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS AND CONNECTING WITH YOUR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS.

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MYOB Certi�ed Consultant Course

Certied Consultants are a specialised group of highly trained MYOB Partners who have earned exclusive access to client leads, promotions, discounts, software and more.

As part of onboarding into the Certication our partners are given training on our accounting software and add-ons, empowering them to upskill themselves, as well as their clients, on all things MYOB. Our annual re-certication provides a continuous learning path that ensures our consultants keep abreast of our business and product developments.

Becoming a Certied Consultant also connects you with over 1,000 of Australasia’s leading Accountants and Bookkeepers. We have a very active online and social community where the network support each other and share ideas and opportunities, by far the biggest advantage of the program from a Consultant perspective.

“ Once I became a Certied Consultant I became a lot more than just a consultant in an accounting program, I became this trusted person in a small businesses’ life and all of sudden it opened up discussions way beyond the software.”

– Lynley Averis, Accounting Training

With a plan in place to upskill your practice for advisory, it’s a perfect time to consider how you might develop your knowledge further in relation to how you work with other businesses. A great place to start is by creating a partnership with your clients’ accountants. Get in touch and have a chat over a co�ee about how you can really dene what services and advice each of you give. Outline how you plan on focussing on business eªciencies and processes, for example. You’ll soon discover that working in tandem with an accountant helps bring even more value to your clients’ businesses. And in return, your clients will appreciate the true value of your advice. There’s a valuable role for everyone in this partnership!

Beyond working with your clients’ accountants, it may also be of value working with other practices. If your advisory strategy includes a plan to specialise in a certain industry or sector, you and your clients may get some value out of building a relationship with practices that specialise in other areas.

For example, if you’re looking at a specialist area like hospitality or retail, nd out the practices that deal specically with these industries and make contact with them with a view to expanding your specialist knowledge.

Connecting with other professionals in the industry can give you an opportunity to create great mentorship opportunities for both you and your sta� and provide insight for career goals and growth. Setting up a monthly meeting with a mentor can help you address business problems that you might be having challenges with and o�er di�erent perspectives and development opportunities.

Creating & developing benecial partnerships

What resources are available?

If you’re looking to grow your skills there are a number of New Zealand industry bodies that o�er great training and development tools, courses and webinars to help you upskill and give you the condence to start your journey as an expert partner for your clients.

Institute of Certi�ed Bookkeepers

ICB is developing workshops and webinars, along with a more structured framework that includes proper collaboration and mentoring over one to two-month periods. Look out for more workshop rollouts across 2020 at icbnzbai.org.nz

MYOB Blog

The MYOB blog (myob.com/NZ/blog) is a one-stop-shop that is jam packed with all the latest news, bookkeeper and accountant specic articles, plus lots of resources on everything from government legislation to valuable tips on helping businesses succeed.

MYOB Events

Events such as Partner Connect or Incite are a great way to keep up with the latest trends and changes within the industry.

Ask your Partner Manager or get in touch with MYOB to learn about upcoming events where you can learn from industry professionals.

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Clients are the heart of your business and their needs are changing and evolving just as quickly as the way we do business. Keep in mind, when thinking about moving into advisory or even expanding the advisory work you might already be doing, now it’s about having the “right clients”. By this, we mean you should aim to work with like-minded clients who truly value an advisory relationship — those who understand what you’re o� ering and why you’re doing it.

In terms of the “right clients” you may have to make some adjustments to the way you currently do business. Like having the con dence to turn certain clients away, to review them quarterly instead of monthly, to retain good clients but politely end the relationship with others. Ultimately, you can be more successful by working with fewer of the “right clients”.

One of the main questions we hear from bookkeepers is about how to price advisory services. It’s likely that you’re currently on an hourly billing structure and while this may be working well for you now, as you move into an advisory space there are other options.

Here are 3 di� erent types of billing models you can consider. These pricing structures are just examples, ultimately how you price your services is up to you.

Hourly billing

This is a straightforward billing model based on an agreed hourly rate for speci c services and tasks.

Fixed fee billing

Fixed fee billing is when your client is billed a xed amount for agreed services on a monthly or regular basis. Fixed fee billing can be an exceptionally good outcome for you and your clients, however, looked at in isolation when the only focus is on price, the conversation needs to be well supported by the service you’re providing and the subsequent bene ts it delivers to the client.

Service billing

Have you thought about the idea of a service billing model, such as a monthly or quarterly retainer? “Value based pricing” means communicating with the client e� ectively about the problems they have that you can solve with your service. This may even include pain points that the client hasn’t even thought of yet. The idea behind this is that when you point out some of the outcomes of your service they realise they don’t want to be without your solutions. This means there is very little conversation about, or consideration of, price.

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CHOOSING THE “RIGHT CLIENTS” AND A RELEVANT PRICING STRUCTURE.

Choosing your clients

Pricing your services

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“ I had been charging an hourly rate for as long as I’ve been in business (many years) and when I’d considered xed fees it was hard to think about how to work it out. I’d also been of the opinion that with xed fees someone always loses.

Either you add a bu�er to allow for unexpected extra work, in which case the client loses, or you charge a conservative rate, in which case you lose when there’s extra work.

However, when I got down to it, it was actually quite easy. Most of my clients had been with me for some time if not for years, so I had plenty of history to use to work out what their average monthly fee was.

Then in order to sweeten the deal for them, in all cases I o�ered them a bundled amount that was less than what they’d been paying, and that worked in every case – I had virtually no resistance. I took advantage of the reduced subs for MYOB Partners so that I wasn’t losing out either – a real win-win!

The example email explains it best.

Probably the best part of this for me (and I’m so glad I thought of it) is Condition 2, the recurring payments. In that it’s now a case of set and forget for both me and the client.

They know exactly how much they’re paying every month and it’s done

automatically, and I don’t have to chase anyone for payment.

I spread the dates of payments for the various clients across the month so there is something coming in every few days, and it’s so great for budgeting and cash©ow forecasting. Absolutely brilliant!

Another positive to this change is that it allows me to relax and do my work at my own pace instead of having to watch the clock all the time. I like to do things thoroughly and you can’t always expect a client to pay for that extra care so this does away with that problem. Of course on the ©ipside of that it means I’m spending more time but not earning more, but you can’t have it both ways!

Yet another positive is that it has given me a good range of xed prices that I can o�er to prospective new clients when they contact me. I can match what they’re looking for, the size of their business etc to my existing clients and work out a probable rate from that. Previously working on an hourly rate it was impossible to give a new client an estimate, and I also had to tell them there’d be an extra charge for the MYOB subs where as now it’s all one fee which sounds a lot more attractive.

Overall, it’s been a very positive change and I haven’t had any negative feedback from clients at all.”

Dear <Name>

I’m changing my billing structure from an hourly rate to monthly xed fees. With long-term clients like yourself this is an easy process as we have the billing history on which to base the calculations. Please note all gures are excluding GST as this represents the true cost to you. Fee history

For the previous nancial year and this year to date (X months) my fees to you have averaged $XXX per month. My proposal: $XXX per month including MYOB subs. That represents a saving to you of $XXX per year (or more than a month for free).

Conditions:

1. This would be subject to review every X months (however your business is quite stable so unless you introduce a new element or there is some other major change I’m happy for that to remain as it is for at least a year).

2. I would ask that you set up a recurring payment for $XXX + GST = $XXX on the 15th of each month. That would cut down on the admin for both of us, although I’d still send you an invoice each month.

So there you have it. I look forward to your feedback and any questions you may have.

Regards,

ONE BOOKKEEPERS STORY – FROM HOURLY TO FIXED FEE

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Once you are completing advisory work ensure you are highlighting ‘value added’ to your client’s bottom line, either through email or face-to-face communications (why not even ask if you can use them as a case study client).

A case study is the ideal way to showcase your success in advisory to current and potential clients. Once you have an existing client as a case study you then need to build a story highlighting the value you have added by calling out the key points, showing how your experience in the sector bene ted the client and the successful outcome. You need to do this in a clear, engaging way that a potential client can easily relate to. Using an engaging format to promote it.

Once you have your advisory skills, services and price structure in place you then need to get out and tell people about them! You can achieve this in a number of ways. It could simply be word of mouth that delivers you a new client, or you may consider some modest social media activity using social media scheduling tools such as Hootsuite to pitch your marketing message to potential and existing clients.

While you were creating your strategy you will have needed to identify potential clients in terms of “picking the low hanging fruit” – the businesses that o� er good opportunities for you to advise on operational and process eª ciencies. The second consideration when you start talking to clients about o� ering advisory are those who have shown an interest in such a service, or perhaps a client who has an operational eª ciency opportunity.

TIPS ON EFFECTIVE WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR SKILLS AND SERVICES.

Marketing & identifying client opportunities

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The power of a solid case study can never be underestimated. If it’s clear, compelling and demonstrates the value you have added, it’s hard to ignore. A case study doesn’t need to be long, but here’s a checklist of what you should ideally include.

How to build a great case study Use this page to jot down some ideas

A topline overview of the business/sector in question (be sure to ask the client for their permission to use their information)

The business challenge or opportunity at the point of o�ering advisory services – which problem were you trying to solve?

The service o�ered and advisory approach – what was the solution to the problem?

The results – what tangible value was added to the client’s business?

If possible conclude with a summary quote/testimonial from the client to use in shorter form communications e.g social media

Should you be on our new Partner Program and are a Silver Partner or above, we are happy to o�er marketing advice. Please contact your Partner Manager for further information. Simply contact your Partner Manager or MYOB

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So, you’ve followed all of the previous steps, you’ve got your practice and your clients working harmoniously online together, you’ve got a steady © ow of reliable, accurate data coming through, now for the hard part – starting the conversation with your clients.

Well, it’s easier than you think thanks to the wonders of arti cial intelligence. Take MYOB Advisor as one example. It’s a new tool that looks at all of that valuable real-time data that is sitting with clients and then actively collects the data and turns it into meaningful insights.

The data is not just the usual graphs and reports though. MYOB Advisor uses a clever little feature called ‘natural language generation’ and what this does is generate actual conversation-starting statements on your clients sales, costs and more.

Then, armed with intelligent, data driven insights to get you going, and the ability to add your own interpretation, knowledge and understanding, you’ll nd the nature and direction of the conversations you’re having with clients begins to change organically towards a more advisory relationship.

To learn more about MYOB Advisor or get access to this free tool simply contact your Partner Manager or MYOB at partners.au@myob.com

JOANNE MANKELOW FROM MANKELOW ACCOUNTS

“ What I’ve loved about MYOB Advisor is the fact that it pre- lls a lot of the information, but we’ve still got that ability to edit it or put our own little twist on it – and the fact that we can include and exclude depending on what’s relevant for the client.”

SUE INKERSELL OF 3RD ARM ADMIN

“ A picture can paint a thousand words but a good nancial report can paint a picture of a thousand gures – and that’s the essence of it. If you are somebody who’s in small business… one of the most confusing aspects of being a small business is trying to get somebody to explain to you in plain language what the heck’s going on. Are we making any money? We’ve been told we’re making money but we don’t have any in the bank etc… This is what people have been screaming for and what MYOB Advisor delivers.”

DISCOVERING THE POWER OF DATA AND CREATING POWERFUL CASE STUDIES.

Using technology to gain valuable insights for your clients

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Remember your clients still want to speak to you and hear from you. Technology can never replace the human interaction you give your clients, especially those all-important one-on-one relationships. It’s a good idea to make sure you schedule regular check-ins with your clients even if it’s a “How’s it all going?”. Call them, email them, set up meetings and keep building on your personal rapport with your clients. Simply staying in touch goes a long way to building valuable long-term business relationships.

It’s great to start thinking about building more advisory services into regular meetings with your clients. What about the idea of a ‘Monthly or Quarterly Business Health Check’ meeting? Gather the data and information quickly and easily via MYOB Advisor and add this to your meetings, so they become even more valuable to your clients. Soon, they won’t want to miss one meeting!

JOANNE MANKELOW FROM MANKELOW ACCOUNTS WITH ADVICE ON BUILDING THE CONVERSATION

“ Every month, every single one of our clients gets a full report batch. It comes with a cover sheet, and the reports can vary from client to client depending on their requirements, the industry or whatever. What I’ve loved about MYOB Advisor is that it gives these amazing additional reports that we’ve not been able to give our clients before, and with a di� erent kind of analysis.

All of our clients will still get reports because we think it’s really important – so even our clients who are just on a compliance package, we will still always give them a set of reports because they need to know numbers. But what we do with our clients on the higher packages – so for our mid-level clients, for example, they get a quarterly face-to-face meeting where we give them the reports then go through it all with them, and make sure they understand them, go through any questions. Then for our clients on our premium package, we do that on a monthly basis.”

The secret to success is to keep the conversation going

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BLENDING COMMUNICATION WITH TECHNOLOGY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS.

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We trust this guide has been a useful starting point for you on your journey to o� ering advisory services for your clients’ businesses. If you’re keen to start your advisory journey now and want further information on the free MYOB Advisor tool simply contact your Partner Manager on 0800 696 272.

Below you’ll nd some information and contact details on some key bookkeeping bodies who will be able to o� er resources and advice on advisory.

Institute of Certi� ed Bookkeepers

The Institute of Certi ed Bookkeepers is the largest bookkeeping institute in the world. It promotes and maintains the standards of bookkeeping as a profession, through the establishment of expectations, relevant quali cations and the award of grades of membership that recognise academic attainment, working experience and expertise. The Institute’s objectives are:

+ To promote bookkeeping as a profession

+ To enable bookkeeping to gain recognition as an integral part of the nancial profession

+ To promote training in the principles of bookkeeping

+ To enable the achievement of a quali cation

+ To improve the career prospects of its members.

Consultation with Government, employers, businesses, the profession itself and industry has con rmed and ampli ed the Institute’s assessment of the need for quali ed certi ed bookkeepers.

Businesses, both large and small, are fully supportive of the objectives of The Institute of Certi ed Bookkeepers. For more information visit icbnzbai.org.nz

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THE HELP AND RESOURCES YOU NEED TO TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

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