Are you frustrated with the fact that your bookkeeping clients just don’t understand the value of your services? Are you struggling with communicating that value to them? I know, I’ve been there! I have sat there wondering ‘why don’t my clients get it’? They don’t get the fact that they need clean financials. They need to look at meaningful numbers every month so they can make decisions for their business. Why don’t they get it?
After pulling my hair out, I figured out that while clients do understand that they need that, they still need something more. In fact, they need us, as accounts and bookkeepers, to help them solve their biggest business problems. A lot of those problems are emotional in nature. Not that they have emotional problems, but there’s a lot of emotion that comes when someone is running a business, and there’s a lot of emotion there when that client is frustrated with the financial side of their business, because ultimately they’re frustrated with themselves.
They’re frustrated because they don’t understand it. They are confused. They’re worried. Ultimately, I think, they’re frustrated with the fact that they can’t master their business finances. Then have to ask themselves what does that say about them and the fact that they can’t master this? They’re probably very talented at what they do in their business, but their business finances (the accounting, the bookkeeping, the taxes, the payroll, all of that) is so overwhelming to them.
They’re not going to necessarily tell you that specifically. Some clients will, but some don’t, and so it’s up to you to either listen very intently to what they are saying to you or ask some probing questions so that then you can get them talking about it.
Some of the questions that you can ask if they’re not sharing that with you are: What are the things that worry you about your business finances? What would happen if your books don’t get cleaned up and then it’s time for tax time, for filing taxes? How do you think that will affect your tax return? Ask them, “What will happen if you continue to put this off and nothing gets done?”
That will get them thinking about the frustrations, and then should open up the conversation to really then discussing with them all of their fears, their challenges, and their worries. Ultimately, those are the things that you need to be addressing in order for that client to value you. It’s not the fact that you do the bookkeeping. It’s not the fact that you do the QuickBooks. They understand that and they know that you do that, but what is it above and beyond the service that you provide? What are you truly providing to your client?
