Keep Your Bookkeeper's Interest
09 Dec 2009 | Category: uncategorized | Author: admin
The typical life cycle of a bookkeeper's clientele is rather simple. A bookkeeper just setting up shop on their own will take any clients they can get in order to get started. At this stage, any income is good income. As time goes by and referrals grow, a bookkeeper who's good at what he does will have more and more clients knocking on the door. There's a limit to how much any one person can do, and most bookkeepers are one-person shops. As the workload increases, which it will for good bookkeepers, earlier clients may be discarded if they don't meet the new standards, as the bookkeeper looks for clients who are 1) profitable, 2) easy or easier to work with, 3) able to pay within terms, and 4) reliably consistent.
It's simply how businesses operate, even your bookkeeper. How can you keep the interest of your bookkeeper if he or she is experiencing rapid growth and looking for greener pastures? At this juncture, you may not mind finding someone new. Perhaps you've been looking for a change. In that case, just move on. However, if you like the work your bookkeeper has been doing for you and you don't want to go to the trouble of finding a new one, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
1. Are you consistent? Do you expect your bookkeeper to be on an as-needed basis, with months of inactivity followed by a spurt of action as they catch up your books, then nothing for several months? During one of those months of inactivity, when you're saving money by not calling your bookkeeper, your bookkeeper is looking for ways to fill their free time, which may mean taking on clients that will eventually bump you from the list. If you keep your bookkeeper on this sort of status, don't be surprised when they suddenly have no time for you when you do need them.
2. Do you pay within terms? This is obviously a no-brainer, as very few bookkeepers work for the sheer joy of helping you succeed. Can't afford to pay your bookkeeper promptly? Here's some advice from my father-in-law to cover that eventuality: Make more money. It's not your bookkeeper's fault you can't afford them, and when you expect them to wait for cash flow to improve they'll find freer flowing cash.
3. Do you balk at paying your bookkeeper the going rate, or their going rate, or anyone's going rate? If you have a bookkeeper so desperate that they're willing to take low hourly rates just to keep your business, either they won't last long at that rate or you don't have a very good bookkeeper. You get what you pay for.
4. Do you argue with everything your bookkeeper says? Do you call your bookkeeper at night and on weekends? Do you waste their time? If your bookkeeper works on a monthly fee basis and you think you can squeeze more time out of them, even if it's making them wait while you putz around, they're either going to increase your rates so you're paying for all their time, or they'll find someone who won't waste their time.
5. Do you keep your appointments? There are few things more frustrating than scheduling a client during a busy season and having them cancel at the last minute. Time is money, and that time was scheduled for a specific purpose. It may be difficult to fit other billable hours into that time with late notice.
Your bookkeeper is running a business, just like you, and just like you, their motivation is profit. Make it difficult for them to earn their profit and you can have the opportunity to try out many bookkeepers. Is that what you want?
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