Set your professional services clients up for success with apps

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If you’re an accountant or a bookkeeper, one of the most powerful ways you can help your professional services clients on their journey to success is through recommending the right mix of technology.

Using the right apps can help your professional services clients boost efficiency, scale operations faster and free up time for higher-value activities.

“We find the more we automate, the less time we need to spend caught up in day-to-day tasks,” says Monika Tawngdee, finance manager at Springload, a full-service digital agency, based in Wellington. “Subsequently the more time we can spend looking at the big picture and improving our operations. Using apps has a big impact in helping us achieve this. Using technology to work smarter not harder, has enabled us to not only save valuable time, but to also scale up our operations. We’re always on the lookout for the right apps to help power up our operations, as providers continue to innovate and make their solutions even better,” she added.

Providing app advice to your clients not only helps their business, but it can also strengthen your value proposition as a trusted advisor. And our research shows it’s good for your revenue, as well as your clients’. Xero’s Small Business Study found practices who provide app advice grew revenue 60% faster and SMBs who use cloud apps grew revenue 30% faster.

Recommending the right apps for your clients

So how do you know which apps to recommend to your clients? As an accountant or bookkeeper reading this content, you’ll be keenly aware of some of the challenges professional services practices face running their business, from accurately billing time, to getting paid. But compare your firm to a creative agency or a dentist. There are many commonalities, for example, staff time and expertise are most likely each firm’s most valuable asset. But all practice very different disciplines, which come with their own set of challenges, and as such, differing technology needs.

That’s why we’ve just released Xero’s Professional services app playbook, to make it easier for you to find the right mix of software to meet the individual needs of your professional services clients.

The playbook presents the common needs and pain points within the professional services industry and matches those against the features of Xero and our integrated apps, so you can identify the right tools to help your clients reach their goals.

It takes you through the process, including understanding your client’s business needs and goals. With help from app comparison matrices and cheat sheets, it also shows you how to recommend the right apps. The playbook is broken down into four key performance areas: delivering projects, realising cash flow, managing customers, and managing people. It also offers help to prioritise the areas to focus on first, depending on the challenges and goals for your clients.

If you haven’t already viewed our app advisory playbook, we recommend you read this first. It will give you the app advisory fundamentals required before you dive into the professional services playbook.

You can download our entire playbook series below:

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