Michelle Long and Sandi Leyva, Author at CPA Trendlines

10 Easy Tips to Boost Your Business Cash Flow

Changes you can implement TODAY.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long
The Ultimate Accounting Virtual Conference

We’re going to be talking about 10 easy steps to improve your business cash flow.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Use Payroll to Grow Client Retention | When You Should Answer Questions for Free | When to Turn Over Client Data Files | The Dreaded ‘Quick Question’ | How to Handle Referrals – And How Not To | Why Clients Need Dashboards | 3 Ways to Raise Your Prices | Your Existing Clients Are Your Best Leads
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Our guest is Shafat Qazi, CEO and founder of BQE Software, which has been in business for 20 years and has award-winning integration with QuickBooks and a few other accounting products. Its flagship product is BillQuick, designed for getting paid faster.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Use Payroll to Grow Client Retention

Why you might want to and how software can help.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long
The Ultimate Accounting Virtual Conference

Forty percent of small businesses say bookkeeping and taxes are the worst part of owning a business. Ultimately that’s what each of us here can really help small businesses with. The payroll tax component is definitely something a small business owner isn’t going to want to focus their time on and so it’s an opportunity for you to use your skill set.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: When You Should Answer Questions for Free | 2 Ways to Serve Clients Better | How to Fire a Client | How to Manage Client Expectations | Trashing the Spreadsheet: Best Practices in Modern Expense Management
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

We’re talking about having payroll become profitable for your practice. Helping us today is Jake Haffner, a CPA and payroll expert who works with ZenPayroll.
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PRO Member Exclusive

When You Should Answer Questions for Free

And why you should become a video star. Yes, you.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long
The Ultimate Accounting Virtual Conference

Two areas where we can build some skills involve marketing smarter. We know sometimes marketing is not the easiest thing for us but it doesn’t have to be hard.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: 3 Ways to Work Less and Earn More | What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay | How to Handle Price Sensitivity | How to Find Hidden Money for Your Clients | How Small Firms Can Use Value Pricing

Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

I get these a lot and I think you do, too, the SEO emails where they’ll email saying, “Would you like to have us help you improve your search results so you appear on Page 1 of the Google search results?” Have you ever wondered if you should actually do that with some of them? Should you pay for SEO optimization?
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PRO Member Exclusive

2 Ways to Serve Clients Better

…and get them to spend more with you.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long
The Ultimate Accounting Virtual Conference

Here are two ways to serve clients better.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES:3 Ways to Work Less and Earn More | When to Turn Over Client Data Files | The Dreaded ‘Quick Question’ | How to Handle Referrals – And How Not To | Why Clients Need Dashboards | 3 Ways to Raise Your Prices | Your Existing Clients Are Your Best Leads | Need More Business? Focus on Referrals

Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

One thing that we see is a lot of times when you bring a client on board you kind of wing it and don’t really have a process. I want to suggest to have you move from reactive to proactive.
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PRO Member Exclusive

3 Ways to Work Less and Earn More

Think about the value you’re providing.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long
The Ultimate Accounting Virtual Conference

Let’s talk about three ways to earn more in fewer hours.

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: When to Turn Over Client Data Files | How to Fire a Client | How to Manage Client Expectations | Trashing the Spreadsheet: Best Practices in Modern Expense Management | 3 Ways to Implement Value Pricing | Building Reputation to Build Your Business | Need More Business? Focus on Referrals

One of the first things you can do is learn more about modern accounting apps. There are so many apps available today that really allow us to work faster and more efficiently, whether it’s for us or our clients. So it’s really important that you keep up with these changes and with technology because there are new apps coming out every single month.
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

How to Fire a Client

BONUS: Sample Client Disengagement Letter.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long

How many clients have you fired?

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay | The Dreaded ‘Quick Question’ | How to Handle Referrals – And How Not To | Why Clients Need Dashboards | 3 Ways to Raise Your Prices | Your Existing Clients Are Your Best Leads | Need More Business? Focus on Referrals

Let’s talk about firing a client because sometimes you do need to fire your client. Maybe they’re difficult to work with, or a guy is belligerent and loud and yells, and you don’t want to work for him. Maybe there are ethical issues.
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FEATURED

What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay

Ask questions. Negotiate. And be ready to cut your losses.

By Michelle Long and Sandi Leyva

How many times have you been unable to collect from a client?

MORE SMALL FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: The Dreaded ‘Quick Question’ | How to Manage Client Expectations | How to Handle Price Sensitivity | How to Handle Referrals – And How Not To | Trashing the Spreadsheet: Best Practices in Modern Expense Management | How to Find Hidden Money for Your Clients | Why Clients Need Dashboards | 3 Ways to Implement Value Pricing | How Small Firms Can Use Value Pricing | 3 Ways to Raise Your Prices | Building Reputation to Build Your Business | 3 Killer Lead Generation Channels | Your Existing Clients Are Your Best Leads | Need More Business? Focus on Referrals

When we asked this question in a poll, 26 percent of you had never gotten stiffed from a client… yet.

That’s good. But a lot of us have gotten stiffed or burned when we’ve not collected money from a client. It’s happened to us.

If you’re one of the smart ones it’s only happened once and never again.

What do we do when there is a billing dispute? First, yes, get paid up front and that’s a good policy.

Let’s talk about some situations where there is a billing dispute. First, if you have a big job and they want you to do some cleanup or catchup work and you estimate it will be a minimum of $2,000, you want them to pay you $1,000 up front before you do the work. If they’re not willing to pay you $1,000 now what makes you think they’ll pay you $2,000 later? Right, so they should be willing to pay some money up front.

PRO Member Exclusive

Increase Fees and Keep (Most of) Your Clients

BONUS: A sample letter you can send clients.

By Sandi Leyva and Michelle Long
The Ultimate Accounting Virtual Conference

When is the last time you increased your fees? Was it the past year, the past one to two years, over three years … or never? If you haven’t, you should.

How do you increase your fees?

Sometimes it’s a sticky situation but you should start setting a policy where you’re going to increase your fees on a regular basis, maybe every year or two. That allows you to avoid having large increases.

If you haven’t increased your rates for five years and you have to go up quite a bit at once that will be harder for the client, but once they get used to an annual or every other year increase and accept it then it’s easier to keep your fees.

Here’s what you’re looking for: Michelle Long and Sandi Leyva