Okay ladies get (your Systems) in formation
When it comes to my real live children, I obviously can’t pick favorites.
But between all my brainchildren? There’s no competition — Systems is #1!
Why? Because systems are absolutely vital to growing your virtual bookkeeping business.
If you choose to focus on every other “S” (Sales, Service, and Skills) in my Bookkeeper’s Business Incubator program but don’t solidify your systems, you’re doing yourself an incredible disservice. Growing and successfully running a bookkeeping business is dependent on how effectively you can scale. And scaling effectively depends solely on your Systems.
Taking the time now (while you’re still a budding business) to establish systems is essential to being able to bring on new team members AND new clients without dropping the ball on your other responsibilities.
Without Systems, your business becomes clunky. You have to reinvent the wheel every time you try to expand, and it ultimately slows you down.
In the worst-case scenario, a lack of systems can lead to a less-than-stellar client experience. In other words? Neglecting your systems can cost you high-paying clients and, ultimately, money in the bank.
Noooo ma’am. That’s not okay with me.
Why It’s Important to Build Systems While Your Business Is Young
I know this can be a hard pill to swallow. But yes, you should take time away from client work now to implement systems.
Client work pays the bills, I get that. But systems are a long-term investment. Every hour you spend now implementing them will save you an unimaginable amount of time and effort later down the road.
Think about it this way:
🚧 Is it better to build a house on a solid foundation of concrete or gravel?
Which will hold up over time as your house grows bigger? The concrete — right?
Having a rock-solid foundation is what will help you deliver a five-star client experience and help new contractors or employees seamlessly integrate into your business.
What happens when your client list grows rapidly, but you don’t have any organizational systems in place?
Things get missed, and your level of service slips. As a result, clients are less inclined to refer you to others, or (worse yet) they leave.
And what happens when you bring on a new team member or contractor but don’t have any written processes or client management systems in place?
The work environment you’ve created is frustrating for both you and your new team members. They’re lacking the training materials and workflows to effectively do their job, and you’re spending too much time holding their hand.
My Biggest Tip for Starting to Implement Solid Systems
If there is ONE thing I wish I had immediately implemented into my biz from the start to help solidify my systems, it would be this:
Track client data diligently.
🤔 Justine, what do you mean by “track client data?”
From the moment a prospective client interacts with your virtual bookkeeping business, you should start gathering information about them. You can keep tabs on things like how someone found your firm and what industry they work in.
One really important metric to track is how many clients sign on with your firm after the initial sales call. This is your close rate, and it can clue you in as to how effective your sales and marketing efforts are.
Listen, I didn’t make this a habit until years later, but it would have been incredibly helpful early on—not to mention help me scale much, much faster.
I cannot emphasize enough how mission-critical Systems is to running a highly profitable bookkeeping business.
Maybe it’s not the sexiest of my 4 S’s, but it’s the one that’s going to help you build a team of employees and bring on more clients without wanting to rip your hair out.
And that makes it worth its weight in gold, my friend.
To your success,
Justine
P.S. If you want an easy, made-for-you way to store and organize all that client information, I actually developed a toolkit specifically for virtual bookkeepers. Check out ORGANIZE, it’s the perfect first step for getting your Systems off the ground!
