In this interview episode, I have special guest, Charlotte Isaac on the show to talk about your client experience, being a part of a community as a way of growing your business, and lots of actionable tips to implement right now in your bookkeeping business.
In this episode you’ll hear:
Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories and tag me, @ambitiousbookkeeper and Charlotte, @charlotteisaachq
For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:
Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com
Follow the Blog: ambitiousbookkeeper.com/blog
Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper
Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup
Connect of Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa
Thank you for your support of our show. If you haven’t left a review yet it’s super simple. Please go to: https://www.ambitiousbookkeeper.com/podcast and leave your review.
Podcast Publishing Tools
Click here to get the free First 100 Leads Training with James Wedmore >>
Join the next free training at ambitiousbookkeeper.com/training
In this interview episode, I have special guest, Charlotte Isaac on the show to talk about your client experience, being a part of a community as a way of growing your business, and lots of actionable tips to implement right now in your bookkeeping business.
In this episode you’ll hear:
Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories and tag me, @ambitiousbookkeeper and Charlotte, @charlotteisaachq
For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:
Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com
Follow the Blog: ambitiousbookkeeper.com/blog
Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper
Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup
Connect of Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa
Thank you for your support of our show. If you haven’t left a review yet it’s super simple. Please go to: https://www.ambitiousbookkeeper.com/podcast and leave your review.
Podcast Publishing Tools
Click here to get the free First 100 Leads Training with James Wedmore >>
Join the next free training at ambitiousbookkeeper.com/training
[00:00:00] Serena: Welcome back to the ambitious bookkeeper podcast. Today I have a guest on again to talk about Dubsado. So we've had a guest on before talking about Dubsado. Dubsado is the CRM of my choice that I use to onboard new clients. We send out proposals, engagement letters, and the first invoice through a system called Dubsado. And I'm bringing on yet another guest to talk about this system and how to up level it into an operational powerhouse for you if you are interested in using Dubsado.
[00:00:34] A little background on Charlotte. Our guest, Charlotte Isaac, is a business operations consultant who gave up her role as a corporate ops manager inside of a creative agency so that she could serve small business owners who love their people just as much as she does hers. Through her signature program, Ease Seekers Society and her DIY Dubsado shop Charlotte helps overwhelmed and overworked entrepreneurs build customized solutions so that they can serve their clients better, automate busy work and feel confident in their business. Blessed with a travel bug herself, Charlotte leads by example, having designed her own business in a way that allows her plenty of space to enjoy life with her husband, both in their hometown of Sydney, Australia, and around the world.
[00:01:17] So without further ado, welcome Charlotte.
[00:01:21]
[00:01:50] Serena: Welcome Charlotte onto the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast. I'm super excited to have you here. Would you mind introducing yourself for our listeners?
[00:01:59] Charlotte: Of course! So my name is Charlotte Isaac I'm based in Sydney, Australia, hence the accent, and I help small business owners streamline their client process automated using a tool called Dubsado, which I know you're a huge fan of as well. And in general, help them find a bit more time and freedom to grow their business and take on more clients with less fuss.
[00:02:20] Serena: Awesome. So I know that you had a corporate ops manager background, and I'd love to hear the story of how you moved from that, to what you're doing now: helping small business, cuz I just love hearing people's backgrounds stories.
[00:02:36] Charlotte: Yeah, of course! So I had a very cool corporate job by all means. I ran the operations team for a creative network in Australia and Singapore and I got to travel a lot and it was honestly a lot of fun. I never thought I would end up in an operations background. I started more on the account management team, but I just really love helping businesses work better and making us more efficient. And I think there's so much we can do to make life easier on a business perspective.
[00:03:05] So I probably don't have the smartest transition story. I handed in my notice and thought, you know what? I'm gonna do something that gives me a lot more time. Freedom. I wanted to travel more for myself rather than hopping on an overnight flight and working the next day. So handed in my notice, and started working with much smaller businesses offering the same kind of thing that I was doing in corporate.
[00:03:28] Serena: Awesome. So how did you get into the small business world then? Because I know from experience and a lot of my students and our listeners are maybe in a corporate environment right now and they, like, I know I can do the work, but like, how do I get the clients? So how did you manage to get into finding small business clients?
[00:03:49] Charlotte: Think it was very much like a one by one. Like, I think it's a, a slow bill to start with for sure. The one thing that I wish I did sooner was just talk to more people and make more friends and connections online, because I think that as soon as I started to join communities and I would learn from them about how they had built their business and learned from the leader of the community. And then someone would introduce me to somebody else. It's kind of like manufacturing your own word of mouth almost when you have absolutely no word of mouth. Because it is so intimidating coming from a world where, you know, your role is set out, you don't have to find any clients and suddenly you're still amazing at what you do, but nobody knows who the heck you are and you kind of need clients to pay yourself.
[00:04:31] Serena: Right. I feel like that is the scariest part for. Any of us, like, we are good at our craft. We know what we're doing, but it's like, well, how am I going to find people that need what I want or want what I have or need what I have? Especially for someone who is more introverted. I don't know how you identify on that, but--
[00:04:50] Charlotte: So introverted.
[00:04:52] Serena: So it's nice to hear. What you wish you would've done differently, but also like how you were still successful? Because I just like, that's one of those things that I just have to keep telling people, like it's still possible, even if you're introverted, there's ways to do it. And I love that part of your strategy on that was joining communities. Cuz I tell people that all the time and that could be online, that could be in person, both. But yeah, that's how you are going to generate the word of mouth. Even if people don't know you really well, you'll be top of mind if you're active in those communities.
[00:05:23] Charlotte: Yeah, it's so true. I think people always wanna help people. Like, I think it's in our human nature and I think further to getting clients, some of the people I first met when I joined a community and the first year of starting my business is still really good friends today.
[00:05:36] Serena: Yeah, me too.
[00:05:38] Charlotte: And yeah, it's amazing. Isn't it? Yeah. I think. Starting a business opens up this whole new world for you. So even if you're super introverted, which I definitely identify as I think, try and put yourself out of your comfort zone and life gets a little bit easier when you do.
[00:05:52] Serena: Yeah, absolutely. So could you give us an example of The types of communities that you were part of, that you found your people in
[00:06:03] Charlotte: Yeah, of course.
[00:06:03] Serena: Though that's not even a part of our topic, but--
[00:06:06] Charlotte: No, but it's good. I'm always harping on about communities as well. So I'm glad you are too. I think there's so much power in them.
[00:06:13] So the one I was in that I have made a lot of friends in it no longer exists anymore, but it was all about kind of building a purpose-led business. So like nobody did anything remotely, similar to what I did there. It was quite a small, tight knit community. I wanna say it was like 20 to 30 people. Wow. Or something like that. Everyone was doing something different, which was kind of really cool. I've also been in communities that are much more operations focus. I think that's helpful in a different way. So either finding a community of people that do what you do. Exactly like bookkeepers and accountants. Hint-hint, your community, people, and obviously listening to the podcast. So I think that's great. Or, or people that are completely different. I think each serves a purpose and you'll learn it. You'll learn something different off both types of people.
[00:06:58] Serena: Yeah. I learn so much from other types of business owners, and bring what they're doing in their business, into our industry. And I think that's what helps set our firm apart from lots of others, which perfectly segues into client experience.
[00:07:18] So the things that I've learned, from the client perspective, as a client of someone else in going through their process, I've brought back into my business. So I know that was one of the things that you wanted to talk about today was client experience. And so, learning those things you don't necessarily need to do it the same way that everyone in accounting and bookkeeping does it. In fact, that's part of why I love Dubsado. Cause it's not actually built for accountants.
[00:07:46] Charlotte: It isn't.
[00:07:47] Serena: It has definitely set me apart, because people will compliment like, wow, your proposals are so beautiful and like, personalized and it's different than what you normally get out of an accountant.
[00:07:59] Charlotte: So true. Yes. I have worked with bookkeepers and accountants that have used Dubsado and then like practice Ignition and other things. The difference is so stark. And yeah, it's really cool to bring different things into your business from different places, because I think client experience is so important and we haven't really talked about referrals. That's a big part of how I grew my business. I think 59%-- if I'm remembering the number, right. I think I am-- of my clients all time have come from referrals, which is a little stat you can get in Dubsado, if you use Dubsado as well.
[00:08:29] Serena: I do. And I'm like, I've never--
[00:08:30] Charlotte: Which I know you do.
[00:08:31] Serena: I do track where people come from in depths auto, but I don't, I've never actually pulled the numbers. So maybe I should.
[00:08:37] Charlotte: It's so fascinating. But, you know, I mean that's how I built my business word of mouth and then referrals and it compounds over time. And I think when we talk about getting referrals for me, it feels like an easy way to grow my business as someone that's introverted, because I know that someone that recommends me, they love me. They're gonna hype me up without me really having to do anything. And then I also know that the client's probably gonna be a good fit too, because they're friends with someone that I've worked with before. So I'm excited to demystify client experience a little bit. Cause I know people get overwhelmed.
[00:09:06] Serena: Let's do it. It's awesome. Yeah, let's go there.
[00:09:10] Charlotte: Awesome! I'm like a little kid at Christmas dorking out on my favorite things. Don't mind me. So I have, it's like a framework, I guess, or a four part checklist that I share with all of my students. Because I think, you know, as I said, we're all like, okay, client experience, it feels a bit smoke and mirrors. How do I know if I have a good client experience? What do I do if I wanna make it better? I think there's four parts that we really need to keep in mind. So. I'll give you them quickly and then we can dive into them, maybe.
[00:09:37] Communication, no surprises there, having a smooth process, delivery, and the one that I think you've honed in on a little bit already is your brand and personality and, and infusing yourself into it.
[00:09:52] Serena: Yeah, that actually lines up perfectly. Just last week's episode was on how to infuse your personality into your business.
[00:10:01] Charlotte: So it's a go! I can listen to that.
[00:10:03] Serena: So yeah. Can we dive deeper into all of those?
[00:10:07] Charlotte: Absolutely. I would love to! So first up was communication and I think everyone knows communication is important in client experience, but when we talk about communicating, well, I think the thing that we really want to look at is being proactive answering our client's questions before they have them, not making our clients wait. Or like, you know, we don't want them to ever be following us up. We wanna be getting in touch and letting them know what's happening and keeping them posted ahead of time. And, just being forthcoming. I think proactive is probably the word that sums that one up really, really nicely. Using a tool like Dubsado is obviously going to make that so much easier for you because it is hard to communicate with all of your clients. But it's really important too, even though it's such a basic skill.
[00:10:50] Serena: Yeah. Do you have a specific tip when it comes to Dubsado, in using it in order to communicate proactively with your clients? I'm curious.
[00:10:59] Charlotte: Definitely. So this tip will apply to communication and then also the next checklist item, but it's absolutely being intentional about your client process in Dubsado so those of you that use Dubsado will know that workflows is the term they use for automations and having a plan of attack for what all of your workflows look like is going to help you be super, super proactive on communication. Because, you know, when a client inquires on your website, this happens, and then this happens and then this happens, and you have a chat and then you've gotta send them a proposal, and then you follow them up, and then you onboard them and they get your welcome whatever sequence it is. And you make them feel really good about working with you. And you're asking them for feedback and all of those kind of things. So I think just having a plan for communication is great. Even if you don't use Dubsado, that's gonna make a big difference.
[00:11:49] Serena: Yeah. Such a good point. And should we move on to the next one? Number two?
[00:11:55] Charlotte: Yeah. Smooth process. So, I mean, it's very linked to communication, but I think-- I don't know whether you've ever, I mean, you used Dubsado, so like cast your mind back to pre-Dubsado days. But you know, when you start working with a client and you can't, you know what you're doing? You've got the process in your mind, but you're also juggling 10 other clients. And then suddenly you're like, oh no, I forgot to email this person like two weeks ago! This thing. And we cobble together our process and our emails and everything feels a little bit disjointed. And then maybe we ask them to send us something that we probably should have asked them to send us like six weeks ago.
[00:12:32] Serena: Mm-hmm.
[00:12:33] Charlotte: And, you know, everything's just so back and forward and it feels messy for us, but more importantly, it feels really messy for your clients as well. So having that plan for what you communicate, what you ask for, when, is gonna help us take our clients from a to B or a to Z, wherever you're trying to take your clients in the easiest way possible. Because that's why they're going to feel really good about working for us. It's not because you know, their bookkeeping and accounting was on point it's because they don't have to think about it. And they just know it's taken care of. They know we're doing our job really well.
[00:13:07] Serena: Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, like I would love to say that my process is always perfect, but I still have times where I'm like, ah! I forgot to trigger off this automation in doves auto. It probably should have gone out like three days ago.
[00:13:22] Charlotte: I mean, that happens. And I think we can't always be perfect, but you know, at least you've got the automations there ready to go. And I think, I always say to people every time you have an moment. Like, okay. Maybe now we go back to the workflow and have a look. Is there something we could have done differently? Is there a way it could trigger itself? Does somebody else on my team need to trigger this instead of me? Because I mean, personally, I know I'm not the most reliable person, so my PA is that in charge of the things that need to be done on time sometimes? Perfectly normal though.
[00:13:51] Serena: Yeah. That's a good point. Like definitely. I'm not reliable either.
[00:13:56] Charlotte: I'm selling myself so well that one off.
[00:14:00] Serena: So it's kind of funny that you're like, think back to your pred Dubsado days. And I actually found Dubsado really early on in my business and nice created my first version of everything, like probably just a handful of clients in, but I was like, I know I don't wanna have to keep remembering everything I do during onboarding.
[00:14:26] Charlotte: I love that.
[00:14:26] Serena: And so I wanted a system cuz it's like you don't with bookkeeping clients-- You're typically not onboarding all the time. So maybe one a month, maybe two, every couple months. But there's a gap right in between when you've onboarded. And so it is hard to remember the order that you did things in and the things that you asked for and all the different systems. And it's even harder at the beginning of your business, because you're letting the client dictate the systems that you use. Like you're like, yeah, I'll do QuickBooks. Yeah. I'll do Xero. Yeah. I'll do FreshBooks. And like I'll use Google Drive and Dropbox and all the things. And you'll quickly realize that's gonna definitely put a wrench in your onboarding process. Every new client has a new system.
[00:15:08] Charlotte: Oh yeah. No, that, that makes me cringe. But I mean, I had Dubsado from day one of my business. I remember I first discovered it when I was working in corporate and it doesn't work for corporate by any stretch of the imagination, but I discovered, and I was like, I love this thing like this is incredible. And so naturally when I set out my business, I would like getting Dubsado day one. And it makes everything so much easier. But to your point about being dictated by your clients, something I've learned as well. And I probably learned is before I started my business, but it's become really, really obvious since I think we really like being told what to. And I think that's become more prevalent over the last couple of years, going through the pandemic and lockdowns and things like we're all just so tired. And I think our clients really love when we are just like, look, we use QuickBooks, we use Google Drive. This is where you sign your contract. This is where you fill out your questionnaire. I need you to do this. And they're like, Cool. I don't have to think about it.
[00:16:01] And I think that forms part of communication as well. Being happy to take the reins and just let your clients trust you sometimes feels really scary, particularly at the beginning, but, you know, it gives them comfort that you actually know what you're doing. And even though no one's marking you on being a good bookkeeper as to whether you use Google Drive and Dubsado or whether you use Dropbox and something else, it just knowing what you wanna do and, and steering the ship is gonna make them feel much, much better about your skills,
[00:16:30] Serena: Such a good point. And I just want people to continue to rewind and listen to that because that is a common question I get. Do your, do clients ever push back on you for you saying these are the systems that we require you to use? And it's like, no, but I feared that for a really long time. And then I just started saying, this is what we do and I have never received any pushback.
[00:16:54] Charlotte: Yeah. I mean, You know best too. I think. As a bookkeeper, like, you know, which software is best. I don't, I can Google and like, I can compare the differences between QuickBooks and Xero and anything else that's out there. But like, I don't really know at the end of the day I haven't used everything. I don't know why it's, you know, I've felt the same thing people used to ask me. Could I help them with Honey Book? And I felt really bad about that, but I'm like, I don't want to, because it's not as good, like honey book's great. I'm not gonna come in here and bag out honey book, which is like a dubsado alternative. If you'll listen to me, like what's honey book.
[00:17:27] Serena: No, a lot of my students use Honey Book too, and it's okay, it's cool. It's fine. Like it's, it's kind of the QuickBooks versus zero thing. It's like, I joke around about it, but now pretty much everyone knows that I don't use QuickBooks. And when I do have to, I will. Like bag on it. Right. But it's like in a joking way. So like right now I'm teaching a program on advisory services and the majority, if not a hundred percent of the 20 people in the program are using QuickBooks Online. So I'm teaching. With that, like using that as the software that I'm walking through everything with. And , it's just like every time I come across something like, this is why I don't use Xero. So they all get to hear about it. But I want them to also understand like, it's okay to be a QuickBooks fan. Like it's really just whatever you choose, just stand behind it. Right.
[00:18:17] Charlotte: Exactly.
[00:18:18] Serena: It's okay to be a Honey Book fan, just stand behind it. If you're gonna, don't be wishy washy.
[00:18:22] Charlotte: Yeah. People don't want you to be on the fence, I guess is the takeaway. Yeah. Like as long as you know, why you like whichever tool you like your clients will take your lead happily.
[00:18:31] Serena: Exactly.
[00:18:32] Charlotte: They will not care.
[00:18:33] Serena: Yeah. All right. So smooth process. What was the next one?
[00:18:37] Charlotte: Delivery. Which everyone is like, yeah, yeah, Charlotte, I get it. Like, I know I have to do the work. But I think the thing that's really more important to this is sticking to timelines and always doing what you say you're going to do. So if you say, you know, I'm gonna send you out this thing on the seventh, them every month. Making sure it's always on the seventh of every month. And if it can't be the seventh of every month, it's the sixth. I think we underestimate how much our own like slight fluctuations. And when we do things impacts our clients, it's similar to everything we've said before. We just don't want to ever give our clients anything that makes them think, oh, are they on it? Am I important to them? Do they really have it all together? And I think particularly in this industry, like your clients kind of think you're this perfect robot that never messes up because of what industry you're in. So unfortunately for you, you know. I know creatives can get away with this one a little bit, which I don't love. I think nobody should get away with this one, but, you know, I think the more we can actually deliver on what we say to our clients in addition to delivering the service the better.
[00:19:42] Serena: Yeah. That's such a good point. And I feel like. The dark side of this is that there's gonna be people listening because this is happening in my brain right now. So I know this is happening to someone else like someone's listening and they're like, yeah, I know that things slip through the cracks and like, I'm not always the best at hitting the deadlines and I'm not always the best at doing what I say I'm gonna do. And so now you might be like going into this. Oh, my gosh, like, are my clients even getting the service that like I'm promising cause we put so much pressure on ourselves.
[00:20:19] Charlotte: We do. And definitely this is one I think we will feel worse about than our clients. I think, you know, I'm making it sound like your clients are going to absolutely hate you if you send something like 10 minutes late and they're not going to like, no, we're all rational people and we know that we're working with a small business and not like, you know, if I was working with, I don't know whether PWC is huge over there or not, but like someone like that, then we would expect them to really be hitting everything. Cuz they've got thousands of minions working on everything they do.
[00:20:47] And that that's totally different, but I think just set up systems, set up reminders for yourself. Like. I've already outed myself as someone who is not reliable, unless technology helps me along. Like I will not remember things. So set your business up and even the way you offer your services, you know, I, I gave the example of saying to your clients, you'll send something on the seventh of every month. Maybe you need to say within the first two weeks of every month, I will send to you, like, keep it looser. You can set the rules for however you wanna work. But try and set up the rules so that it's going to serve you in the way you like to work.
[00:21:19] Serena: Yeah, that's such a good point. I love that. yeah.
[00:21:24] Charlotte: We forget we get to make the rules.
[00:21:25] Serena: Be like less specific if you're worried that you won't hit it on the fifth of every month or the 10th, then be like within the first half of the month or like the first week or whatever it is. I love that.
[00:21:38] Charlotte: You're totally allowed to like, give yourself permission to do whatever you want. Really like one of the cool things about being your own boss is that you get to do that. And again, clients will assume it's normal because you've told them that that's the way you like to work and they'll be like, yeah. Cool. Okay. I'm cool with that.
[00:21:55] Serena: Awesome. All right, so number four.
[00:21:57] Charlotte: Yeah, this is the fun one, and you've just done a whole episode on it. So we probably don't need to dive into it too much, but a lot of people, and I would say, particularly in this industry, think that they have to show up as this perfect professional you know, that their clients don't wanna know about them and don't wanna know about their lives, but I really, really believe that the better your clients get to know you, and I'm not saying they need to know. You know your dog's name and your birthday and all of these things, but having some sort of connection to you as a person and bringing your own personality into your business really, really does make a huge difference into the number of referrals you get. Because they start to see you as almost a friend, instead of just a contractor who's doing the work that they don't really want to.
[00:22:43] Serena: Yeah, I think it is really important to humanize things because if you don't ever infuse your personality and you do act like a robot, if something does go wrong, they're not gonna be as gracious with you because they're not viewing you as a human to begin with.
[00:22:59] Charlotte: Definitely.
[00:23:00] Serena: And it goes both ways, like view your clients as human as well. They are human , they're not just a business entity. Right. And so it's like, we've gotta offer a little bit of grace when our clients don't do what they say they're gonna do, or they promise something and they don't send it to us. There's a point when it's just a bad client, but , or it's just a personality type that you don't jive with, so that's a bad client for you, right. So, yeah. Definitely important to remember that everybody's human.
[00:23:29] Charlotte: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it just, it makes life so much easier. And you know, I know a lot of people are scared to like mention that they have kids or that they have, you know, have a hard stop at whatever time, because they've gotta go pick their kids up or they've gotta go do something. And I think the more, we just be ourselves to our clients. And I'm not saying you have to tell them everything and treat them like they're friends, because you know, we all don't necessarily want that relationship with our clients, and we're always gonna have clients. We lack more than other clients, you know, there's a ranking scale of how much we enjoy working with someone.
[00:24:02] But it does bias the more grace, like you said, and it helps them feel a little bit more endeared to us and, and relate to us as people. And I think it also makes them much, much more likely to recommend you to somebody else.
[00:24:16] Serena: Yeah, 100%. Awesome. I love that. I mean, even though I just aired that episode, I don't know if we covered things exactly that way. So , it's something I should probably go back and listen to.
[00:24:33] Charlotte: We should all at the end of this episode, we're all gonna go back and listen to the one before.
[00:24:38] Serena: Yeah. So obviously like we've chatted about Dubsado and we offered a tip on using Dubsado in your communication, in your smooth process. But let's go back to number three, delivery and number four personality. How would you suggest someone use a tool like Dubsado or Honey Book or whatever it is to help you with your delivery or infusing your personality?
[00:25:03] Charlotte: So I think the tip I gave for the first two probably does really apply for all four. I mean, I know a lot of listeners are going to be using Dubsado and Honey Book already, but almost take a step back from that and be a little bit intentional about what you want that whole experience to be like. So, you know, lay out all of the communication touch points, think about how you can surprise and delight your clients.
[00:25:24] If you know, You know, redelivery, if, you know, usually do something in the first two weeks you can even set dummy deadlines to your clients. So you're always ahead of time. And particularly if anyone does any project based work like system setups and things, rather than ongoing bookkeeping. That can kind of be a nice way to surprise and delight your clients. Just tell them it takes a bit longer than it actually does so that you kind of swoop in looking really amazing for your clients. But setting boundaries about delivery timelines setting boundaries about when the clients need to give you what you need. So something I hear on the delivery topic a lot is, you know, I've told my clients I'll do this, but they haven't sent me their bank statements or they haven't filled out my questionnaire. So like, how could I possibly get that done by when I'm supposed to have it done and systems can really, really help you hold your clients accountable for what they need to do and remind them, Hey, if you don't do this by whenever I can't do what I'm supposed to do. And that's. You know, it's just saying it like it is, but it takes a lot of the pressure off.
[00:26:26] Serena: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I, I feel like a lot of us bookkeepers, we have that like in our engagement letters, like the expectations of the clients, but it's probably something now that we're talking about it, like it's probably worth calling that out on the proposal even. I know at the bottom of my proposal, I have like a little blurb of like a few bullet points of like help this engagement go smoothly. You give us bank access to your bank accounts or statement only access to your bank accounts. Let us know your preferred method of communication and use the tools that we provide you like hub. To send in receipts and I'm like I should probably add a fourth one that's like send us the information as quickly as possible when we request it so we can complete your books.
[00:27:12] Charlotte: Sure.
[00:27:13] Serena: Something along those lines.
[00:27:14] Charlotte: We're scared to tell clients. The same thing more than once, but it's kind of like I compare it to marketing and, you know, people tell us like, don't, don't be afraid to share the same message more than once because people aren't always listening at the same time. So they might be skimming through your contract. Like, let's be honest. We all know we kind of skim through contracts a little bit. So something being in your contract, like maybe isn't enough. So add it to your proposal, like you said, or put a reminder in, in the onboarding sequence, you know, Hey, just a reminder, to make this go smoothly as possible, here's what you can do. I really like how you phrased that before. You know, don't be afraid to tell them the same thing again and again, and you are going to feel like a broken record, but your clients probably won't notice. And if they do, it's a good thing.
[00:27:58] Serena: Yeah. Another way that just popped into my head. I've seen some bookkeepers cause I work with a lot of different bookkeepers. So we all have different people who have set up our Dubsado and different formatting. And one of the ones that I've seen recently is Like an FAQ thing on their proposal. And it could also go there, in an FAQ, like how can you promise that my books will be done by whatever the 10th of the month? And then you can expand it and say, well, our promise to get that delivered on time, also realize on you giving us the information we need and stuff like that. So definitely just giving some people, some ideas here. Also, all of this can go on your. And kind of educating and training your client before they ever even work with you.
[00:28:41] Charlotte: Definitely. I'm a big fan of doing that. I think we're, we're often scared to tell our clients what we need from them in advance. Cause we wanna make it feel easy and we wanna make it feel simple. Like hiring us is going to take this huge weight off their shoulders, but it's a lot better if we tell them up front what we're going to need from them than, you know, they magically think you're going to come in and wave your wand and they don't have to do anything. And then suddenly you send them, you know, a checklist of stuff that they need. And you're like, oh, what I just thought I paid you and this is all sorted. So yeah, that's such a great tell them as soon as possible.
[00:29:13] Serena: That is such a good point. I mean, your onboarding checklist of documents that you need from your clients could be a freebie on your website just saying.
[00:29:21] Charlotte: It could be, it could be, it's like how to get ready for hiring a bookkeeper.
[00:29:24] Serena: Yeah.
[00:29:24] Charlotte: And then magic! You end up with the best clients in the world.
[00:29:28] Serena: Yeah. Or in that FAQ accordion, or whatever you call it, when it expands out, you can say like, what documents are you gonna need from me? And then it expands and you have the checklist right there. So they already know
[00:29:39] Charlotte: Let's all just be super upfront. I think it checks a lot of boxes. Doesn't it? That one.
[00:29:44] Serena: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I'm so excited that you came on here. I think this, even though this is a shorter episode, like there's a lot of really golden content in here for bookkeepers to make their website better, make their proposals better, the whole entire client experience. I mean, shish, that was our topic.
[00:30:05] So where would be the best place? If someone is like, oh, I love this Charlotte person. I wanna connect with her. Where should they go to connect with you?
[00:30:18] Charlotte: Yeah, come and say hi on Instagram. If you're on Instagram, that's where I like to hang out @charlotteisaachq. If you want to go a little bit further with the things that we've dived into today, I have a free minicourse called Seven Steps to Automation that'll help you start to put some of these things into practice. And it's available on my website at charlotteisaac.com/ambitiousbookkeeper.
[00:30:39] Serena: Well, thank you so much. And so yeah, if, if you are listening and you found something in this episode, super helpful or something that you never even thought of before, because I mean, I had a few of those moments, tag us both on Instagram ticket, screenshot, all that good stuff. And thank you so much for coming on the show, Charlotte, I super appreciate it and we'll talk to you soon.
[00:31:02] Charlotte: Thank you so much.
[00:31:04]