You may or may not have noticed that the frequency of posts here has diminished greatly over the past couple of months. I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing if you haven’t.

This site has been so effective in connecting me with business owners, that my bookkeeping workload has skyrocketed over the past 6 months. So much so, that I simply haven’t had a lot of time to devote to anything beyond client work. That’s not to say that I’m not taking on new clients. I think I just take too long to write each post.

This morning it got me thinking about advertising. In the beginning, that’s what this site was all about. I practically live online, and had a very small budget to get this business started. Getting a site with a blog up and running was always a big priority. Given the fact that I can work with people all over North America, running a traditional ad campaign was not only financially unfeasible, but inefficient.

The big surprise along the way was just how much I would enjoy updating the blog. It’s certainly grown to become something much more than just advertising for my bookkeeping services. It gives me a chance to connect with other great entrepreneurs. I’m sure I’ve learned more about business from all of you than you have from me.

That brings me to a question that I’m sure lots of businesses encounter. How much advertising should you be doing when you get close to your work limit?

Let’s say you teach music for a living. You’ve done a great job of marketing your school, and you’re schedule is completely full. Should you still advertise the school? If you have to keep sending people away when they call, does that increase demand, or just put people off?

When Nintendo had problems keeping enough Wii’s on the shelf, the demand skyrocketed. For the first year, anytime retail stores restocked their shelves, they were immediately snatched up, for fear that they’d be sold out again. This “difficulty” in keeping up with demand (I’m pretty sure they did all of this on purpose) caused it to be, in my opinion, a much bigger seller than it would have if they had flooded the market with units.

On the other hand, it can have the opposite effect. Sometimes people will just get tired of waiting, and will find another similar product or competing store. I’m sure plenty of families decided to buy a Playstation 3 or XBOX 360, instead of waiting for Nintendo to boost production.

What do you think? If you know you’re running out of products, or just hours in the day to devote to work, do you change your advertising?

Personally, I don’t think you should, but it all depends on how you handle the potential customers. The reason you started your business was to solve a problem. Yes, it was also to make a ton of money, but that’s the byproduct of solving the problem.

Before you reach capacity, you should reach out to peers in your market, and setup a referral network. Try to find a wide range of peers. If you reach your work limit, you’ll want to refer a prospective client to someone very similar to you. Other times you’ll be contacted by someone who needs help with an area of your field that you’re not as qualified for. Maybe you’re a great web designer, but you don’t know a lot about eCommerce sites. For a music teacher, maybe you specialize in rock, but your student is asking about jazz.

Just remember; this person is coming to you for help solving a problem. By referring them to someone else, you’re still helping. Although you didn’t get the payment, all they remember is that you helped them out. There’s a good chance that the next time they need help, they’ll ask you first. Eventually, you’ll be in a position to do the work yourself.

I’d like to hear your opinions. Do you have a referral network? Do you plan on starting one? Do you alter your advertising when your workload is full?

PS. If you’re a fellow bookkeeper, why not contact me so we can join forces?

When I was a teenager, good customer service was never much of a selling point. There were a few reasons behind this philosophy.

1. I was a teen, and therefore accepted the fact that most places were going to treat me like a criminal.
2. I wasn’t usually buying anything so valuable that it required special attention or support.
3. If I was at a bank; I didn’t pay fees, and never had enough money to worry about.

Basically, my needs were small, as were my expectations.

Now that I’m older, I’m far more careful with every dollar I spend. Spending my paycheque on some new shoes or a car stereo made perfect sense at 16. Thinking about that now makes me want to go back in time and slap myself.

There’s also far more companies fighting for my attention. While there were only a handful of stores trying to sell me shoes at 16, there are hundreds who want me to test out their accounting software, WordPress plugin, or social media app.

Some of these companies think that a loud voice and a blowout sale is all they need to get my money. Thankfully, there are a select few who actually do it the right way.

Recent Example

Simply Accounting: I needed to use this for some client work recently. I’ve used it in the past, but Quickbooks has been my default for many years. So, I downloaded a trial copy so I could get a sense for what version would be the best choice.

A few days after starting my trial, I received an email and phone call from Mavys at Simply Accounting. Instead of the usual cookie-cutter welcome email, it was very friendly, and pointed me to information very specific to bookkeepers using their products.

Based solely on the quality of the email, I replied back and asked a question. This question was one that I had sent to Intuit and had been disappointed with their response.

The question

I am working with clients in both Canada and the US now. I haven’t had a need for a US version of Quickbooks or Simply yet, but it might come up in the future. My Quickbooks Pro Advisor membership gives me copies of the Canadian version, but not the US. I wanted to know if I had access to a US version of the software.

The responses

Intuit: No would have been a bad enough response. What I got was quite a bit more disappointing. First off, no, I don’t have access to a US version of the software. Furthermore, I would have to contact someone at Intuit in the US and purchase it separately. I couldn’t even get the product from my contact in Canada. Finally, I was told that installing both versions on the same computer causes problems, so they recommended I have 2 computers setup, so that I could run each version on its own computer. Seriously? Who would buy a 2nd computer just to run another accounting app?

Simply Accounting: Mavys, who is officially my favourite person at Simply Accounting had a much better response. When I’m ready to buy my copy, all I need to do is ask, and she will make sure I have both the US and Canadian versions included…at no extra cost. Plus, there are no issues running both apps on the same system.

Now what?

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. One question answered well doesn’t mean I’m suddenly dropping Quickbooks. I’ve been using it for years, and I know all of the keyboard shortcuts.

On the other hand, Simply is now on my radar again. I’m going to buy a slightly more expensive version than I had originally intended, in order to sign up for their equivalent of Intuit’s Pro Advisor program. Like anything new, I resist it because of the unfamiliarity. However, there’s no guarantee that, once I’ve become accustomed to it, I won’t end up liking it more.

The simple fact is that a phone call and email that took less than 5 minutes has resulted in $400 worth of sales and a blog post.

Now it’s your turn

Instead of a stock auto-responder (or  nothing at all), why not spend the time to personalize your interactions with your new customers? Take 5 minutes to learn something about them. You can do this by crafting a better contact form (something I need to do), or checking out their website. Then, take that information, and spend another 5 minutes writing a more tailored email, welcoming them to your product/service.

It doesn’t seem like much, but with so many people fighting for your customer base, every little gesture helps.

Do you have any good tips? Have you figured out a way to gain customers by adding a personal touch to your interactions? Please share your advice in the comments.

This morning, I don’t have my regular laptop. I knew this would be happening in advance, so I prepared. I was going to use one of my kids’ netbooks. I couldn’t get everything done, but enough to not consider the morning a loss. Even better, that kid wasn’t going to be here this morning, so problem solved.

Apparently, said kid password protected their netbook recently. I don’t have the password, and can’t contact them right now. Hmmm. Ok…I’ve got another PC upstairs. It’s old, but it’s about the same speed as a netbook. Problem solved, and here I am, typing away.

There are going to be lots of times when we are faced with constraints. Sometimes it’s our time that’s constrained, other times it’s money or skills or environment. Instead of letting them stop us from success, we need to start including them in our plans.

If you’re not this person, you know somebody like this. They use the phrase “as soon as” or “if I could only just” quite often. They have a great plan for their business, but it all hinges on several distant goals being achieved. Until those perfect conditions are met, well there’s just no way they can be expected to succeed, right?

Plan ahead

Thankfully, I knew that my laptop wasn’t going to be with me this morning. So, I did a lot of work last night in QuickBooks, since that’s the one app I can’t access from just any computer. If you know there’s a hurdle approaching, plan for it. And by plan, I don’t mean plan for a day off.

If you know your car is in the shop next week, plan for alternatives.

• rent a car

• find someone else to run your errands that day

• research public transit (times, cost, locations, etc.)

You’re already going to be slightly less efficient, so don’t add planning and research to your day.

Maintain a Plan B

Although I like my computer, I only have 1 app that sits on my desktop that I can’t replace. All of my files are synced with Dropbox. My bookmarks are synced with XMarks, and my passwords with LastPass. I also sync all of my Chrome settings, so one login and I’ve got all of my settings and extensions installed on a new computer. I’ve even got my iPhone setup so that I don’t really need to sync it anymore. I have apps for podcasts, books, and music, so I could be without my computer for weeks before my phone would be affected.

For example, let’s say you run a retail business. What happens if the power goes out, or if the network goes down? Do your employees know how to handwrite a receipt? Do they know how to manually process a credit card? Heck, are there batteries in flashlights in case you need to help customers get out of a dark store?

Constraints can be a good thing

I can’t get too distracted on this computer. It’s slow, so if I want Chrome to run smoothly, I can’t have 20 tabs open. If you’re riding the bus, you can’t just pull over and check out that sale. Constraints, while frustrating at times, help us focus on what’s important. If you can only do 1 thing at a time, you’re going to focus on the most important thing. And, if you have the right systems in place, you’ll have multiple ways of doing that 1 thing, regardless of what life throws at you.