Have you been charging your clients on an hourly basis? You may attract recently started small businesses, as they will have comparatively fewer financial documents that need to be recorded and organized. The worst part is, you won’t be making much money. It’s high time you prepare some bookkeeping services price packages to send to your potential clients and display them on your website. This article will focus on the benefits of packaging your bookkeeping services and how to do it.
Benefits of Offering Bookkeeping Services Price Packages
You start making more money. As your skills as a bookkeeper improve, your efficiency increases. What used to be an hour-long task may only take you minutes now. Do you think it’s wise to charge your services per hour now? Definitely not. Furthermore, your clients will also fail to understand the value proposition offered by your company.
Another benefit of packaging your bookkeeping services is that you will be able to forecast your accounts receivable. Following the time-based price system will only give you a vague idea of how much you will earn in a month. This uncertainty may stop you from accepting more clients or welcome more work than you can handle.
Benefits of Monthly Bookkeeping Services Packages for Your Clients
Whether it’s for your existing clients or prospective new ones, providing monthly packages is the best and obvious choice. Just like your business will be able to predict accounts receivable, your client will be able to calculate their accounts payable easily. They can budget their business accordingly, and this will result in a long-term relationship as the client will start to trust you more. You will open new doors that allow you to upsell and cross-sell extra services since you now understand the industry better.
How to Prepare Price Packages
A popular practice is a three-tier pricing system—Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Your clients will only have to choose a package that is affordable and appropriate for their business. Also, it may not be wise to present the same packages to all your clients. Study the industry or the client’s needs and offer a customized package for each client. This will ensure that you make a maximum profit while offering value to your clients. There are several pricing strategies that you may implement. We will discuss a few that apply to bookkeeping services.
You may not be new to the concept of competition-based pricing. It takes into account the rate your competitors charge their clients as a benchmark. You may charge lower than that or add something that could be of value to the client, for example, guaranteed turnaround time and bill higher. Cost-plus pricing adds a percentage to the money expended in providing your services. But the drawback of this strategy is that your competitor may be charging much lower or higher. There is a chance that you will lose out to your competitors.
Don’t confuse cost-plus pricing with flat-rate pricing. The latter doesn’t fluctuate depending on how your expenses for your services change. You can implement this strategy while offering basic services like payroll processing for small businesses, preparing tax returns, etc.
Conclusion
While preparing price packages, keep in mind that, sometimes, you will have to provide weekly services as well. Small business owners who want routine updates regarding their business’s performance may demand the same. That’s when virtual bookkeeping becomes a major convenience.
A survey conducted by Xero shows that cloud-based accounting firms add five times more clients compared to those that don’t use any virtual bookkeeping software. Use a cloud-based bookkeeping software like QuickBooks Online to manage your clients’ financial documents. The records of every transaction ever made will be organized and readily available for you and your clients. The tax season will be stress-free, and your relationship with clients continues to grow.