Optimise your QBO Profile - Part 4: Common questions about optimising your profile answered

Hey, welcome back. If you are a QBO Pro Advisor and you want to maximize and get more out of your QBO Pro Advisor profile, then this video is going to give you dozens and dozens of tips. It's a from a live webinar, a live webinar run by Jessica Fox, who's one of our trainers in the Value Pricing Academy. And at the end of the webinar she did a live Q and A and she answered some questions like for example, somebody said how do I ask my clients for a review? She'll share her tips on that. Someone said, how do you pre qualify? So you don't waste time with the time wasters, the tire kickers, the pain in the ass clients, whatever you want to call them. So this is a live webinar. If you missed, by the way, the first three in the series, I do recommend you go back and watch videos number one, two and three because they all build on each other. But assume You've watched videos 1, 2 and 3 and the links will be below in case you you have missed them. Then if you have watched them, great. And at the end of this video I'll very quickly tell you about some free stuff that I've got. So let's now go to catch up on the last of that live training from the amazing Jessica Fox.

Sana is asking, how do I ask my clients for review? Do they use any app? Do I ask for a video review? Great question, Asana. So for the purposes of the ProAdvisor directory, I recommend you just give them the link to the ProAdvisor directory profile. Just the straight link to your profile, search for yourself, click on your profile, copy the URL and paste that into an email so that they just click and are taken directly to it. That's what I did for the first few years. So that's why if you go to my profile I have 14 reviews. Probably about 12 of them are kind of old because since then I have switched gears and I do request reviews. In other platforms I do request video reviews, but the ProAdvisor profile does not support video. So for the purposes of today's session, the best practice is give them the direct link. So how I have done it several ways I have when having the pricing conversation, if I get any resistance from the prospect, I go, oh, that's a lot. Then I may say, well, do you think that you can commit to providing a review in the ProAdvisor profile within 14 days of completing the service? And I say yes, I can. Okay, well in that case, I'll reward you because that's valuable to me and this is your new rate.

It's essentially a form of discounting without calling it a discount. It's valuable to me because those reviews translate into future revenue from others. So it's kind of like asking for referrals, getting a referral from them even if they don't have somebody to refer to you When I have completed training sessions because I do one on one QuickBooks online training via Zoom at the very end I asked them well how do you find the session? And they said oh this was great. I said that is awesome. I am so glad. That is what I was aiming for. Can you please click here and type that in? It will take you just 30 seconds and that way they can at that moment while striking while the iron is hot, file that review for you. For monthly bookkeeping clients, I have a feedback system where I request feedback on a periodic basis so usually will be right after I complete a rescue portion of a project, whether it's a cleanup or a catch up three months after doing monthly bookkeeping just to make sure that we've gotten past all those growing pains and the onboarding quirks. Then yearly and in that email checking that I do, I ask them for feedback, anything that I could do to improve their service and then if they are satisfied I tell them I will be forever grateful. If you could click here, spend a minute or two letting others know how your experience was. So that's just some approaches that you can take to systematize that.

Let me see the next question. My Zoom scrolled up so just give me a moment.

I guess when new comments came in it just scrolled up.

And Nadim is asking do you have just worked with QBO or Xero too? Does Xero have a similar profile? Xero does have a similar profile. Their requirements to be listed are different than QuickBooks QuickBooks you just need to pass the certification exam any of them and you're able to publish a profile with Xero. You need to be a Xero partner and you need to accumulate enough points to get to IP leads bronze level so you cannot get a Xero profile as easily. I do have a Xero profile. It's not optimized because Xero is not where I focus my attention. I specialize in QuickBooks Online but a lot of the techniques and tips that I gave you today could be applied to Xero. It could be applied to alignable to LinkedIn any directory online. Except of course the algorithm because each website has their own way of ranking their search results.

And then Mark has a question. In the About Me session, can you include links like to a video to show your personality or a free research to demonstrate your expertise, such as an ebook? You certainly can. Now the About Session section, About Me section, it doesn't have formatting so you cannot hyperlink text. You can certainly paste an URL that somebody can click. So my advice to you is that if you are going to paste a link in there, if it's going to be a long link, something that has a lot of random characters, use an URL shortener to make it look better. Sometimes there are plugins, like I have a plugin for my website where it creates short URLs with a short domain name that I have and it doesn't cost me anything.

My experience however, is most people don't read beyond that first sentence. So while I have links in my About Me, hardly anybody makes it that far. Hardly anybody clicks it. But for those people that do, it doesn't hurt to have When I first published my book, I had a link that people could get my book for free for about three years. That link was in there and I think it was clicked once. So your mileage may vary but it does not hurt her to have it.

Let's see, next question.

And don't forget to put QQ so that I can see it.

Do you have some wording you can share that you use for your standard reply?

My wording is nothing fancy. It's not long, mainly because my ideal client is too busy and they don't read. If they see all the text, they just glaze over and don't pay attention. So it's something along the lines of thank you so much for reaching out to me. I look forward to learning more about your needs to see how I can serve your business. Please click here and there's a link to my scheduling link. Just select a day and time that works best for you so that we can chat. That's it. Then it's just my signature, so don't overthink it. Don't feel like it needs to be really fancy because you just need to give them a clearly defined call to action. I always believe in thanking them because as a customer, when I contact the business, if I just get a dry response with no politeness, I get turned off. I kind of don't want to work with them anymore. So I always like to say thank you so much for reaching out. I look forward to learning more and then I give them the call to Action. My call to action is schedule a consultation. If you have a different way of managing leads, perhaps you have them fill out a questionnaire to pre screen them before you move on to the next step. You would just put that call to action there.

And then, let's see. Next question. A lead from QBO Pro Advisor says she completed my intern form immediately on February 2nd. I see her name in some sort of analysis which is interspersed with colorful graphs, those evidently from Microsoft, but I still cannot find our actual completed form. Anyone have experience with such a situation? Sybil? It seems to me like that is at the root of your intake form. So whatever tool you use to create your intake form, that's not QuickBooks. Definitely look into that. If it's a specific app, seek support from that app. Because QuickBooks, all they have is a little contact form where they can enter their name, their email address, their phone number and then they have the box for their information. And that information is sent to you via email. And it's also available in your QuickBooks Online Accountant in the Pro Advisor section where you the same area you would edit your profile at the top there will be a tab that's called Leads. You will see that there. But that doesn't sound like what you're describing.

And then we have a question. The prospects that have come through the Advisor program for me have been very cost conscious. Do you have any tips on how to weed out those prospects in a nice professional way? Great question. Kate and I used to have that problem. Also because this is a common concern that a lot of other Pro advisors tell me where they get a lot of calls looking for QuickBooks support. Also because sometimes QuickBooks support, when they don't know the answer, they say go to the Pro Advisor. So it's all about positioning and how you present yourself and your expertise. I really haven't had anybody that's been cost conscious for a long time. But that may have something to do with the fact that I am clear in that even though I have that little checkbox that says free consultation, because that's an option you can turn on and off in your profile and then it shows in the search results. I make it clear when they're scheduling the consultation that this is getting to know each other, I am not giving advice. So this is something that you can approach from the beginning and how you structure not only the profile but where you're funneling them to. But also when you are having the conversation with the prospect, it's not about how much it costs, it's about the problems that I can solve because I don't bill by the hour. It's very easy for me to when they ask how much is it going to be? I tell them, well, I cannot tell you because I do not bill by the hour. So first I need to get a clear understanding of your journey so far, where you're at right now, what the pain points are. And once I've made a detailed assessment, I can give you a fixed price so that you'll know exactly how much it's going to be and there are no surprises. And that's scary the first time I had to say that. But it works so well because they back off. They're no longer thinking and they're purchasing my time, they're purchasing solutions. They are no longer needing to know the price immediately because they realize there's some due diligence I need to do before I can give them the price. But once I do give them the price, they have that certainty that they're not going to be worried, oh, how long is it going to take her? And am I going to get any surprise bills?

Let's see if there's any other questions. We have a minute left, but I don't mind staying over a little if needed.

Reba is asking, do I attach that brochure in that reply? You can, Reba. I don't for two reasons. Number one, most people they are contacting me through that contact form from the Intuit Pro Advisor and it doesn't come from their direct email address, it comes from an int Intuit email that essentially forwards the reply to them. And that Intuit email has formatting issues like if you have an HTML signature that's not going to display well. And I have found that attachments don't always go through well and when they do it can land you in the spam folder because most emails nowadays they don't expect an attachment unless you already been communicating with that person. So and that reply is the first email they are getting from you, so you are higher at risk of them not seeing it. So you want to be mindful of that. You can try it. But I recommend experimenting.

Can the same client do multiple reviews? I have clients with me long term and the services I provide have increased since the last review they did several years ago. Great question, Danielle. I am not sure. I do know that when they are filling out the review form they have to essentially certify that they were truly a client and they are abiding by the proadvisor terms. I have not read the terms from that perspective. So I am not sure if they can just edit the old review to reflect or if they can add a new one.

I would recommend inquiring with into it about that.

Danielena is asking what are my thoughts, if any, on offering a free consultation toggle. I had to unpublish my profile because I was getting tech support questions all the time. My checks won't print for instance. I have a theory that was because of that, but I am not sure. Great question Elena. So like I mentioned earlier, it's kind of up to you to determine whether you want to toggle that free consultation on or off. I have it on but I don't get support questions. Probably it may have to do because those first 90 characters I am talking about empowering business owners about their finances. I am not talking about I am QuickBooks support. So when they see my profile, if they click on my website, if they go to any of my social media, they see I do not provide technical support with quirks and issues with into it I have that toggle on. I haven't had any technical support requests, but if you feel like you get a lot of those, you can turn it off and see how it works or you can create a canned response. Just like you can have a standard response for prospects, you can have a template for those that are seeking support saying I unfortunately I am not QuickBooks support. I encourage that you contact QuickBooks support directly. However, if you're looking for training, setup, cleanup services, click here and that way you are making it clear to them what you do and you don't offer. Even though they may have contacting you about my checks don't print. They may be like, oh well you know, I do need my books cleaned up or I need help understanding my reports. So that way you're not completely slamming the door on the prospect. I have found that to be efficient for me in the past when I did used to get those somebody will contact because they just needed help with one issue. But then they realize, oh, she offers all these things that I do need help with.

Let's see what else we have.

And Melanie's asking how do I know that they gave me a review? You don't know unless you check. So QuickBooks does not email you when you've gotten a review. Like just today I was like, oh, I don't remember my number being that number. I guess I got a new review. So you do not have a notification you would see when you go into your QuickBooks online account Dash login in the ProAdvisor section There's that you're going to see those reviews. If you want to automate the notification of that, there is a technical workaround not affiliated with QuickBooks at all. This can work on any website. There is this website called I believe I may get the name wrong Visual Ping. Google that. Hopefully it'll take you there. I don't know the URL off the top of my head, but in that website you can sign up for an account, they have a free tier and you can enter a website and ask to be notified when there are changes to that page. So you could set up paste a link to your profile directory and you can have them send you an email anytime they detect a change on the page. Now there are additional settings that you can do. I have this set up for my book. So my book is in Amazon. I have visual pin send me an email if somebody posts a new review there. So it could work for this scenario. But there is no way to do that directly from QuickBooks unless you log on to that section and look. So that's it for questions and we are out of time. I thank you so much for sticking around with me. I hope that you found this information valuable and I look forward to celebrating your improvements as you take into action these steps to improve your website.

Wow. So many great insights there. Not just in this video but the previous three. I hope you caught all of them. Jessica is amazing. Anyway, if you want to find out more, if you want to learn more from Jessica, then I do recommend you look to join the Profitable Growth Academy. It's our entry level training academy where you get training from me, structured video training plus live 90 minutes of training with Jessica every single month. People love the training from Jessica. So why not check out the Profitable Growth Academy. We'll put the link below. It'll take you to a page like this. It'll tell you all about the academy and we'll see you there. I also have some free resources for you if you've not already grabbed them. We'll put the links below. One is to a research report I did looking at how do we price bookkeeping services. It was a benchmarking study of thousands of accountants and bookkeepers around the world. The second free resource is I have a 28 page ebook on how you can value price clean up work when the books and records are a mess. One of the things the profession finds challenging. And thirdly, if you want even more stuff, connect with me on LinkedIn. And when you connect on LinkedIn I'll send you some links to some more free stuff. I hope you've enjoyed this series. Make sure that you do hit the thumbs up the like button if you got some real value from Jessica and also subscribe to the channel. Hit the notifications the bell icon. Subscribe so you get told as we put new videos up. Thank you so much for watching this series and I look forward to hearing. Let me know via LinkedIn. Send me a message when you've used the ideas here and got to number one or number two on your profile. I would love to hear about your successes. Okay, bye for now.