Episode #085 Bookkeepers Need a Follow-up Process – hosted by Angie Martin & Maia Coghlan

• Episode 1 https://thesavvybookkeeper.com.au/Podcast/how-to-manage-money-in-a-small-business/
• Episode 2 https://thesavvybookkeeper.com.au/Podcast/how-to-change-your-beliefs-about-money/

Why a sales follow up process is important for your bookkeeping business

Summary keywords: sales follow up process, bookkeeper, bookkeeping business, small business, sales leads, sales, sales call

Angie Martin  0:01 

Good morning, everyone. This is Angie and Maia again from team Savvy. You wanna say hi, Maia.

Maia Coghlan  0:10 

Hi, I'm here as well. How are you going on Friday?

Angie Martin  0:17 

yep. Friday morning. I hope you guys have all had a fantastic week so far. I am personally super excited to be talking about this. Doing this episode today simply because I am personally really obsessed with the follow up process when it comes to running a business. Whether you are in a product based business service, make this furnace service based business, it doesn't really matter. It all includes follow ups and there are ways to streamline your follow ups and make them really effective and really automated which is what why is it Amazing at doing I basically come up with like what I want, and then you just do it. Yeah, you're amazing.

Maia Coghlan  1:12 

It's amazing. He says, Hey, I read these emails, can you do this thing? And then I do the thing. I love what made it and then it's tough.

What do I do with all of my sales leads?

Angie Martin  1:21 

Yeah. And it's like it's done once. So we have to both do it once and then it's a streamline process for them out. And we just implemented a new process for off the hook. And today was the first day that I had a new lead come in, I did the process. And it was awesome. It worked fantastically. It made me really happy. So we really want to go through that. But first thing I want to say is, thank you so much for everyone who requested to join the I heart bookkeeping group. It's we're super thrilled to have you part of the community. We really love supporting you guys. Through that free group that we offer, and just really creating a true positive bookkeeping community for all of us. So thank you so much for rejoining. And I also noticed that there was a lot over the weekend for the I heart payroll as well, which is really fantastic as well, because you know, not everyone loves payroll. And I think this group is really good for people who love it if people who don't so that we can support each other. Because I'm not one of those people who like doing payroll, I have done it on both sides being the payee, and the payer and everything and it's just, I'm not one of those people who like payroll, but I know a lot of you guys are so it's really great group. So thank you for rejoining you guys. And if you haven't done it yet, make sure you go on and do it because we would love to have you join So today, we basically wanted to go through and take you through the process that we've been doing the last couple months. So for the last couple months, we've gone through your social media process. And then over the last two weeks, we've talked about how your social media and website can be streamlined to help the process. So now you have all these new leads. Now, what do you do with them? That's a big question. Basically, there's one simple concept that can actually revolutionise your small business. And it makes it to the point that you might think you might actually need to hire more people. But if you just streamline the process, you'll free up so much of your time and make it so much more efficient than you were doing before. And you actually don't need to hire anyone yet you can still let yourself grow before you hire someone. And it's something that most people bookkeepers completely overlooked, which makes me so sad because you guys are so amazing at what you do. But I know for a fact a lot of you don't do it, because I've had conversations with you. And it's just an oversight that, you know, it's part of the sales and marketing process. And it's something that I think a lot of people have negative connotations about, because of people who have done it poorly in the past. But basically, what it is, is following up so because I'm a huge nerd, I looked up some facts about the follow up process in the world of small business owners and bookkeeping. So the one that really just kind of shocked me is that 44% of small business owners give up after one follow up process for a new lead. This stat is I couldn't find an official stat that was cohesive there was a few other like numbers that were being thrown out about bookkeepers themselves. Most of the information I found is that bookkeepers is more like 66% of people who give up after the first try contacting a new lead. Which is so bad. Everyone is busy, like especially business owners. So if you try once and then you don't get them and then you give up. They it's not doesn't mean that they're not interested. It just means that you missed them on that first try and then you're just missing out on that entire possible lead that could be amazing to work with. The next one is that 10% of business owners make more than three Contact like points of contact to a new lead, and then give up. So, again, that's not a great stat, only 10% of small business owners will continue the process to a third try of trying to follow up a lead, then 80% of sales close between the fifth and 12th point of contact. So if you guys are part of the 44, or 66, or 10%, that I just mentioned, just remember that 80% of sales don't close until the fifth at the minimum fifth point of contact. And with savvy it's, it really is closer to the 12th point of contact, because we have systems that points of contact systems in place before I even start trying to call you. So I can Hundred percent agree that this works, um,

Maia Coghlan  7:05 

About like, if you're going to buy something, it's not just small, you're gonna look at a bunch of different options. And if you find one that you like, you still, you're going to do some research about it, maybe you're not quite ready to invest your money in it yet. But over time, if you continue being reminded of this, this one service that you like the look of, but you're still not quite sure about yet. The more exposure that you have to it, the more likely you are to eventually decide that you want to buy it. The same works the other way with people who want to hire your service, that the more exposure they get to the option, the more appealing the auction is to them and the more likely they are to want to Just your service. Yeah.

Angie Martin  8:02 

And I think a thing that a lot of bookkeepers don't consider is that a lot of business owners realise they need a bookkeeper when business is going really busy for them, and they simply don't have the time to do it. Or they're extremely stressed out because of a situation such as COVID that's happening and they can't mentally handle doing it anymore. This means that you bear becoming a lead at their highest point of stress and pressure. So you are trying to contact them and basically sell your service at the point that they are the most vulnerable. And the most stressed out that they possibly really are because it's all about their financials, and they're stressed about that. So it's one of those things that people deal with stress in different ways. And if they're super about their finances, which most people are when they're needing to get a bookkeeper. They might be having issues of self sabotage, they might be having issues with money mindset, they might be having issues with just trying to focus and get work done on their business because they're too busy working in their business. So it's not that they're ignoring you. It's not that they're, you know, just leading you on, it could be a whole slew of different things going on. And the same thing goes for

Maia Coghlan  9:30 

It's about the denial factor as well

Angie Martin  9:32 

Yes, it's that they know they need it, but they really just need to come into their own and actually do it.

Maia Coghlan  9:41 

It's like they've been told that they need it, but they haven't come to the acceptance of that within themselves. And so they've sort of they've, you know, they've requested a quote on your website, but this still, you know, they're still on the fence and the people who are on the fence, the people who are in denial about whether they really need the service or not, they're not going to buy on the first contact point they're not going to buy on the second or the third, but they might on the fourth or the fifth or the 10th.

How to build trust with my clients as a bookkeeper

Angie Martin  10:11 

And it could be to is that very often, let's say they've had a bad experience or they've never worked with a bookkeeper before and they just want to feel comfortable working with you. So maybe they just need those extra points of contact, like the fifth or sixth point of contact to feel comfortable. Getting a bookkeeper is a very personal experience for a lot of businesses, a lot of businesses and business owners think of their business as like their baby. And it's variances are always personal. Yes, it's a very personal thing because like really bookkeepers know everything about a business.

Maia Coghlan  10:51 

It requires a huge level of trust. Yes, I know to let somebody else into their, their baby business and Take over the finances. That's a huge thing. It's massive.

Angie Martin  11:03 

Its massive. And I think bookkeepers tend to forget about it, because it's what you do every day. But it is a massive like, as a business owner, myself, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need an outward bookkeeper, like someone else to do my business at the end of this new financial year, because it's going to get too big that I won't be able to handle it anymore. And just even the thought of that, even though I know amazing bookkeepers, I have the slew of amazing bookkeepers that could you know, easily help me. It's one of those things that it's still my baby. And it's super personal to be like, Oh, yeah, here, here's all my financials of my startup business. It's one of those things that they need those extra points of contacts, to feel comfortable to make the actual feel close. So it's If you think about it 90% of business owners and bookkeepers, if not more, because this is the stats for small business because on the official stats for small bookkeepers, 90% of small business owners are missing out on 80% of deal closing opportunities, because he stopped doing the follow up process. More over eight out of 10 leads prefer to talk to sales reps via email over any other medium. So, this can be like massively fixed by actually just doing email series to follow up with them, which is not an invasive kind of, you know, I think a lot of people have issues with doing sales calls because they're worried about invading other people's space and Being Annoying. Where emails are much easier just to check in, instead of an annoying phone call when you're in the zone working, just send an email, and then create that follow up process in that relationship with them. So there are ways of really making the whole process work for you and work for them as well. Because, you know, the thing is, if they've contacted you, if they've requested a quote, or if they've requested a time to chat, they know that they need help. And it's now your responsibility to check in on them and make sure that you are providing that help where they go with you or not. The thing is, the world of bookkeeping is amazing. And there are bookkeepers in Australia that are equally amazing. And just because the client might not suit you, and your business goals, I'm guarantee that they will suit someone else's business goals. And someone else can still help and support them. And you probably know someone because all of us have friends who are bookkeepers in the bookkeeping industry. It's how we network. So always just think about, you know, helping and supporting them. Because once you help and support them, they might not go with you, but they will remember you and remember that you helped them and then someone else who they know, they might be like, Oh, I didn't go with this girl, but she was amazing. I would hundred percent suggest you to contact her. And it works. It does. It really works. So what I wanted to do today is kind of go into a bit more about why you should create a follow up process because following up I'm not just talking about randomly contacting them when you have time. That's not a follow up process, guys. That's just random lead contacting people I want to talk through about creating a process that you stick with. Just like you were to create a process to do your basses every quarter. It's the same concept. And the reason main reasons why I want you to start thinking about it is again, it works. And it's the first thing I did when I was I joined that team. I think everyone was really shocked with how much I prioritised. I know Amy was she was like, oh, I've got all these great bookkeepers. I want you to give them a call and want you to chat with them and just learn about what they need. And I was like, Yeah, that's great. I need to do this first, because this is my process. If I don't have it, then I'm not going to be following up with them properly. So I think you guys were all like a bit surprised that I didn't just like start calling people right off the bat. When I started with sabi, I sat down and I created the process for each different service that we have. I broke it down and I was like, okay, so if they're looking at this, they need this. And it's the same thing that you're looking at for your own businesses. If someone is asking about payroll support, that means that they have employees and that means that they want to make sure that they can keep their employee retention up, they can keep their employees working efficiently and effectively, and that they're supporting their employees as well. So your follow ups when you go and do things like that should be all related to that has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with them, because they are looking for support from you. That's what you are as a bookkeeper. Um, so it's actually something that works so well and chances are, if you've ever spoken to me, you would experience, at least something about the follow up process that we've done because I even do a follow up process just for checking in on people has nothing to do with making a sale. It is just a process of checking in and making sure everyone's going on, right? It's what savvy is here for because we're here to support you guys. Just like you guys are there to support your clients. So, um, one of the most things that bookkeepers overlook, is that you're not running bookkeeping. You're not just running a bookkeeping business guys like you are entrepreneurs. And if you are entrepreneurs, you are your own sales. Rep. You are selling yourself you are selling your knowledge and you're selling the services that you provide. You have to get over the fact that you are a sales rep. So many people I talked to go ah Hate making sales or hate bothering people. I just feel like such a nuisance and

Maia Coghlan  18:08 

You know, you can't make sales you don't have a business.

Angie Martin  18:11 

Exactly a end of the day. Yeah, it's one of those things like, I completely understand what it's like cuz I do the same thing. Some days all look like screen about all the people have to call and some days I'm just like, I feel like such a nuisance sometimes but then I go, why am I calling them? I'm calling them to support them. And they have asked me to call them. So I'm not really that much of a nuisance. And it's just one of those things. The more you do it, the more you actually do, just get over it. It becomes habit and if you are someone who just can't get over it, and you just can't get comfortable with the concept of calling people Then hire someone who can. You know, Amy is an amazing salesperson. She believes in herself. She believes in the products that savvy does. But there is a difference between what I do and what she does. So she hired me. And, you know, it's you know, Maya is amazing at what she does.

Maia Coghlan  19:24 

But I had to sales.

Angie Martin  19:27 

Exactly. She's okay with that. And I'm okay with the fact that I can't do what she does. It's, it's realising what you can do realistically do. And if you can sit there and you go 100% and never going to be comfortable making sales for my business, then hire someone who can. It's as simple as that. It can be a casual, it could be someone who comes in and does like four hours, three days a week, or two days a week or something. If you're really, really sick. But you need to have a sales process.

How do I build up the confidence I need to make a sales call?

Maia Coghlan  20:02 

Like you said before, it's really true. Like, the more that you do it, the less scary it's going to be. So if you don't have the capacity to hire somebody, and you are also super scared about doing sales calls, just do a sales call, like rip the band aid flops completely, it's okay because if you didn't follow up with the person, they were never going to become your client. Anyway, if you call them to follow up and it goes terribly then like you haven't really lost anything. You've just gained a little bit of experience in making sales calls.

Angie Martin  20:40 

Exactly. And to be honest, sometimes I make horrible calls were just go oh my gosh, what just came out of my mouth. And I learned from it and I typically because this is my personality, all even say on the call that oh, I don't know where that came. From, or something like that you can make fun of yourself, like, laugh at yourself. Remember that you are a person and that you are talking to another person. On the other line, they aren't these people that are instantly judging you or anything. They are also business owners, and they're trying to get their business. Right. And typically, people have a lot more in common with you than you think. That makes a big difference. And yeah,

Maia Coghlan  21:31 

yeah, it's really true. Yeah, like if they if they're a small business owner, you might also need to make sales.

Angie Martin  21:37 

Yes. Like you guys have so much in common like bookkeepers always think that, you know, because we are so segregated because so many people don't know what bookkeeping is that a lot of the issues that you have are just issues that bookkeepers have. But it's not true. Like we bookkeepers. have the same issues that every other business owner has. And it's one of those things that you can really connect with your clients through, stop thinking yourself as a bookkeeper, but start thinking about yourself as an entrepreneur. And once you do that, then you can really connect with them on a different level. And it's the same thing as when I wanted to start doing podcasts. You think about that? Yeah, you were not King on the gods. Were, you?

Maia Coghlan  22:40 

No, not at all the first few podcasts that I did, like, I, I was pretty nervous and whenever it was my time to tend to speak I didn't really know what to say cuz my mind was just like, Ah, now I get on and do a podcast with Angie like it's been a week in a row. I don't have any issue with it at all. Yeah, because we rip the band aid

Angie Martin  23:05 

over and over again until it didn't hurt.

Maia Coghlan  23:08 

She made me do it over and over again. And now I'm fine with it. Although I am not fine with doing them on my own. I don't want to do that again. I I did do the podcast on my own. Oh, it was. It was a great podcast, though. And everybody loved it. But oh, I don't know if you can tell or not. But I was so stressed out doing that podcast, but I did it. Yes, that's the thing. I want to do it anyway. And I did it. Yeah.

Angie Martin  23:38 

But again, that's why we have a team at savvy. So even if you pulled the band aid off and you did it, you did a great job, but you never want to do it again. Have someone else in your team who can

Maia Coghlan  23:53 

also like I did it and I hated it. I don't want to do it again, if I don't have to. But I know that I can do it now. I didn't want it was super stressful, but I know that I can do it. If I have to do it. I absolutely have to do it. I can do it. And that's like, at least I know that now. Yes. After doing it once.

Angie Martin  24:22 

Yes. And it's like it's the biggest thing and I have a friend, not friend, a family member. And she just is like, just get over it. Like just, she just always says like, if there's something if we have a friend or a family member wallowing, or if I'm wallowing or like, yeah, it's been family members and it's just go for it. Like even if it was it was actually it was my mom. My great aunt was in hospital a couple years ago and she was just like, my aunt was really emotional about What was going on? My mom just looked at it, she's like, just get over it. And kill for it deal with it. This has happened now move on. And that's the sales process as well is that this process this need is never going to go away in your business. So either hire someone or get over it and do it. It's also a really good way to understand why it's an issue for you. So I've done this a lot in the past because I've been a salesperson since I was basically I always say 1615 but I opened my own business when I was 12. So technically, I've been a salesperson since I was 12. So it's really good to actually go in and understand what your issue is, with making sales. Why does it cause you anxiety? Why does it call us cause you stress? Why do you procrastinate, doing it all the time? Is it Because you are deep down, self sabotaging? Are you having issues with the concept of money and you know your relationship with money? Are you worried about if your business does succeed, what will happen then? It sounds like really silly questions, but it's actually really true. And it happens a lot with entrepreneurs. So I would suggest you to listen to the episode that I did with Melissa from talking money. It's a two part series and we talk about your actual relationship with money and how if you do have a negative concept with your relationship with money and you self sabotage your own business and your own life, typically that does come hand in hand with why you don't like making sales. And it's a really hard thing to get your head around. But it's actually really important and you Another thing that is really important is to also realise that most of the fear that is coming from making the sales calls is having the fear of being rejected. This is an issue that I get from bookkeepers all the time that they're worried about being rejected. They're worried about losing a client. They don't want someone to basically say no to them about their service because bookkeeping, it's you are selling yourself, you're selling your own knowledge base. And it can also be a very personal thing for you. And that's okay. For one that's okay to feel that way. But also to just get over hearing No, because if that person saying no, then you don't want to work with them anyways. And there's so many other people to work with. And typically what I like to do if someone does say no, I like to find out why. Is it something that I've done? Is it something that I haven't done in the sales process? Or is it because we just aren't suited in most of the time? It's just because we're not suited for the client. And if that's the case, then Good riddance, don't work with them. They don't fit your business. You don't want to work with them, you they're not your ideal client. So it's something that you really need to look in inwardly and figure out what exactly it is. That's making you uncomfortable. Is it because you also don't know how to sell if you don't have time to learn? And so you just give up? That happens a lot. I know a lot of people they're like, but what do I say on a phone call? Like, what do I email someone? If they've asked for a quote and stuff like what do I do? Yeah, that's a really big issue that we've come across. And that's why we actually created a whole heap of follow up email templates for our clients that we have on the savvy, the savvy shop now, and it's because like, we were getting so many people who were going to me and they're like, Okay, so once this happens, like, What do I do? Like, what's the next step? And there's so many amazing books that you can read to help you with sales. And really just the biggest thing that I always say if you don't know how to make a sale, don't think of it as making a sale. Think of it as helping and supporting this person. They just want to have a chat with you to see what you can offer to help and support them.

Maia Coghlan  29:48 

So don't even think about it. Like if you have someone come into your office, and they ask you, what exactly do you do and how can you Help me in my business. Yeah, and then answer that question. That's what you're gonna say on the sales call. I haven't asked you the question, but you're gonna pretend that they have, and you're just gonna answer it. Yeah. And it's what you do to support their business.

How to do your research before making a sales call

Angie Martin  30:17 

Yeah, like you're not hassling them by contacting them, you're not annoying them they've asked you. And so just, I always suggest if you're really afraid of doing the sales concept, look up the business, look up what they're doing. And actually go Okay, so from the looks of it, they look like they need this, this and this. So when you talk to them, ask them and be like, further quote, are you looking to get this this and this stuff? And then what stage are you at with this, this and this, this is what we can do to help you do that. Let's have a chat about that. And then just have a chat with them. There are people. It's amazing how many sales can come from just remembering that they are people. So that's a really big thing. So the next thing I wanted to talk about is also like just changing your perspective. So I kind of already spoke about this, but like, these people have contacted you, they have asked to speak with you. So stop thinking that you're bothering them. Like, really, because I know this is a big issue with follow ups. And that's why a lot of people stop following up at like, the third follow up is that you're worried that you're annoying them and that you're bothering them. And that's why they're not getting back to you. That's only like a mini school reason. Typically, if someone's really annoyed with you, they will email you and tell you to stop emailing them. When you know you've annoyed them. Yeah, if they just ignore your emails or ignore their calls. There could be a bajillion reasons why they have done that. Like, imagine how many calls you have missed or emails that you haven't replied back to from people that you actually want to work with. Just think about it like remind yourself you're also a business owner you do the exact same thing we all do and it's all really bad. But when you're busy you can't help it.

Maia Coghlan  32:31 

So just know later Bosket

Angie Martin  32:33 

Yeah, and then later is never Yeah, so just, again, get over it. change your perspective and then it makes it much easier

Maia Coghlan  32:45 

if they don't like you said if they don't want you to contact them. Yeah, like I did it this morning. I um, I got an email from this software that I like, go to trial for just to see haven't worked. And they started sending me these emails every day asking, like, oh, how are you going with it? Do you need help setting it up and everything and there was no unsubscribe button at the bottom. And so for a start, I was just deleting them. And then this morning, I thought that's just too much. I looked at the email and there was no unsubscribe button because I think it came from an actual person, not like an automated email. Yep. And so I just replied to the email, please unsubscribe from your emails and and that's it, and hopefully they just do that. Yeah,

Angie Martin  33:42 

it's it's that easy, and like. Yeah, I have had some really rude calls and emails of people telling me they don't want me to contact anymore. And I'm not saying it's from savvy I'm saying it's from my all my years of sales. And, you know, sometimes they're not so great. But then sometimes like when they're like really rude, I'll actually share them with the team and then be like, Wow, look at this. someone's having a really bad day. Because typically it's not about you when you get an email that's rude. It's not actually about you it's what's happening in their day in their life, you're just getting the brunt of it.

Maia Coghlan  34:33 

The same thing with like, if they don't return your emails or your calls, you don't know what's going on in their life. Like there are there's so many things they can have a sick relative, they can just have baby like there's so many things that take your time away from that. All of us have experienced so better respond to your emails. It doesn't necessarily mean If they're not interested, maybe they just don't have time.

Angie Martin  35:04 

Yeah. And it's something that's really important. Yeah, it's really important to remember and like we even do it at savvy, like over the last, what, two months, you and I have been going back and forth about certain clients. And we're like all I feel like they're ignoring us what's going on? And then we both have had moments where it's like, Wait, hold on. This is happening in their life right now. That's really be. I have a feeling they just haven't gotten around to it.

Maia Coghlan  35:32 

Yeah.

Angie Martin  35:33 

And it's true. We just had confirmation the other day about this. And that's what we've been saying of the last little while that I think this is what's happening. And now it's sorted. And it's as simple as that we could have let it really get under our skin and get all these horrible things going in our mind

Maia Coghlan  35:56 

as we just think about what we need. Yeah. This we need more clients, we need this information about the receipts or whatever I need this I need that. I

Angie Martin  36:08 

need a lot. Like to be honest. You need a meeting? Um, yeah, you need a walk from your clients. So it's easy to kit.

Maia Coghlan  36:18 

Yeah, it's easy to think about what you need and what's going on, you forget that they have this other person has this whole other line. And there's things going on and you're not there. Certainly know what that is. But that doesn't mean they don't need to

Angie Martin  36:32 

know. Exactly. And that's why I like to create an actual process. When you do a follow up. I don't classify calling someone randomly when you have time a follow up. Okay, guys, that is not a sales follow up process. You need to create a systematic process and stick with it. It needs to be a planned approach. That you arrange, before any people actually come in to be a lead, and then create the process, stick with it and then always do it. Don't put it off, don't procrastinate with it. If you're supposed to do something on that day, do it. It's a process just like if you're doing anything in bookkeeping, you all have processes, and you all stick with it. The sales process is the same thing. So the way like it takes it makes you take responsibility for your own business growth, growth as well. And it makes it so that your client your potential clients also actually know that you care. So often do I have a sales follow up process where I kind of just goes to them and go, you know, I give them a call and I have so many people who think me For actually checking in on them, and even though they still haven't done the thing I've asked them to do or they haven't looked at the thing I sent them, they still thank me for thinking of them. And in those calls, typically it's me not making a sale, it's me just checking in on them. And typically potential clients will really appreciate you just checking in to make sure that they receive the email or with their quote, or the official proposal engagement letter, because they've been so busy that they have forgotten and that it's been lost in their email thread into resend it so they can look at it again. It works really well. So what I kind of wanted to do is go through like the basic follow up process for you guys. Let's say someone's booked in with you through your website, like we were discussing over the last couple weeks on how to get that to happen over your web. You get the email saying that someone's booked in with you, you send an email to confirm the meeting cuz sometimes they put the wrong time and you'd like to confirm the meeting in the day and then you call the lead obviously. And then after you call the lead that same day you send a follow up email summarising what you just spoke about in typically either send through the quote, send through the official initial consult form that you need to fill out or you send through the engagement letter whatever your sales process is. And then you follow up with an email like the day later being like, just wanted to confirm you received this email, our chat to confirm they actually received the email because sometimes it goes to spam if you attach documents To emails, sometimes that happens, it's always good just to check in, and then you do a call to follow up again, if nothing has happened. And in that call, then you do the follow up again, to reiterate what you guys talked about, and against an engagement letter, whatever call to action they have to do to get them to the next step. And they continue doing that until you close the deal either saying that they want to work with you or they don't. It's really not all that hard. And typically, especially if they know that they need a bookkeeper, they'll actually really thankful that you do those. Those check in points because chances are, your competition isn't because bookkeepers are so bad at following up. So just keep remembering that like doing the follow up, you are putting yourself so much more ahead of everyone else because you're actually checking in on them. They aren't used to that. And if they are good, like organised business owner, who's your ideal client, they will love that you've done that. Plus, it makes sure that you don't lose leads. So by not having a process all like worked out. Just think about how many deals have slipped through your fingers because you haven't followed up with them, or that you forgot about them. This happens all the time with bookkeepers. I've heard so many horror stories about how someone's like contacted them. And then you've gotten so busy that you've forgotten to follow up with them. And then after like three or four months, you call them again and they've already found a bookkeeper. Of course, they have contacted you months ago for bookkeeping. It's actually happened to clients of ours and I was just like thoughts on Hundred percent your fault. Like I can't sugarcoat that. So it's really important so that you have the process that so that you won't forget about people. And it's just, you know, an easy way of making sure that you can grow your business. And this is also like, for those of you who don't want new leads, this is also can be directly done for following up your actual clients. So many bookkeepers are like all the business has just changed this this mess and like they didn't tell me and so now I have to do all these extra things for bass and for into financial year and why didn't they tell me follow up with them do like yearly or BOD like biannually checkpoints, to see what's going on in their business so that you know if they're looking at hiring, more payroll or starting a payroll process If they're looking at if they weren't on GST or ready to get on GST, like checking in with them. So you can use the exact same follow up process just to check in with them to see if they need more services or need to downgrade their services or anything. It makes them feel like they're actually important. It's great. So this is what leads into our next episode. This is one we're going to be talking with Maya hates on the actual creating this process into an automation that makes it so that you don't have to manually do things. You can set up sequences, automated emails, templates, all the amazing things to make this an easy process. So yes, it has to be done once but then it doesn't have to be done every single time.

Maia Coghlan  43:59 

Once Good, unless you want to edit it. Yes,

Angie Martin  44:04 

yes. But like, it makes it just so easy and it makes it so that you follow up process is strong. And you can never again go all I was supposed to call someone today I don't remember who it was, and I don't remember why.

Maia Coghlan  44:21 

Yeah, never miss a lead. Yes. So

Angie Martin  44:24 

next week we're going to be talking about how exactly we suggest to create these automations. And we're going to be talking about mainly how to do it with a CRM and without a CRM because I know not all bookkeepers have CRM and all CRMs are different. So we're just going to be giving you some generalised idea. If you do have a CRM or you want to talk about getting your process organised even more, I would highly suggest you to book in a time with Maya She is like the workflow superstar. But we can go through that, you know, anytime if you want to book in a free consultation call. And we can kind of go over how you get that to all work. But definitely wait until next week so that you can listen to how we suggest to do it. And it'll just be really exciting because I actually love our sales, follow up processes and all the things that we have in place. I think it's great.

Maia Coghlan  45:33 

You've done a great job. Yeah, you've done is an automated.

Angie Martin  45:37 

Yeah, and it saves like, so much time. Yeah, that's how the team is able to do savvy and off the hook. We always have so many people asking us how we do it. Guys, it's because our follow ups is systemized and automated. That's how we do it. Awesome. Well This episode has been more me chatting than you chatting.

Maia Coghlan  46:03 

Yeah, I knew it would be I just server came along for the ride

Angie Martin  46:08 

yeah it's um you know it's the education of why follow up sales are important and then next episode we're going to do how to me? Yes. Which is super exciting I love I love you going through all the that in nerding out over automation

yeah cuz it just like,

Maia Coghlan  46:29 

Okay, I got so much better.

Angie Martin  46:30 

Yeah, I'm not like super excited about the actual process of automation. I like the result. And that's what gets me excited because then I have so much extra time to do all the other things. And like the concept of having bookkeepers learn this and actually implement it makes me excited, because a lot of people are drowning in their work right now, because there's so much work for bookkeepers so if they can also automate one section of their business like pies. Just imagine how much more work you can get done. Yeah, it's great. It's awesome. Oh, yes work to do. Yes, exactly. Do some may time gets outside and, you know, it's the possibilities are endless of what you can do with the free time you can get from automations. So, I hope you enjoyed this episode of me kind of ranting on about how amazing follow ups are doing enjoy my rants. Um, do you want to do the sign off?

Maia Coghlan  47:42 

Yeah. Stay Sane, Stay Safe and Stay Savvy.

Angie Martin  47:47 

Thanks so much guys. Have a great rest of your day.