How to Add Advisory Services with Hannah Yoder

Hannah found that with her previous business she was traveling a lot and wasn’t able to spend much time with her husband. She was researching jobs that she could do from home at that time and came across the Bookkeeper Business Launch course on the Penny Hoarder website and decided to give it a try.

[6:10] Hannah serves around 12 clients at this point. There was a lot of fear originally, taking on a client beyond Hannah’s husband who was her first, but she realized that she really did have all the tools she needed to be an exceptional bookkeeper thanks to Ben’s course.

[8:35] All of Hannah’s clients have come from LinkedIn mining, a special tactic that is covered in the course. She spent some money on Facebook but the stuff that has worked and gotten her paying clients has been completely free.

[9:20] Hannah originally started out working with farmers but quickly realized they are not clients interested in paying for a bookkeeper. She has since expanded to working with agriculture businesses instead.

[12:00] There is always another fear to break through. For Hannah, one of her greatest fears is one she has to overcome nearly every day; that her clients are not going to be happy. That one day she will send them an invoice and they will say she isn’t doing enough for them and they won’t want to pay.

[14:00] There are always things that we wish we could do differently, but those are the very lessons that got us to where we are. For Hannah, that came in the form of turning down a client that wasn’t willing to pay the price for the service that he desperately needed. In that case, she was glad that she managed to avoid what would have been a big mistake.

[16:30] Some days the stress of owning her own business is too much, but at the same time, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else. The best part of owning a business is the freedom to choose her hours.

[18:20] Hannah’s current opportunity is adding cash flow as an advisory service to her business but she’s not sure how to implement it or how to sell it.

[21:10] Everyone is motivated in one of two ways; they either want something or don’t want something. For the client that has requested Hannah forecast their cash flow, they are trying to avoid debt. Before she adds a new service to her business, she should really understand what her clients are looking for and what they want. She should ask to talk to them for 20 to 30 minutes about their vision for their business and what they are trying to achieve.

[23:45] In Ben’s experience, 98% of accounting professionals do not present their clients the statement of cash flows. The reason they don’t is because they don’t understand it. Hannah should continue to show the statement to each of her clients but also seek to learn what it means and how to explain the information.

[26:45] The most common questions that Hannah gets are basically “How much money do we have?” and “How can I pay these bills?”. Most of Hannah’s clients are somewhat financially savvy, but she’s found that what they want is for Hannah to take care of everything. But what they really need is collaboration.

[29:00] Hannah is in a position where she doesn’t have to take on new clients, that means she can filter through clients that are interested in collaborating rather than just dumping their financials on her.

[30:30] When looking for new clients, Hannah can look for people that are willing to pay for her advisory services, need them, and are willing to collaborate with her.

[31:50] Hannah should surprise one of her clients by just adding that service for free as a way to gain experience and feedback. The name of the game is simply listening to our clients and then giving them what they want.

[33:50] Data entry and figuring out problems are Hannah’s wheelhouse. She’s comfortable and confident in those skills.

[36:00] Hannah is hoping to take on a couple more employees so she can work in a more part-time role. To do that she’s going to have to get clear on what she wants for her business, what it is that her clients want, and the sweet spot between the two.

[38:30] The first thing Hannah is going to do is talk to her clients, dig into what they really want, and then she is going to get to know the statement of cash flows. Next, she’s going to make a big push for new clients that are interested in working with her in an advisory capacity.

[40:20] What are the roles that your potential clients are playing in their business that they don’t want to? What are the pains they are experiencing? What are the things that they want?