There’s something slightly ironic about being a Bookkeeper.
You can tell a client exactly where their paperwork should go. You know when their GST is due. You chase the missing information, keep the numbers tidy and make sure nothing important slips through the cracks.
Meanwhile, back at your own business, there’s a new enquiry sitting in your inbox, a client you meant to follow up with three days ago, an onboarding form buried somewhere in your emails, and a spreadsheet that has somehow become the unofficial CRM you never intended to build.
Sound familiar?
Running a Bookkeeping business involves a lot more than Bookkeeping. You’re managing enquiries, onboarding clients, following up, communicating, sending reminders, keeping track of work and trying to grow a business at the same time.
And, just like we tell our clients, there comes a point where better systems can make a very big difference.
Meet our new partner, JuicyCRM
We’re excited to officially welcome JuicyCRM as an NZQBA partner.
JuicyCRM is a CRM and business automation platform designed to bring more of those moving parts together in one place. For Bookkeepers, that can mean having a better system for managing leads, client communication, onboarding, follow-ups and the repetitive admin that happens around the actual Bookkeeping work.
But there’s another reason we’re particularly excited about this partnership: we use Juicy ourselves.
We’ve been putting it to work behind the scenes at NZQBA and getting a feel for what it can actually do. And, as you’ll probably gather from this little video, we’re rather enjoying it. 😄
Hear from Kenn + Sandi about some of the things they’re loving about JuicyCRM and why NZQBA wanted to bring this partnership to members.
When we started talking with the JuicyCRM team about a partnership, we didn’t want it to simply mean putting another logo on the NZQBA website and sending members a link. We wanted to create something that would deliver genuine value and help Bookkeepers make better use of the technology, rather than signing up for another system and then wondering what on earth to do with it.
So, together, we’ve created an exclusive NZQBA package designed to help members not only access JuicyCRM, but actually implement it in their businesses.
Because buying another piece of software isn’t necessarily the answer. Getting it set up properly, creating processes that suit the way you work and then actually using them? That’s where things start getting interesting.
What do NZQBA members get?
NZQBA members who sign up through our partnership can access the standard JuicyCRM subscription, currently $197 + GST per month, plus a package of additional benefits exclusive to NZQBA members.
As an NZQBA member, you’ll receive:
- Free onboarding – support to get your JuicyCRM account set up and get you started, rather than being handed a new system and left to figure it out yourself.
- A website and SEO review – including a practical, prioritised roadmap of recommended improvements that you or your website provider can implement, currently valued by JuicyCRM at $597 + GST.
- Six monthly implementation sessions – work with JuicyCRM to map your current admin and client-management processes, identify opportunities to streamline and automate them, and turn them into practical workflows inside the system. The full series is currently valued by JuicyCRM at $2,497 + GST.
- The opportunity to reduce your monthly subscription – refer an eligible client who becomes an active JuicyCRM subscriber and you can receive a 20% discount on your own base subscription (on the base subscription fee of $197). Those discounts can accumulate, up to 100% of your base subscription fee.
And that last point is important: this isn’t just access to another CRM for Bookkeepers. There’s support to help you work out what you actually need JuicyCRM to do, build it around the way your business works and then put those systems into practice.
That’s the part we really love.
The goal isn’t more technology. It’s less admin.
Most Bookkeepers probably don’t wake up in the morning thinking, You know what would make my life better? Another piece of software.
And fair enough.
The point of introducing a CRM isn’t to add another login to your collection. It should make some of the things you’re already doing easier.
Think about a new enquiry coming in and entering a consistent follow-up process, rather than relying on you remembering to go back to it. Or a new client moving through the same onboarding steps each time, with the right forms, information and communication happening along the way.
Then there are all those little repetitive tasks that don’t seem particularly time-consuming on their own: sending reminders, following up, collecting information, checking whether someone has replied and moving information from one place to another.
Individually, they’re small. Collectively, they can quietly eat a decent chunk of your week.
A good CRM for Bookkeepers should help reduce that load, not create another system you have to babysit. That’s why the implementation component of this partnership was so important to us.
And if your clients need better systems too?
There’s another part of the partnership that could be particularly useful for Bookkeepers who find themselves having conversations with clients about their business systems.
NZQBA members can refer their clients to JuicyCRM. If an eligible referred client becomes an active JuicyCRM subscriber, the member receives a 20% discount on their own base JuicyCRM subscription from the following billing cycle.
Refer more eligible clients and those discounts accumulate, up to a maximum of 100% of your base subscription fee.
Your client still signs up directly with JuicyCRM and pays JuicyCRM’s standard pricing. The discount applies to your own member account rather than changing what your client pays.
Of course, this isn’t about turning Bookkeepers into CRM salespeople. It’s simply another option you can point clients towards when the conversation moves beyond the numbers and into the systems making their business harder to run than it needs to be.
Maybe it’s time to take our own advice
As Bookkeepers, we spend a lot of time helping other businesses create clarity. We introduce processes, spot inefficiencies and encourage clients to put good systems in place before things become messy.
Sometimes it’s worth turning that same lens back on our own businesses.
Where are you still doing something manually because that’s how you’ve always done it? What are you trying to remember instead of systemise? Where are you copying information between systems, chasing things manually or relying on an inbox to tell you what needs to happen next?
You don’t necessarily need to change everything. But if the same admin headaches keep appearing week after week, it might be worth asking whether there’s a better way.
And that’s exactly what we hope this partnership gives NZQBA members the opportunity to explore.
Ready to take a look?
You don’t need to decide today that you’re going to overhaul your entire business. Start by having a look at JuicyCRM, the exclusive NZQBA member package and what you could potentially take off your own plate.
Then maybe take a quick look at that spreadsheet you’ve been using as a CRM.
We won’t judge. Promise. 😄
A note about our partnership: NZQBA has a commercial partnership with JuicyCRM and may receive a referral commission when eligible customers join JuicyCRM through the partnership. As part of the arrangement, NZQBA members receive exclusive benefits and support when signing up through the NZQBA offer.
Want to learn more about JuicyCRM and what it could do for your Bookkeeping business?
Listen to our recent podcast with Heidi Wruck from JuicyCRM, where we explore how better systems and automation can help Bookkeepers streamline their processes, reduce admin and free up more time.
