Focusing time, effort, and manpower on qualified leads can help a bookkeeping business grow faster because these resources won’t be wasted. Here’s how you can pre-qualify leads and turn them into customers every time.
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In this article:
Pre Qualified Leads | How to Get Them and Why They’re Important for a Bookkeeping Business
What Is a Pre-Qualified Lead?
Sales Lead Definition: A sales lead is the term used for a person or organization that has the potential of becoming a client.
A qualified sales lead is someone who might turn into a paying client. Since this lead has a big potential of moving further into the sales funnel and doing business with your company (i.e. have a return on investment for your business), further efforts and resources to communicate with them won’t go to waste.
As with any industry or business, bookkeeping organizations can benefit from pre-qualifying their leads before allocating more resources on them.
Reasons Why Qualifying Sales Leads for Bookkeepers Is Important
Determine pre-qualified leads help you manage your time better when trying to convert prospects into clients.
Helps with Time Management
As a bookkeeper, you have to juggle between constant client communication, managing financial records, budgets, inventory, among others. Time management is essential for any bookkeeper, which is why they must reserve their time and effort to leads who have a high chance of becoming a customer.
A sales lead who has gone through the lead qualification process has a higher chance of doing business with you compared to those who haven’t been pre-qualified. Thus, you can devote your time to your other tasks and on qualified prospects who are more likely to convert into a client.
This makes the process of converting leads into customers more efficient for you.
Allows You and the Client to Determine Early on If You’re the Right Fit for Each Other
Pre-qualifying leads also helps you and your client figure out whether or not both of you are right for each other. Depending on your niche, you might not be the best fit for the client’s needs, especially if they’re highly specialized.
For example, some companies may need industry-specific bookkeepers for their business, or a real estate bookkeeper may need someone who knows a lot about complex industry-specific entries like 1031 exchanges.
Throughout the lead qualification process, the lead shouldn’t be the only one figuring out whether you’re right for them. You should also be figuring out whether you want their business in the first place.
After all, you want to be able to be of help to your prospects. You shouldn’t only be looking to close a deal when that means both you and your client won’t benefit from working together.
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How to Qualify a Lead for Your Bookkeeping Business: 5 Questions to Ask
Know who your pre-qualified leads are by asking the right questions.
Now you know the importance of a qualified sales leads for bookkeepers, it’s time you learn how to qualify a lead for your bookkeeping business.
Here are five questions you need to ask yourself when dealing with a new lead to determine the likelihood of them becoming a paying client:
1. Can You Meet the Needs of their Business?
The first thing you should try to find out when talking to a new business lead is what their pain points are.
A rookie mistake bookkeepers make when dealing with a new lead is trying to sell their services immediately instead of offering personalized solutions. To be able to provide these solutions, you need to know what their problems are in the first place.
Essentially, you should make your initial conversation about them and their problems instead of you and what you’re offering.
For example, if your lead has industry-specific entries or issues, and you’re unfamiliar with that industry, you’re probably not the right bookkeeper for them.
If this is the case, it’s better not to try to push your services on them, or worse, wing it once they’ve signed on with you. What you can do instead is to refer them to a bookkeeper who has the skills and experience necessary to meet their needs.
This can benefit you in two ways:
You can foster a good relationship with other bookkeepers whom you refer clients to. Aside from helping you build a good network in the industry, this will encourage them to repay your goodwill by referring potential clients to your business as well.
This can also save you time and effort that you can devote them to other leads who are better suited for your business.
It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
2. Are You Providing Unique Solutions to the Sales Leads Problem?
Once you’ve figured out what their needs are, it’s time to provide them with a unique solution you can offer. After all, you’re spending resources trying to convert this lead into a customer.
If what you’re offering them is what they currently have or something that didn’t work for them before, they most likely won’t do business with you. To do this, you have to ask them—find out what solutions they’ve tried with other bookkeepers in the past and how it went.
Another thing you should find out is whether or not the company is currently trying to solve their problems and how it’s going. If your solution is better than what they’re currently doing, and you communicate this well to the lead, there’s a higher chance they’ll work with you instead.
3. Do Your Business Leads Have the Authority to Make the Decision to Transact with You?
Focus your efforts on decision-makers, not the middle men.
It can be frustrating when you pitch your bookkeeping services, give them the whole nine yards, only to find out they didn’t even have the authority to say yes to doing business with you.
Again, trying to get a lead to become a paying client takes away resources from your business. Don’t waste these just because you pitched to someone who isn’t a decision-maker or doesn’t have any influence in the decision-making process.
Get into contact with the actual decision-maker before you start any lead nurturing efforts.
Lead Nurturing Definition: The act of developing relationships with sales leads at every stage of the sales process. This increases the chances of converting leads into sales and in the later stages, encouraging clients to purchase a higher-level product or service from you.
It’s also important to talk to someone with authority to say yes and someone who also understands doing business with a bookkeeper. They can better provide the relevant information you need, especially when it comes to the company’s finances.
4. Can They Afford You or Are They Willing to Make Room in Their Budget?
Another source of frustration for any bookkeeper looking for a client is being able to provide solutions for your lead, only for them to ask you to lower your price points.
By getting pre-qualified leads, you can rest assured that the leads you’re talking to can afford your services. This is why it’s important that you ask what their budget is or whether or not they would consider investing more into the type of service you’re offering.
5. When Do Your Leads Need the Solution That You’re Offering?
Last but not least, you want to ask about the timeline your lead is looking at when it comes to solving their problems.
Here’s something you should remember: urgency means a higher chance of converting your lead into a customer. If the lead isn’t pressured to solve the problem soon, they’re also not pressured to do business with you.
Another thing to figure out is if their pain points are seasonal. Ask your lead about this to make sure you have the full picture of what working with them entails.
Getting qualified leads may seem like an extra step in your bookkeeping business, but it offers a lot of benefits in the long run. It can help you grow your business faster by only allocating resources to leads who have higher chances of converting into customers.
If you haven’t yet, start qualifying leads before pursuing further communication and devoting more resources to them. This can help you improve your bottom line and increase the conversion rate of your bookkeeping business.
How do you determine whether or not you’re communicating with sales-ready leads? Let us know in the comments section below!Up Next:
