Introduction

The New Client Setup Workflow is the process a firm goes through once they acquire a client. The process is performed by the firm’s Sales and Finance Teams.

The word “marketing” is synonymous with the word “communicating”. Marketing is the process of communicating the firm’s solutions or services to satisfy their target market’s needs or wants.  

The Marketing Team’s objective is to generate prospects. A prospect is a person who expresses an interest in the firm’s services. A prospect is a prospective client.

The word “sell” is a verb and the word “sale” is a noun. A business “sells” to generate “sales.” Sales is the process of selling the firm’s solutions or services to prospects. Selling converts prospects into clients.

The Sales Team’s objective is to generate clients. A client is a converted prospect.

It’s been said that if you develop a great marketing process, very little selling is required. Therefore, selling under our sales process, is more of answering questions and clarifying our services to prospects.

There are several ways a prospect can express an interest in your services. The more communication methods (options) you provide prospects to communicate with you, the more clients you’ll generate.

Prospect communication methods:  

1. Website form (Contact Us, free resource registration, etc.)
2. Online meeting (Calendly)
3. Live chat
4. Email
5. Telephone
6. Mobile text
7. Social media message (Facebook)
8. Office walk-in

It’s very important that your communication methods provide a means for prospects to provide you their contact information. Critical contact information includes:

1. Contact Name
2. Company
3. Email or phone

As you obtain contact information, you add that information to your contact database. You then use your contact database to communicate with and build relationships with your prospects.

New Client Setup Workflow

The new client setup workflow is as follows:

1. Obtain Contact Information Form
2. Obtain Client Agreement
3. Forward Client Agreement to the Finance Team Member
4. ‍Set Up New Client as a Customer in QuickBooks Accountant
5. Set Up New Client Recurring Sales Receipt
6. Set Up New Client as a Client
7. Set Up New Client in Clients Only Portal

Step 1 – Obtain Contact Information Form

Sales Team Member receives prospect communication and completes, or has the prospect complete, the Contact Information Form, depending on the following scenarios:

1. If live communication (live chat, mobile phone, telephone, or office walk-in), the Sales Team Member listens and answers questions but doesn’t sell. After the Sales Team Member has answers all the prospect’s questions, they ask the prospect if they can ask them a few questions about their company to provide us information we need to determine how we can best serve them. The Sales Team Member opens and completes the Contact Information Form

If the prospect doesn’t want the Sales Team Member to complete the Form at that time, the Sales Team Member asks the prospect if they can email the link to the Form to them and have them complete and submit the Form at their convenience.

Note: The Contact Information Form is on our website and doesn’t require Clients Only access.

2. If a message (Contact Us form, email, telephone or mobile phone voicemail, text, or social media), the Sales Team Member reads the message and replies with answers to questions but doesn’t sell. After the Sales Team Member has answers all the prospect’s questions, they ask the prospect if they would complete our Contact Information Form to provide us the information we need to determine how we can best serve them

Note: The Sales Team Member should accept or reply to live communications and messages as soon as possible using the same communication method the prospect used. They should consistently check for messages. The faster they reply, the more clients they’ll generate.

If the Sales Team Member doesn’t receive the Contact Information Form from the prospect within two days, the Sales Team Member should contact the prospect to remind them we need the Form to determine how we can best serve them.

To access the Contact Information Form, log in to Accounting Analytics Clients Only portal at accountinganalytics.com.

Step 2 – Obtain Client Agreement

Sales Team Member completes Client Agreement using information from Contact Information Form and submits to prospect the same day of receipt of Contact Information Form or next business day if received after business hours.

If the Sales Team Member doesn’t receive the signed Client Agreement within two days, the Sales Team Member contacts the prospect to remind them we haven’t received the Agreement and want to know if they have any questions regarding the Agreement.

To access the Client Agreement, log in to Accounting Analytics Clients Only portal at accountinganalytics.com.

Step 3 – Forward Client Agreement to the Finance Team Member

Sales Team Member receives signed Client Agreement, forwards Agreement to Finance Team Member responsible for Customers in QuickBooks Accountant.

Step 4 – Set Up New Client as a Customer in QuickBooks Accountant

Finance Team Member sets up new client as a Customer in QuickBooks Accountant using information from Client Agreement.

To add a Customer:

1. Select Sales from the left menu, then select Customers

Note: If you changed the Customer Label to Clients, select Clients.

2. Select New Customer

The Customer information page opens.

3. Complete the fields in the Customer Information window

Note: You can also enter additional information on the Notes, Tax info, Payment and billing, Attachments, and Additional info (company types) tabs.

4. Select Save

Step 5 – Set Up New Client Recurring Sales Receipt

Note: Accounting Analytics doesn’t carry client accounts (accounts receivable). Our payment policy requires clients to provide credit card information with their Client Agreement and we set up a recurring monthly Sales Receipt to automatically charge the credit card beginning the day we acquire the client.  

Finance Team Member sets up new client Recurring Sales Receipt in QuickBooks Accountant and emails first Sales Receipt.

To create a Recurring Sales Receipt:

1. Select New from the left menu, then select Sales Receipt
2. Select Make Recurring at the bottom of the page
3. Enter a Template name and select Scheduled as the Type
4. Select the name of the customer from the drop-down list or type the first letter(s) to retrieve the customer and verify the Email and Cc and Bcc emails
5. Under Options, check Automatically send emails
6. Enter the interval for the recurring sales receipt as follows: “Monthly on day 1^st of every 1 month”

This dictates when and how often the sales receipt will be created, charged, and emailed.

7. Enter the Start date as the first day the customer will be charged
8. Verify or enter the Billing address, Shipping to address, Ship via, Shipping date, and Tracking no., if any
9. (Optional) Add any tags to the receipt
10. Select the Credit Card Payment method, then verify the credit card information

The Service Date is taken from the Start date.

11. Select or add the Product/Service(s) purchased from the drop-down list, change, enter or select the Description, quantity (QTY), Rate, Amount, Tax (taxable?), and Discount, if any

Select Add new if the product or service is currently not set up.

Delete, add, or clear all lines as necessary. To delete a line, select the trash can icon to the right of the line. To add one line, select the line and the + icon. To add 4 lines, select Add lines. To clear all lines, select Clear all lines.

Note: All fields must be entered for Scheduled templates. For example, if an item has a rate of $0, enter 0. If left blank, the line will not save.

12. Select Save template

Step 6 – Set Up New Client as a Client

Finance Team Member sets up new client as a Client in QuickBooks Accountant using information from Client Agreement and provides Service Team Leader access to new client. When setting up the client as a customer in Step 4, QuickBooks automatically added the Client to the Clients page. However, the Client profile is not complete and will need to be finalized.

To add and edit Client information:

1. Select Clients from the left menu, then select Edit client from the Client list

The Edit client window will then appear.

2. Enter the Business name, Email, Display name, and Mobile phone number in the applicable fields
3. Enter the business owner’s first and last name, the business phone number, and the business website address
4. Enter the business billing address and shipping address (if different)
5. Provide Services Team Leader access to new client by checking their box under Team access

If their name is not shown, select Show all team members to display every team member.

Note: The Firm Master Administrator automatically receives access to all clients. If you want the Service Team Leader to also have access to all clients automatically, select the all clients box in the Client Access tab when setting up the Service Team Leader as a Team member.  

6. Under Products, select ProAdvisor Discount

ProAdvisor Discount - Your firm is billed for this client's company, and you receive a steep discount for the lifetime of that subscription.

Direct Discount - Your client pays for their own company. They receive a discount for the first 12 months and then the company will bill at the normal rate.

Note: You can compare product pricing and options by selecting Compare products.

7. Select the QuickBooks product stated in the Client Agreement

Note: If you are adding a payroll only client, select Payroll standalone and proceed to the next step.

8. Select QuickBooks Payroll add-on and select the payroll option included in the Client Agreement, if applicable
9. Select the Contractor Payments add-on, if stated in the Client Agreement
10. Leave the Make me the Master Admin of this client’s QuickBooks company box unchecked

When you leave the box unchecked Intuit emails the client a link so they can sign in.

The Master Admin is the owner and primary contact for a QuickBooks company.

If you assign a ProAdvisor discount client as the Master Admin, your current QuickBooks access doesn’t change. You still receive billing notifications, and your client doesn’t have access to your billing information.

11. Verify the Payment method or select Change to change the payment method
12. Select Save

Step 7 – Set Up New Client in Clients Only Portal

Finance Team Member sets up new client in our website Clients Only portal using information from Client Agreement.

The Clients Only portal enables clients to securely access client forms, training, certification exams, support resources, and client documents such as past year tax returns.