New monthly clients without ringing around yourself.
Your best clients came by referral, and referrals go quiet. It calls the businesses you want, learns which are a fit and books a fifteen-minute chat with you.
Ready to set it up yourself? Start free. Not sure it fits? Ask a question
The bookkeeper's week
The work is monthly and so is the income, which is why a new client is worth more to you than to almost any other trade. But the clients came by referral, from an accountant who moved on or a tradie who told his mate, and nobody in the firm has ever rung a stranger to ask for the work.
The buyer is an owner on the tools whose partner does the books at night, or who pays a year-end accountant and does the rest badly. They know it is a problem. They will not ring you about it, and the month they finally decide to is the month they ring whoever rang them.
The playbook for a bookkeeping firm
Drafted from your interview, approved by you. Fees never come up on the call; the chat with you is where they belong.
The next step it books
A fifteen-minute call with the owner about how the books run now, Wednesday or Friday mornings.
The questions it asks
- 1Who does the books at the moment?
- 2How many people on the tools, and any subcontractors?
- 3Are you on Xero, MYOB or a spreadsheet?
- 4What is the part of the books that takes the longest?
The objections it answers
- We have an accountant
- Most of our clients keep their accountant for the year end. The weekly and monthly work is what gets taken off the family.
- We are too small for that
- Most of our clients are a crew of three to ten. The question is how many evenings a month the books take, not how big the firm is.
- What does it cost?
- The owner talks fees once she has seen how the books run, in the fifteen-minute call. Would Wednesday or Friday morning suit?
What it never says
- Any fee or package price
- Anything about tax outcomes or refunds
- That a competitor's work is wrong
When it hands over to you
When the lead asks for a person, asks a question about their own tax position, or wants fees on the phone.
A call for a bookkeeping firm
The agent rings the owner of a plumbing firm on behalf of a Tauranga bookkeeper who works with tradies.
- 0:00Agent
Hi, is that Dave? I'm an AI assistant calling on behalf of Kōwhai Books in Tauranga. This call may be recorded. Have you got a minute?
The disclosure, first sentence, every call.
- 0:08Dave
Yeah, go on.
- 0:10Agent
Kōwhai does the books for plumbers and sparkies, so the GST return and the payroll are done before you get home. Who does the books at your place at the moment?
The owner's proof point for tradies, then the first qualifying question: who does it now.
- 0:21Dave
My wife does them. We've got an accountant for the year end.
- 0:26Agent
Most of Kōwhai's clients keep their accountant for the year end; the weekly and monthly work is what gets taken off the family. How many on the tools now, and are you on Xero?
The objection the owner hears most, with the owner's answer, then two qualifying questions: size and software.
- 0:38Dave
Six, and yeah, Xero. It's the chasing invoices that kills us.
- 0:43Agent
That's the thing Aroha, the owner, usually starts with. She does a fifteen-minute call to look at how the books run now, no obligation. Would Wednesday morning or Friday morning suit you better?
The next step: a short call with the owner, into the owner's times. Fees stay with the owner.
- 0:55Dave
Friday, early.
Recorded outcome
- Result
- Qualified, call booked Friday morning
- Who does the books
- Partner, accountant at year end
- Size and software
- Six on the tools, Xero
- Pain
- Chasing invoices
- Next action
- Owner makes the fifteen-minute call
Transcript, recording and cost attached to the call
Illustrative call. Kōwhai Books and the people in it are fictional and used in our testing.
What bookkeepers and accountants ask
Other trades
Commercial cleaning
Site visits booked while your crews are on site.
A twenty-minute site walk-through with the owner, Tuesday or Thursday afternoons, after which the owner writes the quote.
See the page
IT support
New support contracts while you are fixing someone's server.
A thirty-minute check of the network and the backups on site with the owner, no obligation, Tuesday or Thursday.
See the page
Property maintenance contractors
Maintenance contracts won while your team is on the tools.
A half-hour site walk-through with the owner, after which the owner writes a proposal, Wednesday or Friday.
See the page
Commercial landscaping and grounds
Grounds contracts booked while you are out mowing.
A twenty-minute walk of the grounds with the owner, after which the owner writes up what she would do differently, mornings next week.
See the page
Recruitment agencies
New client roles opened while you are placing the last one.
A fifteen-minute call with the consultant about one open role, no fee discussion, mornings this week.
See the page
Try it on your own business, free
Sign up, teach it your business in the ten-minute interview and approve the playbook it drafts. Then watch it work: it finds leads once, looks up three businesses you name and works one lead, with the transcript, recording and outcome to judge it by. No card, nothing to cancel.
- The interview and the playbook, in your words, today
- A run of leads found and checked for your market
- One lead worked, with every word on the record
A plan comes when the free trial is used up, and founding customers get our full attention while we are small.
Not sure it fits? Ask a question
A question before you start?
Whether it fits your business, how the rules apply to you, a volume above 600 leads: ask, and the founder replies by email within one business day. No sales call, no calendar.