Glastonbury, CT - wayne@s-consult.com
Again Intuit is apologizing for an outage on their QuickBase site. For a company that hopes to go from 60% to 75% online revenues - this is not good news. It's also very negative for all other SaaS providers who have to live down the frequent outages that Intuit does not seem to be able to get under control (read).
At the just wrapped Intuit conference the company announced their channel size as 556 active partners (no word on how that's defined) with an intent on capping the channel at 700 total.
They claim that 70% of new vars sell two new license deals in the first month. There's no word on whether that's all they sell or if they continue to sell new licenses after what I refer to as the "lay downs". Most VARS these days primarily go into new reselling arrangements when they have a client opportunity or two that they can sell -- so this statistic while impressive is not entirely unexpected. There's no indication here on exactly what products these partners handle -- whether it's just QuickBooks or if it's also QuickBooks Enterprise.45% of all Intuit telesales leads are sent to their partner channel. Most of the leads sent to the channel are too complex to sell direct - mostly companies that have a stronger industry specific need. There's no indication of what percent of those leads result in consulting revenue for the VAR.
They also announced their Accountants Pro Advisors program has 56,000 members and they've created a new pilot program called Accountant Work Exchange which matches the 556 VARS with 56,000 Pro Advisors for mutual cross referrals of work. Intuit's software will now be available via two distributors - Ingram and Blue Star. Noted briefly at the end of the market is a comment from Intuit that QuickBase is the VARS' secret weapon. QuickBase is an online database (pricing is expensive though and starts at $249/mo) which can be customized and presumably linked up to many of Intuit's products.
Full story:
Wayne Schulz is a Sage Business Partner handling MAS 90 and MAS 200 accounting software. Therefore any comments in this post that are not excerpts of the orginal story from Channel Insider cannot be considered as independent and we make no claim that they are.
Wayne Schulz
Schulz Consulting, LLC
The company says its made over 40 enhancements to QuickBooks 2010, many aimed at new users. Intuit claims to have significantly reduced the number of set-up screens users must complete to get the software up and running. New "Guide Me" on screen hints help users through critical tasks, such as filling out invoices.
The Company Snapshot feature -- a quick-access dashboard for key company data -- can now be customized by the user. Intuit says it's also worked to simplify the interface throughout the application, reducing the number of steps required for routine functions such as printing and sending batch e-mails.
One feature new to the just-released QuickBooks 2010 for Windows -- but missing in the Mac version -- is a new "app-store," allowing users to purchase modules to add functionality to the program. An Intuit spokeswoman tells MacNN the company will consider adding similar support for the Mac version if enough customers request it.
The addition of payroll processing follows Intuit's recent purchase of online payroll startup PayCycle in June. Now called Intuit QuickBooks Payroll for Mac, the service works with data from QuickBooks to provide paychecks, tax forms and related services for a fee based on the number of workers.
QuickBooks 2010 for Mac also adds credit card processing from within the application, again using a service owned by Intuit. The company sells a USB-based credit card reader that lets merchants complete a sale without having to manually enter transaction data into QuickBooks.
This is an excerpt of the full story here: http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/29/intuit.unveils.quickbooks.2010.for.mac/
Both QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010 include the new Intuit App Center, which allows users to download plug-ins to help users grow their businesses, manage their workflow and customers, and reduce costs.
Intuit said Monday that the new products are available from the company's Web site, and or from major retailers on Oct. 7. Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009 will cost $199.95, and Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Premier Edition 2009 will cost $399.95, complete with its standard array of industry-specific assistance.
The new app store is the software's most intriguing feature, and Intuit claims that more than 25 apps are currently housed inside the store. Although users can peruse the list of apps at their leisure, users will need to sign up with Intuit to even see how much they cost, let alone download a free trial. Many, however, work with Quickbooks data, Intuit said, eliminating the need for double-data entry.
Intuit claims that a new ability to add and edit multiple list entries is one of the new software package's strongest features, saving the time that was previously required to edit the entries manually. Forms can also be customized even more than in previous versions, and users can work with Intuit's Creative Solutions team for further customization.
The "Company Snapshot" feature can now be customized, Intuit said, and the list of available reports is now better organized, with the ability to save favorites.
In addition to the app store, businesses can now scan documents and/or checks into QuickBooks; in the case of checks, the scanned information can be sent directly to the bank, online. A beta program also will let consumers target email campaigns.
Finally, Intuit said that the company sliced the installation time in half.
These conference kits are a little pricey at $2,500 for a one day and $3,500 for a two day (the price jumps to $4,750 and $7,500 respectively if you want coaching on how to manage your QuickBooks conference).
Still - if I was a CPA firm I'd be all over this. The only way I found to make a profit on QuickBooks consulting was to group together a large number of people and hold a seminar. To this day several of the seminars that I held made more profit relative to effort than any single activity I've ever done.QuickBooks consulting works best when it's an ancillary service offered in conjunction with another recurring activity such as bookkeeping, accounting, tax or other financial services. As a standalone service I've always found it very difficult to earn a profit once I subtracted out the significant amount of free initial (go nowhere) meetings with people who were searching for nothing more than a free push in the right direction.
What I found is that once I landed a QuickBooks engagement that the rates typically were below market due to there not being any real barrier to entry to QuickBooks consulting. Just about anyone can call themselves a QuickBooks consultant.
Consulting on QuickBooks, in my opinion, is a great idea for CPA firms who have a built in market (their existing clients) to offer these services to.
The smartest way to offer QuickBooks consulting to the general public is via seminars. That way anyone who is not already a client can be told to register for the session as a first step (paid) and if there are issues or questions they still have then they can retain you for a paid follow-up.
See how you just converted a request for a free initial meeting into a paying engagement?
And you can make money by offering these seminars/conferences as well.
The site claims a potential profit of $11,250 based on 150 people attending and paying $150 each for a one day session. If you hold a two day session charging $295 the site claims you can reap $25,250. And you know what -- I believe them provided you can do one thing.
The hidden gotcha is putting people into the seats. Getting 150 paid attendees is tough (my highest was around 125 and that was marketed to an entire State CPA Society).
QuickBooks seminars work best for CPA firms with a built-in audience receptive to these types of seminars. Another great source of materials is Sleeter Group - http://www.sleeter.com
I have no affilication with either of these groups.
Source:
Wayne Schulz
Schulz Consulting, LLC
By day I'm a consultant working with a popular line of accounting software called Sage MAS 90.
My company web site is http://www.s-consult.com and we provide training, consulting and troubleshooting for all versions of Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 to customers located throughout the United States.
I live in Glastonbury with my two kids (aged 9) who bring special meaning to the concept that "all kids are cute when they're somebody else's".
In my spare time I love hiking, disco dancing, macrame, ping pong, and watching paint dry.
The thoughts and commentary on this page are my own and not anyone else's but shouldn't that be obvious?
