Wayne Schulz

Intuit capping their channel at 700 partners - has 56,000 Pro Advisors

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:

http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/SMB-Partner/Intuit-Focuses-Channel-Efforts-Around-Value-251338/

DISCLOSURE:

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

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QuickBooks for Mac 2010 adds credit processing, payroll

via macnn.com

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/

Another Wilson Backpack back to school deal - $2.49 (Kid Woot)

Here's another back to school deal on Wilson Backpacks. Shipping is a flat $5 no matter how many you purchase (I believe the max is 3).

Link:

http://kids.woot.com/

If you can't make money consulting on QuickBooks as a standalone service (most cannot) - offer conference kits for $7,500

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:

http://www.qbconferencekit.com/

Sleeter Group QuickBooks Conference - November 9-12 - recommended

Note: For anyone who may stumble across this on the web - we are Sage MAS 90 consultants and my comments below are what I sent to my private email list of VARS who regularly share information about not only our products (Sage) but also competitors. Even though we don't represent QuickBooks we find it important to always stay on top of competing products so we can understand their capabilities. While it may seem "odd" - we often will recommend a competing product if we find that the one we represent does not fit.

I went to this Sleeter Group conference last year. While I cannot say that it converted me to a QuickBooks believer -- there is a LOT to be said for spending a few days with people who sell competing products. Most of the attendees fall into the small bookkeeper category -- so do not expect to be learning much about running a practice. They do know a lot about the product and they're pretty vocal about shortcomings. Overall the conference is extremely high quality and there is LOADS of information on QuickBooks.

This is  a GREAT way to get information about QuickBooks. If you sell against them (or for them) and want an update on their technical capabilities  - you should think about attending.

Most telling sessions where those that demonstrated report writing. All the reporting tools I saw were WYSIWYG and canned -- looked like a horror show to me. Several of the presenters openly said that they "don't like to mess with Crystal Reports" -- this is great  information because if the highly skilled trainers don't like to mess with a tool you can bet there's a problem there (complexity, functionality, etc)

I'm not sure whether I'll attend this year -- the timing (November 9-12) is up directly against the Sage Summit in Atlanta.

FYI and as usual -- your mileage may vary...I highly recommend this conference. Sleeter Group puts on a great show - if you cannot make the conference then I highly recommend you consider joining their group and/or purchasing their "how to" guides for QuickBooks

Guides:

http://www.sleeterstore.com/servlet/Detail?no=159

Sleeter QuickBooks Conference:

http://www.sleeterconference.com/

Wayne Schulz
Schulz Consulting, LLC

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Click here to download:

Sleeter_Group_QuickBooks_Confe.zip (280 KB)