Higher response rates - Keeper

REI Bookkeepers gets 1.5k client questions answered per month using Keeper’s Client Portal

Tony Mwaruka — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 19:37:54 +0000

Highlights

REI Bookkeepers swapped out a complex and disconnected email system for Keeper’s Client Portal, boosting client engagement and decreasing response time.
Within one week of introducing the Keeper Client Portal, REI Bookkeepers experienced a 90% client response rate.
Keeper equipped REI Bookkeepers with QuickBooks integrated file review tools to eliminate spreadsheets of uncategorized transactions.
REI Bookkeepers relies on Keeper’s automated client reminder features to reduce follow-up efforts and administrative headaches.

REI Bookkeepers’ background

When Greg Schuricht discovered a company called REI Bookkeepers and connected with former owner Dave Rice, the two immediately hit it off. With a background in public accounting and a newfound passion for the real estate industry, it was a no-brainer for Greg to join a team of bookkeepers tasked with handling the financials for investors, realtors, landlords, and house flippers.

Greg’s first task? Managing the bookkeeping team while evaluating the various operating procedures that kept the firm running.

Client communication chaos

“The workload was getting so huge that it was difficult for Dave to oversee,” Greg noted. “Everything was still very manual at that time. There were no apps – other than QuickBooks – to run the business. Client questions were being tracked through spreadsheets and back-and-forth emails. There was a convoluted system where each client got their own email address, and their responses would often get filtered incorrectly. Client communications were quickly slipping through the cracks.”

These disconnected systems put unnecessary strain on the bookkeepers, clients, and Greg as a manager. Greg observed a pileup of scattered email threads and missed deliverables. Sometimes, spreadsheets containing questions and client responses would be wiped clean once the task was completed. Of course, this made managing and overseeing the month-end close process nearly impossible. With all these issues in mind, Greg was certain that REI Bookkeepers needed a tool to improve client communication and encourage organization of those exchanges.

“We were getting lost in a sea of emails. We needed a central portal that I could communicate with everyone through.”

Discovering Keeper’s Client Portal

After hearing a talk from Keeper’s CEO and Founder Ben Stein, a few of the REI Bookkeepers encouraged Greg to take a closer look at the tool. After sitting through a demo, it was apparent that Keeper’s Client Portal was exactly the solution they needed to more efficiently engage with their clients.

This was great news for Greg, considering he had recently test-drove a different software that resulted in client friction and a low adoption rate.

“We used a system before Keeper, but getting adoption from our clients was difficult,” said Greg. “Keeper truly manages the back-and-forth between bookkeepers and clients. It also helps me as a manager to answer any questions that may need my review. That is where Keeper shines and where competitors fall short, and was the ultimate draw in our case.”

Client reception and engagement

After REI Bookkeepers introduced Keeper to their clients, the feedback and reception was overwhelmingly positive. “We had 90% of our clients using Keeper’s Client Portal within the first week,” said Greg. Compared to previous portal interfaces which required yet another set of login credentials, Keeper’s use of one-click Google Magic Links proved attractive to their less tech-savvy accounting clients. With enthusiastic support from those clients as well as the bookkeepers who were using the app, Dave was ready to take the leap. “I started to love Keeper, and we decided to go all in.”

Steering clients away from email and onto Keeper has been REI Bookkeepers’ number one priority. Greg found Keeper’s Client Portal easy and straightforward to use – and his clients agreed. The bookkeeping team also loves the option to set up automated reminders for clients, which get sent twice a week until the client responds to the questions in their portal. Today, all of REI Bookkeepers’ clients are up and running on the new communication system.

“We’ve seen higher response rates across the board, and no one misses the old system of using Google Sheets and sorting through email inboxes.”

Leveraging Keeper as a whole

Keeper has quickly become the single source of truth for Greg and the team. Beyond the overall benefit that the Client Portal provides from a communication standpoint, Greg’s team also relies on the many review tools that Keeper offers.

One of the favorites amongst the team is the uncategorized transaction report. Greg and his bookkeepers no longer have to go through the effort of downloading uncategorized transactions into Excel, tidying up the file, and sending the questions one-by-one via email. Keeper’s two-way integration with QuickBooks gives Greg’s team the ability to mark and edit transactions in the app, and add any questions or comments straight to the Client Portal for his clients to review and respond to.

“Keeper makes it easy for me to do my work where I review my work,” said Greg.

“I would not be able to manage this workload as well as I do without it. Paying to have Keeper on our team is a no-brainer.”

What the future holds for REI Bookkeepers

After buying REI Bookkeepers and assuming the role of CEO, Greg admits that his team has only scratched the surface with Keeper. Their next undertaking is to explore the management reporting packages that Keeper offers. “We still send manual reports out of QuickBooks to do reviews. I am well aware that using Keeper will make our reporting that much more valuable to our clients.”

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Keeper helps a first-time bookkeeper get organized

Tony Mwaruka — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 19:36:26 +0000

New beginnings

Hannah always had a knack for business but never imagined herself owning her own firm just five years after graduating from university. In 2022, Hannah launched her own practice, Heinrich Bookkeeping Solutions.

Growing tired of the restless nights checking emails and the frantic searches trying to locate the correct document for the 10 clients she managed, Hannah decided to turn to industry peers for a solution.

Searching for peace of mind

In line with several recommendations from bookkeepers, Keeper turned out to be a game-changer. Hannah found that Keeper was “incredibly affordable and easy to set up.”

For Hannah, it only took a few days to notice the “strong response rate from my clients to the new Client Portal and how easy it was to stay organized.”

“The Client Portal took away the stress of sorting through emails and hunting down documents.”

Leveraging Keeper, Hannah could quickly locate the appropriate files, ensuring that her client interactions were smooth and professional. With Keeper in her corner, Hannah found a tool that streamlined her work, allowing her to focus on what mattered most – her clients. When asked about her business’ growth, Hannah shared that she “now feels empowered to take on more clients and continue to expand her practice.”

“Keeper helped me save time and money by consolidating multiple tools into one powerful productivity platform.”

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How Keeper sped up EBB's close by 25%

Tony Mwaruka — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 21:01:11 +0000

Background

Emma’s Balanced Books (EBB), in business since 2019, signed up for Keeper in 2023. Owner and founder Emma Langenhuysen turned to Keeper to improve client communication and quality control.

A large portion of my day was spent on emailing back and forth with clients."

A new workflow strategy

With customer interactions historically handled through long and disjointed email conversations and one-off spreadsheets, Emma needed a new workflow strategy.

“A large portion of my day was spent on emailing back and forth with clients, requesting 2FA codes, and managing and updating uncategorized transactions,” says Emma. “It was silly busy work for myself and my team. We were desperate for a new solution.”

Reducing month-end close time by 25%

Emma wanted a tool that would bring about process improvements and overall organization to the team. In search of the right software, Emma focused on:

A tool that would allow the team to collaborate and track their work in one place
A secure portal to communicate with clients and upload documents
An ability to create standardized templates and operating procedures that are easily scalable when training new bookkeepers

With a centralized dashboard to spot-check her team, standardized templates and procedures for her two freelance bookkeepers to follow, and a secure client portal for customers to share documents and answer questions – Keeper checked all the boxes.

In the short time it took EBB to get up to speed in Keeper, Emma noticed that her team was closing the books in record time, a positive contrast to the hours it took with the previous manual process.

In addition to the time savings Keeper provided Emma’s team, it also improved her client relationships.

“Keeper’s easy-to-use Client Portal transformed a handful of our previously unresponsive clients into active and engaged customers. And within two weeks of using Keeper, it was very apparent that we could sit down and start facilitating new client relationships.”

Doing more in less time

The templates and checklists that you can set up in Keeper along with the Client Dashboard “helped my team stay more organized, and allowed me to get through my review work in record time,” says Emma.

With the increased efficiency EBB has experienced across the board, Emma has found herself already engaging in conversations about whether hourly billing is still the most beneficial model to follow. By automating repeatable tasks and breezing through client questions each month, Emma and her team can focus on scaling the business and honing their craft.

“The functionality, customizability, and efficiencies that Keeper brings, have helped me and my team become better bookkeepers,” says Emma. “Keeper is well worth the price, and I can’t see why any company would not be on Keeper Premium right out of the gate.”

“Keeper helped my team stay more organized, and allowed me to get through my review work in record time.”

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