Discussion:CRM/billing system
From TaxAlmanac
Discussion Forum Index --> Business Growth Community --> CRM/billing system
Roaringcpa (talk|edits) said: | 29 June 2009 |
| I would like to know if any professionals out there have some input. I bought Imagine Time, and currently use it for billing and time tracking...but not much else. I am sure I am not taking advantage of the system as much as I could. This is a CRM system for service professionals such as ourselves and attorneys. I am feeling the urgency to put together a strategy, including process and procedures for everything, because I am certain I will be needing to hire another employee before this upcoming tax season...
I know this is a broad question, but would like to know if anyone out there has had good (or bad) experiences with CRM systems in general. I am getting to the point where my firm is out growing my memory...if you know what I mean. Thanks Brett | |
| 29 June 2009 | |
| Have you taken a look at Practice CS from Thomson Reuters? Mid-range firm management software that includes time/billing and CRM. I am currently using a combination of Outlook/Timeslips/Quickbooks to handle those parts of the business but have tested Practice CS and plan to implement it in 2010 off-season. | |
Southparkcpa (talk|edits) said: | 1 July 2009 |
| How many professionals are you keeping track of???? | |
Roaringcpa (talk|edits) said: | 1 July 2009 |
| Southpark: I am not necessarily using this sofware to just track my employees (although "Imagine Time" works fine for that, I realize this might be overkill if that's all I wanted to do)
What I am trying to do right now is leverage it to get us more efficient at everything such as: tracking who I am getting referrals from, scheduling and allocating client tasks (business clients especially), etc, etc. My overall business problem right now is that my firm is just me and another employee (full-time). My revenue has grown 20-25% over last year, and that is in spite of me. I can only do so many hours...tax season almost killed me. I am trying to get to the point of getting a life...AND make a living without killing myself. So my focus the rest of this year is to get some processes established and use this CRM system to its fullest. Especially before I hire again. Any other tax accountants have this problem? Isn't this a classic problem? Where you still want to grow but near the point where there costs of additional growth starts to be a factor because you can only do so much yourself? | |
| 1 July 2009 | |
| Yeah, I think it is a classic problem. To a man, every successful small firm principal I have ever discussed business growth with has cited it as THE challenge of adding additional employees. Efficiencies just collapse if you are still operating on some kind of oral history between yourself and a key employee.
As you are aware, standardization of process and software appear to be the solution. Early on I chose to approach the software of this business from the integrated suite side of the software war. Seamlessly integrating tax software/dms/practice managmenet(time/billing/crm/office workflow)/and research into one suite is a thing of beauty to behold. If going the best-of-breed path on firm software I would say ACT CRM, XCM Workflow, Timeslips Time and billing are gold standards in their segments. On the other hand I know a CPA who is serving 500 clients utilizing Outlooks journal and Business Contact Manager as an ad-hoc CRM system. It works for him and his team but it was labor intensive to set up and requires rigorous oversight as the usage of the system can become un-uniform very quickly. Just some thoughts. Let us know what you implement. | |
Southparkcpa (talk|edits) said: | 1 July 2009 |
| Roaring....
Fstein's post above is solid. I use GOLDMINE (same as ACT) except ACT seems to have a larger user base but they are very similar. It is outstanding and replaces outlook as your E mail program. For example, when I send Fred an E mail, it stays glued to his record, so does any attachment. All incoming and outgoing E mail is linked to the contact. There is an area for referals, ongoing projects etc... I use it for scheduling, appointments etc.. If I make an appointment for you for example, it automatically sends you an E mail of the appointment. I would seriously take a look at ACT. I have 2 law firms that use it also. It will NOT do time and billing but I have referred to my calender feature in GOLDMINE to see what my appointments were etc... I key my time in (when I bill by time, I usually value bill) based on the calender in Goldmine. | |
