3 ways to make payments as a service work for you as a bookkeeper

Freedom and flexibility are two words I hear the most from bookkeepers when asking about why they started. That said, if you are only ever charging an hourly rate that freedom and flexibility can be quickly diminished when it comes to maximising earning potential.

We are witnessing a real move away from traditional charging models to bookkeepers offering fully outsourced virtual finance services, including offering payments as a service, that boost their income and provide the value-add services businesses are crying out for.

Here are 3 ways you can tailor payment services to work for you, for freedom and flexibility:

Establish your goal and work backwards

Starting with the end in mind, what would you like to achieve with this new service? I have already mentioned that payments can provide a boost in your revenue, but there are a few important nuances here:

• Would you like this to be an upsell for your existing clients?
• Are you looking for this to be a way to attract new clients?
• Is this service going to help you differentiate from your immediate competitors?
• Are payments something you would like to scale to one of your core services?

It's important to understand your goal, as it will shape how you approach setting up this service. Plus, it'll be your guiding light whenever you need to make decisions along the way.

For instance, if payments are mostly going to be an upsell for existing clients, then you have a great level of information to work with. Potentially you know their suppliers already, have an idea of how many payments they are making and the challenges they face around this (time, errors etc) so you are able to quickly spot these opportunities and use the support of our team and templates to engage with them on this new service.

However, if you're looking to implement and scale this service for the first time, you'll need to invest more ​​in building a new process, understanding the clients that may benefit from this, and how to successfully market this as part of your offering. It's also important to understand how the process of managing payments within your practice will need to evolve as your client base grows.

Both options are equally valuable and can be implemented with ease and effectiveness. It just comes down to having a clear understanding of your practice's goals.

Align your pricing model

When it comes to pricing, there are a few different approaches you can take. I'd recommend going for a model that aligns with how you currently charge for your services. This way, it'll be easier to introduce to your team and clients, especially if you're aiming to upsell existing clients.

Here are some of the ways I typically see bookkeepers charging clients:

Build into existing packages

Add payments service offering into your existing monthly/annual bookkeeping packages.

Example: Include up to 100 payments a month and lift the monthly cost of the package by £75 (£40 for software + £35 for doing the work).

Add on service

Charge the client a flat/flexible monthly fee for managing the payments process.

Example: Charge the client £150 for up to 100 payments a month.

Time & Cost

Charge the client on a time + cost basis.

Example: Pass on the flexible monthly software cost plus the time taken for you to complete the payments. £40 for 100 payments + 2 hours of time at £80 = £120.

Define your process

You can view a complete workflow for setting up Virtual Finance Services here in our free guide. Plus, here are some tips to ensure payments work for you, and not the other way around!

• Split tasks into action categories: When it comes to payments, you can divide your tasks into tactical and strategic actions. Just think about where you're spending most of your time, and consider delegating or outsourcing some of the tactical tasks as your practice grows.

• Think about your approach to payroll: If you're already offering payroll to your clients, you can easily integrate it into the new payments process. This adds extra value and reassurance for your clients, which is always a plus!

• Streamline your communications: Start by setting up a communications plan for payments, both for day-to-day operations and client reviews. To handle the day-to-day tasks, you might want to explore tools like Telleroo. It enables you to send automatic email notifications (and reminders) to clients for pay run approvals.

• Let your system do the work for you: With Telleroo, we sync with Xero Bills & Payroll so you can simply choose which payments to include in the next pay run. You can send both GBP and International Payments, automatically see confirmation of payee, scan bank details from invoices, and enjoy one-click reconciliation as we sync back to Xero.
• Stop accessing client bank accounts: Accessing bank accounts poses a security risk for both yourself and the client, raising a major red flag to insurance providers. But with Telleroo, you have a quicker and easier way to make payments. It's a service that remains valuable to charge for, not for your time spent, but for the significant value it brings to the client.

By keeping your eye on your goal, establishing clear procedures, and letting the system handle the nitty-gritty of routine tasks, you can reap the rewards of effectively managing client payments.