Bark is sending us leads every day about businesses who are looking for a bookkeeper. If we accept one of them we’ll need to pay for it – along with the other bookkeepers who have received that same email.

It seems like a reasonable way to get leads but it’s also taking advantage of businesses who don’t know how to find a good bookkeeper and bookkeepers who don’t know how to find clients.

The other alternative is to run a Google Ads campaign and pay $5 per click but that requires a LOT of upskilling and learning how to use Google Ads – and then building a sales pipeline, blah blah blah

I was speaking with an accountant yesterday who said he was losing some of his good long term clients and not replacing them with new ones. He is getting older and close to retirement age and his practice is actually very busy so he wasn’t too concerned but he said “I don’t know how I got those good large clients in the first place!“.

Bark feeds off buyers AND sellers

Bark contacts EVERY bookkeeper they can find. “Come and join our platform and we’ll give you leads” is their message and then they advertise using Google Ads to capture the contact details of people who need a bookkeeper and distribute them out – earning them a lead fee with every introduction.

This happens in the training course industry too with Candlefox Group Pty Ltd the company behind:

• training.com.au
• shortcourses.com.au, and
• tafecourses.com.au

These companies advertise very heavily and you’ll rarely see a price because the price varies from bookkeeper to bookkeeper and training course providers. Dodgy Daniel Hunt and The Career Academy uses this company to get course leads.

They exist PURELY because most businesses don’t have the expertise to create their own successful Google Ads campaigns and convert website visitors to leads

If you want to get a website, create a great offer and start using Google Ads you might also be able to find clients who want you to do the same for them! Explore the Digital Marketing Courses for more information.

There is another option that focuses on YOU and Your profile. It’s a National Bookkeeping SILVER membership. Get a digital profile which showcases you and your skills and experience and use it to get discovered and stand out from other bookkeepers in your area.

Join National Bookkeeping SILVER

Lydia had decades of business experience and was looking for a change. She learnt how to use Xero and MYOB and went through our MYBO & Xero Training Course package. This gave her a discounted joining fee for the SILVER Package and an online profile.

Within weeks she got some leads (for no lead fee) and has a regular client that she tutors in Bookkeeping and Xero every week.

Finding the ideal client is not one of the first things someone thinks about when they first start a bookkeeping business because most bookkeepers are not sure what one looks like!

When you start receiving leads and inquiries they come in all shapes and sizes and YOU have to know what to ask them to see if they are ideal for you. That’s when our “Find the Ideal Client” Course helps.

Your Bookkeeper Network

The other benefit of joining National Bookkeeping is that when you speak with a potential clients who is NOT IDEAL you can always introduce them to a different member of your network. This is called Referral Marketing and it results in you receiving referral introductions too.