Tanya: Hey everybody in Facebook world, or Twitter world, or Instagram world, or wherever you're watching this, I am back again. Tanya Hilts from Cloud Business Services and Tanya's Bookkeepers Bootcamp, as if you didn't know that. I am here right now with Ben from Keeper. So, Keeper is an app that a lot of you probably haven't heard of. So, I'm going to first off ask Ben... I know what Keeper is, I've seen it, but just to keep the suspense, Ben, what is Keeper?
Ben: So, in short, Keeper is one app to run a bookkeeping business. And the thing that makes Keeper so unique is, it's really deeply integrated into your client's general ledger, so that you can automate a bunch of work that you may currently be doing manually. So, there's a lot that we do, but just to boil it down to three core things, it's client communications, it's month end review, and it's managing reports. So, if you have some uncategorized transaction questions, instead of putting those in a spreadsheet and emailing your clients, you can put them directly in a custom branded client portal, send that link to your clients. When your clients respond, you can directly recode from Keeper and it'll sync those changes back to QuickBooks. And if they don't respond, you can send them an automated email reminder to follow up until they do.
Tanya: Which is amazing. I have to say, I love that part because I know our process right now, we send it to them and they don't respond, and we get busy, and we forget to send it to them again. Maybe it ended up in their junk mail, but the work doesn't get done because balls are getting dropped, whether it be by tech or not. So, you take care of that.
Ben: Yup.
Tanya: That's awesome. And when they respond back, do they respond back in an email? Or come back into your client portal? How does that work?
Ben: Yeah, so they respond, and they can also ask you questions and upload files directly in the portal. So, they'll respond in the portal. And then once they respond, then you can recode the transaction on your side of Keeper. One of the other nice things about the portal, as I mentioned, there's three things. There's final reviews, there's plenty communications, and there's management reporting. Certainly, the management reporting goes beyond just the statement financials, it's a full set of advisory style reports, executive summaries, customizable KPIs you can deliver to your clients. And the nice thing about that is, you can put it in the portal. You can say, "Hey, your new financials arrived on the portal," and that's another driver to put them in the portal, to see those questions that you have outstanding for them, so they can go and give you that information.
Tanya: And you know what I love about that. First off, when I first looked at Keeper, Ben and I first spoke, probably about a year ago, something like that. I have just learned there's been more changes since then, so first off, the tech is evolving much faster because at that point didn't have as much, but it keeps your clients out of your books. Which is great because I know I've got one client that just emailed me, says, "I need to get into my reports." But they go in the reports and then they go in and they try to change things and unless you've just got report access, then they're like, "why can't I go in and see this? Why can't I go in and do that?" And then they muck it all up, and you've got to fix it. And hopefully, you're charging them for that out of scope work. But I know we don't all do that. So, that's awesome that you solve that problem. And this is one thing that I like about Keeper. It solves a problem, and it's a huge problem for people. So, that's great. So, how much time from your users are you finding that it saves on average?
Ben: You get ranges. It can be anywhere from half an hour to several hours per client per month. And it really depends on how much that you do. You can save a ton of time, especially with clean up if things like bulk editing AEs, bulk editing classes and locations. So, there's a lot that you can do to save time within Keeper that comes back to having that direct integration of client's QuickBooks file, that goes all the way down to the transaction level.
Tanya: That's awesome. I just want to show really quick, because I really love this, the logo, because I know the logo is cut off a little bit up top. So, I want to make sure you see the logo. It's Keeper.app, but for those of you who haven't already moved over to Keeper, we are at Scaling New Heights, what is your booth number?
Ben: I don't know. 77. We are right by the entrance to door number two I believe it is.
Tanya: Yeah, literally you walk in door number two, right there. You just turn to the right, here they are. And you will notice because they have these cute little cows. So, for those people, I think these cows are more focused on people who aren't using Keeper yet. Because when you get frustrated, it's actually a stress ball. So, you can just squeeze it. And then you change over to Keeper, which will help you release your frustrations. And then you can just take this and give it to your child or put it on your desk and remind you why you need to continue using Keeper. And of course, they've got their logo right on it there. Did I do that justice, Ben?
Ben: You did it better than I could. If you ever decide that you want to hang up the cleats and stop doing bookkeeping, you got a job right here with us.
Tanya: Awesome. That works. Thank you. So, at Scaling New Heights first, hopefully you're all here. You can come by. Do you have a conference special?
Ben: We do. So, it's 20% off your first three months. You come here. You let us scan your badge and book a demo. We give you 20% off your first three months.
Tanya: Awesome. Now what about those folks out there that are having a little bit of FOMO right now, who maybe weren't able to come to Scaling New Heights? Could they still get that discount too right now, for a limited time, maybe?
Ben: If you twist my arm. If you sign up during Scaling New Heights, before the end of the show, even if you aren't here, we'll honour it.
Tanya: Awesome, look at that, even better. And of course, once the camera's off, I might get smacked for forcing him into that. Just kidding. That's great. Just before we wrap things up, was there anything else that you wanted to let everybody know?
Ben: I just want to say that one of the nicest things about Keeper is, there's a lot of different pieces. You can try one piece at a time, try one client at a time. It's per client, so you can start with just one client, see if it's a good fit for your practice. We're not that kind of firm that's going to shove it all down your throat, all down your client's throat. One of the biggest things is, we're not here to sell Keeper through you to your clients. We're here directly to add value to you, help you deliver better books, help you get faster responses to your clients. So, we are here exclusively to serve bookkeepers and accountants.
Tanya: Absolutely. And I just want to point out, that was actually really good, and it made me think of something. Of course, we're going to have a little bit of a pricing conversation. You might think, oh my gosh, another app to add on. How do you pass that onto your clients? First off, I fit in an app budget, and so therefore it averages out, but that way it gives me the flexibility if I see an app. Secondly, the time that you will save in what, a couple of days, will pay for it. So, you need to look at the big picture when you do that. Because I know a lot of people out there are like, oh my gosh, more apps, more apps, more apps, if it will solve that problem and it will save you time, think about it.
Tanya: Let's say you're pricing, you could charge $50 an hour, but you're working on a client who's a flat fee, with Keeper I'm sure it's worth that extra to give you several hours a month back per client. So again, when you're looking at that, just keep that in mind. We're not here to talk pricing. You go to the website to see the pricing on that.
Ben: So, one of the things about Keeper is that it allows you to consolidate your apps. So, it's not just one more app. It's one app that allows you to get rid of your month end review tool, get rid of a client portal, get rid of an extra management reporting app. And oh, by the way, we do also have embedded time tracking. So, if you want to see just how profitable those clients are, you can do that in Keeper as well.
Tanya: That's awesome. So, that's four separate apps that I know are here, that you have just consolidated into one monthly price, one sign in for you and your team. That's pretty amazing. That's pretty awesome.
Ben: Thank you.
Tanya: So, just as we wrap up, because of course, anybody who knows me, knows I'm a beagle mom and beagles are close to my heart. And if you've seen any of the other Facebook lives today, yes, I'm repeating this again. But Keeper is a sponsor of our beagles. So, we have the beagle puppies that you've probably seen out on social media. So, the Keeper puppy will be available for adoption. Doesn't cost you anything. You just have to find it or come and find one of us. There is one of them. It is very limited that we brought down. And what will happen is because of this, $50 for this puppy, so $850 in total is being donated to Beagle Freedom Project. So, check them out. They're an absolutely great organization. They do rescue animals. So, that's wonderful. And I believe you said that you or your partner has a rescue.
Ben: Oh, yeah, we do have a rescue.
Tanya: You do have a rescue. I thought it was you, sorry guys, one of those days. So, Ben has a rescue as well. And you know what, rescues are the most lovable things. So, yes, absolutely check them out and that's great, but thank you very much for your contribution and check us out. And all we ask is that there's instructions on here, that you tag Keeper, throw their name in it. Thank them for that. And hey, if you want to throw in little stories so that we can see how your beagle is doing and Ben can keep an eye on it, that would be very much appreciated. Okay. So, any last thoughts before we shut it down?
Ben: Just stop on by, we're always happy to give demos. We do unlimited complimentary training as well. There's people behind the software and we're more than happy to help.
Tanya: That's awesome. All right. Thanks everybody. We'll see you all soon. Bye.