The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast

215 | Is it time to migrate your clients to Xero?

• Serena Shoup, CPA • Episode 215

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Is it time to move your clients to Xero? Let’s talk about some considerations, before you embark on this path

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • how to know if it’s time to leave QBO
  • steps to take to migrate your clients
  • resources and benefits of being a Xero Partner

Resources mentioned in this episode:

—For experienced bookkeepers & accountants—

Learn how to start your bookkeeping business in The Bookkeeping Business Accelerator® >>

Grab my FREE Start your Bookkeeping Biz Checklist >>

Grab my FREE New Client Onboarding Templates >>

—For new bookkeepers—

Learn the fundamental accounting skills with Xero in Katie Ferro's Become a Bookkeeper >>

—For online course creators—

Become a client at my firm, Of Course Financial >>


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Welcome to the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast and YouTube channel. I am going to talk to you today about whether it's time to switch your clients to zero, and if you're an entrepreneur watching this, uh, there is some relevant stuff in here for you. I am mainly gonna be talking about what it would be like to migrate a client base over to Xero, but we are gonna talk about. Whether or not you should move to zero and kind of how to make that decision from the beginning. So let's dive in. So earlier on in my entrepreneurial bookkeeping journey, I actually started out. Knowing that I wanted to be on zero. However, I also worked a lot with QuickBooks Online and knew that most of the clients that were coming my way were already on QuickBooks Online. So there's no really getting around learning it and being able to utilize it. But what I did start out with is putting my own books on zero. So we're gonna talk about that in a minute. maybe a couple years into my bookkeeping business, I realized that I did not want to be working in any other platform besides Xero. So we made the transition to moving all of our existing clients onto zero or transitioning them out of the practice completely. And we had already been putting new clients onto zero as. We had drawn a line in the sand and said, we're no longer accepting any clients that are not on zero. So I've done things throughout my firm to make sure that we aren't bringing on clients that aren't willing to switch over to zero. So that's a big piece of this is the communication and the positioning of the software that you're going to be using. These days, we still get clients that come to us on QuickBooks Online or other platforms, and we are just very clear that we only work in Xero, but we do migrate and we do migrate people for free. That's probably something I'll have to get into in another episode to dive in why it is that we do that and how we're able to do that. But as I promised. In this episode, I am talking to you about whether or not it's time to switch to zero. So I've been noticing and hearing a lot from my community of people who are getting fed up with QuickBooks Online. Number one, because they're constantly raising the price, which. Most software does. QuickBooks Online does tend to raise their software more frequently than any other software I've ever seen, but that's one of the major gripes is the price of it. Another major gripe for the accounting community is, every time you log in, there's a new visual interface and. It's becoming really difficult to get in there and do the things that you want. I still obviously, have poked around in QuickBooks online because we get clients coming to us already on that system. We still have to kind of know it, and I, I didn't realize this was such a problem because I log in so infrequently that of course, it's always gonna be different when I log in. But there are bookkeepers and business owners that are logging in daily and things are changing daily. Which is honestly just absurd to me that a software would do that and not give some sort of warning. I'm not a subscriber of QuickBooks Online, so I haven't been getting any of the emails that have been going out, but yeah. Another major gripe that I've heard happening is that QuickBooks Online is directly pitching. Your clients. So as a business owner, if you were the one that subscribed to, your QuickBooks online file, you might be getting targeted by emails that are letting you know about a service called QuickBooks Live, which is basically having QuickBooks do your bookkeeping for you. If you're a bookkeeper and accountant watching this, you already know that, what I'm about to say. But if you're an entrepreneur watching this. You probably don't want QuickBooks online or QuickBooks Live doing your bookkeeping. If you have a nuanced business, and to be honest, most businesses are so one of the issues that we come across when we take over files have been, managed by QuickBooks Online or work with clients who have used the QuickBooks Online service is that they get passed around from hand. Hands to hands, and it's not a consistent person or point of contact that you're involved with. So the bookkeeping is not done in a consistent way. Sometimes things will be categorized to, one category and then the next month, that same type of transaction, same vendor will be categorized completely different. And that makes it really difficult to have, consistent reports that you can rely on and make decisions right. It. So those are kind of the main gripes right now with QuickBooks Online and in my community and online. I've, I'm a part of lots of bookkeeping groups. I have seen. So many complaints about all of these issues and more, especially if you have used QuickBooks payroll that has its own issues. There's also issues of QuickBooks just glitching out and not allowing you to do the things that you need to do, or having weird things happen with your transactions. Duplications, all sorts of weird things happening and people are really fed up. So, um, rightly so. And I'm sitting over here kind of like chuckling to myself because I don't have to really deal with that. Thankfully because I'm on a platform that number one doesn't pitch our customers and clients for their own service, they actually really care about us as partners. Our customer support is amazing. I could go on and on and on. That's for a different episode, a different video. Why I love Xero so much. In fact, you can actually listen to, that on my podcast if you scroll back a little bit, I'll link that in the show notes. And I'm over here just kind of like, dang, that sucks. Uh, but how can I actually help? Well. I'm glad you're here because we're gonna talk through, whether or not, it's time to switch to zero. So grab a notebook and a pen, and we are going to give you a little step by step on how to evaluate whether or not it's time to move over to zero, and the steps you want to take. If the answer is yes. All right. Write this down with me. is it time to switch? Here's how you're going to know. maybe you're even evaluating switching from a completely different platform, not QuickBooks Online. I know I'm throwing a lot of shade over there to, our folks over at Intuit. But maybe you're coming from a completely different platform as well, and you are trying to navigate. The decision of is it time to switch over to zero specifically, although this process would work for switching to any other platform, because it's just kind of a way to help you make the decision. And then I'll get into some of the benefits of, moving over to zero specifically. So, number one. What are the actual issues that you're facing? Take some time to journal it out. Bullet point. Do a whole list of all the cons, right? All the issues that you're having with QuickBooks, whether it's the glitches, the lack of customer support, maybe it's the user interface, the new user interface. And maybe it's the way that it, Makes things take longer to achieve certain outcomes or perform certain processes. Maybe it's the price. So take a moment to pause this and write down all of the things that you hate about QuickBooks or any other platform that you're currently using. Next, I want you to actually reach out to the platform you're considering. In this scenario, we're talking about zero, so I want you to actually reach out Two zero and get on their list to join their partner program because you will be assigned and you will have to have a conversation with somebody at zero before you can actually become a partner. I'm gonna link the link to becoming a partner in the show notes or below where you're watching this video. And I say this early on in the process because you are going to be assigned a partner advisor, I think is what they call them. And that partner advisor is going to be with you every step of the way throughout the rest of this process. So I would say start the conversation with them and talk to them about this list of things that you're having issues with. And ask them pointedly like, are these things solvable with zero? Am I gonna have these same issues? This is a, you know, a process we do with our clients that is really heavily involved and it really leans on QuickBooks. What does it look like to do that in Xero? And they'll be able to demo that for you or talk you through it basically. The next thing I want you to do is if one of your gripes is into it is pitching my clients for their services. I want you to sit back and actually. Reflect, like, have you lost a client to QuickBooks Live? If not, are your clients even reading those emails? Maybe you're finding this out because your clients are sending them to you, but the fact that your clients are sending you this email or forwarding you whatever QuickBooks is sent them, probably means that like either A, they're not satisfied with the level of service you're giving or the price or something along the way. So they're alerting you to this other option, and what a blessing to be alerted to that and to be able to understand and open up the conversation with your client of, Hey, is there something that we are not doing that you think would be solved by this? How can we work this out? Maybe you haven't done a great job in, presenting the value of your service and what it looks like to work with you. So that's a great opportunity to reflect a little bit and decide, am I really at risk for QuickBooks taking my clients? And if not, I mean, obviously there's always a risk of losing a client, whether it's to QuickBooks online or to another bookkeeping firm that, is cheaper than you or better than you, or faster than you, or a higher touch service. It's good to keep you on your toes and make sure that you're actually competitive in the market. So really sit back and decide like, have I lost a client to QuickBooks Live? If not, maybe that's something you can cross off that list and just address the rest of the issues, because I can already tell you right now when you go and talk to Zero, they are not there to steal our clients. They're actually partnering with us to make our firms better, which I'm gonna get into, how that plays out a little bit later in this episode. Okay. If one of the reasons that you are contemplating switching, and one of the main reasons is this, that you don't like the new interface and the AI enhancements and everything that are coming out, if this is the main or even the only reason that you're contemplating switching. I am going to discourage you because whether you stay with QuickBooks Online or switch to a whole new platform like Xero, you are going to experience the learning curve of learning a new platform, creating new processes, and basically overhauling the way that you work with clients. So if that is the main driver of you wanting to switch over to zero and none of those other reasons and examples I gave you are really applicable, then maybe it's not the right time for you to move over because it's going to be a time investment there's no doubt about that. And if you're going to invest your time in learning a new platform. Is the interface, the new interface in QuickBooks Online actually that drastically different to where it makes more sense to spend. Hours and weeks, or maybe more, especially if you have a team to train them to learn an entirely new platform and create all the new processes for all of your clients. Migrate your clients, have the conversations with your clients. Everything that's involved in moving everybody to a completely new platform is going to be so much more time. Then it would be to actually just sit down and learn how to utilize QuickBooks online, because the, the core of the program, the foundations of it are probably not changing all that much. So either way, you're going to invest time. Do you wanna invest a few hours of going through the trainings that Intuit has put out on how to navigate the new program and get recertified? Or do you want to. Overhaul your entire firm and move all of your clients to a completely new platform and all of that. Like, I'm not saying that it won't be worth it because I personally think it would be worth it for a lot of firms, but for some I don't think it will be. So let's talk more about, the intricacies and what's involved in moving to a completely new program for your entire firm And what that would look like if you decide that you're ready to move to zero. Number one, I already mentioned this, but I want you to go to the link in the show notes, the link below this video if you're watching and apply to become a partner. And what's going to happen is you're not gonna be able to just sign up like you did with QuickBooks Online Accountant and just have access automatically because Xero is actually vetting their partners and wanting to make sure it's a good fit and that they're able to help you, with your practice, and actually get your clients moved over. So start by filling out that application. it should only take you about two minutes. The link is in the show notes. Go do that right now. Okay. And if you've done that, the next thing I want you to do is listen to the rest of this episode because it's gonna prepare you for what's next, because you do have to get on a call with someone at Zero and talk to them about your plans. So hopefully you actually did what I asked you earlier and wrote down all of the gripes that you have with QuickBooks Online or any other platform that you're considering moving away from. And you're gonna be ready to get on a call with someone at Zero. I'm not quite sure what the turnaround time would be, but you'll probably be getting an email to schedule a call with someone. Or maybe they will just call you on their own. I don't really know how it works these days. It's been so long since I became a zero partner. So the next thing, when you get accepted into their partner program, you are going to be given a free, version of the, premium plan that they have for your firm books. And I want you to actually. Either migrate yourself or start fresh, in zero so that you can learn how to use the program on your own books where the stakes are low. probably the most time efficient thing to do would be just to start with with this previous month. Connect all your bank accounts, go through the process of setting up your own books. While you are going through the Zero Partner certification, because that's going to show you exactly how you're supposed to be utilizing the program to its best, and highest abilities. And I'm always a huge proponent of going through certifications. As you're actually working through it in real life, on a client or on yourself, because everything's gonna stick a lot more, you're gonna retain the information and this is really gonna allow you to understand whether or not this is actually the program that you want to be moving all of your clients to. The next thing you're going to do. And this is probably going to be a conversation that either comes up on your first call with your zero partner advisor or maybe you book another call with them later on is coming up with a rollout plan. And I know a lot of you are probably listening and thinking like you actually have a dedicated, basically account manager at Xero to talk to and Yes. And they're not just a sales person, they're actually there to support you as you grow your business. So one of the conversations I'm gonna ask you to have with them is talking about having a plan to roll out all of your clients and they can actually help you through this. And I just think it's a really awesome resource. The other thing is once you dive into your partner certification. In the, the training portal that they have for Xero Partners, there is a migration certification course, and this is going to be another resource. In addition to that plan that you lay out with your account manager. This resource is going to help you really understand, , what it looks like to how to do a migration, how to plan out your migrations. And resources that are available to you to help with the migration. And one of the resources that I use is called Jet Convert. It. There are multiple other, programs that will actually do the heavy lifting of the migration for you of like bringing all the transactions in. But Jet Convert, at least as I know right now, they do have a Dubsado Zero will subsidize. Some of that, migration fee. And that's part of why we do the migration for free for clients that come to us from QuickBooks Online because, we use that service called Jet Convert. And all of that kind of happens in the background. And yes, we do have to pay for it because we usually end up paying for like a higher version of it so that we have more history. But like the minimum version, like the lowest version that you can, the option I guess, that you can choose, I believe it ends up getting a hundred percent subsidized through zero. And so you can migrate, people on that basic, option for free or next to free. definitely when you become a zero partner, go through that. Zero migration certification after you go through the zero certification and start practicing on your books. So as you're listening to this, you're probably thinking, oh yeah, this is definitely something that I am going to, it's going to take months to roll this out because. Unless you can knock out your zero certification in a weekend, and then the next week weekend you're knocking out your migration certification and then the following week you're doing three work weeks worth of bookkeeping for your own firm. Or maybe that's at the point where you decide to migrate your own firm. We've already like In an ideal world, you're already using up multiple weeks. So, and that's just the portion of learning the process in the new software. So I hope I'm not deterring anyone from moving to Xero. I just wanna be completely transparent that you wanna make sure you have the bandwidth for this project, because even just the process of learning the new software. Is going to take time. Now, there is an ROI on this obviously because the program is cheaper than QuickBooks online. The base, plan for zero starts at $20 a month. And, so you can save a lot for your clients, especially if you are handling the billing for them and you're including that in your fee. And there's lots of other benefits of moving to zero. I personally have never had all the glitching and issues that come along with QuickBooks. The interface is really simple and clean. They are overhauling their interface too, but not as much. Not everything is changing. They're just changing a few menu items. It's still simple and clean. They are rolling out an AI option. But again, it doesn't change the way that you have your workflows. It just helps enhance a few things and yeah. so let's rewind a little bit and talk about coming up with that rollout plan. One of the things that you wanna think about is which clients you wanna roll out to first. And I would suggest those clients would be the ones that don't ever log into their bookkeeping software. You're doing everything for them or pretty much everything for them, and you're just issuing reports for them. if you have clients that are like that, that literally never log into QuickBooks and don't care what system they're on, those are the clients you're gonna move over first. And I don't suggest rolling everything out at once. I suggest breaking it up into groups of clients, and creating a plan for however long that's gonna take with all the clients that you have, that could take an entire year. I know when I made the decision to migrate and move to being a hundred percent zero practice, it was about a year before we had everybody on Xero. And, some clients dropped off, some new clients came on and we put them on Xero, and then we migrated a few of our existing clients. And that whole process took about a year and we, I think at that point only had maybe 10 clients. So, yeah, it, it can take a while depending on how much other stuff you have going on. As part of that rollout plan, you want to plan communication with your clients. Now, whether you want to warn them that you're evaluating new software initially, and then kind of keep them in the loop as the process goes on. Or if you wanna wait and figure out. How exactly this is going to happen and then tell them that's your prerogative. I prefer to let my clients in on the behind the scenes of how things are running and keep communication open, most of the time. And so I would opt for personally letting them know that we are looking at rolling everyone into a new software just so that they know it's coming. And they are not blindsided. And if they really, really don't wanna switch off of QuickBooks online, then they will go look for another bookkeeper. And maybe if you are warning them that this is a thing that you're considering. They might come back and say, oh my gosh, I'm so glad that you're considering moving to a different software. I really have been having this, this, this, and this issue with QuickBooks online, especially if they're the type of clients that actually log in and, use their file. You might glean some more information that will help you make this decision. So that's pretty much what I've got for you when it comes to evaluating and creating a plan to move all of your clients to Xero. Over the next few months, I am creating a lot more content around Xero here on this channel. If you're watching on YouTube, if you're just listening to the podcast, I highly encourage you to go over to YouTube and subscribe so that you know when new videos drop. We are kind of shifting the podcast to be more YouTube video focused, and so I would love to see you over on YouTube. Make sure you come over and say hello. Comment below this video if you're watching on YouTube and let me know. If moving to zero is something that you've been considering and how helpful this content is. And I would also love to know if you are planning to move to zero or you're new in your firm, or you're an entrepreneur and you're watching and you want to, explore more about Xero. I would love to know what type of content that you wanna see over here. So comment below this video if you have suggestions., Or go shoot me a DM on Instagram. I'm at Ambitious Bookkeeper. I would love to know, if this content is resonating with you and what else you would like to see on the channel. All right, we'll see you next week.

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