Cover Case Study Story
Add app advisory to your offering and become an even more trusted advisor A guide to help your clients be more efficient while boosting the value of your business...
@WorkflowMax
Larissa Paris, Head of Sales - Southern Hemisphere, WorkfowMax I’m the new WorkflowMax Head of Sales and I’ve got more than 16 years of sales and leadership experience in the tech space. I love building high performing sales teams and executing global sales strategies and was pivotal in developing the Xero partner channel in New Zealand. I’m super passionate about how software can make a real difference in the lives of our partners and customers to create more time and space for the really important stuff!
As a trusted advisor, you want to be confident with your recommendations to clients and proactive in helping them succeed. But with so many apps in the marketplace saying they’re the best for small business, how do you know which to get behind and recommend? You become an app advisor!
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dding app advisory to your skill set is a powerful way to boost your own knowledge, service offering and revenue while you help clients work smarter. We recently caught up with a Xero partner who is doing all this for his clients and more!
About eight years ago, Scott and his business partner discovered Xero. It was around the same time they were setting up a bookkeeping company that also provided cloud integration app advisory. When they saw what Xero could do, they decided to build their business around it.
right clients too,” says Scott.
Meet Scott Elder, the founder of App Advisor, based in Adelaide, Australia. App Advisor’s goal is to help businesses combine systems, processes and people so they thrive. Scott has a deep understanding of the accounting industry and latest software applications.
Scott says, “We started with two clients who weren’t using Xero so they were our first conversions. Since then, we’ve converted more than 200 companies to Xero and implemented apps that work well with it.”
He thinks WorkflowMax is a great match for professional services businesses. “WorkflowMax offers very good value for money. It does what it says on the box, it’s easy to use and integrates well with Xero. Compared to other systems, it’s got just the right level of functionality for service businesses that make their money from time,” says Scott.
He believes that building app advisory skills can vastly improve the relationship accountants and bookkeepers have with their clients and result in a win/win for both. In fact, Xero research highlights how small businesses grow net profit 23% faster when they’re working with an advisor and 30% faster when using apps in the cloud.
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When Scott’s company reached Xero silver partner program status, they were offered Xero Practice Manager (XPM) as their practice workflow tool. They soon found out about WorkflowMax as well, and how it was built on the same back end as XPM but to help small businesses manage jobs and projects. “We liked XPM for ourselves and I knew it would make sense to learn and recommend WorkflowMax to the
Scott did the WorkflowMax online advisor course which included videos, tutorials and a face-to-face meeting to get up to speed. And he got a lot of support from the WorkflowMax team whenever he had a question.
Huge benefits for everyone when apps work together It’s not just small business owners who benefit from combining Xero with WorkflowMax and other integrated apps. Accountants and bookkeepers can see deeper into a business to understand
XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.