Whether you’re managing the finances for your own business or a client’s, the key to your success is organization. Unfortunately, accounting and bookkeeping courses don’t place as much emphasis on organization skills as they do on accounting principles and software. So if you don’t already have a knack for keeping things in order, how can you acquire one?

Arguably, there is no “perfect” organization strategy that will work for everyone in every role. Because organization is so closely tied to personal habits and productivity, what keeps one person on track might drive another person to distraction. However, there are a few general guidelines that everyone can follow to keep their workflows in order. Even if organization doesn’t come naturally to you, here are five tips to help accountants and bookkeepers to stay organized at work.

1. Manage Client Relationships

Be honest: have you ever thought to yourself “I could get so much more work done if only these clients wouldn’t take up my all my time?” It’s funny because it’s true…but you also know that without those clients, you wouldn’t have a business. And if your business is growing, you know this means bringing on more clients, which means more meetings and more phone calls.

Knowing how to effectively manage client relationships is a key organizational tactic for accountants and bookkeepers. Using CRM software is a great way to achieve this. A CRM gives you a complete view of each client’s history, allowing you to answer their questions and serve them more efficiently. Logging the details of each meeting makes it easier to pick up where you left off, while tracking customized client preferences allows you to provide personalized service. Your clients can also take advantage of self-service portals linked to the CRM to update information, pay invoices and submit support requests. This lets you develop a more consistent schedule for client communication, rather than being constantly on call.

2. Integrate Your Software Programs

Using CRM software is a great start for managing client relationships, but these relationships aren’t limited to pre-scheduled meetings and phone calls. When a client shoots you a “quick email” with questions, sometimes it’s easiest to answer them right away. But how are you supposed to track these conversations effectively if you receive an onslaught of messages each day?

Not to worry! To keep your email communication organized and accessible, look for CRM software that integrates with common email providers like Gmail and Outlook. CRM email add-ons are simple tools that prevent you from having to flip between your messages and your CRM. Instead, you can save the details of an email conversation directly to your CRM from your email inbox. Not only does this save you time on double data entry, it makes it easier to maintain organized records of your interactions with each client.

3. Optimize Your Workspace Organization

You knew this one was coming. Digital organization is great, but physical organization still plays a big role in your workplace productivity. Maybe you’re working in a corner office, or maybe you’re running your bookkeeping or accounting practice from your kitchen table. Either way, there are some tried and true methods for creating an organized workspace. Here are a few ideas to consider implementing:

• An L-shaped (or U-shaped) desk puts more essential items and files within reach.
• Keep clutter to a minimum. Infrequently used items should go in drawers or on shelves behind or above your main workspace.
• Use organizers to separate small items stored in drawers. Don’t be the accountant who’s always hunting around for a pen or a calculator.
• Use a combination of vertical and horizontal file folder organizers to maximize your available storage space.
• Save your eyesight! Use a combination of overhead and task lighting.
• Double or even triple computer monitors save time and minimize confusion caused by switching between programs (like your accounting software and your CRM).

4. Develop a Streamlined Workflow

If you’re an experienced accountant or bookkeeper, you probably already have a general workflow in place. However, your productivity can easily be thrown out of whack when a new stack of paperwork lands on your desk. This is especially true for professionals who now rely mainly on digital systems. If you’re struggling to keep paper documents organized, here are some tips to try:

• Thermal paper receipts should be scanned and digitally filed in the appropriate client folders, as they will fade over time.
• Standard paper receipts can either be scanned or stapled and filed with the relevant paperwork.
• Although you’re likely using accounting and CRM software, you should still have a paper folder for each client to store any incidental documents they may give you. You can then transfer the information into your software when you have time.
• Some people like to keep an old-school phone message pad on their desk to jot down notes during client calls. If this applies to you, don’t let those notes get lost! Set aside a block of time once or twice a day to log these call details in your CRM.

5. Schedule Your Day Ahead of Time

Nothing’s worse than getting to the end of your workday and wondering if you even accomplished anything. Unfortunately, this can easily happen if you don’t plan your schedule ahead of time.

At the end of each day, take a few minutes to compile a list of things you want to tackle the following day. For accountants and bookkeepers working in structured office environments, you may be able to create a detailed hourly schedule. For those working for themselves or from home, you may need to leave more room for unexpected interruptions or tasks. At the very least, aim to identify one task that you’ll deal with first thing in the morning. By starting the day off on a productive note, you’ll set yourself up to accomplish other items on your to-do list.

Getting your work done is good, but there’s a huge sense of satisfaction in getting it done in an organized fashion. In addition, staying organized at work helps you provide your clients with better service, maintain a less stressful work environment, and comfortably scale your business. Test out different tools and tips until you find what works for you!

The post Organization tips for accountants and bookkeepers appeared first on Method.

No matter what your business structure — if you’re like many small business owners, you probably work far more hours a week than you would if you worked for someone else. And no matter how much you love your job, you (or your friends and family) likely wish you could reclaim some of that time. But if you don’t have the budget or desire to hire more staff, this dream may seem unattainable.

However, it doesn’t have to be! Instead of bringing in more people, the solution lies in making sure every aspect of your business is as organized as possible. The more organized you are, the more efficient and productive you can be. And when you’re able to accomplish more in fewer hours, the remaining time is yours — do with it what you will.

Here are some tips for getting organized and staying organized as a small business owner.

1. Get Your Office Space Organized

When you first set up your office space, everything probably looked pretty neat and tidy. But over time, it’s inevitable that you’ll accumulate paperwork and all those other accessories that go along with running a business. By now, your office might look like a tornado ran through it.

If you find yourself spending any amount of time just looking for stuff, then you definitely need to get your office space organized. Gather up all of the papers and objects that are sitting on surfaces and sort through them carefully. If you don’t need it, toss it. And if you do need it, make sure it has a permanent home. If this means buying some old-school filing cabinets or desk organizers, so be it. When your physical workspace is clean, it’s mentally easier to develop an organized process for getting work done.

2. Use Software to Manage Customer Relationships

As a small business owner, your customer relationships are the heart and soul of your business. Naturally, you want every customer to feel important. But it’s hard enough to do this as a small team — and it’s even harder if you don’t have an organized system for tracking customer data.

The best way to keep your data organized is to use customer relationship management software. These systems consolidate contact information and conversation notes in one convenient location, streamlining the process of looking up customer details. And if the CRM integrates with your accounting software, you can even view transaction information in the same place. This makes it easier to keep your finger on the pulse of each customer’s account and provide highly personalized service. And when your customers are satisfied, you’ll spend less time dealing with complaints and more time getting other work done.

3. Streamline Your Marketing Efforts

Unless prospective customers know about your company, they’re not going to buy from it. So when you’re getting a new business off the ground, it’s natural to want to promote it at any opportunity. But this kind of “shout it from the rooftops” marketing is only sustainable for so long. After a certain point, you need to develop a more organized marketing strategy so you have time to focus on other aspects of your business.

When developing marketing campaigns, you want to be sure they’ll resonate with your audience. But don’t just guess at who your audience is and what they want to know. Instead, use the data in your CRM to map out the demographics and buying behavior of your current customers. This information will help you develop buyer personas, which in turn will help you organize your marketing efforts. Your CRM is also a valuable resource for streamlining email marketing. Rather than exporting and uploading your QuickBooks customer list (or worse, sending hundreds of emails manually), send your CRM contacts directly to your email marketing software with the click of a button.

4. Stay on Top of Your Expense Receipts

You know the feeling. Tax time is coming up, and you haven’t been diligently logging your expenses throughout the year. As a busy small business owner, there was just never enough time to deal with those receipts; you figured you’d have more time in the new year after things “settled down.” As it turns out, you’re busier than ever — this is great news for your business, but not for the looming tax deadline.

Make this the last year you end up in this position. Starting now, spend the last few minutes of each day tracking the day’s expenses. File or scan receipts into labeled folders and come up with a naming system that tells you what each document is without having to open it. If you prefer a more digital solution, there are also a number of apps available for tracking business expenses. Whichever method you choose, taking 15 minutes each day to stay organized will save you (or your accountant) a massive headache at tax time.

5. Save Time with Integrated Tools

Even with solid software at your fingertips, it’s time-consuming to constantly flip between programs. In addition, entering data into multiple systems can lead to errors that have negative repercussions down the line. To maximize productivity and minimize errors, you want to automate and integrate as much of your work as possible.

As mentioned earlier, using a CRM that syncs with your accounting software is a great organization solution. When you do so, you can enter data in one system and it will automatically sync to the other. This frees up valuable time that would otherwise be spent on double data entry. It also gives your employees immediate access to important updates. Meanwhile, using a CRM that integrates with your email provider (like Gmail or Outlook) is another huge time-saver for small business owners. Not only can you save email correspondence to your CRM directly from your inbox, but the visibility into each customer’s history will empower you to respond to emails faster.

Conclusion

There are plenty of benefits to getting more organized at work. Your workday will feel more pleasant and less chaotic. You’ll be able to provide your customers with better service, which will ultimately help your bottom line. And you just might be able to work more efficiently and leave the office a little earlier. Ultimately, the goal of these organization strategies is to create a work environment that works well for you — and isn’t that why you went into business for yourself in the first place?

The post How to Stay Organized at Work as a Small Business Owner appeared first on Method.

Apparently, my scatterbrained process of gathering ingredients and forgetting where I keep stuff in my kitchen was more noticeable than I thought.

Resolving to become more organized for 2015 got me thinking about the small business owners I often chat with at Method. I hear of similar struggles when they recall their business prior to Method CRM, and they all relate back to disorganization – missing information, wasted time, the fear of customers slipping through the cracks – you get the idea.

I thought I would share apps we Methoders use to stay organized everyday – Method is a small business too, after all! So, to start the year off on the right foot, I give you…

1. IFTT (If This Then That)

My coworker introduced me to this application when we were at QuickBooks Connect and I have been obsessed with it ever since. I wanted to connect Method’s Instagram account to our Twitter account (some may call this laziness, I call it consistent efficiency). So I created a recipe through IFTT – an app where you set up rules (“recipes”) based on changes that happen within other apps. In this case, I created a recipe that goes like this:

IF I post to the Method Instagram account, THEN tweet out the same image and text from our Twitter account

With IFTT you can:

– create rules (“recipes”) that are triggered when actions are taken within various apps (if this happens, then I want that to happen)

– streamline your social activity or get text messages when something specific happens with one of your accounts

2. SmartVault

If you’re moving towards a paperless (or even just a paper-less) operation, having a secure document storage application on your side will help your team make strides. There are many great cloud storage services out there, but for a truly organized operation, your business applications need to be connected. SmartVault is a great file storage and sharing service that integrates with Method CRM and QuickBooks!

With SmartVault you can:

– access files from anywhere with best-in-class security and productivity features

– share documents with your accountant securely and be audit ready

– scan, attach and locate documents through your Method and QuickBooks databases

3. Gmail

Recently, I’ve been reading articles on decreasing the use of email to increase productivity, but there’s no question – email remains a business’ primary form of communication. And for me, this is no different – I don’t even have a phone or an extension!  There are many reasons why I’m a fan of Gmail, such as customizing how my inbox is set up. But more importantly, I love how easy it is for me to document communication activities in Method CRM right from Gmail whenever I email a customer. Next to QuickBooks, I would say our Google Gadget is our customer’s second-most loved Method integration.

With Gmail you can:

– customize your inbox with Gmail Labs and create your own keyboard shortcuts

– use ‘labels’ (tags) instead of traditional folders for more flexible email organization
– input customer, partner, or vendor interactions into Method CRM directly from your Gmail inbox [watch the video here]

4. Pocket

Some of you may recognize this app from a blog post I previously did on apps to help organize your personal life, but I’m mentioning it again because I also use this at work.  If you’re doing research, searching for inspiration, or just happen to stumble upon something online you’d like to save for later, Pocket is very helpful!  Like Gmail, you use a tagging system to organize online content you’re interested in reviewing later. Let’s say you’re reading a blog post but don’t have time to finish the post: save it to Pocket where you can even read it offline.

With Pocket you can:

– take anything you find online and store it in an organized way to view later

– organize everything you put in Pocket through tags such as “read later”

– save directly from your browser or from the 500+ apps that Pocket integrates with

5. Google Docs

Google Docs is like coffee for me – I can honestly say I can’t imagine my life without it. My team creates and collaborates in Google Docs everyday, increasing productivity and organization. I think back to previous companies I’ve worked at where documents would be shared and collaborated on by sending everything through email, and I shudder.

With Google Docs you can:

– create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations compatible with Microsoft Office file formats

– collaborate with other users in real time where everything is automatically saved

– provide edit suggestions within a document and add comments for how a piece can be improved

6. QuickBooks

We couldn’t talk about getting your small business organized without mentioning QuickBooks – the best accounting software for small business EVER! (Okay, our QuickBooks sync engine makes me a little biased). If you’re going to get your small business organized this year and haven’t adopted accounting software, QuickBooks is where to start. Repeat after me: “I will not manage my business finances in a spreadsheet in 2015”.

(And if you love QuickBooks for your business check out Mint – also by Intuit – for your personal finances! It keeps my shoe shopping in check.)

With QuickBooks you can:

– automatically pull transaction in from bank accounts and credit cards for fast and accurate data

– invite your accountant to securely collaborate within your QuickBooks file

7. Method CRM

Methoders speak with numerous customers everyday, so we practice what we preach (and sell!) by using Method CRM to manage our customer relationships and keep the internal team organized. The team documents all customer interactions within Method to ensure all our team members have timely and organized details on every customer we serve. This way, we can provide excellent customer service and don’t waste time in an email and sticky-note paper trail.

With Method CRM you can:

– track all interactions in a central database so everyone is in the know for every customer

– schedule follow-ups and assign tasks to other staff

– create and track customer service tickets (“cases”) or allow customers to create and track their own through a Customer Portal.

What are some of the applications helping to organize your small business? I would love to hear about the tools and techniques that keep you organized at work, so feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me.

The post 7 Apps to Organize Your Small Business appeared first on Method.