BillQuick at the Sleeter Conference 2009

There is no more highly motivated, knowledge-hungry professional than a member of the Sleeter Consultant Network (SCN). To say exhibiting and speaking at the annual Sleeter Conference is an enjoyable three days  — and a very tiring time — is to understate how much all of us at BQE look forward to the annual Sleeter Group event.

The Conference draws hundreds of Sleeter consultants — QuickBooks Pro Advisors, Peachtree Consultants, Accountants, IT Consultants and other professionals. These are the same people who serve existing and potential BillQuick customers. Most are advanced certified by Intuit, and many also work hard to gain additional certification from the Sleeter Group (a still higher level of knowledge).

For the past 7 years, BQE Software has shared insights into BillQuick and other topics at the conference. We also exhibit and sponsor events. The conference gives us the opportunity to expand and deepen BillQuick’s knowledge among Sleeter Consultants. In turn, they become more aware of BillQuick as a solution for their customers.

Many attendees also evaluate BillQuick for their own companies. As the lightbulbs of knowledge radiate brighter and brighter, most realize they have 5, 10, 20 or more clients who can benefit from BillQuick. Some see entirely new marketing opportunities. Most sign up as new BillQuick Resellers.

BQE’s partnership with the Sleeter Group provides benefits to SCN members and to new resellers recruited by BQE. For example, BQE waives the annual reseller membership fee ($495) for Sleeter Consultants.  They pay only one membership fee to Sleeter and become a BillQuick Reseller with a simple request (and a little paperwork). Their commissions begin immediately. SCN members who choose to become BillQuick Resellers receive the same sales certification training, marketing support and other benefits as other resellers. In fact, many new resellers present BillQuick to one or more clients within 30 days of joining (and before completing certification training). Following our reseller business model, BQE supports and collaborates with the new resellers throughout the entire process. You never stand alone!

New BillQuick Resellers who join through BQE also benefit from our Sleeter partnership. They have the option to become a member of the SCN at no charge. They receive a valuable ‘new member’ start-up package, strong community support, and ongoing benefits. In short, you get the substantial benefits of both organizations for one annual membership fee.

Bottom Line: We like talking to current and future BillQuick customers and resellers. Our company is based on a simple model: When you’re successful, we’re successful.

84% of BillQuick Customers

In a recent anonymous poll of our Customers, 84% said they would recommend BillQuick to other professionals without hesitation.

When you include others who would “probably” recommend or “might” recommend BillQuick to professionals like themselves, the number jumps above 90%.

The BillQuick Customers who responded to the poll included accountants, architects, engineers, IT consultants, computer consultants and attorneys — a wide range of professionals.

BillQuick Advisors in Action

BillQuick Advisors are out working with their clients. New and upgrade sales in May 2009 were over 158% higher than April. This continues the trend of month-over-month higher sales by BillQuick resellers.

This indicates the economy is turning around for professional firms. Not only accounting firms are investing in BillQuick, but also law firms, engineering firms, architectural firms and others.

In April, BillQuick’s most active resellers were

• Kara R. Haas, CPA (top seller of the month)
• Paul J. Davidian & Company
• Technology Solutions Associates

In May, the most active resellers were:

• The Attivo Group (top seller of the month)
• Being in Balance, Betty Van Dyck (close second for May)
• Balanced Bookkeeping, Heidi Triezenberg Morgan
• Deemer Dana Froehle, CPAs

Thanks to all of you for great advising!

Sample BillQuick 2009 Available to Advisors

BQE Software Releases BillQuick 2009 with Features that Help Businesses Offset Economic Slowdown with Improved Productivity.

Los Angeles, March 18, 2009:  BQE Software Inc, the innovative leader in Time Billing & Project Management solutions, announced today the release of BillQuick 2009, a major upgrade to the affordable business software application that simplifies time tracking, project management and billing. Focused on maximizing billable hours in professional firms, the latest version gives businesses the ability to do more with less time and resources.

“To survive the current economic slowdown, businesses must optimize processes and eliminate all overheads related to repetitive tasks. BillQuick 2009 is packed with features to achieve process optimization and therefore offset the slowdown with improved productivity.” says Shafat Qazi, President and CEO of BQE Software.

(See the full press release.)

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As part of your membership in the BillQuick Reseller Program, you can request sample licensed copies of BillQuick and add-on modules. The software is licensed to your company (with “Sample” in the company name). Please send an email requesting BillQuick 2009 and other modules to the Channel Manager.

Training Announcement – Billing with BillQuick

Here’s are three things we all know to be true:

• Sending the right bills at the right time for the right amounts is essential for a strong cash flow.
• The invoice format must effectively communicate what is owed
• An invoice projects your firm’s professionalism and high value to the client.

In the 2-hour training webinar on Thursday, March 19, 2009, at 9 a.m. Pacific Time , a BillQuick Certified Trainer covers key BillQuick elements as well as the flow of information into invoices. You will learn everything from generating a billing record through billing decisions. You will learn how to create invoices for a variety of billing situations — hourly, fixed fee, recurring, percent complete, phased billing, joint invoices, etc. Your BillQuick Certified Trainer steps you through batch billing, on-screen billing and off-line billing, as well as how to create manual invoices.

To gain the most out of BillQuick, shorten your billing cycle, and improve your productivity, sign up for Billing with BillQuick.

To do our part, we reduced the price for the March 19th training more than 55% off the list price ($350). You pay only $145 per person. This training earns you 3 CPE credits.

Pre-Release BillQuick 2009 Available

The pre-release version of BillQuick 2009 is available for download. Also “What’s New in 2009″ demo are available along with a summary page.  (See the links below.) Fifteen of the top features (from among 200 new and improved features) include:

1. Simple Expense Log: A brand new Simple Expense Log screen allows you to enter expense quickly and easily.
2. Dash Board: A brand new dashboard available from the View menu to display your business Key Performance Indicators. Each widget in the dashboard has its own refresh time setting.
3. Reports Customization: Enhancement in Report Viewer toolbar. Tools available that will allow you to customize reports, change fonts, colors and email as Word, Excel or PDF.
4. Report Filters: Ability to filter by discrete items instead of the “From and To” range when applying filters to the reports.
5. Vendor Bill: Ability to create a vendor bill automatically from un-billed time and expense data.
6. Spell Check: A brand new global spell checker that can spell check Description and Memo fields in time and expense data. Available from Sheet View, Simple Timecard, Expense Log, Simple Expense Log, Reviewer and Billing Review.
7. Custom Invoice Number Per Project: Ability to specify custom invoice numbering sequence per project.
8. Retainage + New Contract Types: In BillQuick 2009 we have introduced two new contract types. “Cost + Fixed Fee” and “Cost + Percentage”. In addition you now have the ability to specify “Retainage” percentage per project.
9. Allocate Hours by Activity Group: The self-policing feature has been improved. You can now assign hours to any employee without having to specify a specific Activity. Instead you can specific an Activity Group or “All” activities.
10. QuickBooks GL Accounts per Project: Ability to assign separate GL accounts per Project for all invoice items + Retainer collected and applied.
11. Assigning Made Easy: We have added the new “Assign” tab to the Employee and Project Screen. Makes assigning Project Control or Employee Control items easy.
12. Expense Part of the Contract: If your fee includes expense, you can now manage such contracts by simply selcting the “Exp Part of Contract” rule on the Project screen’s Detail tab.
13. Company: Closing Date in company screen prevents editing of items older than closing date. Impacts Time, Expenses, Invoices and Payments.
14. SMTP Support: You can now specify your SMTP Server (Outgoing mail server) info and have BillQuick bypass Outlook when sending email.
15. New Themes: Last but not the least, Check out the new themes in User Preferences screen. Please let us know if you like the default “Pear” theme.
16. File Linking: Ability to link documents to your time and expense data and many other records including employee, project, vendor bill, purchase order etc.

To view the What’s New in BillQuick 2009 demos, click here.

To review the What’s New in 2009 summary page, click here.

To download a copy of pre-release copy of BillQuick 2009, click here.

A few items more:

• BillQuick 2009 does not overwrite BillQuick 2008 or earlier versions. It installs into its own folder.
• When you first start-up BillQuick 2009, it will “see” your 2008 (or earlier) database and ask if you want to upgrade it for BillQuick 2009. This does not change your original database.
• You can answer No to the ‘upgrade database’ question and work with the sample databases in BillQuick (for up to 30 days in Evaluation Mode).

Your feedback is very much welcome.

Bob

Computing the Ideal Bill Rate

Many firm owners and managers do not take into account all the key elements that make up an ideal bill rate for an employee. As their advisor, you want to impress them with the depth of value you bring to the table . . . and that you are practical in your approach.

This short video identifies the key elements, including overhead multiplier and utilization rate, and show you how to compute the ideal rate using information that’s readily at hand. It is practical, proven way to compute the ideal bill rate without getting so deep into concepts and details that your clients’ eyes gloss over.

After watching the video, proactively talk to your clients. Help them not only survive the current economic times, but thrive now and more so when the business cycle turns up again. Of course, fine tune the approach to their needs.

Click here to watch the video.

Stay or Go – The Dilemma of Change

Change is the toughest thing we humans do. Poor testing, poor support and sunsetting software like Deltek Advantage, Sema4, FMS/Wind2 and others )in the Architect/Engineering space, for instance) are all coming at a tough time. Sometimes your clients have the problem of their current software just not being right for them now.

Your clients can’t wait. They need to invest now, making wise decisions to optimize productivity to survive the down cycle and to be ready to capture opportunities when the cycle turns up again.

Isn’t it time you help them find an alternative that delivers what they want and need and doesn’t suck them dry? Isn’t it time for a stable solution from a company that appreciates them?

Bottom Line: Thousands of professional services firms face the dilemma of change. In these tough economic times the risks and costs looming down on them are not insignificant. Are you going to wait for them to act or are you an advisor who advises.

Learn more about this by reading Should I Stay or Should I Go? in the January 2009 issue of the BillQuick eLetter.

Training – Managing Your Business with Web Suite

• Are you spending hundreds of hours cutting and pasting and re-entering time and expenses?
• Do you need to capture time in-office, in the field, in satellite offices, or from consultants?
  
• Are project managers in and out of the office, making it tough to review and approve time and expenses for billing?
• Are busy project managers in the field or in multiple locations slowing the billing cycle?
• Got SmartPhones and wish you could do more with them?

The dynamics of remote users, multiple offices and outsourced staff can waste hours every month and slow cash flow.

You need to attend the Managing Your Business with Web Suite training session.

Principals and partners will learn how Web Suite significantly improves productivity. Even the simple act of capturing time anywhere, anytime can add tens of thousands to profits each year. Project managers can be as productive on the road as they are in the office.

It all comes down to. . . It’s All About Time. Taking this truism to heart results in more billable hours that are more accurate and complete, and fewer wasted non-billable hours. Billing is not delayed. Report review becomes anytime, anywhere.

Bottom Line: Managing Your Business with Web Suite will help you gain the most out of Web Suite and improve your productivity.

When: Thursday, January 22, 2008 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM PST
Price: $145.00 per attendee
To Sign Up: http://sites.fastspring.com/billquick/product/timeandexpensetrackingwithwebsuite
(Click the Order button)

After paying for the training, check your email. You will receive a link to complete your training registration. You must complete the registration to attend the training.

BillQuick 2008 SP3 Released

BillQuick 2008 SP3 version 9.0.103.0 was released on January 7, 2009. BillQuick Customers and trial users will receive an automatic update notification when they start up BillQuick (if they have an Internet connection).

In case there is an issue in downloading the service pack, refer to our BillQuick Support Download Page at http://www.bqe.com/supportpages/download_support.htm#BQ2008.

Click to view the Release Notes (Build Log) for BillQuick 2008 SP3.

BillQuick and QuickBooks 2009

BillQuick 2008 has undergone extensive testing with QuickBooks 2009 (US and Canadian editions). BillQuick now works with:

• QuickBooks 2002 thru 2009 U.S. Edition, including Accountant’s Edition
• QuickBooks 2003 thru 2009 Canadian Edition
• QuickBooks Enterprise 2.0 (US) and later (including Accountant’s Edition)

Training – In-Depth BillQuick-QuickBooks Integration

There is an opportunity to go deeper into the BillQuick-QuickBooks integration, learning best practices and more advances topics. This can help you AND YOUR CLIENTS better understand the depth and breadth of our integration with QuickBooks. The session is the same one delivered by Irfan Qazi, our BillQuick-QuickBooks guru, to a Wowed! capacity crowd of BillQuick customers.

NOTE: The training session is commissionable to BillQuick Advisors.

Integrating BillQuick and QuickBooks has the potential to save hundreds of hours each year. Accounting staff and others can build on the basics and learn about how BillQuick handles important items with QuickBooks, including:

• QuickBooks Classes
• Retainers
• Discounts
• Vendor Bills
• Checks
• Employee Expenses
• Invoices

The session will also look at BillQuick’s Smart Matching capability and share best practices about which tasks to do in BillQuick and which ones to do in QuickBooks.

With the extended Question and Answer period, you and your clients will gain even greater insight and get the most out of BillQuick and QuickBooks and improve your productivity.

Click Training Checkout to sign up for the session. Once payment is confirmed, you will receive an email with a link to complete your registration.

Getting a Quote for Customized Invoices & Reports

(Part 2 of a 2-part post)

Part 1 discussed:

• What does “Customization” mean
• Why you might customize BillQuick invoices, statements and reports
• Customization options
• Which option is best for your client

For the do it yourself/let the client do it options, a quick summary of requirements and consulting services was included.

Advisors: Remember that you are commissioned on all product and service sales delivered to BQE Software. This includes consulting services.

When will a customization situation arise?

There are several situations when your client might consider customizing an invoice, statement or report.

1. You raise this as an option when doing a needs analysis, workflow analysis or when working through a quote with your client. Invoices, statements and reports content and how they are laid out (presentation) should be part of every needs analysis.
2. Your client tells you that BillQuick invoices or reports “just aren’t right” or “are not adequate” during a follow-up visit or call.
3. Your client tells a BillQuick Support Rep, BillQuick Certified Trainer or BillQuick Certified Consultant invoices or reports “just aren’t right” or “are not adequate”.
4. Your client learns about the customization option through BillQuick Help, the BillQuick Reference Guide, or the BillQuick eLetter.

To maximize your client’s satisfaction with you and with BillQuick, the best time for customization to come up is the needs analysis or quote. Your client does not feel like there was a “gotcha” hidden from them. During the early stage of a new relationship, clients are more open to what they will invest to gain desired benefits. Learning about this option later can sometimes frustrated clients.

How to get a quote for report customization?

The BillQuick Report Team can customize standard BillQuick invoices, statements and reports, as well as create customize output to your client’s specifications. Templates can be defined for output to a printer, as PDF file, in an Access database file, in a comma separated value file, and other formats.

Follow the steps below to obtain a quote:

1. Review the standard templates (invoices, statements, reports) included with BillQuick to determine if one is close to what your client wants. Print a sample copy of the invoice, statement or report. Customizing an existing template takes less time than creating one from scratch – for you, your client and for the BillQuick Report Team, thus reducing the overall investment.
2. If there is no standard template like what your client needs, create a mock up or obtain an existing sample from your client’s files.
3. Mark up the sample template. Note where changes should be made. If special process is required, such as presenting a subset of data or presenting details in a summary form, make a note of this.
4. Fax or scan and email the marked up template to the BillQuick Report Team Manager or the BillQuick Reseller Channel Manager.
5. The BillQuick Report Team Manager will review the customization needed. If necessary, he will contact you with questions. Typically, you have a quote within 72 hours.

How to submit a sales order for report customization?

To ensure proper credit – both for your commission and addition to your accumulated sales, do the follow when submitting a sales order for report customization.

1. After confirming with your client to go ahead, use the quote to complete the BillQuick Advisor Order Form.
2. Submit the form to the Channel Manager.

Custom templates will be delivered within 10 business days.

NOTE: If you verbally accept the quote and give the go-ahead to the BillQuick Report Team Manager after discussing the work, be sure to inform the Channel Manager.

NOTE: The BillQuick Advisor Order Form is included in each Advisor’s Welcome Pack. Also, you can download a copy from the Marketing & Consulting Resources blog page.

Advisors: Remember that you are commissioned on all product and service sales delivered to BQE Software. This includes consulting services.

The BillQuick Report Team Guarantee

All work will be to the client’s satisfaction.

If BQE Software changes the run-time version of Crystal Reports built into BillQuick and this impacts any custom invoice, statement or report, the template will be updated at no charge to the client.

Customize Invoices & Reports?

(This is Part 1 of a 2-part post)

Any BillQuick invoice, statement or report can be customized.

What does “Customization” mean?

Customization means some aspect of a standard BillQuick invoice, statement or report, called a “template,” is changed in some way. This might involve:

• Adding a special-size company logo
• Replacing the entire company “letterhead” area with the company’s standard letterhead
• Adding or removing columns of data
• Rearranging invoice memos or detail time and expense memos
• Adding or removing a billing and payment history block
  
• Add or removing an invoice aging block
• Creating a new summary invoice page with details on a second page
• Adding a profit percentage column
• Adding a profit multiple column
• Adding a bar or pie chart to a report
  

Customization also means a template is created from scratch. A sample or mock-up of an invoice, statement or report is used. Also, instructions (specifications) define the data to pull from BillQuick and how to process it before placing it in the right place in the template. These instructions also describe the presentation (text, graphic) and desired output (printer, database file, etc).

In short, there is a lot the BillQuick Report Team can do for your client.

Why Customize?

Invoices and statements sent to customers of your client reflect the firm’s professional image. This is no small part of their marketing and branding with clients. Also, clients want invoices and statements that clearly and effectively communicate the work done and financial information.

For reports used in a client’s firm, the greatest benefits are gained when information matches their  management style. Because styles vary among firms, this can be a major source of efficiency and time savings. Always remind your clients about this. What information is presented and how it is laid out is often an unconscious expectation among clients.

What are your customization options?

1. Outsource to the BillQuick Report Team.
2. You do it yourself for a BillQuick customer.
3. A BillQuick customer does it.

Which option is best for your client?

If your firm or your client has a Crystal Reports programmer on staff and they have time to do the work, then using them is the best option. See Do It Yourself or Client Does It below.

In most situations, you will want to outsource the work to the BillQuick Report Team because:

• No one has adequate skills.
• Time to do the work is in short supply.
• Crystal Reports experience is not used everyday, resulting in more time for the relearning process and doing the work.

In short, there is a real, often overlooked, cost for doing. Whether done by you or your client, time that is otherwise billable at a good rate can be lost.

To get a quote from the BillQuick Report Team, see Part 2 – Quote for Customized Reports & Invoices.

Do It Yourself or Client Does It

All standard invoice, statement and report templates included with BillQuick can be customized.

To work with a template you need Crystal Reports 10 or later. Also, you need to know how to use Crystal Reports. If you do not, please obtain training and other Crystal Reports services via the Web and a local resource.

BQE Software does not provide technical support for Crystal Reports. However, members of the BillQuick Report Team do provide for-fee consulting services.

Advisors: You are commissioned on all product and service sales delivered to BQE Software. This includes consulting services.

Email Subscription Option

You can now subscribe to BillQuick Advisor by email as well as RSS feed.

At the bottom of the right column, click on the email link. On the Feedburner Email page, enter your email address. Immediately a confirmation email is sent to you. As soon as click the link in the email, your BillQuick Advisor email subscription is activated!

BillQuick Advisor publishes a daily email of new posts and pages at midday.