Insightful Accountant strives to provide you, our QuickBooks Specialist, Accountant and Business Consultant readers with information about opportunities to serve your clients, build your practice, and bolster your compensation through this series we call ‘Advisor Alliance’. The focus of this series will be product developers and vendors who offer some form of alliance, partnership, or referral program that might be of interest to you and your practice.
Not long ago someone asked me the kinds of things I think make a good partner program, in other words, what should a developer do to actually attract QuickBooks ProAdvisors, Accountants, Bookkeepers and Business Consultants to become members of their partner program? How do they form a sound Advisor Alliance?
# 1 Answer (or so your might think) - Party-hardy like the TSheets team at conferences and seminars. While you might think that this is the number one thing to form alliances on the part of some ProAdvisors it really isn't even though it helped TSheets build their Partner Program and their business overall.
A lot of ProAdvisors join the TSheets Partner Program without ever attending a single 'party' they sponsored at Scaling New Heights, or QuickBooks Connect, and a bunch of them have even told me that the parties, while everyone loves a good party (and TSheets has thrown some great parties in the past), are not the reason they became TSheets Partners. It took more than a party to motivate them to join.
# 2 Answer (or so you might think) - Swag, the free gifts they give away. Let's face it the exhibit booths of most of the conferences we attend are packed with swag of all types from the 2-cent ments to iPads and Laptop computers, not to mention free services or App subscriptions. Sometimes these vendors restrict their prime swag to members of their Partner programs.
Other vendors give away wearables to get their name in the faces of everyone, things like TShirts, and Ballcaps, and Sunvisors, and Flip-flops and Sunglasses. They believe that name recognition among the community is the best way to spread the news.
But once again, 100's of ProAdvisors have told me that while some of the swag is great, that's not why they use or recommend the App, or they join the Partner Program.
#3 Answer (but not as important as you might think) - Royalties, Commissions or other forms of compensation. While almost everyone appreciates earning some bucks from having hooked up a client or customer with a software developer's App or program, the per earning royalty, commission or one-time fee is not all that attractive to the ProAdvisors I have visited with on this topic.
With that said, those Apps or software that provide 'on-going residuals' for month-to-month subscriptions or annual renewals are a little more attractive to ProAdvisors than the one-time bucks even if fairly substantial in relationship to the App or software price.
# 4 Answer (one you might not have even thought about) - On-going partnership between the Pro, the App Developer and the Customer/Client. Most ProAdvisors, at least those who have come up the ranks of old, have told me that what they want is a long-term relationship with an opportunity to earn their own professional fees while working with App clients. They are not just interested in 'signing-up' one of their clients with an App or Developer only to be told "Sayonara Pro, we don't need you anymore on this one...we will take over and work with your client the rest of the way."
In many cases these ProAdvisors have built relationships with their clients over years of working together, just because they are now migrating the client from QuickBooks Desktop to QBO, and then adding a few Apps doesn't mean that they want to say goodbye to those client relationships. They want a Partnership that works with them so that they can continue to meet the needs of their clients, they view the App as only a tool to achieve the end goal, not a solution to replace them.
# 5 Answer (you might expect these as a result of # 4) - App/Developer training and top-level support. ProAdvisors who have told me what they look for in a App or software package partner program is sufficient training to become fully knowledgeable and capable of supporting their clients using the App or software. As part of that training they like seeing 'extra recognition' in terms of their standing among their colleagues when they earn Certification in the App/software, or even special recognition as a 'recommended implementation partner' as opposed to a simple referral partnership.
Likewise, those same ProAdvisors want to know that the Developer has got their back to help them with those situations that are outside the norm, or that weren't covered in their training. As such, they expect top-level support, preferably from a designated support (not sales) representative, without having to first contact entry-level customer support and then go through a decision tree to get kicked-up to a higher level of support.
Other ProAdvisors have told me they would like to see a higher level of 'on-line support' in the form of a Partner-only Knowledgebase that provides the same level of information that the App's own support personnel make use of, not simply the on-line basic help available to the typical user.
# 6 Answer (which really should be # 1) - A really great App or software product with the flexibility ProAdvisors are seeking. One that does exactly what it says it will do, and does it exactly the way that it should. And when it comes to 'integration' with the general ledger software be that QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or any other G/L, while the integration should conform to the minimum standards of the GL, it should also provide the ProAdvisor with the maximum possible options or flexibility in configuration of that integration.
ProAdvisors want choices in how they use an App to meet the needs of their clients, because no two clients are identical. You may have the very best time-sheet App, or expense-capture App, or even a bill-pay App, but if you don't offer some flexibility in how a Pro can set it up and make it work for 'their client', then you will likely find that those ProAdvisors are selecting an alternative Partner program for an App that does give them the flexibility they are seeking.
I'm sure some ProAdvisor are going, "will you shut-up Murph, if you keep telling developers they don't need to host parties, and give away swag, or pay us great commissions, they will stop...". All I can say is, sorry folks, but I tell it the way I see it (or the way you have told me).
So, if you are an App Developer looking for tips to start-up your own Partner Program and you really want to create an alliance with your advisors, now you know what I know, and what 100s of ProAdvisors have told me. Build, or redesign, your partnership accordingly for success.