We are officially 8 weeks out from Scaling New Heights and as part of our ongoing coverage of what you can expect in San Antonio, today we’re previewing what attendees can expect from the Radio Free QuickBooks interview with JM Freuler, Co-Founder of Funding Gates, during Tuesday afternoon's General Session.
IA: Tell us what your company does and what market segment do you serve?
JM - Funding Gates’ primary product is the FG Receivables Manager, a cloud-based receivables management software that integrates with QuickBooks Desktop and Online. We’re set on helping small to medium sized businesses that struggle to get paid on time (if at all) from their customers. Our customers are those who choose to bill for their service or product and have trouble keeping up with who owes them money. We see a lot of businesses from the supply, manufacturing and construction industries, as well as many service-based firms, such as marketing, advertising or recruitment agencies.
IA: Attendees have a lot of options when it comes to training at Scaling New Heights. What will you be teaching and why should they choose your sessions?
JM: Well, we’ll be speaking during a general session...so they won’t have a choice! Kidding! For starters, I’ll be joined by Stacy, Dawn and Woody, who if you are a Radio Free QuickBooks fan, you know they are always a good time, and really get down to asking questions that YOU (ProAdvisors) want to hear. As well, as our product is a bit unprecedented, there is opportunity to truly understand what we do and learn more about the successes the product and our customers have experienced. We’re also the #1 ranked receivables app on Apps.com, so you know you’re learning about an app that QuickBooks users love. What I’m most excited about though, is talking about overall collections practices, and how ProAdvisors and accounting professionals can help their customers change different areas of their billing and collection processes to see immediate impacts on their outstanding AR. There is also an opportunity to discover how advisors can use this philosophy to add more consulting hours to their practice. Nobody likes collections, but it’s absolutely the most essential part of a business. If you can’t get the money you are owed, you’ll have no money to run your business. We’re fighting for these small businesses, so I hope attendees will come join the session, and join the “fight” too.
IA: I know that you will not be “selling” during the session, but will participants learn the advantages and benefits of being a Funding Gates Partner during this session?
JM: Absolutely. We love our current QuickBooks partners, so I plan on giving some insider info on how attendees can use the software for free, as well as get their own customers a discount. We also have an extensive referral network that we will speak about. Overall, focusing on receivables management best practices, attendees will gain access to information that can be immediately applied as an add-on in their business. Every business wants more revenue opportunities!
IA: What would be the ideal profile for someone attending your session? How many clients would they have? What type of clients would they have (manufacturing, distribution, retail)? Would they need to already have clients with a need that Funding Gates can solve?
JM: The ideal profile is certainly varied. Across our current partners, client numbers are varied. We see a lot of customers, like I said, in manufacturing, supply, construction, and service-based firms (marketing, advertising, recruiting, engineering, etc.). The one industry we do not see a lot of is retail. If a customer is using a POS system, they’re most likely not a fit, unless they also operate a wholesale side of the business. It’s great if they do have clients that can currently use the FG Receivables Manager, but we actually have ProAdvisors who sign up for the free account with us, just to be prepared if they have clients in the future. As these ProAdvisors well-know, accounts receivable are very common among many business, so I think it would be more rare that they WOULDN’T encounter a customer down the road that has a problem. In fact, if they come to our session, they’ll be prepared to pitch to this “future” customer, as they’ll have had exposure to a product that fixes their problems, as well as the industry’s top advice on tackling this issue. It’s a win-win.
IA: Let’s face it, trade shows are a big investment for vendors and attendees alike. What do you hope to gain from the investment you’ve made in being and exhibitor and a speaker at SNH?
JM First of all, feedback. ProAdvisors have been instrumental in helping build our product. They can provide insight for so many different types of users, and their advice has helped us create a better product and business. So, we love the opportunity to sit down and chat, pick their brains, and see how we can best help them build their business and help their customers. Next, for us, is relationships. Not only are strong relationships with ProAdvisors good from a feedback level, but it is good for our customers too. We often find ourselves referring customers to ProAdvisors for help on a company file or to make a transition from Desktop to Online. Having a network we can trust will take good care of our people is essential. Lastly, we really hope to change the way people view collections. It’s everyone’s least favorite part of a business, but it shouldn’t be. We want to continue growing a group of people who are determined to change this...that are determined to make collections a breeze, and at the same time get these businesses the money they absolutely deserve. We find ourselves often having to remind business owneres of this: You did the work. You deserve to get paid. We hope others can find that same passion in this process. Oh, and the obvious of course: more businesses managing their AR on FG.
IA: What are the 3 most important take aways a ProAdvisor will receive from your session?
JM: First, that there is a product out there that can not only make their customers lives easier and make AR overall less of a headache, but that there is a product that can have a REAL financial impact on their business. We’ve had people recover 80% of their receivables just during their free trial. If you read our reviews on Apps.com, you’ll see person after person talk about how their AR is at an all-time low in company history. That’s a really cool thing, and we hope ProAdvisors see how unique that is. Second, they’ll learn a ton in a short amount of time about how to decrease days sales outstanding for their customers. I have tips and tricks to provide that start from the business contract, the invoice, all the way to the end of the timeline, in a place where legal action might be evaluated. If they ever have a customer who is stuck in tough position with a delinquent account, they’ll have actionable, effective advice they can apply to the customer. Lastly, we hope they’ll take away what an important revenue stream Apps.com is. It’s not just about the literal cash you can receive from referring someone to an app, but the revenue you can make by getting a customer setup on the app, teaching them how to use it, as well as the many hours they can spend teaching customers about a particular apps industry best practices. There is so much opportunity there.
IA: Are you looking to connect with ProAdvisors from any particular part of the country?
JM We’d love to connect with ProAdvisors from all over! Our product only works with US versions of QuickBooks, however. But, we are based in NYC, so any tri-state ProAdvisors should stop by our booth. We love getting to know our neighbors.
Mr. Freuler and the Radio Free QuickBooks team will be featured as part of the General Session during Scaling New Heights on Tuesday afternoon. That is also when we will be announcing and recognizing our First Annual ProAdvisor of the Year and Top 100 ProAdvisors, so don't miss it!