Hi, I have been contacted by crunchers and although i have read the other posts on the forum about roughly how it works i was wondering if anyone has actually joined and if so was it worth it.
Hi Terry, I had read them but it didn't answer all of my questions i was just wondering if anyone else had joined them or knew anyone who had.I don't think i am going to bother with it and i will just have to keep playing the waiting in trying to find clients. Thanks
Stephen talk to us, we won't bite and we'll explian how it works.
When the times right you can speak with people doing it. But, at this stage keep in mind we are looking for a few early adopters from the world of bookkeepers and accountants.
I could go on about all the marketing resources we have for franchisees but I'd urge you to think about one thing. Assume you win lots of work...how much can you earn by working?
Now compare that to joining Crunchers where you can make money from renting software to small businesses, as well as taking on and managing bookkeeping work.
If you just focussed on software rentals and ended up with 300 people paying you £25 a month for the software, updates, technical support and a bookkeeping helpline youd be receiving £7,500 per month in software rentals.
You'd be paying Crunchers a management fee of 6% (£450 a month) leaving you with £7,000 a month gross profit without doing any bookkeeping!
The only important questions are:
1) What would that be worth to you?
2) Is that enough to get you to do what you need to do?
3) Have you got the necessary resources? Not just some money but the attitude to build a business and skills to manage and market/sell?
If the value's right and you think you've got the resources then maybe it would be a good use of your time to find out more.
Bob
-- Edited by BobHarper on Saturday 13th of June 2009 05:49:12 PM
Hi Bob, I have read the information i have been given and also read what you are saying most of it makes sense but the only thing that i am struggling with is the financial side.I could not afford to loose a large amount of money if for example i was unable to find any clients or it didn't work out. stephen
Assume it costs you £12,500 to get your business up and running, thats the franchise fee plus a launch budget.A five year loan to cover this is only about £250 a month.
Now, if you know (through market research) that you could get £20 a month for people using the software then youd only need 13 clients to cover this.
There will always be reasons not to do something but there's also a cost of not doing something. What's the cost of playing the waiting game?
BEWARE: The leads for potential clients have no provenance or guarantee. No serious advertising to potentail customers outsidside of a pretty poor self proclaiming website. £12,500 for signing on to this scam as a bookkeep is IMO money thrown away.
We understand and welcome healthy scepticism, although I dont understand your motivation for accusing us of operating a scam. I think if you spoke to the people we work with they feel very differently.
Yes, leads are a very important for running a successful bookkeeping business.But, leads are just one element and franchisees have a comprehensive marketing strategy with supporting resources, training and coaching.
Advertising is an expensive, high risk tactic which we dont put much store in. The launch campaign is a little more focussed and strategic.
Interestingly, I spoke to one of the first offices to launch this week who now reports clients coming to them.This is after 6-9 months of quality marketing and offices are winning new business through a range of online and offline tactics.
This is all being collected and collated and we are very close to building in guarantees to secure the franchisee during the start-up phase.
Having said that, even when we have guarantees we will still ask people to think about the cost and risk of their current business.
To help we have a questionaire which people can run through. This helps them take a step back before thinking of taking a step forward with us.
-- Edited by BobHarper on Saturday 11th of July 2009 11:12:14 AM
All I wanted to add to this was that from experience, it is very difficult to sell a software package to small business as they will only take it if they feel the need and are bigger than a one man band etc.
For a book keeper to start in business, it certainly would not cost anywhere near £12500 and the only way to get work is to network, word of mouth and to knock on doors!! Advertising does not work effectively enough nor is it cost effective.
We train franchisees how to sell professionally, both software and services. But, youre right - clients need to feel the need - this is exactly what our sales system does.
It doesnt cost £12,500 for a bookkeeper to set-up in business and if a bookkeeper wants to work every day doing bookkeeping they won't need to invest in a business system like Crunchers.
I dont agree that the only way to win work is to network, rely on word of mouth and knock doors. But, its useful to have something interesting, unique and relevant to talk about when someone opens the door.
On Bob's recommendation (from another accounting forum) I have just finished reading a book called 'E-Myth'. Wow is all I can say. I've been running my own bookkeeping business for a few years and (touch wood) it's going really well and I'm still loving it, but do I realise that to have longevity I need to move away from being a technician and run a real business with systems in place so it will operate without me. It will be hard work but I'm now focussed on working on the business rather than in it.
Although I won't be investing in a franchise myself, if Bobs offering is based on E-Myth principles then it could be a very sound investment.
