#partner connect

This year saw me going around all the shows (while we only have exhibition opportunities at 2 events, we actually tour 6 locations), sharing the story of add-on solutions & how they make the ‘complex, simple’. To highlight this, I borrowed two little robots from my kids and took them on the road. 

Including a couple of toys in my talk dramatically drove up the engagement, and of course I was playing with them during the breaks. Conversation around technology & automation has never flowed so well.

I took the approach this year to deliver a session that was very practical in nature, painting the picture of a ‘connected advisor’ and giving a simple guide to how bookkeepers can use add-on solutions to change their business relationship with clients. To highlight this, it was my pleasure to bring Clinton from TradiePad on stage.

Clinton was able to share a little history about TradiePad, how the business works and how they select & work with technology partners (aka Add-ons).

Following this I left the audience with 7 simple questions they can use when selecting add-ons. As an add-on partner you should be making the answers to the follow 7 questions as simple as possible to discover and understand.

Get to know the company: how old is the company, are they self funded or VC Invested, what size is the company? People are wanting to build a relationship with you, so tell them a little about you - but don’t over do it.

Understand the support: what support model is in place &  is it the right support for your business/client? Sometimes email support is enough, sometimes it needs to be phone support.

Partner program: does the add-on provider have a partner program, what does it contain and how does it help you as a bookkeeper? This is a little about clipping the ticket, but more about marketing support, collateral and training material.

Key product features: what does the product actually do? To be honest I made the point with this one it’s actually more about ‘what doesn’t it do’ as a way of understanding if it is the right fit.

Accounting integrations: work out exactly which product the add-on integrates with. Just because it says MYOB doesn’t mean it is Essentials, maybe it’s Retail Manager.

Costs & Setup: add-ons often share a price (eg: $9.99 a month) but often there are many factors towards that price, eg Sales volumes. Also some add-ons do still require a setup fee.

Security of client data: in todays day and age people are much more security aware and will want to know where the data is stored, how long for, how often refreshed and if it is stored at all.

We saw some fantastic and deep conversations happening with add-on vendors around the show after this session as people started to dig beyond the surface and really look at add-ons as a partner in the future of their bookkeeping services.

Partner Connect is a great event for our add-on partners to meet with bookkeeping and consultant partners, it’s also a fantastic time to meet with MYOB staff. New MYOB Partner program manager Joshua Haebets shares some thoughts from Partner Connect on The Pulse.

So, Partner Connect was an awesome time, if you missed it (and even if you didn’t) how about joining us in Feb 2016 for MYOB Roadshow where the audience expands to include our Accountant Partners too. Expressions of interest are open now.