As bookkeepers, we often find ourselves caught up in the grind of daily tasks, trading hours for dollars, and struggling to convey the true value of our services. But what if there was a way to revolutionise your practice, double your profits, and create raving fans out of your clients?
In this blog post based on a recent episode of The Strategic Bookkeeper Podcast, I’ll guide you through the concept of productising your bookkeeping service. You’ll learn what productisation means, why it’s essential, and how it can unlock new levels of profitability and client satisfaction. With practical insights and real-life examples, you’ll discover how to build a thriving, profitable practice, delight your clients, and, most importantly, live your dream on your terms.
Today's episode is called Productise to Profit: Transforming Your Bookkeeping Service. Oh my goodness, I love that title. ChatGPT helped me with that title.
A little warning about using AI in your business: you need to learn how to use it, not just what to use it for. Put "HI", which stands for human intelligence, before artificial intelligence. However, when you learn to train an AI like ChatGPT—pay for it and actually train it in all things brand-related (which you've got my book for)—then it can become an amazing junior copywriting assistant. If you haven't heard me say it before: absolutely, tech can be team.
So, just going back, Productise to Profit. We're going to dive into that and I'm absolutely going to explain how productising will help you with profit and transform your bookkeeping service. It might double your profit, but it will 10x your client satisfaction. And they are the first two steps to getting the privilege of the income and the time that I call your dream on your terms.
So,
What is a product when it comes to bookkeeping?
At the time of writing this, I am going through the manuscript of my second book for bookkeepers. Maybe by the time you listen to this, it’s already been published. I love writing; I put my heart and soul into my books. The two books I’ve written for bookkeepers—The Strategic Bookkeeper and this particular book, whose title I can’t tell you yet (it’s top secret)—are both how-to guides.
When I write these books, what is front of mind is helping you implement. I’m thinking about sharing information—education and knowledge—and as much as possible, I want to give you tools like models and images that you can use. I want to help you look at where you are right now, what mistakes you might be making, what you don’t know, and then guide you on what exactly you need to do. When I say "exactly," I do my best to make it simple, especially as a trainer and assessor, so that it’s something you can actually implement.
Right now, I’m going through my chapter on products and pricing. I’m editing, assessing its value, and thinking about you as a bookkeeper. I’m thinking about myself at the beginning of my journey and asking, If I were reading this, would I fully understand it? How can I make it easier to understand?
This led me to reflect on a question an entrepreneur asked me yesterday. He mentioned listening to Glen Carlson—one of the founders of the Key Person of Influence program, which I’ve done and found extraordinary. During that program, I learned a lot about the concept of productising services like bookkeeping. I often sing the praises of the Key Person of Influence formula and the books written by Daniel Priestley. And this entrepreneur had found an article online by Glen Carlson about productising, and asked me to explain it further.
I’ve done quite a few blogs and podcasts on pricing, but here, I just want to focus on what it means to productise—the what, why, and how. I’ll keep it simple and relate it to my experiences inside the Tribe, hoping to give you a lightbulb moment like I had back in 2015.
At that time, peers were telling me to move from hourly billing to fixed pricing. I didn’t get it; I wasn’t convinced. Then someone gave me the lightbulb moment that changed everything. Afterward, I doubled my net profits in a year and massively increased client satisfaction. That was the final piece of the puzzle that allowed me to live my dream on my terms.
If you’ve read The Strategic Bookkeeper, you’ll know it took me about five years to build my lifestyle practice. This productisation was the last piece of the puzzle. It has since evolved into what I now call outcome billing. Glen Carlson describes productisation as partly selling the outcome, and I want to dive deeper into that now.
Building a thriving practice, delighting your clients, and living your dream on your terms—these are linear steps. The first thing you need to do is fix your practice, which is what productising your services and pricing correctly will allow you to do.
Before I fixed this, my revenue was increasing, my team was growing, but my profit wasn’t keeping up with the revenue growth. Client satisfaction was okay, but they weren’t raving fans. The issue was the broken products and pricing model. Hourly billing was a big part of the problem. When we think we’re just using time to solve a problem, we’re actually using a whole ecosystem of skills, values, and experience. You’re not just trading time for money.
Think about what makes you different from an 18-year-old fresh out of high school. You have time, but you also, you have your entire experience, skills, personality, values, and beliefs. These are part of the ecosystem you bring to your clients, even if you’re not consciously aware of it yet.
When I fixed this issue, my practice profit increased, which meant I built a thriving practice. It felt amazing. When you get your products and pricing right—even if it’s your first version—your clients move away from being cost-focused. Hourly billing is problematic, but so is charging for what you do without connecting it to the why and the outcome.
Let’s revisit Glen Carlson’s concept:
When we productise, we take an outcome and attach a fee to it.
Inside that product is a mix of features and functions, some of which we might list and some we might not. These elements contribute to helping the client achieve the outcome. When you start getting this right, it’s transformative.
Here’s what happened to me: We moved to a fixed-price billing model. Within 48 hours, I transitioned all my clients from hourly billing to fixed pricing. Within months, I noticed something remarkable—client satisfaction skyrocketed. To me, we were delivering the same service, but my profitability doubled within a year, and client satisfaction went up tenfold.
This process is part of building a rock-solid, thriving practice. If you’ve been following my content, you know about my Bookkeeping Practice Blueprint. (If you don’t already have a copy, shoot me an email at hello@thestrategicbookkeeper.global, and my team or I will send it to you).
When you build or elevate your practice according to the blueprint, and you get your products and pricing nailed, you’ll achieve two things: a profitable practice and sky-high client satisfaction.
These are the first two steps to achieving what I call the privilege of my dream on my terms—a six-figure income with abundant time wealth.
Let’s now focus on the why. Trust me now, believe me later: you must productise. It will become one of the cornerstones of your bookkeeping practice.
At the time of writing this post, I recently hosted the TSB Success Panel where I interviewed seven members of my Transformation Program. During this panel, you’ll hear from several members about the incredible impact of products and pricing. For example, one member went from living off savings to earning a six-figure income within a year. Another member doubled her rates and retained almost all her clients, gaining $90,000 in additional revenue from her existing client base.
Let’s go back to what productisation is by comparing what it’s not to what it is.
What it’s not is selling your service. For example, a chiropractor might offer a chiropractic adjustment for a certain fee, or a bookkeeper might promise to handle all bookkeeping features and functions for a specific price—whether hourly or fixed rate. Even fixed pricing, while better than hourly billing, can still fall short if you’re only selling features and functions.
When you focus solely on features and functions, you’re selling the long-haul flight, not the destination. Productisation, on the other hand, is about understanding the destination your clients want to reach. For most entrepreneurs, that destination can be summed up as "better in business." They want to increase profit, cash flow, and time wealth—all the things you’re likely trying to achieve in your business as well.
To help your clients reach this destination, their books need to be in order. Think of bookkeeping as the flight to their destination. If all you offer is compliance (getting the numbers up to date and lodged), you’re leaving them stuck in the air, unable to land at their destination. To take them all the way, you need to understand their vision and the role your services play in achieving it.
This is where brand comes into play. The foundation of your brand is understanding the destination your clients want to reach. Your vision is the North Star for your clients, and your mission is how you’ll get them there. Without a strong brand foundation, nine out of ten bookkeepers end up selling the flight, not the destination.
When you truly understand your clients, you can shift from selling services to offering productised solutions. Instead of focusing on features and functions, you talk about outcomes. For example, when doing a needs analysis or diagnostics tool, you lead with why. You start with the destination—what your clients want to achieve—and build from there.
Here’s how this works in my business: We start with a million-dollar storybook brochure and a video sales letter that highlight the outcomes we deliver. We talk about Paris—their ultimate goal—80% of the time. The remaining 20% is spent on the flight, which is the features and functions of our services.
Our productised services package contains all the features, benefits, and outcomes, bundled into a beautiful "box" with a fee attached. This box includes high-value intellectual property, such as tools and training, that enhances the client experience.
For example, we offer clients access to our Better in Business Podcast, a Business Fundamentals Training session, and an annual 90-minute planning session to help them achieve clarity. Alongside traditional bookkeeping features like bank reconciliations, we also highlight benefits such as 24/7 team access and guaranteed response times. This mix of features, benefits, and outcomes ensures clients see the value of the investment they’re making.
So, our productised service is a document containing all the features, benefits, outcomes, and value bundled into one package.
Most importantly, it emphasizes the outcome the client desires.
This approach allows us to attach a fee that feels like an investment—because it is an investment.
Working together means going beyond basic bookkeeping. It involves investigating the numbers, doing strategic bookkeeping, solving problems through diagnostics, and providing advisory services. This is what productising your service looks like, and it’s how you build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms.
To illustrate, let’s talk about one of the success stories shared during our panel. Karen Thomson joined our program while living off her savings. Twelve months later, she was earning a six-figure income. By nailing her productised services, she found that 90% of inquiries couldn’t press "go" fast enough, even when she had a 12-week waitlist and her fees were double those of other bookkeepers. This is what happens when you get your clients excited about Paris rather than expecting them to stay loyal simply because they’re on a long-haul flight.
A productised service is about clearly understanding the outcomes your prospective clients want, showcasing how you’ll help them get there, and bundling this value into a package with a clear fee. It’s about selling the destination and making the journey so valuable that clients view it as an essential investment in their success.
Now, let’s connect this to myself at the start of my journey. Fifteen years ago, I was sitting in a little basement area of my home on the Gold Coast, full of dreams but also a lot of naivety. If I had listened read this blog back then, I probably would’ve needed to re-read it a few times. I would’ve grabbed The Strategic Bookkeeper book, gone back to the podcast episodes on planning and pricing, and listened to the TSB Success Panel. I would’ve looked at my practice and tried to figure out how to implement all of this.
Implementation is critical, and that’s why I created the Strategic Bookkeeper Transformation Program and the Pricing Academy. These resources are designed to help bookkeepers avoid the common pitfalls I faced in those early years. If I hadn’t had a main breadwinner in my household, I’m not sure how I would’ve made it through that challenging five-year period.
That’s why I want to help you. Whether you’re at the start of your journey or 40 years in like Deb, one of our success panelists, this program is for you. Deb, an incredibly skilled bookkeeper, was ready to give up after 40 years, but our program was her last attempt—and it transformed her practice. You’ll also hear about Jen, who achieved remarkable success within seven months of joining. The program has helped bookkeepers at all stages, and it always pays for itself.
If you’re not ready for the full program, you can start with the standalone Pricing Academy or use the free content available through this podcast and others. That said, when you invest in the program, you maximise your opportunities and avoid mistakes that cost time, profit, and client satisfaction.
Even if you’re just starting to get things right, working together gives you the best chance to succeed. That’s what I wanted to connect back to—my early journey and your options for implementation.
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