A Vital Tool for Higher Profits

Advocating Professional Services Excellence

‍“Q4 holidays usually aren’t as busy with client projects, so an impactful thing you can do in Q4 is to improve your timekeeping system. When timekeeping is easy to use with data that is superbly accurate, reportable, and tightly integrated with billing, you will see enormous efficiency and gain reliable company insights quickly. This paves a clear path for improvements in both growth and profitability in 2023.”

-Matt Lentzner, CEO, Bizinta and SaaS Industry Expert

Quick Reads:

‍Q&A, Matt Lentzner, CEO, Bizinta - A Vital Tool for Higher Profits (2 minutes)

2023 and Beyond - Professional Services Growth Trend (1 minute)

Are You Ready to Receive Fast Client Payments?

Self-Learning Quiz - How Good Is Your Invoicing? No email required (2 minutes)

Featured Q&A With Matt Lentzner

Question: Matt, what’s the main complaint about timekeeping that professional services leaders have?

Answer: Right now leaders in a variety of professional services industries tell me they’re struggling to figure out what everyone is working on - this is NOT about monitoring workers, this is about using timekeeping data to make decisions about where to hire, taking on new clients, what works and what does not, and rewarding great performers - you need reliable data to do that and most timekeeping systems are too basic. Yet right in front of your eyes lies the key to greater profits - better timekeeping data.

Basic timesheet apps and manual spreadsheets cannot support strategic decision-making, and staff do not see any value in being diligent about reporting accurately - so how reliable is the data?

Staff appreciate more robust modern timesheet solutions that give them control - compliance is higher and the data is reliable. Leaders have to give individuals the control to express the details of their contributions fully relative to each client and project so they can understand the depth of each person’s contributions and see the fuller story.  Employees value self-expression, being understood, and appreciation. Smart leaders want to do all that and also make better business decisions. This is possible by starting with the right timesheet solution - it isn’t expensive, it isn’t difficult.

I’ve spoken previously about integrating timesheets to invoicing to automate that process, using timesheet data to identify high producers (not just estimating or guessing) - so proper modern timekeeping is a fundamental that enables a more efficient operating model and staff.

Strong timekeeping is fundamental for growth and profitability. And what I mean by strong is a solution that lets staff explain their work in the context of the client, one that captures rich data, and one that supports real-time reports on projects, billable hours, top performers, and allows you to easily justify invoices to clients.

How Are Professional Services Organizations Positioning Themselves for Growth?  

Professional services leaders across industries are looking for new ways to grow, whether that is through M&A, adding entirely new services areas, extending existing services or offering variations of existing domain expertise, investing in marketing, or understanding who their most valuable clients are and acquiring more like those.

No matter how you plan to grow, the key to maintaining momentum is preparing your operating model and technology to support growth. When smaller companies are facing growth they find they are not prepared to keep up with activities like reporting, timekeeping, and invoicing - their processes are too separate and manual. Think of it this way - a few people can manage themselves using a spreadsheet, but imagine scaling up 15, 20, 30, 40, 100, 200…how do you manage such a big staff, how do you do reporting, how do you make sure you can answer your clients’ questions about their invoices at the click of a button The answer is simple. Get web-based integrated timekeeping, invoicing, and reporting - set it up now and you’ll scale smoothly. It is affordable to get, and very costly and painful if you don’t have it but are growing.

Don’t believe us about growth? This article in Accounting Today by editor in chief Daniel Hood discusses how top firms are targeting growth - whether you’re in accounting or not, most of these strategies still apply and guess what, your competitors use them too. Signup is free - read it here.

Are You Ready to Receive Payments Quickly

Streamline your invoicing process and timekeeping so clients can autopay your invoices via corporate credit cards or ACH - the corporate autopay trend is something we'll be speaking about more soon.

Easy Self-Assessment - Is Your Invoicing Efficient? Find Out in 2 Minutes.

This short assessment will tell you how efficient your invoicing process is - having a streamlined invoicing process is fundamental to scaling your business. Don’t worry, it is easy to fix if your score is low.

No email required -  3 quick answers - click submit for instant feedback. Take Quiz Now.

REMEMBER - Even if your company invoicing involves customization and approval reviews, it should all happen quickly and correctly each month - it should take no more than a day.

About Bizinta

‍Bizinta is a leading provider of web-based solutions for SMB Professional Services companies across all industries. Our SaaS solution makes it easy for customers to grow by streamlining many vital routine operating processes and to make informed decisions using real-time reports.

Questions about Insights? Contact us at: insight@bizinta.com

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