Lara Manton MICB is founder of LJM Bookkeeping, which after 13 years in business now looks after the needs of 55 mainly service-based businesses with a need for an outsourced accounts department. Using cloud-based software, sole practitioner Lara is able to offer bookkeeping, tech support and advisory services:
“In other words, I help them get their finances straight, help them understand their numbers and alleviate stress and worry.”
Being close to the numbers means that Lara has a deep understanding of her clients’ spending habits – from electricity to invoice factoring. One of the issues that kept coming up was funding:
“I would talk to my client about what they needed and find myself repeating that same conversation with five or six different lenders, asking what they had to offer. I would then collate all the information, then present the options to my client complete with the pros, cons and caveats.”
This became a time consuming task with back and forth conversations and rate negotiations. As the cost of living crisis bit, Lara quickly found more clients were asking about funding and she could see herself getting caught between wanting to solve problems for her clients and having enough hours in the day to service all of their needs.
“I’m a numbers person,” explains Lara, “and one of the things that concerned me most was that while I was putting together the options for my clients to make a decision, I had to be really careful that these were all legitimate lenders, everything was compliant and I wasn’t going to cause problems for anyone further down the line.”
“It was immediately a relief to have a trusted partner in funding. Being able to access help through the Slack chat is just one example of how easy it is to contact a great team. It means that I can offer clients a lot of extra service without having to take all that time scoping out work. Clients don’t have to go back to their accountant, I can just help them directly with Swoop and I know that they’ll be in good hands.”
Lara says that she’s been able to show clients comparisons between products that make switching a no-brainer, leaving clients feeling they leave conversations better-off than when they went in. Lara adds:
“When a client’s in difficulty and looking for funding, I present a solution quickly and it just takes a weight off their shoulders. I can put them in touch directly with Swoop and the client can work through with someone that’s going to get the right product for them. And because they have such a close relationship with you as their bookkeeper, they know that you’ve got their best interests at heart.”
To learn more visit Swoop for Bookkeepers or watch the full case study here.
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