when is free even better than free?

why...that's when said "freebie" not only costs you zip, zero, nada, nothing, zed (for all our visitors from across the water...hi susanne!)...but it also helps you build your business!

so you can imagine my delight that a free for-resale copy of microsoft small business accounting was waiting for me when i arrived at the office today.

now, since i opened it immediately to get rid of the mailing box, i had it in my hands as i was going up to my office.

no less than 1/3 of my firm's shareholders stopped me and asked what it was. each of them was interested enough when i showed them...but they really perked up when they saw the checkbox on the back that says "imports data from qb."

and then...when i told them that it brought over the entire transaction history...you'd have thought i'd just told them they won the lottery!

every one of them said:

what do we need to do to get a good look at this?

now...it's important to keep in mind that i have trying to get just one of them interested in this since it was first announced, reminding them at every turn:

we need to look at this we need to look at this we need to look at this

and the reaction i got each time?
zip, zero, nada, nothing, zed (hi again susanne)

so heed my advice...if you want to get cpas interested in sba:

show them something tangible.
get them involved.
make it reasonable for them to support as practitioners.
listen to their feedback.

but...

don't give them a sales pitch.
and...whatever you do...do not take the approach of:

look how much money you can make by selling this

any cpa worth their salt knows that they thrive by taking care of their clients first.
if they do that...the issue of money takes care of itself (well, almost).

that type of practitioner never thinks of clients as walking atms.
and in all likelihood such a practitioner will reject partnering with you if it sounds like you would think that way.

and...i'll warn you now...if you do hook up with a cpa who thinks of their clients as slot machines...you'll seriously regret it.

mark my words.