Last Updated August 8, 2023
The accounting world is now digitized more so than ever. The use of CRM for CPAs is very common which has immensely helped today’s small businesses in the long run. CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, and tax consultants can benefit from the CRM even if they are working individually. Client expectations can be fulfilled this way in a better way.
Table of Contents
What is a CRM?
Accounting customer relationship management is software that helps professionals to manage the client’s financial data and maintain a healthy relationship. It suffices to say that almost 62% of accounting firms now are using CRM regularly.
Accountants use CRM as the latest tool to maintain the relationship headstrong for the future.
Basic Features of a CRM
Every quality CRM consists of two important features;
A Centralized Client List
The client list consists of basic information like names, addresses, emails, and other billable addresses. Such a list makes it easy for accountants to keep track of clients’ information.
Notes and Tasks
The software should have to add notes and task features that can be shown to the client. The list is proof that the firm is completing the tasks they were supposed to do. The tasks and notes can be added specifically to each member. Not only it helps in work efficiency but also creates leverage.
To communicate with the client effectively, notes and task addition play a huge role.
So you need to pick a CRM that works best in every condition.
CRM Vs CMS
Managing client relationships and content creation are crucial aspects of running a successful CPA, bookkeeping, or accounting business. To excel in these areas, you need to leverage two powerful tools: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Content Management System (CMS). Let’s delve into the key differences between CRM and CMS and how they can benefit professionals like you.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM):
A CRM system is like your personal assistant for nurturing client relationships. It consolidates all client-related information and interactions, empowering you to track their preferences and communication across various channels. Here’s why a CRM is invaluable for CPAs, bookkeepers, and accountants:
Client Management:
A CRM helps you efficiently store and organize essential client data such as contact information, financial details, and project notes. It acts as a centralized hub, providing quick access to client information whenever you need it.
Relationship Tracking:
By monitoring client interactions like emails, meetings, and phone calls, a CRM lets you maintain a comprehensive history of client engagement. This valuable insight enables you to better understand your clients’ needs, personalize your services, and build strong, long-lasting relationships.
Lead Management:
Growing your client base is crucial, and a CRM simplifies lead management. It allows you to capture and track leads throughout the sales process, ensuring you never miss an opportunity. With prompt follow-ups and efficient conversions, you can nurture leads effectively and turn them into loyal clients.
Collaboration and Teamwork:
Collaborating with your team is essential for smooth operations. A CRM system facilitates seamless teamwork by enabling you to share client information, delegate tasks, and collaborate on projects. This boosts coordination and ensures everyone is aligned when serving clients.
Content Management System (CMS):
While a CRM focuses on client relationships, a CMS is your go-to tool for creating and managing captivating content. Let’s explore how a CMS can benefit CPAs, bookkeepers, and accountants:
Website Management:
With a user-friendly CMS interface, you can effortlessly update and manage your website content. Publish informative articles, blogs, newsletters, and other resources that engage your audience and highlight your expertise in the industry.
Document Sharing:
Sharing important documents, such as financial reports and tax forms, is a breeze with a CMS. You can securely upload, organize, and collaborate on files, ensuring seamless communication with your clients.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Boosting your online visibility is crucial for attracting potential clients. A CMS offers SEO features and plugins to optimize your website content. By implementing effective SEO strategies, you can improve your website’s search engine rankings and attract more organic traffic.
Content Personalization:
Tailoring your content to different client segments is essential for maximum impact. With a CMS, you can create personalized content that resonates with specific target audiences. By delivering valuable and relevant content, you can attract prospects, build trust, and establish yourself as a trusted advisor in your field.
To excel in client management and content creation, integrating a CRM and a CMS into your workflow is a winning strategy. By leveraging the power of both systems, you can enhance client relationships, streamline communication, and elevate your online presence as a CPA, bookkeeper, or accountant.
Top CRM contestants for Accountants you can Choose From
A lot of options will depend on the type of features and personal preference. For a CPA the most concern is to maintain the client relationship and complete the tasks with efficiency. Therefore some of the best options include;
For starters, HubSpot works for one of the most usable CRMs. This software is for free use that allows the team to serve the customers. It makes the job of CPAs easier. Accountants will not have the need to manually update the reports, report tracking is easier and the visibility of the entire dashboard helps to determine the reports about sales activity, productivity, and individual performance in a quick turnaround time.
With HubSpot you can Benefit from;
- Active dashboard and company insights
- Streamlined management
- The scheduled meeting, live chats, and email templates
- List to manage the clients and accounts
- Use of website forms
- Email marketing (drag and drop editor) etc.
You can benefit from the most basic features but if you want to gain premium access that can become as costly as $800 a month.
Major Features;
- Free
- Full visibility
- Automatic contact record aligned with database
- Quality customer service
Accounting for CPAs, bookkeepers, and accountants is made easier with a simple and easy-to-navigate dashboard. My CPA Dashboard is affordable accounting software that helps professionals to communicate information with their clients, keep them notified and schedule the tasks easily.
The subscription plan is compatible with all business types. For first-time use, you can even enjoy the benefit of a 30-days free trial. Ease of access and limited viewership keeps the financial data safe and sound with high-performance cloud storage.
With My CPA Dashboard you can Benefit from;
- Secure files
- Online visibility
- Online access from anywhere
- Cloud Storage for backups
- Eliminate security vulnerabilities
- Easy-to-use dashboard
My CPA Dashboard is designed as a CRM for CPAs to help them organize their cash flow and be progressive toward their accounting practices.
Major Features;
For smart online accounting software, you can try Zoho Books. A completely customized CRM platform that helps businesses to grow. With over 150,000 businesses they have been able to generate leads and engage customers more with time.
It is said to be one of the most popular CRM for CPAs worldwide. Reaching the customers and getting real-time notifications is one of the acquired benefits you accountants have in their pockets.
With Zoho Books you can Benefit from;
- Convert the prospects into leads
- Organize webinars and get reports
- Track the performances
- Collaborate with your team
- Automated repetitive tasks
- Instant workflows
Major Features;
- Remote working
- High-end integrations
- Emails
- Live chats
- Lead management
- Account management
- Workflow automation
For simplified contact management, activity tracking, and more accurate time estimation, you can use Method. Running the business with quick efficiency and keeping the systems integrated with QuickBooks makes it one of the best working CRM for CPAs. The easy built-in solutions are responsible for effective workflow and preparing invoices on time.
Methods offer customized features to meet the unique needs of clients.
With Method you can Benefit from;
- QuickBooks integration
- Provide solutions for the workflow
- Be able to connect apps you love
- Convert leads into paying customers
- Simplify the lead tracking
- Simplify the sales process
- Personalized services
Admin time and work are precious and can be optimized with the help of qualitative CRM. Running your business more smoothly is possible with the given quality features.
Major Features
- QuickBooks CRMS
- Estimate management
- Data-driven views
- Quick invoicing
- Time tracking
- Streamlined work order management
- Automated job scheduling
Accelo is a CRM platform that boosts productivity and profitability. It is an extremely beneficial tool, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, that helps manage their clients and their resources. The platform is integrated with the cloud, helping manage the scheduling, billing, sales, timesheets, projects, quotes, and retainers.
It is not only a customer management database. With accelo, you can streamline all your processes in one place. It is divided into sections for the management of each domain, like projects, sales, retainers, and services.
With Accelo you can Benefit from;
- The streamlined process through a cloud-based system
- Scales with your business
- Purchase of packages separately as well as all-in-one
- Management of tedious work so the focus is all on the client interaction
- Maintain longtime customers as well as nurture prospective clients
- Run a business from prospect to payment
- 1000 plus integrations
Major features
- Transparency
- Quality customer service
- Tight integration
- Fully integrated cloud-based software
- Automation
More than 25,000 companies across the globe benefit from CRM software provided by Insightly. It aims to help businesses go beyond sales and better connect with their clients. It allows integration with top platforms and helps you align your teams using this platform.
Using Insightly, you can automate your CRM processes, which allows you to focus on the central tasks of your business. With the help of insights, you can update data, delegate tasks, and send emails with a single action. Each step of this platform is updated and integrated so that the entire team knows what to do next.
With Insightly you can Benefit from;
- Workflow automation
- Tailoring your lead routing
- Manage processes
- Tracking milestones
- Design your own dashboards
- Track important metrics
- Building and deploying customized apps in minutes
- Model and manage any dataset
Major features
- Over 250 integrations
- 3 pricing plans to choose from
- Advanced security
- Integrated mobile app
- Record keeping
Keap is an automated software that helps businesses with sales, marketing, and CRM all in one place. Formerly known as Infusionsoft, it offers three options to choose from. Using Keap your business will not forget to follow up with the clients and potential leads.
Businesses that are service-based can greatly benefit from Keap, whether they are run from home, personal, or professional. It helps track new leads, manage them all in one package, and also allows invoicing of clients.
With Keap you can Benefit from;
- Pre-programmed reminders, emails, and texts.
- Creation of a sales process that your team can follow.
- Setting up appointments, tracking leads, and submitting estimates with ease.
- Automation of marketing chores that are repetitive
- 30 plus integrations to help streamline the processes
Major features
- Having a dedicated business line separates your professional calls and messages.
- Set up campaigns for more sophisticated automation.
- Has clever forms to assist you in gathering the information you require.
The “Intelligent Sales Productivity Platform” is the focus of Base. The base can assist you in maintaining strong client relationships and ensuring that you remain connected to your company moving forward. A CRM experience unlike any other is provided by all the lead management features included in the base.
With Base CRM you can Benefit from;
- Automatically sorted emails
- The option to call directly from the base
- Taking Base everywhere
Main Features
- Become in charge of your sales
- Manage clients
- Utilize leads
- Free trial
Customer and business relationships are facilitated by Salesforce, a customer relationship management system. All of your departments, including marketing, sales, commerce, and service, get a single, shared view of every client thanks to this integrated CRM platform.
With SalesForce you can Benefit from;
- Completing deals more quickly by centralizing consumer data and interactions.
- Utilizing the most recent facts to make wise judgments more quickly and from anywhere.
- Increasing customer engagement by scaling up your email marketing automation and personalization.
- Delivering outstanding social interactions by integrating marketing, sales, and service
Main Features
- An enterprise-level customer support team is available around-the-clock to assist all users.
- Management of Contacts and Opportunities
- Dashboards and Reports for Lead Management
- Collaboration in Sales
- Workflow integration with email and approvals
- Territory Control
- Retail Data Files Share and Sync
With SugarCRM, you can build unique client relationships while leveraging the most practical and affordable CRM available. More than 1.5 million people utilize sugar, which is seen as a “visionary” strategy.
With SugarCRM you can Benefit from;
- 360-degree view of your clients
- professional cooperation
- Mobile capabilities
- pipeline management in real time
Main Features
- Social selling
- Workflow and authorizations
- Calendar, email, and file management
- Enriched data
- Sales analytics
Liscio describes itself as a Messaging and Secure File Sharing Platform. Working with clients is made simple for accountants by Liscio’s all-in-one web platform. Liscio offers all the resources necessary to maintain efficiency for both sides, including encrypted communications, secure file sharing and storage, e-signatures, mobile apps for businesses and clients, a built-in document scanner, and more. With the help of the invite-only client experience platform Liscio, you can become the proactive, contemporary firm your clients want by replacing risky email and paperwork.
With Liscio you can Benefit from;
- An all-in-one web platform
- A dedicated service that allows everyone to see the talks and join in as needed
- Secure file sharing
- Encrypted communications
Main Features
- a safe mobile texting app for clients
- exchange of data at the central level for every dialogue
- E-signatures
- Built-in document scanner
- Invite only platform
The Benefits of a CRM for Accountants
CRM technologies are critical to the success of your marketing campaign. You’re probably drowning in sticky notes with scribbled customer data, random business cards you can’t remember who handed them to you, and a haphazard approach to creating customer relationships and moving them through the pipeline if you don’t have a CRM.
The answer is CRM software. It establishes a central location for all of your client data, allowing you to know where they are in their relationship with you and nurture them at any point. Anyone in your firm, in fact, can do so, which is critical for getting everyone on the same page and providing the greatest possible customer service.
Business Comes Alive with CRM for CPAs
Turns out that for an effective method, accountants can count on CRMs. Now it depends on the type of platform you want to choose, and the specific characteristics and features you are looking for. However, My CPA Dashboard is relatable accounting software for all accountants, CPAs, and bookkeepers alike.
Get to learn more about the services and features in detail.
