Xero partner?

Independent advise on becoming a Xero Partner?

Didn't find your answer?

I really like the software and have done the half day training and have the Xero advisor certificate .... but would love to hear peoples experience of the next step.  Xero want to sell me x numbers of licences to sell to clients and I'm not sure if there is any real benefit to me -  I am worried that if it is me selling/ setting up the software to clients they will forever expect me to train them on how to do their bookkeeping which I just don't really want to do.  Would I be better to allow clients to set up directly with Xero so that they see their relationship being with Xero rather than with me to minimise the hassel factor.

Would be great to hear thoughts of other small practice accountants?

 

Replies (15)

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By ES accountancy
12th Sep 2019 16:36

I've done a bit of both, mainly I find clients ask for recommendations and they pay for Xero themselves. A few I have set up myself as we prepare the returns and this was the best option for MTD.

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By Mr_awol
12th Sep 2019 17:56

Bulk licences only really work for you if you are going to (and want to) use them internally.

It's no good buying them to 'sell' to clients (especially if those clients will need full access).

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By SXGuy
12th Sep 2019 18:27

One of the reasons I never went with xero. Block buying of licences. They make it seem all great and rosey and how you can up sell them to clients and make a bit on top. Great if you have the will power to seek new clients and pass the cost on. Not so great trying to convince existing clients.

Some will want to stick to their own method of recording keeping and others will expect you to hold their hand the whole way.

I myself prefer the option of having one licence which caters for x number of companies and the pricing only slightly increases based on number of companies/transactions.

That way I control everything.

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Replying to SXGuy:
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By North East Accountant
17th Sep 2019 10:38

What software are you using SXGuy please? Thanks

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Replying to North East Accountant:
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By SXGuy
02nd Oct 2019 10:10

I use Quickfile

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By Moonbeam
12th Sep 2019 18:40

I purchased one licence for a favourite client, just to see how it went. No probs of course. But I wouldn't want to sell licences to anyone else, as costs vary depending on what level of Xero partner you are (which in turn depends on the number of Xero clients). And no-one has complained about this. In fact by letting clients buy their own licence you make more partner points.
But none of this stuff should stop you becoming a Xero partner. You're bound to get a prospect who needs you to use Xero.
So, as you say, minimise the hassle, let clients buy their own licence and use it for your own accounts so you get to understand a few basics.

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By EASTIE
12th Sep 2019 19:38

Not a fan of Xero although am Advisor Certified. I would recommend looking at FreeAgent, especially if your clients are small businesses.

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By Matrix
12th Sep 2019 20:01

All my Xero clients sign up directly. We didn’t renew our certification this year. I don’t particularly need to have it on my website or be on their directory. I don’t really have enough points to make savings but if you had loads of clients I see it would make sense for them to sign up through you,

This is what I do for FreeAgent but the savings are much bigger.

Xero have never offered bulk licences to me.

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By In a Daze
12th Sep 2019 21:22

I don't think the discounts are that good anymore even for partners. However, i am not really that loyal to any bookkeeping software provider.

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
13th Sep 2019 09:22

Do you work for you or work for Xero as a sales rep?

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
13th Sep 2019 09:35

What have you got to lose?

If you have clients using Xero why would you not be a partner to gain the benefits that come with it?

Xero has the bigger user group, and will only get bigger so surely you are better off been involved than not.

I prefer to take on the subscription, not for the discount but it allows me to set it up properly before I let the client in to avoid silly mistakes, and its quicker than letting client mess up and then correcting. You can also charge for the setup.

Are you talking about bureau licences for in house use? If you have in house bookkeeping clients why would you not take the licences as the bureau licences are about half price that of retail subscription.

I tried all main platforms in early days with clients across Xero, QBO, Sage & Kashflow etc through trial and error Xero won out as the best, so I decided to be good at one system, and market myself as such.

That was one of the key decisions in the early days that moved my practice on.

I also couldn't look away from the fact that many new start up firms that went all in with Xero, were quickly 500 client firms within a few years.

You don't see that growth on other platforms or accountancy in general, so they must be selling services the market wants.

The are huge amounts of resources available to you as a partner to boost your own firm and not just about using the software you just need to ask.

PM me if you want to discuss.

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By JCresswellTax
13th Sep 2019 09:46

*advice
*hassle

sorry

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John Toon
By John Toon
13th Sep 2019 13:33

When it comes to taking on the licence costs or not that's a personal decision. We have a mixture of both probably split 70/30 between licences we're billed for and licences direct with clients. The advantage of getting clients to pay Xero direct is that you get more partner points, the flipside being that you could get fewer points but "sell" the licences to clients at the same price and retain a margin (depending on status level).

This only really becomes complicated if you prefer to pass on your discount to clients and ratchet up the levels quickly or you have a lot of charity clients who will be entitled to 20% discounts which you may not be able to offer/match straight away.

I prefer to resell the licence to clients for two reasons:
1. It makes the client a little bit more tied in to us (although in reality clients can move readily)
2. I can use the margin in price negotiations with clients without eroding margins on advice.

For training etc that really depends on how you hold yourself out to clients i.e. will/won't support them with queries or training. For us, this is reasonably valuable revenue stream and helps us to improve the quality of information in Xero and have regular contact with clients but can take up a lot of time.

Finally, on pre-sold licences this is a great way (and quite well known cheat) to advance through partner levels early but you need to be able to sustain the cost and it's only really worth paying to get Platinum status to enhance your chances of referrals. If you can identify clients that you can sell licences to reasonably quickly I'd do it, if not don't bother.

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By SouthCoastAcc
13th Sep 2019 14:00

Xero are all about the hard sell

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By NewACA
17th Sep 2019 18:48

I bought a block of fees about 6 years ago. The prior accountant was paying everyone's Xero subs under his account.

I am an accountant not a low paid admin person, so I told told them all to pay themselves and use xero for help in the first instance as that is free, but we can help for a fee as xero experts if needed. Worked a treat!

My clients value my advice and value, not low level admin they can do themselves, which increases my branding in their eyes, not lowering my perceived value down to the level of an admin function you can hire for £10/hour.

I still have every single one of those Xero clients today ( about 8 of them). I did lose one or two non xero clients as you might expect over 5 years, but not the xero ones funnily enough.

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