BQE Software eLetter
December 2004
In This Issue
1. Valued
Customer Relationships
2. BillQuick
in the News
3. Tell-A-Friend Program
4. TS2BQ Done For FREE
5. Boost ROI By Increasing Productivity
6. Managing Your Practice - 5 Powerful Year-End Tips
7. BillQuick Quizzer - $50 For The Right Answer
8. Current BillQuick Release Information
Valued Customer Relationships
BQE Software wants your business and to be happy in your
relationship with us. Here is a summary of our customer and prospect communication
protocol.
BQE Software adheres to a strict privacy
and anti-spam policy. We do not sell, share or exchange personal information of our
customers and prospects, including email addresses. Emails from BQE.com will only be
legitimate communications in support of customer and prospect relationships.
Relationship support includes
experienced, prompt BillQuick Support Services, and extends to Training Services and
Report Development Services.
BQE Software communicates tips, news and
other items through our monthly newsletter, BQE Software eLetter.
To enhance customer operations, to
relieve pain before they grow large, we periodically communicate special offers for
BillQuick, Agent Pro, Web i and other add-on modules, as well as support and
report/invoice customization services.
BQE Software periodically communicates
information from or about business partners. These emails come only from BQE.com, never
our partners. This ensures your privacy as well as a positive, beneficial and quality
message to you.
We recognize that some long-time users have reached the zenith of
BillQuick usage and knowledge. They have the knowledge and software they need. Or that
some customers may simply be overwhelmed with emails and prefer not to receive promotions.
They prefer instead to check the monthly BQE Software eLetter or call us with "Can
you relieve this pain?" questions as needed.
In other words, our customers and prospects have the option to
"opt-out" (or opt back in) to BQE Software eLetter or promotional emails.
BQE Software has made this process easier with a new, self-service
Opt-In/Opt-Out.
When you opt-out (or opt-in) to the BQE Software eLetter or promotional emails from this
web portal, it automatically updates our customer or prospect list.
We value our customers. We value our prospects.
BillQuick in the News
BillQuick continues to receive praise from independent reviewers.
In the past month two new outstanding reviews were published.
In the November 2004 issue of Professional
Services Management Journal, Brad Wilson, PSMJ Consultant, concluded:
If you are a current user of QuickBooks, you should not switch
to anything else until you look at BillQuick. It has everything most small firms will ever
need without having to go through the pain (and cost) of a conversion to another system.
In the December 2004 issues of The
CPA Technology Advisor, Isaac O'Bannon, the publication's Technology Editor, bestowed
5 Stars in five of the six major feature areas of BillQuick, the most received by any
application in the review. Mr. O'Bannon said:
BillQuick's interface is very intuitive, providing large,
oversized icons on the primary Navigator screen, as well as text links to reminders,
recently printed reports, support options and an assortment of help topics. . .
The system offers several billing methods and enables users to
enter time in as little as two keystrokes on the Time Entry and Expense Log screens.
Generating invoices, reviewing client and project data, and running analysis reports are
also easy to understand, with ample help provided to guide new or infrequent users. . .
Even with its very simple interface, BillQuick provides strong
functionality. . .
BillQuick integrates with QuickBooks, flowing data between the
programs in real-time and producing a single virtual application, thereby eliminating
redundant entry and preventing inaccuracies caused by partial information updates. . .
He concludes:
BillQuick 2004 includes several new features that further
enhance this very capable and very easy-to-use time and billing program. It includes a
wide array of customizable reports and billing options, as well as strong productivity
measurement tools. At $395 for the two-user license and $695 for five users, this program
is a good value and provides a very strong set of features.
Tell-A-Friend Program
A common statement from new prospects and customers is:
We never heard of you before, but your software is perfect for
us.
In other words, overcoming the noise in the marketplace and
lifting BQE Software momentum in delivering superior solutions to professionals is an
ongoing challenge. Many professionals find us through search engines or run across us in a
publication, card deck or trade show. Word-of-mouth is as important as advertisements and
trade shows.
BQE Software continues to generate word-of-mouth such as the high
praise from hard-hitting reviewers like the ones at Professional Services Management
Journal and The CPA Technology Advisor increase positive word-of-mouth and our name
recognition. Comments from new and long-time users, many volunteer BillQuick references,
echo praise from independent reviewers. For example:
I can't believe how little I paid for all these features! -
many customers
Flexibility. . .it's why we invested in BillQuick. You guys
have delivered an excellent product. - Curtis Yamasaki, Benefit Planning, California
I wish I had BillQuick 5 years ago. [BillQuick] CE on my PDA is
smooth. I'm capturing both more billable time and more accurate time and it's been only
days since I installed it. I can review in real-time, bill faster, offload work to others.
. .it's great! - Mahlon Fisher, Computer Bookkeeping Services, Pennsylvania
. . . In other words, BillQuick met its requirement: Make us
money. BillQuick was found and implemented because we're always looking for better tools
and better ways to manage our firm. - Alan Fox, Fox and Fiorino, P.A., Maryland
Technology helped us free up four full-time positions in our
firm, including three managers. Part of our overhead reduction is the result of what
BillQuick provides us, and part is other technology we implemented. . . .The bottom line
is our clients are happier because we serve them better and faster. Our employees are
happier because they financially benefit from empowerment. And our profits have grown.
- Larry Gray, Alfermann Gray & Co., Missouri
Our Number One Priority was that the software adapt to our
needs rather than us conforming to a 'packaged solution. [BillQuick] does so many things .
. . . Our project managers track costs and help us understand where we are as far as our
progress and billing is concerned. I had never realized what percentage of my own time I
spent on billing before BillQuick. And the price tag is reasonable. -- Farzad Naeim,
Vice President of John A. Martin & Associates, Inc., California
BQE Software wants to grow our momentum in relieving pains for
small to mid-sized professional firms. We want to convert these great comments into more
positive word-of-mouth. And that's where you can help.
Announcing: The new Tell-A-Friend Program
Sharing your beneficial experiences with BillQuick and BQE
Software:
Helps professionals you know. Generates positive word-of-mouth for
BQE Software, and Earns you 50 BillQuick Bucks ($50 credit toward any BQE Software product
or service).
All the person calling has to do is mention your name and we'll
credit $50 to you account. It's that easy!
Of course, if you have a lot of friends (clients, business
associates, etc.) that could benefit from BillQuick's robust feature set, experienced,
fast support, and more, you might consider reselling BillQuick. We offer 3 levels to match
your resources and commitment---Premier Advisor, Advisor and Affiliate.
TS2BQ Done For FREE
You already know that BQE Software offers the
Timeslips-to-BillQuick (TS2BQ) Conversion Utility. It's free.
But maybe you have a friend, the one you told about BillQuick and
TS2BQ, prefers a technical person handle it because of a possible error. Maybe their time
is too valuable.
No problem. BQE Software will do the conversion for free.
That's right, FREE!
For Timeslips users who switch to BillQuick, our Consulting
Services group will use a copy of your Timeslips database and convert it to BillQuick. For
a typical 1- to 2-hour conversion, this saves you $150 to $300 over normal BQE Software
Consulting Services charges. You also reduce non-billable hours by having BQE Software
handle the conversion for you. All that's left is to edit a few fields in the BillQuick
data records to complete the setup process.
Remember that TS2BQ converts:
No other conversion utility is as complete.
Sound like a good reason to tell-a-friend using Timeslips about
BillQuick, don't you think? Be sure they tell us that you referred them so we can credit
your account with 50 BillQuick Bucks.
Boost ROI By Increasing Productivity
20% Off Training Courses
New employees need a boost with
BillQuick?
Need an expert to get them over the
hump?
Internal resource productivity taking
hits trying to quickly slide these people down the learning curve?
Want to save 20%?
While BillQuick is easy to learn, not everyone learns in the same
way or at the same pace. On-the-job training too often lowers productivity and steals
profits in the short term. Some users prefer guidance and others simply want to get up to
speed as quickly as possible.
Whatever the motivation, expert-led BillQuick training courses**
are available to guide your learning and enhance your BillQuick experience.
Boost ROI
Until December 30, you can purchase any number of
seats in any web-based BillQuick training course and receive 20% off the
list price.
AND you can train now or later!
Whether it's staff and managers needing in need of a BillQuick
introduction, BillQuick<-->QuickBooks Integration, or intermediate and advanced
1-on-1 training, our National Certified BillQuick Trainers are ready to help.
Bottom Line: Expert-led training shortens the period
of reduced productivity resulting from normal human learning (habit changing) processes.
Your firm can rise back to its normal high productivity levels faster. ROI is Boosted.
Stop the Profit Thief
Purchase seats in training courses now. Use them in the next
few weeks OR anytime in 2005.
Contact BQE Software at 888-245-5669 or BQ-Training@bqe.com
and boost your ROI.
**Onsite Training
If you are interested in onsite training customized to your
company, our National Certified BillQuick Trainers are available. Because our trainers are
independent contractors, the above discount does not apply to fees they charge for onsite
services. If you wish to discuss your special training needs with a certified trainer,
contact BQE Software (888-245-5669 or BQ-Training@bqe.com)
for trainer contact information. Fees for onsite training services are between the trainer
and your company.
Managing Your Practice
5 Powerful Year-End Tips
BillQuick requires no year-end operational procedures, however,
BQE Software recommends that you take advantage of BillQuick's powerful reports to help
optimize your business for the new year. Here are 5 powerful year-end tips to consider:
1. Minimize Clients' Taxes
- As the year ends many of us want to pay bills before the year-end
to minimize taxes. Keeping that in mind, run Aging Report from the Reports menu and start
calling your clients. Collect what they owe you and minimize their taxes. You will be
surprised how effective it is.
2. Revenues, Receipts and Margins
Managers and Principals need clear
information about how much revenue is yet to be billed for active jobs. The Work-in-Hand
report shows your future work load, and is very helpful if you entered actual (or
estimated) contract amounts for projects in the Project screen. Run the report from the
Reports, Company menu.
How much did your company bill its
clients this year? From the Reports, Billing menu, run the Invoice Register report. Be
sure to define the date filters to include only Year 2004.
Now that you know how much you billed for
the year, you need to know receipts. You can run the Cash Receipts Journal or the Cash
Receipts by Client from the Reports, Payments menu.
Are your gross margins going up or down?
Are margins sufficient for each clients to cover the administrative costs you did not
include in employee cost rates? You can find out quickly by running Billing and Cost
Summary (Yearly) from the Reports, Analysis menu. Run the reports date filtered only Year
2004, then Year 2003, then perhaps quarterly for both years to check out trends.
3. Staff Performance
Find out how your staff performed---who
has the maximum billable hours (employee of the year)? How much of their time went towards
overhead activities? To check staff performance, run Staff Performance Report from the
Reports, Company menu.
Project manager and others interested in
knowing how a team performed on a certain project, run Staff Performance by Project Report
from the Reports, Company menu.
Want to know your staff's true bill rate?
Check the Staff Billing located on the Reports, Analysis menu.
What about write-ups/downs for projects
and employees? Print the Write-Up/Down Report by Project and by Employee from the Reports,
Billing menu.
4. Update for the New Year
- Check your bill rates. Run Employee Default Bill Rates from the
Reports, Billing menu to list current rates for your employee. Next, print Service Fee
Schedule and Expense Fee Schedule from Reports, Company menu. With increasing costs of
doing business, it is important to review this information, then raise employee default
bill rates and cost rates as needed for 2005. Also, some fee schedules may need to be
adjusted.
5. Other
- Review staff vacation and sick time using the Employee Vac, Sick
and Holiday Hours (filtered for Year 2004) from the Reports, Employee menu. Determine
whether permissible hours for any employees need to be raised.
Monthly BillQuick Quizzer
Win $50
It's time for BillQuick Quizzer. Be one of the first 10 BillQuick
users to email the correct answer to BQ-Quiz@bqe.com and you
win $50 in BillQuick Bucks! You can apply your winnings to any BQE Software product or
service.
The fast mind wins the prize. Date-time stamps on received emails
determine the winners.
Don't know the answer? Guess! This month you have a 1 in 4 chance
of guessing right.
And now to this month's quizzer. Pens up. . .
During entry of a time record in BillQuick:
A. If a Service Fee Schedule is assigned to the project being
charged with the time, BillQuick uses the employee's default bill rate to compute the bill
amount for the time entry.
B. If a Service Fee Schedule is assigned to the project being
charged with the time, BillQuick looks for an employee-activity match in the schedule, and
if one exists, uses the bill rate in the schedule to compute the bill amount for the time
entry.
C. If a Service Fee Schedule is assigned to the project being
charged with the time, BillQuick looks for an employee-activity match in the schedule, and
if one is not found, uses the employee's default bill rate to compute the bill amount for
the time entry.
D. B & C
Hurry and send your answer to BQ-Quiz@bqe.com. You
could be a winner!
Current BillQuick Release Information
BillQuick and QuickBooks 2005
BillQuick 2004 (and BillQuick 2005 in
development now) has been tested with QuickBooks 2005. Everything is A-OK.
Macintosh Compatibility
Quick reminder: BQE Software is compatible with the Macintosh in
two ways:
Web Interface -- Our Web i
Time & Expense, Client & Project and Reporting modules are fully compatible with
Safari for the Apple Macintosh. Web i 2004 modules are faster, provide full project
control, let subcontractors record their own time, and more. The browser interface is
consistent with BillQuick--straightforward, flexible, and easy to learn and use. Web i
can be accessed across an intranet or from a remote location across the Internet.
Virtual PC -- The Microsoft PC
emulator for the Apple Macintosh supports BillQuick and all its modules. Macintosh users
can switch modes as needed, managing projects and recording time and expenses as needed
BillQuick.
Latest BillQuick Version
BillQuick 2004 v. 5.0.92. It includes
enhancements and minor fixes. Click to view the
changes.
If you have Internet access but do not allow
BillQuick to automatically download updates (you turned off AutoUpdate in the Other 2 tab
on the Preferences screen), first turn on the AutoUpdate feature, then select Get Updates
from the File menu. When prompted to install the update, click Yes.
If desired, you can download
the update from the BillQuick web site. Click Save when prompted. Next, run the setup
program from the folder in which it was saved.
Happy BillQuicking!
Thanks from the
BQE Software Marketing Team
May Success Follow You
. . . Always |
