***First posted on Tanya’s Bookkeepers Bootcamp Facebook page and Transcribed for our blog
Tanya : Hey everybody out there in Facebook world, again, we are back now with Shahram from Financial Cents.
Shahram : How's it going?
Tanya : So yeah, and again, live from QBC Vegas, so we're really excited. This is my first time meeting Shahram. We were hoping to meet at Scaling New Heights, but he didn't make it, unfortunately. But we've got the first introduction now, which is great. It's much different when you see people from this little face on a computer screen, right?
Shahram : It's much different. Everyone's taller, you don't know what to expect.
Tanya : Exactly. So, let us know a little bit about Financial Cents for those who don't know anything about it.
Shahram : So in a nutshell, Financial Cents is a workflow tool specifically built for accounting firms. One thing we really like to say we help firms do is track the status of work. As firms grow and you bring on team members, it's hard to know who's working on what. What's the status of work? You missed a deadline, clients upset, and maybe you pay a fine. And you feel that pain. You don't want to go through that again.
Tanya : Right.
Shahram : So, when someone wants to get more visibility of where everything stands and make sure nothing's slipping through the cracks, that's what we help firms do. Another big part of it is organization. As you grow, everyone's storing all these collaborations with the clients and the team, the documents, notes from meetings, or on sticky notes, and spreadsheets. It's all over the place, right? No one can find anything that they need. So we come in and help centralize all that. So you and your team can access that information to help you be more productive and really get your work done.
Tanya : So you are a CRM, you are the, I guess task manager, and I do believe, and I hope I'm right with this, you also have a client portal, correct?
Shahram : We have a lite portal. So, task management is the core of what we do. It's collaborating with your team, delegating work, and making sure you're tracking that status of work to make sure it's getting done on time. But also a big part of getting work done is, having all the information you need, and a lot of firms have to chase down their clients. We talk with a lot of firms and we'll see their dashboard. They'll have months of overdue work and typically it's because the client hasn't sent them the information, they're blocking the work. So we've created a lite portal that helps them automate that data request. So, automatic reminders to clients to send that information the secure way, so again, they can get the work done on time. That's really what we try to focus on, helping firms get work done.
Tanya : Perfect, and that's a huge pain point. I've seen it. We work on a couple of different things simply because there are templates that we can do. And I've looked at it because I do like to still see what's out there and try to support the good ones. But I know you've got a very strong, loyal following. Kellie Parks is one, she swears by you. Dave Kersting from Capovario. If you want to throw out any other names of any big power users feel free to do so.
Shahram : Off the top of my head, I can't think of any.
Tanya : That's OK. It's because I put you on the spot. But you've got a very loyal following and I know Kellie just completely raves about the way that everything is in there.
Shahram : Yeah, we love working with Kellie.
Tanya : And anybody who knows, Kellie is huge on workflow, so if it's got 2 thumbs up from Kellie it's that gold standard, platinum standard, let's go diamond standard, whichever. So that's pretty awesome. Do you guys have a booth here at QBC and whereabouts is the booth?
Shahram : D17, I haven't seen it yet. I got here a little late yesterday, but it's right when you walk in from one of the entrances. So, definitely come by and see us. I think a big thing about us, is this is our first big conference and we know a lot of our customers are going to come by and see us. So we'd love to meet everyone in person. It's exciting to...We worked with a lot of these people for the past few years and haven't met everyone yet. And just put a face to the name, learn more about how we're helping them and how we can do a better job. So anything we can do, we'd love to meet everyone.
Tanya : That's awesome, and of course, for anybody who is not here, you can still check them out. You've got your website, which is?
Shahram : financial-cents.com
Tanya : Yeah, I wasn't sure, is there a hyphen in there? So it's nice and easy to remember. Now, is there anything else that you want anybody to know about the app, about you, about where they can find you? Obviously, if they're walking around, just look for the logo shirts. There's the logo.
Shahram : You'll see our team walking around. I mean, today we got the white shirts on. Tomorrow we'll have the big logo shirt, so you'll be able to spot us. Come by, and see us, we'd love to talk to people. Just understand what we're doing great and what we can do better, and just put a face to the name and get to know our customers. I think the more people we can meet. I'm not an accountant by trade, and how we've gotten to where we are is just listening to our customers, so the more we can do that.
Tanya : And that's important, and that's what I really loved when I heard about Financial Cents, from Richard especially. I love dealing with people who actually listen. So many of us know that some of the big apps don't listen. So, when you listen, it's huge and that is huge loyalty as well too. Huge loyalty from your clients and customers. I do also want to say too that you guys, and thank you very much, because you guys sponsored at Scaling New Heights and then as well here, the puppy sponsors. So there will be puppies floating around. I'm not sure how many puppies, Leanne's got the numbers. But they are puppy sponsors and of course, there are all of their hashtags and their social media. And so we're just asking that if you are adopting one of the puppies, just make sure that you know you thank them. We're going to take a picture to make sure that it goes out there and we can get some social media. We do have a park, so hopefully, we can have people continue to let us know how their pup is doing so that we can continue to tag you and you can see how the pups are. And then, of course, $50 from every pup is donated directly to Beagle Freedom Project. So thank you very much for that. And again, these pups are free. They have been paid for, so they are free. We just want to make sure that they find good homes, so if you are a Financial Cents lover, or Financial Cents user. So look for either one of our guys or Financial Cents, they'll know where the pups are. We'll make sure that they know where the pups are.
Shahram : We'll point you in the right direction.
Tanya : Exactly. So if you're here, come by, and take a look. And will you have computers so that people can actually see what the portals look like? If not, maybe I should send my laptop down with you.
Shahram : We do have computers. We will do a demo if you want us to, but if you can't, it depends on how many people are around the booth at any given time. We also do have cards that we can give out where you can scan a QR code and watch a quick demo.
Tanya : Oh, beautiful.
Shahram : So either way, we can do it in person, and if you have any questions, we'll answer them.
Tanya : Awesome, that's great. So, just as we wrap up, are there any last things that you want our audience to hear?
Shahram : No, I think this was a great interview, and just come by, come see us. We'd love to meet you.
Tanya : Absolutely. So, thank you everybody for watching. And yeah, make sure that you go by, see them, and have a great conference. And if you're not here, again, you've probably already received the email. They're part of the scavenger hunt as well, too. So go online, do the online scavenger hunt, so that way people who aren't here can still be involved, and there are prizes to be won. An iPad is one of them.
Shahram : Oh, that'll be fun.
Tanya : Yes, exactly. So thank you very much. Have a great conference all and we'll see you on the floor.
Shahram : Take care.
Until next time,
Comments