Are You Ready To Become A Service Bureau

Welcome to another episode of the Service Bureau Accelerator podcast. I’m here with Daddy Ross, Uncle Ross, whatever the people call him these days. Tia, the tax goddess. Today, we’re going to talk about a question we get, or we hear a lot from people, am I ready to become a Service Bureau?

There’s a lot of different things we can talk about with that topic. But we’re gonna kick it off. Tia, you want to kick it off with the question, am I ready to become a Service Bureau? What are some of the things that people should think of before going that route?

Tia: A lot of the questions that we came up with for today’s episodes are respectfully valid questions. And these are questions that our members come to us with because they have heard it from other Service Bureaus or other training models. So, they are bringing those questions to us to really dissect where are the markers. Where they should be? In order to really convert over into the service bill model with us.

Ross: Yeah. Some of these questions that we get is pretty much on almost every webinar, [00:01:00] there’s a lot of questions that are brought up before we launched Service Bureau Accelerator. And so, there’s just a lot of misinformation of just people not understanding or, people who are trying to sell service bureaus but just don’t have a proper infrastructure in their business set up and proper deal. So, they put certain kinds of barriers in place, because they don’t want to deal with certain things.

So, everyone can do it a little bit differently how they see fit. But realistically at the end of the day, there’s really not a lot of requirements as far as what you need to become a Service Bureau. And so, we’ll break those down here as well as some things like mindset stuff.

Really, are you ready? You’re the only one who’s going to be able to tell who’s going to be able to answer if you’re ready or not because there’s a lot of stuff that we can get out of the way. Maybe we’ll start with that as just like requirements. Because that’s what a lot of people are really do ask initially.

Can I even be a Service Bureau? What do I need to be? And once we can get out of that, then it really just boils down to, do you want to be a Service Bureau? And if you’re ready or not, you’re the only one who can really answer that question.

Tia: I’ll ask the questions, just know that the [00:02:00] responses are specifically related to our program, and what we require. First question is, when should I start?

Ross: Whenever you want. Go to ServiceBureauAccelerator.com and join a webinar.

Baldeep: We could dive into that a couple of different ways. And a lot of it comes down to like, why would you want to become a Service Bureau? Right. Some people are just getting a really shitty fucking deal and they’re just like, it’s gotta be better if I just become the Service Bureau.

And in a lot of cases, with us, yes. In other cases that I’ve seen out there, no. But we could also give you a deal of just one software and just to be an ERO, that’s not something that’s impossible, we could do that too. But I think a lot of it comes down to, do you actually want to sell software?

Do you want to stop doing tax returns and focus on another side of the industry? Some people really just want to do taxes, other people don’t. That’s, I think, an important thing to consider. There’s a lot of people that join our group and their goal is like, yeah, I’m tired of doing all these tax returns.

And there’s quite a few people now that have stopped doing taxes, and are really just selling software, and focusing on their EROs, and just providing the software, and their service and their value, right? There’s more and more every year that are leaving that side of the industry [00:03:00] and just focusing on the Service Bureau.

Other people, they’re like, no, I love doing taxes, right? But they also

Ross: want to stop

Baldeep: I

want to stop paying all these fees. And there’s some people that just can and will do both, right? I’m going to keep my X amount of clients and I’m going to go and sell software to other EROs, preparers, et cetera. The only person that can decide is you.

Tia: Okay, perfect answer. The next question we have is, do I need a minimum bank product?

Ross: This comes up a lot, because if there’s any other programs where people are setting people up. I’ve even seen this, even just for a software license, you have to have different price points where you have to have a minimum of 25 products to get this price or it’s more expensive.

So, people do set those barriers, and I think we were discussing it beforehand, where a lot of it just comes down to the fact where I know that, if I’m working with someone who’s brand new, they don’t have any bank products, it’s their first year doing them, or maybe they only have five.

They’re a very inexperienced individual, and I don’t want to deal with that problem. So, I set a barrier so that, Hey, you need to at least have this because I don’t want to work with you otherwise, you’re going to probably be too much of a [00:04:00] support headache, so I’d rather set a barrier. So, I’m only working with certain people, I’m not saying that’s right or that’s wrong, but that’s just how a lot of people set up their business. And so, we’ve seen that a lot.

Baldeep: Some software companies like, Oh, you don’t have 2000, we’re not going to set you up. You shouldn’t do it.

Ross: So, that’s where a lot of this comes from with us, there’s no minimum, it doesn’t matter. We do highly recommend, and this is where we’ll have a conversation on the phone because, we don’t just sign anyone up if they’re like, Oh, I don’t do bank products at all. Are you going to be selling software to people who are doing bank products? Because if you just want the software yourself, you don’t do bank products, we don’t want you as a customer. There’s no reason, there’s no point. We can just give you a software license and have fun.

But if they want to be a Service Bureau, but they don’t want to do any bank products, that’s not the model. And so, we realized there’s a disconnect there. But again, when it comes down to it, do you need a minimum number of bank products to be a Service Bureau? No, not with us anyway, it doesn’t matter. If you do five, okay, that’s fine.

Now, obviously, the caveat to that as well is, the more experience you have in that industry, the more experience you have doing bank products, and work and, being an [00:05:00] ERO who does pretty good volume, it’s just going to add to your ability to sell software to those types of EROs who are doing bank product volume, right? So, it goes in tandem.

Obviously, the more experience you have, the better, but at the end of the day,

Baldeep: we’ve also seen people with not a lot of ERO experience as an ERO do really, really well. So it really, it really comes down to

One thing I would say is a good barometer, is if you don’t do bank products and you’re just like against them, that’s going to translate into your business as a Service Bureau. So, you probably won’t be as successful as somebody who, maybe you don’t have a lot of clients, but if you understand it and you understand the demographic and the business model of the bank product client, then you’ll probably be better off.

I think the people that struggle are the ones that are like, Oh, I won’t ever offer bank products to my clients. How are you going to talk to an ERO that’s what their focus is? If you’re so against it internally, that’s a mindset thing.

Ross: Yeah. You’re going to have that conflict with each other, right?

Tia: And that was definitely my follow-up question, which you have answered, can you be successful if you have not processed any bank products? So, [00:06:00] that’s not what your current, I can’t say tax office model, because we have some people who are just not tax offices that are just really successful.

Baldeep: Yeah. Like I said, it comes down to, do you have a stigma against it and you just don’t use it for yourself, even though you do 400 clients and you don’t use it. I think those people that do a lot of non-bank products, I think they’ll struggle more to sell to people that do bank products. Because in their mind, it’s like, Oh man, I don’t do them first. So, why are you doing it for your clients? But now, in the Service Bureau model, obviously, you make money on bank products.

Tia: Yeah. That should have treated like a bad omen. Next one, do you need an ETHAN to be a Service Bureau?

Ross: You don’t need an ETHAN to be a Service Bureau. You’re selling software, you are not doing tax returns. Now, let’s say you’re in the industry, you’re a preparer, and you’re working under someone else’s ETHAN because you cannot get one, you want to become a Service Bureau because you think, Oh, now I can issue myself my own license. To issue a license, it has to be issued to an ERO, someone with an ETHAN.

So, if you’re trying to be a Service Bureau and then get your own [00:07:00] license for yourself to use? Yes, you do need an ETHAN to be able to transmit tax returns. But as purely as a Service Bureau, you don’t need an ETHAN. You don’t need one. And with our program, the way we do it as we set you up, we issue what’s called like a Master ETHAN, we set you up on the backend and you can go and sell licenses as much as you want. Anything to add to fall deeper.

Baldeep: No, you got it covered. I trained you well.

Ross: We’re going to talk about that too. Experience with bank products. I was like, I’ve never done a single bank product in my life, but I know the industry. I know the demographic.

Tia: And you got session is already like the infrastructure experience knowledge. Just to be clear when I mean knowledge, they don’t have to have knowledge of knowing how to run the Service Bureau. But what kind of knowledge is recommended that they do have?

Ross: I think Baldeep already hit on it where we’re talking about bank products, like knowing that market, that subset of the tax industry, because that is where the revenue is as a Service Bureau, right? That’s where you’re going to be making most of your revenues off of bank product volume.

And so, that’s the most important to at least have an understanding of it. You don’t have to be a [00:08:00] master at anything. Cause again, you are just selling software. At the end of the day, it’s like, just understanding that industry is good to have. That being said, you can go in with absolutely zero industry and just understand that, Hey, it looks like a pretty good business model and just put in the work to figure it out. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, you can always start a Service Bureau.

Just means people are going to start further ahead than when you are. And you’re going to start a little bit further behind them, which just means you just got to play catch up. But having the more experience, obviously, it’ll definitely benefit you. Having more industry knowledge, knowing more about the banks and bank products and how they work.

Baldeep: Just being familiar with those things, sure helps, but a lot of the stuff you learn on the ERO side is not as relevant to the Service Bureau side, right? That’s what our program essentially is for. Like we show you all those things A to Z. There’s one thing I tell people all the time, there’s just so many little nuances, and I could sit there and make 500 videos and every little scenario, but it’s not going to help anybody because you’re not going to remember it. That’s why we have our [00:09:00] Service Bureau support. So, that when you come across that unique situation, just ask us.

Literally, we resolve issues all the time. That’s literally all we do. The stuff that’s so obscure, you’re not going to know about. And even if I put it in a training video, you’re not going to remember it. So, that’s really a lot of what the Service Bureau does is just solve like certain problems that happen that are past the ERO level.

Ross: Yeah. And with some of those things as well. For perspective, it’s like the 80/20 rule almost applies, but I would say it’s even more skewed where like 80% of the knowledge of how to operate a Service Bureau, you’re going to be doing 99% of the time. Then the other 20% of the Service Bureau of these weird little nuance things cause there is a lot, but those things come up like 1% of the time, right?

It’s so very rare, just a very unique scenario. There’s a ticket that came in the other day with Chastity, where she was the ticket where you were escalating it. I don’t know if you know what I’m talking about, I’ve never seen that question asked in four years, right?

I think that’s the first time I’ve seen that [00:10:00] question be asked in four years. I was like, is that even possible? So, every now and then, there are like just weird little things that do come up. And yeah, like Baldeep said, that’s where we come in and can assist with all that stuff.

So, even with someone who has very little baseline knowledge of the industry, there’s still so much more to learn as the Service Bureau. And that’s why we put together this program, which is to train everyone on that Service Bureau stuff and develop.

Baldeep: That’s why we have a whole support team just for that. While we’re recording this, there’s tickets coming in. Right now, at the time of recording, one software, one bank that we have is open for bank enrollment, and people are having simple questions, essentially, it’s like little order of operation things and literally what I did yesterday. Was I told the team, Hey, don’t forget?

I’m like, here’s what happens, right? Seasonally, there’s certain things that happen every year at the same damn time, and the same questions come up every year at the same time. So, I sent a message to the support team yesterday. I’m like, Hey, you’re going to see an uptick in questions about this. Here’s a video, just pass this on to them. Cause this question is going to come probably 10, 15, 20 times a day over the [00:11:00] next couple of months.

Ross: There are certain things that you literally do one time a year as a Service Bureau. And every time that one thing comes up, everyone forgets how to do it. So, we make sure we remind everyone, Hey, remember that one thing that you did last year? Here’s how you do it again.

Tia: And there are two things I also want to touch on. One of them is actually having too much experience as an ERO. And how that just, like, why use your brain when you’re trying to become a Service Bureau? And how do you have to go through this unlearning process? What does that look like?

Baldeep: Something we say it often is, you got to take your tax preparer hat off, put your Service Bureau hat on. And one thing that we brought up at the convention last year, and then I think we dropped it again this year was, you guys are Service Bureaus and you’re coming to us with a bunch of ERO problems, right?

There are certain things that as a service bureau, you should not really be bringing to us, or they’re more of like a tax office. But I’ll just use a simple example because I [00:12:00] don’t have a reference off the top of my head. But it’s like, how do I do this type of tax return with this form or this or that?

That’s not a question for us, that’s an ERO question, right? As a service, if you want to provide that to your clients, more power to you. But that’s not something that we provide. But there’s some Service Bureaus in our program that provide extra tax training and all that stuff, right?

But there’s certain things that are ERO questions. There’s certain things that are Service Bureau questions. So, just have a different hat on, especially as you’re operating the business, or as maybe you’re transitioning from being the ERO to the Service Bureau, so you can help your EROs with some of those types of things. But just keep certain things in mind as you’re supporting that, if you want to add anything to that, Ross, go ahead.

Ross: Yeah. I’m just going to take the furthest extremity of getting, where those wires get crossed. Where we’ve seen people try to sell software to their tax customers. Because they’re just so focused on being an ERO and having their tax customers that then they’re like, Oh, so I can offer the software to my tax customers?

And we’re like, what are you talking about? Why would a customer want a commercial tax offer like that? But again, they’re just so locked [00:13:00] in their ERO, their tax business mindset that they’re completely missing the mark where, yo, this is a completely different business model.

Now you as an ERO, those are your customers. So, that is definitely some scenarios where there’s like almost too much knowledge, or they’re too deep in their own business as a tax office that they just can’t make that disconnect. But over time it happens. And I think, even a lot of our members, like even the first couple of years, when we had the program, they were dipping their toes in to learn a little bit about being a Service Bureau.

And some of them, again, they were so focused on their tax business that it was like two or three years later where they’re like, okay, now I actually really understand what it means to be a Service Bureau. Because again, they were just so locked in on their business. They weren’t taking the time to really understand the different business model, because it is a completely different business. Yeah, we’re in the same industry. Yeah, we’re talking to a lot of similar, I guess as a taxpayer, you’re not really talking to EROs, but you’re talking to a lot of the same people in the industry, but it’s just a completely different business shift.

Tia: If I understand you all correctly, you’re saying that, [00:14:00] the reason we are able to not have a minimum requirement, and really create a structure where we’re able to bring different people in as members is because we have a robust backend system that allows us to really support them more so than other Service Bureaus?

Ross: Couldn’t have said it better.

Tia: That was for the people right there.

Ross: No, that is exactly it. Yeah, we’ve been developing it. We’ve hired more staff. We’ve got a robust kind of backend system that we’ve invested a lot of money into to provide these sorts of systems and support. And we’re always redoing training, right? There’s a whole list of videos that we still want to revamp for all the software training and the Service Bureau operations training just to keep updating and just keep making it better and better. That’s really what our program is all about.

And because we have a team and we’re running like 20 people strong now or something like that with our team, it’s not just one person. I think you said on the other episode earlier we were like, yeah, the one person that’s also running their tax office in January, that [00:15:00] you’re trying to get software support from them and they’re too busy dealing with their customers, they don’t have a team to support you. That’s not going to be a good experience where this is all we do. Our only business is Service Bureau Accelerator.

Tia: I love that. Now I’m going to move on to mindset. When are you ready? How would I know that I’m ready to develop this business, and sell this software? It’s really a different business model when you think about it as far as the tax industry is concerned.

Ross: We can’t tell someone when they’re ready, but I think a couple of things that they can think about to determine if they’re going to be ready is, is this what I want to do? Do I want to sell software? Do I want to talk to EROs, sell software, be in the backend, and set people up, and issue licenses, and handle support questions? That comes in on that side as well.

Is this something that I want to do? Again, we talk about too much industry knowledge or where they’re just too focused on their tax business. Maybe you might not want to be a Service Bureau because it sounds like you’re just really focused on growing your tax business, which is fine, right?

What are your goals? What is your ultimate objective at the end of the [00:16:00] day? Do you want to shift away from doing taxes? That’s where we have a lot of people do join our program because they’ve been in it for 10, 15 years, and they’re like, you know what? I want to start stepping away from this and I would much rather just work with other EROs and sell them software.

Cool. Sounds like you’re probably ready to be a Service Bureau, right? So, it’s really up to them as far as what their objectives are. What are they wanting to do? Do they want to keep running their tax office? Do they want to get into selling software? Is that exciting to them? Is that motivating to them? That’s really it.

Tia: And Ross, so I overheard you having a conversation with the member at the convention. And they were talking about the Service Bureau business and you gave them some really, straightforward.

Baldeep: You slapped him in the face.

Tia: Are you able to talk about that?

Ross: Was that the conversation about, I have all these other businesses? Those are my passion. This one is just to make me money?

Tia: Yes.

Ross: Yeah. I had a conversation with a member and she was actually like putting in some work now, like on our Service Bureau. Because she’s been, Oh, I’m doing stuff, but just never really, was putting in a lot of work and [00:17:00] a lot of action. At the end of the day, a little secret for everyone listening to this podcast, the biggest differentiator from people who are absolutely crushed in the industry versus people who are struggling year over year.

It has nothing to do with access of information because we see it even in our program. Some people just don’t want to put in the work. They want the shortcuts. They want the cheat codes. But the people who succeed, they just literally sit their ass down and they put in the work.

That’s all it comes down to. So there’s a caveat, but this conversation I had with a member was, she was like, I want this to fund all my other businesses. And I was like, okay, look, I know you’ve got all these other businesses. Because you always tell it on all of our coaching calls.

Be real with me, do these businesses make you any fucking money at all? She’s like, these businesses are my passion. This is what I want to do in life. I’m just trying to grow a Service Bureau because I just want it to make me some money so I can focus on these other things.

And I was like, it sounds to me like you should just focus on these other things and not bother doing a Service Bureau. Because if your heart isn’t in it if you don’t have passion over it, what are you doing it for really at the end of the day? If you have these other businesses that you’re trying to grow, where that is your passion, that’s where [00:18:00] your passion really lies? Then just focus on that.

One of the biggest things that we teach a lot of people, we do like a 70-launch review call every Thursday, and I had a bunch of members on the call yesterday. And half of them, when we asked, okay, what it was your offer that you came up with? They got three or four different things that they’re trying to sell.

I was like, let me make your life easy, do this one thing. And they’re like, okay, ’cause I was getting overwhelmed. I’m like, yeah, no shit. Because you’re trying to run four different businesses, basically. Even though, yeah, it’s all being a Service Bureau, but you want to recruit EROs, you want to sell a software package, you’ve got three different tiers of your software package, then you’re also going to develop repairs. What are you doing?

You’re going to be running around like a chicken with your head cut off. Just focus on one thing and just execute, pour a hundred percent of yourself into that one thing. Because every bit of work that we do day in, day out on our business, on ourselves, on our lives, if we’re going to the gym, whatever it is that we’re doing? It compounds over time, it builds on itself.

And so, if you’re just putting in 25% of yourself over here, [00:19:00] yeah, it’s going to slowly grow, but how much faster is it can grow if you’re doing 100%? And so whatever your goal is, and this is what the conversation that ultimately was a result of this conversation was like, if that is your passion, then stop doing what you’re doing as a Service Bureau and just go all in on that one thing.

And I guarantee you, you’re going to see more results with it. Again, coming back full circle, that doesn’t mean that you have to shut down your tax office to start your Service Bureau, right? The great thing with the Service Bureau and the tax office industry, or like being an ERO and a Service Bureau is they’re basically complete opposite seasons.

You’re not going to have a lot of sales in February and March when people are running their tax office. So, that’s basically, we don’t do sales from January, February, March, and April sometimes. That’s our time where we’re like, all right, let’s reset and let’s develop our business more because everyone else is busy running their tax offices.

We don’t really have a whole lot of support to do once we get past the end of January. So, you can still do two things at once for sure. I’m not trying to dissuade people from doing that. But ultimately, at the [00:20:00] end of the day, is this really what you want to do? Are you interested in this? And if you’re not, then the Service Bureaus and for you, it’s fine, there’s no right or wrong answer there. That’s just something someone has to really decide on.

Baldeep: I didn’t know about that conversation. Text me later who it was.

Ross: Oh, I think, you know.

Tia: I just overheard it. That’s it. So, the next thing that I want to touch on, and I’ve actually heard this myself through kick-up calls and things like that. The person thinking they want to Service Bureau but actually wanting something different, but not knowing that’s what they want. Because the Service Bureau has been pitched to them as being inserted here. How can you talk to the person that is trying to navigate what they really want? And what that looks like?

Baldeep: You don’t need to, you can go to a Service Bureau. I have a Service Bureau that I’ve had for years, every time somebody wants a $99 Service Bureau fee, that goes all to them. We just send it to them.

So you could negotiate that with your provider. Say, Hey, I want all that. You don’t necessarily need to be the Service Bureau and have to do [00:21:00] all this other extra stuff just to get that money. Just find somebody that’ll give it to you. Sometimes people just want branding on their software.

They don’t want to do a whole bunch of stuff to become the Service Bureau and set up a bunch of other people. They just want their own logo on their software. That’s something that we could do for people, just want that. If you’re not sure, if you just want certain things, just ask, can I just do this?

Because I don’t want to take on the responsibility of learning a whole new business model and selling it, setting it up, and launching it, and running a whole other business. Because it is another business. I just want to keep my tax office and just have these extra perks. Simple enough. Yeah, we could accommodate that in a lot of cases.

Tia: So, are these some of the filter questions that you all ask during the sales calls? Because I stay in my box. I never go outside of my box.

Ross: We’ll ask, why are they interested in becoming a Service Bureau for sure? We want to understand where they’re at and they’re just like, Oh, I’m just sick and tired of paying these fees. We’re like, okay, cool. Are you wanting to actually go out and sell software?

Is that something that you’re wanting to do? And by and large, pretty much everyone says yes. Now, who knows if that’s what they [00:22:00] actually say, or they’re just like, this is the correct answer that I should say. I don’t know, because the numbers speak volumes, a little play on words there.

But as far as what they actually produce, sometimes it’s like, Oh, well you only set up one ETHAN on your own, and you’re using your own software. Which again, it’s like, fine, whatever, you just overpaid for software just to get your own Service Bureau fee. But what they don’t know, they don’t know.

But it does come up a lot and that’s also something as well that some of our members are seeing where they’re selling software, which is what we teach in our program. But now they’re starting to talk to people who are saying, Oh, I want to be a Service Bureau. And so, our members are now assuming, Oh, just because someone says they want to be a Service Bureau, they actually want to sell software.

When in reality, a lot of the time, and this kind of comes back to the question is, a lot of times they just want those fees. They see that Service Bureau fee. They’re like, how do I get that? I want my own brand of software. And if you just ask questions a little bit deeper, right?

When you’re selling software, Oh, why don’t become a Service Bureau? Oh, what makes you interested in becoming a Service Bureau? I don’t want to have these Service Bureau [00:23:00] fees anymore. Is that it? Or you just want it like those Service Bureau fees? Yeah, and I want my own brand. Do you want your own brand to use in your office, or do you want it to sell it? Mostly to use in my own office.

Okay, so now I don’t actually have to sell you a Service Bureau. I can just sell you co-branding and just give you the Service Bureau fee and call it a day. Now I don’t have to train someone to how to be a Service Bureau. Because that is where a big problem happens, where people assume, just because a customer told me they want to be a Service Bureau and I didn’t know how to really clarify exactly what their intention is, I sold them a Service Bureau, but I didn’t provide them any support or training on how to actually be a Service Bureau.

So now the person logs into, let’s say, Account Hub for the first time or their MO and they’re like, what the hell’s all this? And the person who sold it, yeah figure it out. Guess what? They have a bad experience and then they’re like, all right, I gotta go somewhere else because this isn’t working. So, getting clear on that. Just getting asking those right questions is probably is important. For anyone listening, if you’re trying to understand, am I ready to be a Service Bureau? Again, I’ll say, jump on one of our webinars, and have a call with our team.

We don’t really do any [00:24:00] hardcore sales or anything. It’s like, do you watch The Information? What questions do you have? Is it a good fit? Doesn’t make sense. But ultimately, if you’re ready to become a Service Bureau, you just have to have some of those understandings.

There’s no minimum for bank products with us, you don’t need to have an ETHAN, whether you have industry experience or not, we’re going to teach you what you need to know to be a Service Bureau, and how to go upmarket and sell the software. And then really it just comes down to your own questions internally.

Is this something that I want to do? Would I love to have my own software brand? Do I have a community already of people that I know I could just go and sell to immediately? Maybe you want to make that transition away from slowly progressing away from doing taxes, and just selling software, and being able to sit back and relax during the tax season. Balls, I don’t know if you want to compare the tax scenes you used to have in the industry versus the tax seasons we have now, where we basically have our support team ripping through tickets and that’s about it. It’s pretty nice.

Baldeep: Tax season’s pretty stress-free. Usually, the first 15 days of January are, like, Oh shit, stuff’s blowing up, this and that, right? Not really, but people think it is, and it’s just [00:25:00] dealing with the initial burst. But once people got their shit together and everything’s running smoothly for them, then our support dies down.

We do the graph at our convention where we show like, Hey, here’s our support ticket volume. And right now, going to September, it’s going to start to uptick October, November, December, it gets really higher. January, it starts phasing down. And by the end of January, February, it’s just like off a cliff, like less support, completely.

That’s when we do our meetups in person. It’s a different cycle, right? If you’re a tax office owner, you’re the opposite, right? All summer long, you’re relaxing, get into the fall, and it’s starting to ramp up. During the season it’s peaked and then dies back down, right? So, this is the opposite season, essentially.

Tia: My mindset is if I’m understanding, knowing what you really want and understanding what that is. So, getting branded software is different than getting your background things, which is different than selling software. Now, if you sell somewhere, you can get all 3. However, if you have a very specific goal in mind, then that’s what you need to be [00:26:00] leaning going towards.

Ross: Yeah, for sure.

Tia: And I know you all didn’t speak on this, it’s not in my questionnaire. But then also the people who are coming, and I’ve been seeing this and they want to actually sell Service Bureaus. I think I heard you all say that we have 20-plus people that are in the support team. Is that something that really, at this moment in time, looking at the markets, that’s something that’s viable, and realistic for a lot of people in the industry right now?

Baldeep: Yes and no. Obviously, we have all the everything people need to do it. The problem that I see people running into, especially outside of our group, there’s a lot of people just copying our shit, and trying to replicate what we do. And the problem that they’re going to have and that they always have, and the ones that pop up, and even some of our members that are starting to sell a lot of them.

The problem is the support, it’s not software tech support anymore. Now, you have to provide Service Bureau support, everything that we provide our members, A to Z. How to scale, [00:27:00] operate, like all this stuff. You don’t have to obviously provide all the marketing and sales training, like obviously not everyone is equipped to do that. But just the bare minimum of learning how to navigate the backend and set up and if you can help them grow. Great.

Long story short, if you go and become a Service Bureau with somebody else, hypothetically, and then you’re like, okay, cool. This is what I dealt with when I was direct with the software. I’m like, all right, cool, they showed me how to set it up.

And then the next question is, how do I grow it? What do I do? Or what are the steps? What are the infrastructure? What do I need? And you’re don’t know how to answer that question, or they don’t know how to answer that question for you? Then you’re probably going to leave them and come to us. So, if you’re going to go the route of selling Service Bureaus, I will say you need to elevate your support, elevate your knowledge. Be a successful Service Bureau first is probably key, because how are you going to show them how to do something that you haven’t done?

So those are probably some of the bigger items, I would say, to look for sure. We had two software companies at our convention. I won’t [00:28:00] mention their names, but two of the software companies we work with are on there, and they were just like, holy shit. Both of them. They’re like, we have nothing near the type of content you guys do. Nobody can even replicate this. And I’m like, yeah, people try and copy us all the time. Even if they copy your words, they’re not going to be able to execute the way you guys do. Because you guys actually did it, right?

So, we get a lot of feedback from the actual software providers. The software providers, especially since we came up, more and more people are asking for their software directly. Oh, can I become a Service Bureau? They don’t have the resources and they will admit it.

They can’t show you how to grow their business. They can’t. They’re just going to show you how to set up the software, which is all that is. So, those are the things, if you’re starting to see that, or you’re wanting to sell it? You want it to say, Hey, I want to sell a Service Bureaus. Just be prepared to support more. One of the things I will say, you’re not going to make a lot of money right away.

Like it’s a high-volume, low-margin game. If you’re making a lot of money off of them, they’re not going to last long just like your EROs. They’re not going to last long if you’re [00:29:00] maxing them out. If you’re not giving them access, they’re going to disappear on you. I don’t know if you want to add anything on that, Ross.

Ross: No, that’s pretty much exactly what I was going to break it down. There’s just kind of two areas, right? It’s like the support on actual supporting them as a Service Bureau, the operation side of the training, everything that goes with that to make sure they actually know how to run and operate a Service Bureau.

And then is the growth part is the other side, right? Which you nailed on. If you don’t know how to go out and sell software, but you’re going to set someone up as a Service Bureau and they’re like, Oh wait, how do I go and sell the software? And you’re like, shit, I don’t know.

Baldeep: If you don’t know enough as a Service Bureau to support them, it’s going to be even more difficult. I’ll give you another example before we wrap it up. If you have a client that’s a Service Bureau and you sold it to them. And now, their EROs is having a bank issue, for example. Now the ERO, you’re like, Hey, just call tech support. Tech support is going to say, call the bank. Bank’s going to say, call the software.

It’s gonna be this back-and-forth, right? And now, they’re going to reach out to you, and you’re going to say, I don’t know anything about that. What are you going to do? We actually took over bank support last year because of that [00:30:00] scenario. We saw a lot of back and forth, banks blaming software. We just told our Service Bureaus, if you guys have a problem with the bank or don’t know what’s going on, just bring it to us and we will help you resolve it for your client.

Because we already know all these things. So, the more knowledge you have on resolving things that can be escalated, the easier it’ll be for you. Another last thing, I swear. Another thing too, is if you don’t know your stuff, your clients are going to find out pretty quickly. If every time your client asks you a question, and you have to ask somebody else to get back to them about it?

They’re going to realize really quickly. Why don’t they ever know the answer? Why do they always have to find out? And then they’re going to go try and find the person that they’re finding out from. Or find somebody else that can answer those questions.

Tia: These are tax professionals, and one thing we do is investigate. Those are really all of the questions that I have. I think this was really good information. Did ya’ll have any final words for me?

Ross: Not for you, Tia, but for everyone else. And when you are ready, or if you think you’re ready, or you’re not quite sure. For more information, head on over to [00:31:00] ServiceBureauAccelerator.com. Link should be in the description, show notes, and everything like that. Wherever you’re watching or listening to, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok. Jump on our webinar, and learn more about what we do, and what we include. And if it makes sense, book a call and we’ll be happy to work with you in our program.

Baldeep: All right. We’ll catch you on the next episode.