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by Martijn van der Hoeden on July 17, 2020
Accounting is obviously an important part of any business. We don’t need to waste any time telling you why.
But for marketing agencies and other teams of creatives, it’s not always easy. To stay on top of your expenses and make sure you’re billing clients accurately- and getting paid adequately- you have to make sure that your accounting is on point.
Otherwise, clients aren’t happy. Your team isn’t happy. It’s a giant headache, especially since many agencies start out using spreadsheets for accounting. This method is unnecessarily time consuming and leaves lots of room for human error.
As agencies grow, they usually move on to accounting software, which is in theory should make things more efficient. However, not all accounting software is created equal.
Even if your agency is using a powerful CRM like HubSpot, your accounting software might be slowing you down — you could be missing out on opportunities for even more efficiency.
The answer? Make sure your accounting software integrates with HubSpot!
Here’s the breakdown of pain points of using accounting software that’s separate from HubSpot, and why integration is an infinitely better solution..
Deal-to-cash flow
First, think about how money moves through your organization, from marketing all the way to cash in hand. This is also known as your deal-to-cash flow.
When you’re using separate software for accounting, there’s often a gap between the original sale- what you can monitor, observe, and track in HubSpot)- service, and billing. This means that even with top-of-the-line accounting software, there’s going to be more labor involved to gather time tracking info. And often, team members may have to use dreaded guesswork when there’s low visibility on a project’s financials.
Guesswork inevitably leads to inaccuracies, discrepancies, and the worst, overservicing.
You can’t be completely transparent on invoices if you don’t have all the info yourself, and clients may be less likely to pay if they feel the charges are unclear.
The deal-to-cash flow in your organization should be highly transparent, efficient, and automated. Otherwise, your team is putting in more labor only to bill inaccurately, meaning your agency getting underpaid for work.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Optimizing Deal-to-Cash Flow: The Marketing Agency’s Guide
The problem with traditional accounting software for marketing agencies
When your accounting software integrates with HubSpot, that can improve some of the aforementioned issues.
But if you’re just integrating HubSpot and an accounting-only solution, there are likely STILL some visibility issues and gaps. Things you don’t want to clog up your deal-to-cash.
To solve that problem, you could perhaps start using additional software for contract management and time tracking, so you can better connect your deal-to-cash flow. It seems like a logical step in the right direction...
But that means finding several different software solutions that all integrate with one another, or creating improvised, band aid fixes to connect them (the worst).
You end up with a patchwork of software that ultimately creates more work for your agency, impacts team member productivity, and makes automation difficult (or impossible). So while in theory, getting on board with both a contract management and time-tracking solution should make things easier, if you and your team have to keep bouncing around, you’re really not doing anyone any favors.
The answer? Seamless integration with your CRM.
The most efficient way to gain complete visibility across your entire deal-to-cash flow is to use software that integrates seamlessly with HubSpot AND handles contract management, project management, time tracking, and billing.
In other words, we’re talking about PSA software
"Professional Services Automation software creates substantially less labor for your team. Automation makes everything more accurate, and self-driving features that can help you easily track time and maintain visibility across your organization. Without the time-suck and errors of manual entry."
That in turn boosts efficiency and accuracy even further, making your deal-to-cash flow completely transparent and optimized to get more money in your pocket faster.
ATTN HubSpot users: Integrate your accounting software already!
As powerful and advantageous as HubSpot is, your agency could be missing out on easy opportunities for improved efficiency if you’re using separate software for accounting. Wether it's through Xero, QuickBooks, Moneybird or Exact online; the key to visibility and optimizing deal-to-cash is connecting your accounting solution with HubSpot.
The best, most comprehensive solution is PSA software that covers contract management, project management, time tracking, and billing. And of course, fully integrates with HubSpot so you can track your deal-to-cash flow without any gaps.
That way, you and your team can make sure you get paid for all your hard work! It’s a no-brainer.
