Articles

Does one size fit all?

BankLink Regional Manager, Pam Renfrey, uses her family as a case study to show how different BankLink solutions suit different clients – and why you shouldn’t be afraid to suggest they make a change.

The beginning of the year is a good time to look at the methods you employ to communicate and exchange information with your clients using BankLink.

Your clients are likely to have a diverse range of knowledge, skills and geographical location, so any one method is unlikely to be suitable for all.

Imagine if my family were to approach your practice…

My sister is a successful barrister, but sadly lacks even the most basic accounting skills – as shown by her sorry failure in Year 10 maths! She is ideally suited to the desktop version of BankLink Notes.

This lets her receive the file electronically, but prevents her from making any accounting decisions that will make you shudder.

My children have grown up in the internet age and have a passion for Apple Macs. In their case, I would suggest you communicate with them through BankLink Notes online.

This gives them access to BankLink anytime and anywhere they wish, and also means they don’t need to download or use any software (an inherent problem when software is installed on non-Windows based computers).

In my case, I have the accounting skills to manage coding and lodgement of my own BAS. I would prefer to use BankLink Books which will allow me to manage my own affairs until it comes time for my year-end collaboration with you.

If I also want to manage my debtors and creditors, you can provide me with BankLink InvoicePlus and BankLink PayablesPlus.

Now my parents are lovely people but no amount of coaxing or cajoling will result in them using a computer or email.

Any communication with them would have to be managed through the paper-based BankLink Coding Report and sent to them by post.

You can see the diversity that exists in just one family – transpose that to your entire client base and it becomes evident that there is no silver bullet for dealing with your client communication.

Don't be afraid to suggest a change to your clients – they come to seek your educated opinion and will thank you for it.

To learn more

Visit the Solutions section of our website to learn more about different BankLink tools available to your clients, or contact us for further information.

Complimentary materials are also available to help you when talking to your clients.

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