Selling a DIY Template: The Upside of Downselling

Basically, a DIY template is simply a pre-built digital resource clients can use to learn how to do their own books. It’s a great way for you to profit from in-between clients who aren’t ready to take on your monthly bookkeeping services, but still want something from you that they can utilize to start doing their own bookkeeping as best they can.

The real goal of a DIY template is to capture those who really can’t afford your bookkeeping services yet, and would otherwise do nothing or screw up their own books. Offering a DIY template can lead to…

Even if the people who purchase your template never end up becoming clients, that doesn’t mean they can’t refer others to you! Because they’ve purchased your DIY template and seen that it really works, you’ve already built trust despite them not being full-blown clients. So when they come across someone who needs monthly bookkeeping and is able to afford your services, those who’ve purchased your DIY template are very likely to recommend you as a bookkeeper!

Though a DIY template isn’t going to make you as much money as your regular bookkeeping services, it’s certainly better than simply turning people away, and it’s especially great because it provides passive income. Your DIY template is one-and-done—you make it once, set it up to sell, and you never have to worry about it again. I love it because I’m literally making sales in my sleep.

Some of my best clients have upgraded from this DIY template into monthly bookkeeping, and some even became CFO clients! Now, the actual conversion numbers may seem small—out of 325 people who’ve purchased, I might have six clients who have elevated—but when you consider how much that recurring revenue helps and what those clients end up doing in terms of referring you to others, it’s really not a small thing at all.

For the most part, the best clients to target in the realm of teaching them about bookkeeping are people who have been in business from one to five years. You’d be surprised by just how many people between year one and year five of business do not have a bookkeeper, while after the five-year mark, most business owners who stick around do have a bookkeeper. So for me, the sweet spot is any client below that five-year mark.

 

When we’re speaking to that pool of people, some of them are going to say, "No thought here. I want a bookkeeper to take this off my plate and do it for me. I'm seeing success, I know I can afford it, and I know I don't have the time for it." But others are at that starting stage, and your fee might not be something they can afford just yet. By having a DIY template ready, you give yourself something that you can pull out and say, "Okay, the best thing you can do is hire me, but I realize you might not be there today. So here is a simple way for you to do your own books without messing them up."

 

That last part is really the most important thing if you’re thinking about eventual conversion into clients. I almost prefer books not having been done at all than having to go in and fix books that have been done poorly. By giving them a tool to do it themselves, you might actually be saving yourself a headache later.

Not at all! Like I said, I’ve had several clients convert from DIY template buyers into monthly bookkeeping clients, and some even eventually upgraded to my CFO offer. The DIY template offer is actually more likely to draw people back to you when they are ready for a monthly bookkeeper than if you send them away with nothing. And even if they don’t end up converting into clients later, it’s still a sale you made that you otherwise wouldn’t have if you didn’t offer a template at all.