Business Plus+ Newsletters

Business Plus+ Newsletters gives accounting firms a ready-made way to maintain regular contact with SME clients using practical commercial and business information.

The product provides current Business Plus+ newsletter editions together with an extensive archive of previous editions produced over many years. This gives your firm a substantial library of client-facing content that can support client communication, relationship development and broader business advisory conversations.

Business Content Written for SME Clients

Business Plus+ is written primarily for small and medium enterprise owners and managers.

The newsletters focus on practical issues that can influence the financial performance, cashflow, profitability, management and future direction of an SME.

This gives your firm useful business-focused content to share with clients without having to research and prepare every newsletter from scratch.

Stay in Contact Beyond Tax and Compliance

Many accounting firms naturally communicate with clients around taxation, financial statements, BAS obligations and other compliance requirements.

Business Plus+ provides another reason to stay in contact throughout the year.

• Provide clients with useful business information between formal engagements
• Keep your firm visible throughout the year
• Maintain contact with prospects and professional affiliates
• Demonstrate an interest in the wider performance of the client’s business
• Introduce advisory subjects without every communication becoming a direct sales message

Broad Range of Commercial Topics

The Business Plus+ library covers a wide range of issues relevant to SME owners and managers.

Topics across the newsletter series include areas such as:

• Business advisory and Virtual CFO services
• Business Planning
• Budgets and financial forecasts
• Cashflow and working-capital management
• Key Performance Indicators and management reporting
• Pricing and profitability
• Charge-out rates and professional fees
• Debtors management
• Risk management
• Corporate governance and directors’ responsibilities
• Marketing and selling
• Customers and business development
• People and workplace matters
• Insurance
• Government grants
• Capital raising
• Research and Development
• Succession Planning
• Other practical SME management issues

This breadth gives your firm content that can be relevant to clients at different stages of their business journey.

Introduce Advisory Issues Through Education

Business Plus+ is designed to educate SME clients rather than simply promote accounting services.

This can make the newsletter an effective way to introduce subjects that a client may not otherwise raise with their accountant.

For example, newsletter content around cashflow, pricing, business planning, management reporting or debtors can create a natural opportunity for a client to ask whether your firm can provide further assistance.

Support a Broader Business Advisory Position

Regular business-focused communication can help reinforce that your firm provides more than historical accounting and taxation services.

Business Plus+ can support client conversations around areas such as:

• Business Planning
• Budgets & Cashflow Forecasts
• Virtual CFO Services
• Management reporting
• Pricing and profitability
• Debtors and working capital
• Risk management
• Capital raising
• Corporate governance
• Succession Planning
• Other business advisory services offered by your firm

Designed for Your Firm to Distribute

Business Plus+ has been developed as a client-communication resource for accounting firms and is designed to be badged and distributed by your practice.

This allows the newsletter to become part of your firm’s own communication program rather than appearing as unrelated third-party editorial content.

Use with Clients, Prospects and Professional Affiliates

The newsletter does not need to be limited to existing clients.

Depending on your firm’s communication strategy, Business Plus+ can be used to maintain contact with:

• Existing SME clients
• Prospective clients
• Business owners who have previously made enquiries
• Professional affiliates
• Referral contacts
• Other business contacts your firm wants to keep informed

Extensive Newsletter Archive

Business Plus+ has been produced over many years, creating an extensive archive covering a broad range of financial, commercial and management topics.

This gives your firm more than just the current editions. The archive can help partners and team members identify subjects that may be relevant to particular clients or advisory conversations.

Where older newsletters deal with taxation, legislation, economic conditions or other time-sensitive information, the content should be reviewed for currency before being redistributed.

Special-Topic Editions

Business Plus+ also includes special-topic newsletters produced around significant SME planning and business events.

These can provide useful communication opportunities at times when clients are already considering financial, taxation or business-planning decisions.

Links to Supporting ESS BIZTOOLS Resources

Some Business Plus+ editions include references to related ESS BIZTOOLS material that can help your team explore the subject in greater depth.

These supporting resources can assist partners and team members in preparing for client questions and identifying where a newsletter topic may lead into a more detailed advisory discussion.

Support Client Retention

Providing clients with useful information between formal engagements gives your firm another way to remain visible and demonstrate ongoing interest in their business.

This can support client retention by maintaining a more consistent relationship rather than limiting communication to annual compliance work or billing events.

Save Time Preparing Client Communications

Producing useful business newsletters internally requires research, writing, editing and topic selection.

Business Plus+ gives your firm access to ready-made SME-focused content that can significantly reduce the work involved in maintaining a regular business communication program.

Create Conversation Starters for Partners and Team Members

The newsletters can also provide useful prompts for partners and client-facing team members.

A client responding to an article can create an opportunity to discuss:

• A current business problem
• A future objective
• Financial performance
• Cashflow pressure
• Pricing
• Growth
• Risk
• Succession
• Other areas where the firm may be able to assist

Connect Newsletter Topics with Business Advisory Services

The value of Business Plus+ is not simply in sending information.

The content can become part of a wider client-engagement strategy in which useful SME education creates awareness of business issues and gives the client a natural reason to discuss those matters with their accountant.

Where a client identifies a need for additional assistance, the relevant advisory work can then be discussed and appropriately scoped as a separate professional engagement.

A Repeatable Client Communication Resource

Together, the current Business Plus+ editions and extensive archive give your firm a repeatable resource for maintaining commercially focused communication with SME clients.

Your firm can use professionally prepared business content to stay visible, strengthen client relationships, support your broader advisory positioning and create natural opportunities for conversations about the issues affecting each client’s business.