GoProposal

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GoProposal
Type Privately held company
Industry Accounting software
Founder(s) James Ashford, Paul Barnes
Area served worldwide
Key people James Ashford
Products GoProposal
Website goproposal.com

GoProposal is a privately held British web application company based in Manchester, England, United Kingdom. The company was co-founded in 2016 by James Ashford and Paul Barnes to provide pricing and proposal software to the accounting industry.

Its flagship product is the accounting software GoProposal, which has integrations with major accountancy software applications such as Xero and QuickBooks,[1] practice management software Karbon and Senta,[2] and payment solution GoCardless.[3] GoProposal is now used around the world in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and many other countries.[4]

History

James Ashford started developing pricing and proposal software for his marketing company in 2014, as an in-house system. Over the following years it went through several iterations as internal systems for a range of industries including landscape gardening, marketing and construction.[5]

It was through a chance meeting between James Ashford and Paul Barnes in early 2016 that discussions began about how this product could be adapted for use as an internal system for MAP,[6] the accountancy firm founded by Paul Barnes. Paul Barnes had developed innovative ways to price their accountancy services which were successfully merged into the application.[7] By late 2016, other accounting firms had heard about the product and so it was turned into a commercial application and was launched in early 2017.

GoProposal was originally called “The 5 Minute Proposal Tool”, before being released as a commercial application in February 2017.[7] In January 2018, the company released The GLOSS Method, which is a consultative sales framework, also initially created for MAP.[8]

Products

GoProposal’s primary features are pricing, client-facing service menus,[9] automated proposal production, automated letter of engagement production, digital acceptance and reporting.[10][11][12]

Frameworks

GoProposal’s frameworks are as follows.

  • The GLOSS Method is a consultative sales framework created by James Ashford. It was originally used to guide sales conversations within MAP. and then released for other accountancy firms to use. GLOSS is an acronym which stands for Goals, Location, Obstacles, Speed and Solution.[8]
  • Alignment fee is a phrase coined by GoProposal to describe the catchup payment for services, which are delivered annually, but paid for over a 12 month period, and is used when a client is being engaged part way through the year.
  • The 1-3-12 rule is a scope management principle, originally used within the accountancy firm MAP, and then coined by GoProposal to manage scope creep. It is a simple method designed to recalibrate what the client pays for payroll every month and for bookkeeping services every 3 months, as their circumstances fluctuate.[13]

Works

GoProposal's founder, James Ashford, has published a book called Selling to Serve. It became an Amazon bestseller in 2017. The book outlines the sales process that MAP uses to attract, prime and convert high-end clients.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "GoProposal Integration with Xero". Devpost. https://devpost.com/software/goproposal-integration-with-xero. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  2. ↑ Bailey, Michael (18 Jun 2018). "Karbon raises $7m to target MYOB-Reckon merger fail". Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/technology/karbon-raises-7m-to-target-myobreckon-merger-fail-20180601-h10uc1. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  3. ↑ "GoProposal Integration with GoCardless". GoProposal. https://goproposal.com/integrations/gocardless/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  4. ↑ "GoProposal community". GoProposal. https://goproposal.com/community/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "My Accountancy Place". https://wearemap.co.uk/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Holmes, Katie (25 May 2018). "How Paul Barnes of MAP Became The Go-To Business For 100+ Digital Creative Agencies". Ruler Analytics. https://www.ruleranalytics.com/blog/agency/go-to-business-for-digital-creative-agencies/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Your framework for client fee reviews and sales meetings". Karbon Magazine. https://karbonhq.com/resources/your-framework-for-client-fee-reviews-and-sales-meetings/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  9. ↑ Martin, Glenn (31 Oct 2017). "Proposal software: The quest for extra efficiency". Accounting Web. https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/practice-software/proposal-software-the-quest-for-extra-efficiency. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  10. ↑ Surtees, Paul. "Why are some accountants blessed with good clients?". Capitalise. https://capitalise.com/insights/the-truth-about-good-clients. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  11. ↑ Jansen, Rudi. "The Key To Unlocking More Value From Your Clients". Rudi Jansen. https://www.rudijansen.com/key-unlocking-more-value-from-clients/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  12. ↑ Jansen, Rudi. "5 Key Pieces Of Software You Should Implement In Your Practice To Thrive In 2017". Rudi Jansen. https://www.rudijansen.com/5-key-software-implement-practice-2017/. Retrieved 20 June 2019. 
  13. ↑ "The 1-3-12 Method for Fee Reviews: End Scope Creep for Accountancy Firms and Bookkeeping Practices". LinkedIn. 25 Nov 2018. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/1-3-12-method-fee-reviews-end-scope-creep-accountancy-james-ashford. Retrieved 7 Mar 2019. 
  14. ↑ Ashford, James (2016). Selling to Serve: Give more value to your clients and get them buying more from you. Manchester: GoProposal. ISBN 9781539857945. https://books.google.com/books/about/Selling_to_Serve.html?id=0RCBvgAACAAJ. 

External links

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