Intuit Helps Small Businesses Find Their Perfect Match With New QuickBooks Accounting Professionals Marketplace

Uploaded March 30, 2017

“MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Intuit Inc. (INTU) has been “playing Cupid” for more than 20 years by helping accounting professionals connect with those at the heart of their practices: small businesses. To celebrate the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program’s 20^th anniversary, the company today announced the availability of a new Find-a-ProAdvisor marketplace, a completely redesigned customer search experience to ensure ProAdvisors receive more and better qualified leads from prospective small businesses. The marketplace is now available to small businesses worldwide via these global websites: Australia, Canada, India, United Kingdom and United States. The marketplace first launched exclusively within QuickBooks Online last December.

The QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program is a membership program for accounting professionals that provides customer support, QuickBooks training, and access to Intuit products and services at discounted prices for them and their small business clients. ProAdvisors can become certified as a QuickBooks expert and then list themselves in the Find-a-ProAdvisor marketplace, which is visited annually by more than 1 million small businesses worldwide. In a recent survey of ProAdvisors in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, an average of 57 percent of respondents said building a relationship is the most important factor when deciding to do business with a potential client. Unlike other accounting directories available in the accounting industry, Intuit’s Find-a-ProAdvisor marketplace is the only one with certified QuickBooks experts trained to fuel small business success and focused on creating connections that build long-term business relationships.

“In 1997, we launched the ProAdvisor Program to provide access to our products and services, and create connections between accounting professionals and small businesses to help ensure their long-term success,” said Chris Hamilton, leader of Intuit’s Global ProAdvisor Program. “As we celebrate the program’s 20^th anniversary and growth to more than 200,000 members worldwide, our commitment to match small businesses with trusted QuickBooks advisors hasn’t changed. We are already seeing a significant increase in the number of small business leads sent to ProAdvisors as a result of the new matching service and expect the number of those connections to continue to grow.”

Helping Small Businesses Find Their Perfect Match

Eighty-nine percent of small businesses say they are more successful when working with an accounting professional. For this reason, dozens of QuickBooks small businesses provided their feedback on marketplace concepts. They also provided their insights on the newly-formatted ProAdvisor profiles listed in the marketplace to ensure that the most important information is emphasized when small businesses seek their perfect ProAdvisor match. A ProAdvisor’s profile listing now clearly showcases their QuickBooks certifications, links to their social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and elevates customer reviews. New search filters and result pages also clearly emphasize ProAdvisors’ business attributes, areas of expertise and specialized services so small businesses can easily identify the ProAdvisor that is right for them. The new Find-a-ProAdvisor marketplace is also designed with mobile devices in mind so small businesses can find their perfect ProAdvisor match anytime, anywhere.

“A small business owner should not be in business unless they work with an expert who can help them get their finances up to scratch,” said Jude Mayall, chef and founder of Australian native food retailer Outback Chef, based in Malvern, Australia. “As a business owner, I wear too many hats and finding and hiring a QuickBooks Online expert has given me time to focus on running my business instead of spending an average of six hours every week trying to balance the books.”

Helping Accounting Firms Grow with Right-For-Me Connections

QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisors who list themselves in the Find-a-ProAdvisor marketplace now have the ability to see the impact their profile has on turning prospects into active leads and ultimately, clients. Accessible only to ProAdvisors through QuickBooks Online Accountant, ProAdvisors can see how many times their profile has been viewed by prospects and how many active leads they have received through the service. ProAdvisors also have access to tips on how to improve their profile listing to increase the number of profile views and inquiries from small business prospects.