A brand new feature in QuickBooks 2012 that our clients may find useful is the ability to track sales leads.  The new Lead Center can be accessed under the customers menu.  Contact information for leads can either be entered by clicking on the “New Lead” button or imported from an Excel spreadsheet with the “Import Multiple Leads” button.

Under the name field, leads can be assigned a status of hot, warm or cold.  The criteria for classifying a lead with a status is up to the business owner, but typically companies assign a warmer status to sales prospects with a higher likelihood of becoming customers to which they focus more attention.

When a lead is selected in the Lead Center, a series of tabs appear in the bottom pane.  In the “To Do List,” marketing efforts are planned out and assigned due dates.

When marketing efforts pay off and a lead becomes a customer, it is easy to transfer the contact information for a lead to the customer list within QuickBooks.  Simply click on the “Convert to a Customer” button in the lead center.

Although the Lead Center may not have the customer relationship management features to meet the needs of all businesses, it is a nice addition to QuickBooks that will be helpful for small businesses that either don’t currently track leads or manage them on paper or in Excel.

For a detailed analysis about the Lead Center in QuickBooks 2012, read this post by Charlie Russell on the Sleeter Group blog.

If you’d like help using the Lead Center in your business, please feel free to contact me or another professional from our team of Las Vegas CPAs.

Document Management has been a built-in feature in QuickBooks for a couple of years, but the recently-released 2012 version made a change that may make it an attractive option for some of our clients.  In the 2012 release, it is now free!

Document Management allows a user to attach a document to a QuickBooks record (for example, a bill, estimate, invoice, check, customer, vendor, etc).  This feature can help a business easily retrieve documents, become electronically organized, and operate in a paperless environment.

On most of the input screens within QuickBooks, there is a button with a paperclip that says “attach.”

When this button is clicked, a window will appear with options to attach a document from the computer, scanner, or the Doc Center (where QuickBooks stores attached files).  This window also has an easy drag and drop interface.

After a document is attached, the paperclip on the attach button turns green.  Whenever a user opens a transaction with an attached document, clicking on the button with a green paperclip will open the document.

The Doc Center can be opened by going to the Company menu, then Documents, then Doc Center.  In the Doc Center, there is a list of attached documents that can be searched, sorted, opened and removed.

There are a few issues with Document Management:

• The free feature with QuickBooks 2012 only stores documents locally.
• Businesses that handle sensitive information or have employees should consider that documents are stored locally in a folder named “attach” where the QuickBooks company file is stored and anyone with access to that folder will be able to see those files.
• QuickBooks backup files do not include attached documents.  Users will need to make their own backups of the “attach” folder.
• Documents will not transfer with a QuickBooks file that is sent to someone on a different computer or network (for example, an accountant or bookkeeper).

If you are interested in electronically storing documents but QuickBooks Document Management does not meet your needs, you may want to consider a third-party vendor.

For a more detailed blog post about QuickBooks Document Management, read this post by Charlie Russell on the Sleeter Group blog.

If you’d like to schedule an appointment to discuss implementing QuickBooks Document Management in your business, please feel free to contact me or another professional from our team of Las Vegas CPAs.