Quoting a New Bookkeeping Client in One Call

Quoting a new bookkeeping client in one call means asking the questions that move the fee, then reviewing two months of their statements before you name a number. The call gives you accounts, habits and deadlines; the statements give you real volume. Together they turn into an hours estimate, and the hours become a quote you can defend.

What to ask on the first quoting call with a new bookkeeping client

The first quoting call with a new bookkeeping client should cover five topics: accounts, volume, the state of the books, the owner's habits, and what they need the books for. Each answer changes the hours or the risk. Thirty minutes is enough if you keep to questions that affect the fee.

Questions that move the number:

1. Accounts. "Which bank accounts, cards, loans and payment apps does the business use?" Ask twice in different words; owners forget the card used only for fuel or the old savings account.
2. Volume. "Roughly how many payments go out and come in each month?" The answer is a guess, but it tells you which statements to ask for.
3. Current state. "When were the books last reconciled, and by whom?" A gap means catch up work, priced separately.
4. Habits. "How do you keep receipts? Does anything personal go through the business accounts?"
5. Purpose. "Who reads the books? A lender, a partner, a tax preparer, only you?" A lender's deadline changes the timeline and the reports.

Two questions help you judge the client rather than the work. Ask why they are looking for a bookkeeper now, and what went wrong with the last one if there was one. The answers often explain more than the account list does.

Take notes in a fixed template, so every call produces the same fields. The same template then feeds your pricing spreadsheet without retyping.

Which bank statements to review before quoting?

Before quoting, review the two most recent full months of statements for every account the client named, plus one month from their busiest season if the business is seasonal. That is enough to see volume and mess. Reviewing a full year before the client signs takes too long and rarely changes the fee.

Ask for the bank's PDF statements rather than screenshots or a spreadsheet the owner exported. The PDF shows every line as the bank recorded it, with running balances. A spreadsheet shows what the owner chose to export.

If the client is willing, a quick way to see the volume is to run the sample statements through a converter. A batch through AutoBankConvert returns each month as rows with a balance check, which gives you an exact line count per account instead of an estimate from scrolling.

Check that the sample months are typical. A month with a loan deposit, an equipment purchase or a tax payment can make the account look busier than it is, while a holiday month can make it look quieter. Ask the owner whether anything unusual happened in those months, and if the answer is yes, ask for one more month to compare. Also confirm that the statement count matches the account list from the call. A card that appears on the checking statement as a monthly payment, but was never mentioned, is an account you would otherwise quote without.

Handle the files with care even before the client signs. Say on the call how you will store the samples and that you will delete them if they do not go ahead. A prospect sending bank statements to someone they met an hour ago is extending real trust.

Reading volume and mess from a prospect's sample statements

A prospect's sample statements show two things a call cannot: how many lines each account carries, and how hard those lines will be to code. Volume comes from the count. Mess comes from the kinds of lines, such as round-number transfers, cash withdrawals, personal merchants and unexplained deposits, which each need a question answered.

Signs that a set of statements will take longer than the count suggests:

• Frequent transfers between accounts, which must be matched on both sides.
• Cash withdrawals with no record of what the cash paid for.
• Personal spending, such as groceries or streaming services, on a business card.
• Deposits from payment apps that arrive net of fees and need splitting back into sales and fees.
• Checks shown only by number, with no payee on the statement.
• Several small accounts each with a handful of lines, which still need reconciling one by one.

Signs that the work will go faster:

• Most lines come from a short list of repeat vendors.
• Deposits come from one processor, in a predictable pattern.
• Business and personal spending are clearly separated.

Score the mess on a simple scale, such as low, medium or high, and record it beside the count. It becomes the habit multiplier in your estimate.

Turning call notes into a quoted bookkeeping fee

A quoted bookkeeping fee comes from three steps: estimate monthly hours from the line counts and accounts, adjust for the mess and habits you saw, then multiply by your hourly target and round up. Add one-time setup and any catch up as separate lines. The method behind each step is set out in how to price bookkeeping services for profit.

A worked example quote for a daycare

The figures below are an example, not a benchmark. The prospect is a small daycare with a checking account, a credit card and a payment app for tuition.

The mess score for this daycare comes from its deposits. Tuition arrives through an app, net of fees, and subsidy payments arrive in batches that cover many children at once. Both need splitting or matching before the books mean anything; daycare bookkeeping from bank statements shows what those deposits look like and how to book them.

Round the quote up, never down. If the calculated fee falls close to a tier in your price list, use the tier. How the quoted number compares with what clients of different sizes pay, and which factors push it higher, is covered in what drives monthly bookkeeping fees.

How soon should the quote reach the new client?

The quote should reach a new bookkeeping client within two business days of receiving their sample statements. Quick turnaround keeps the problem fresh in the owner's mind and signals that you run an organized practice. Waiting a week lets the urgency fade and gives other bookkeepers time to reply first.

Set the expectation at the end of the call. Say what you need from them, the statements, and when they will hear back. Then keep to it.

The quote itself should be short:

• One paragraph restating what the client told you they need.
• The monthly fee and what it covers, in a few bullet points.
• One-time fees for setup and catch up on separate lines.
• What is not included, such as payroll or tax returns.
• The next step: reply to accept, and the engagement letter follows.

If a prospect asks for a number on the call itself, give a range and say the firm quote follows the statements. A range sets expectations without committing you to a fee you have not checked. Make the bottom of the range a fee you would accept.

Quoting a client whose books you cannot see yet

Some prospects will not share statements before signing. In that case, quote the first months on a measured basis rather than a fixed fee: hourly with a cap, or a provisional monthly fee that is reviewed after the third close. A fixed fee built only on the owner's description of the business puts all the risk on you.

Options, from most to least protective:

1. Paid diagnostic. A small fixed fee to review the statements and the existing books, credited against the first month if they sign.
2. Hourly with a cap. The first two months billed hourly, with a stated maximum, then a fixed fee from month three based on the logged hours.
3. Provisional fixed fee. A monthly fee quoted from the call, with written notice that it will be reviewed after three closes and may change.

State the review in the engagement letter, not only in an email. A client who signed a provisional fee with a review date expects the review. A client who was told about it once on a call may not remember.

There is also a point at which a prospect is telling you something. An owner who will not show you a bank statement before hiring a bookkeeper to work on those same statements may be hard to work with on other things too. That is worth weighing alongside the fee.