Some users are simply not cut out for the job at hand. If you let these users “carry on”, you will be inviting a world of pain for yourself, VMG, the user and our customer.
On many occasions you will be required to be open and honest with your users. The email below is not a template to use but rather it is intended to serve as an example of being open and honest with your user and owner.
Below is an example of an email that was sent to an owner who expected VMG to train a junior admin clerk to manage his trial balance for his multi-million-rand dealership.
The need to send this email indicates that the demo stage of the VMG Client Take On Process was not correctly applied. Had it been, we would have identified that this client does not have a qualified user for VMG ACC and would have guided the client to use VMG PRO instead.
TOP TIP: VMG is only as good as its users, and we must never put a user into a position that they are unable to manage. Doing so will cause harm to the user, the business, the owner and to VMG’s reputation as a difficult to use system. If you want to ruin the chances of getting referrals, make life hard for your users. If you want lots of referrals, then match your products to your users.
Sometimes, you must help your client identify the need to hire more appropriate users or use VMG Services.
Dear User,
All is well on our side. I hope you are very well too, and this email serves you well.
We are excited to be of service to you and I hope that the learning curve you are about to experience is one that you will embrace and excel at.
Of special importance to note, is that VMG can train bookkeepers and accountants on the use of VMG’s Accounting platform, but we are unable and do not assume to train people to become bookkeepers or accountants.
Bookkeepers or accountants generally study at university or other tertiary education centres, they do not come to VMG to learn how to become accountants. This is not a bookkeeping course.
It is assumed that, at the very least, you understand the basic principles of accounting. If not, then we must not move forward in this regard. It is not because we do not want to, it’s because we will be causing more harm than good for doing so.
You matter to us, [owner name] matters to us and we do not want to put you into a position that generates even more stresses.
Not understanding basic accounting principles in this role can be compared to thrusting you into the pilot’s chair of an airplane and telling you to take off, navigate and land. Whilst you have the talent and intelligence to fly the plane, that does not mean you can.
You will need to know all the basics, at the very least, to successfully get us where we need to be. I hope this makes sense.
As you are most aware, VMG DMS is simply the tool into which we input our business data so that we can keep our information centralised, streamlined, and organised in real time.
The quality of the information you get out of VMG is based entirely on the data you put into VMG.
The bookkeeping process is very much a paint by numbers process. Of all the knowledge that I would prescribe you study first; it will be the source document process flows. Source documents are invoices from suppliers and invoices to customers. These invoices, once processed correctly, result in creditors (suppliers) and debtors (customers) and these in turn result in physical payments and receipts being realised in your cashbooks, which are populated from your bank statements.
The most important part to get right, is source document management and data recording. Ask yourself if you know the answers, at a granular level, to the following questions. If not, run from this task as fast as you can because you will age 50 years in 6 months and be far more stressed than you have ever been, and this is before we even start the bookkeeping requirements.
- What is the life cycle of a supplier or customer invoice in our business?
- Where does the document begin its journey?
- What specific actions steps are required to generate the document? (supplier orders, OTP’s etc)
- Where does the source document journey end?
- Who touches the documents, what are their responsibilities with it and why?
Regardless of the system being used, the bookkeeping and admin processing is focused entirely on the source document management of the business. Source documents form the roots of all our admin and bookkeeping reports.
If you are wonderfully comfortable answering the questions above, then the user guide attached will give you some sense of the VMG Bookkeeping processes. These processes have been designed by hundreds of dealerships over nearly 20 years.
We have been most fortunate to be able to have worked with many dozens of chartered accountants, accountants, bookkeepers, admin teams and owners and found the process flows in the guide attached, to be the most simple, fastest and precise data recording process we have seen in the motor trade today.
All that is required is a diligent commitment to completing one step before moving onto the next and NEVER skipping steps and NEVER working through a step if we are even remotely doubtful as to what we are doing and why. If we skip steps, the admin production line will grind to a halt. If we add data but do not know why, it will break.
If it breaks it gets stressful and starts absorbing tremendous amounts of time and energy and therefore can also get expensive.
“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, try to hire an amateur”.
Now that I have made it sound terrible, let us look at the bright side.
If the process is deeply understood and diligently applied, then this is a wonderful role to take on. There is a purity and peace when the numbers are accurate and produced in real time. It can be a sublime experience (this is our goal). I am looking forward to hearing how you feel when you experience this for the first time. It really is an art and skill set worth pursuing.
Your first project is to make sure that Step 1 of the VMG Bookkeeping Process Flow is perfect. When you are happy with that, we can move onto Step 2 training. Ask me anything you need to know more of please. If I can help, I will.
The guide attached will give you some idea on what to expect and we look forward to being of excellent service to you.
Happy days and kindest regards,