// CASE STUDY //

to keep predators like badgers away from groundnesting birds. Alongside that, I’ m still very much an agricultural contractor doing a lot of grassland work for farmers as well as carrying out excavations and maintenance.

What was the most difficult part of managing paperwork when growing your business?

I was having to do everything manually and there was too much paperwork involved originally. There was a lot of running the maths myself and invoicing as I go; I track stock items, rates and unit costs. The summer is particularly chaotic as I can have five different customers receiving services at any given time. For example, some days I’ d be baling silage for customers, with some having 600, another 150 and so on. It became very easy to lose track of thousands of pounds of work.

In terms of technology, which area of the business was the most difficult to manage to begin with?

VAT was the big one. The whole reason I started using Sage was because I’ d messed up a VAT return, which landed me with a VAT inspection. That was a real shake-up and a big eye-opener into where my books needed to improve. I originally tried QuickBooks, but I just couldn’ t get on with it. The layout didn’ t work for me, I had issues with inputting data and when you’ re getting in at one o’ clock in the morning after a full day, the last thing you want is to be fighting with paperwork. So I decided to give Sage a go and everything clicked into place straight away.

How long did it take to fully get to grips with using Sage?

Honestly, it was pretty quick. I do 99 % of what I need on my phone, and the mobile version is really slick, quick and easy to enter stuff. I only use my laptop if I need multiple tabs open for pricing a complex job or submitting VAT returns. Even then, I can start invoices on my

phone, quickly open a draft and put the exact site specifics or ground

How has Sage Accounting made it more efficient for customers?

It’ s massively improved my professional image when it comes to giving customers an accurate quote. Sage’ s platform has improved how existing customers and prospects see the business. I’ ve also got different companies and individual contacts saved, so everything goes to the right person straight away.

Plus, I don’ t have to track stock items and rates manually anymore because it’ s all there. Certain products and rates are saved, so I can just use the drop-down, enter the units required and it’ s sorted. That has enabled me to give customers a quote on the fly and speed up the time to completion.

I’ ll go look at a job, do my measurements, open Sage on my phone and draft up the quantities while I’ m still on site. Then when I get home, it’ s already there on my laptop and I can refine it. As my workload increases, being able to just convert a quote

IT’ S MASSIVELY IMPROVED MY PROFESSIONAL IMAGE WHEN IT COMES TO GIVING CUSTOMERS AN ACCURATE QUOTE.

Intelligent SME. tech

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