We know it can be challenging to communicate QuickBooks® policy and product changes to your clients, especially when clients are looking to you to explain the changes and why they are happening. We also realize you play a key role in recommending our products to your clients.
With these factors in mind, we’ve put together this factsheet to help you discuss the QuickBooks Desktop 2023 product and price changes with your clients. Please feel free to use it to let your clients know that these changes are the result of a business decision made by Intuit®—and not by you.
1. Set up the situation
QuickBooks provides you with advance notice of upcoming product changes so you can be in-the-know before your clients. In this instance, we’re letting you know about upcoming pricing and feature improvements for our QuickBooks Desktop 2023 and Enterprise Desktop 23.0 products, available to you as of Sept. 6, 2022, and for small businesses on Sept. 20, 2022.
As a principle, we do not communicate pricing and discount information with your firm-billed clients, understanding that accounting professionals have different practices for billing clients for their software.
We encourage you to use the time before the small business product release date of Sept. 20 to advise your clients to switch to QuickBooks Online, so they can discover the flexibility and collaboration that our online ecosystem can bring to their business. In particular, we advise you to urge clients on older QuickBooks Desktop versions—which are no longer supported—to make the switch.
We know that changing systems can be daunting, so we’ve made significant improvements that make it easier to migrate with confidence to QuickBooks Online. Visit our website to learn more about recent enhancements and access resources for you and your clients as you consider moving online.
2. Lead with facts
Be prepared to share and explain what is changing. Here’s a summary of the QuickBooks Desktop product and pricing changes coming in version 23.0.
Key changes in the announcement and FAQ above include:
- QuickBooks Desktop Plus price increase.
- QuickBooks Desktop Payroll price changes.
- Updated system requirements for 2023: Requires computers which are 64-bit compatible and running on Windows 10 or newer operating systems. QuickBooks Desktop customers using computers running Windows 8.1 will not be able to upgrade to QuickBooks Desktop 2023.
3. When possible, have a conversation
If you have the opportunity, it’s always better to have a conversation with your clients about product and pricing changes, rather than sending an email. You can always follow up with an email later, should you wish to do that. If your client base is too large to make personal calls, call your top clients first, then send emails to smaller clients. Include a confirmation receipt notification with your emails to verify customers received and opened your email. A best practice is also to end your email with an opportunity for a client to call you directly if they have questions.
4. Tell them what they stand to gain
There is a reason why price and product changes happen. Be prepared to share the value the new QuickBooks Desktop 2023 product brings to each and every client.
Subscription products give customers access to the latest version, with the most up-to-date features, security patches, and support for third-party operating system changes.
The QuickBooks Desktop 2023 version includes new features like a Cash Flow Hub to provide more visibility into businesses for improved decision making. With the cash flow hub, get a better picture of incoming money flow by tracking paid and incoming invoices, sales receipts, credit memos, payments, and more. Expenses can be managed by tracking paid and upcoming vendor bills, which can help save time by consolidating multiple reports without needing manual calculations.
There are also several new QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 2023 features such as Intercompany Transactions that can help you manage your multiple business entities more efficiently and with greater transparency through seamless tracking, and Inventory Categorization to help organize item lists by groups or categories to find products easily, and more!
Here is a sample email you can use to communicate with your clients:
Dear client,
Intuit® recently announced upcoming pricing changes for QuickBooks Desktop 2023 offerings. QuickBooks Desktop 2023 will be offered at an increased price.
To better reflect the product value and be comparable with internal and external offerings, Intuit is increasing the price of Desktop products. The price increase also enables Intuit to constantly reinvest in the ecosystem of products to deliver more value for businesses like yours.The 2023 version includes new features such as a Cash Flow Hub, which offers a high-level view of your overall income and expenses. Cash Flow Hub allows you to track cash flow and manage expenses—including sales receipts, credit memos, and invoices paid and due—and consolidate multiple reports without manual calculations, a real timesaver.
If you have any questions about these changes, are thinking about moving to QuickBooks Online product, or would like to ensure you’re taking advantage of the latest additions to your QuickBooks product, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Your trusted accountant or bookkeeper
In closing
We thank you for your continued partnership and look forward to delivering even more value for you and your clients in the future. If there’s anything we can do to support you, please contact us.
