In this article:
Time Required: 3 hours
To jump to specific steps, use the links above.
Note: This page is for Strategic Advisors.
In the Kickoff phase, you'll set up several sections of LivePlan to help you demonstrate the benefits of having an ongoing strategic advisory relationship. Most of these steps will be very quick, consuming only a few minutes. The bulk of the time will be spent meeting with your client.
Use our Strategic Advisor Kickoff Guide to conduct your Kickoff meeting. Simply fill out our Resource Guides request form to download a set of three guides, one for each of the three meetings in the LivePlan Method.
Step 1.01: Setting up the Company
In LivePlan, a "Company" is a container that holds all the tools you'll use with your client: the Pitch, Forecast, Dashboard, and Benchmarks. Each of your clients will have a separate Company in your LivePlan account.
You'll find the basic instructions for company set-up in LivePlan below. As a best practice, we recommend creating a 3-year forecast with 3 years of monthly detail:
Basic instructions for this step:
- If you have an existing LivePlan account: Setting up a new Company
- If you started LivePlan from the Intuit app center, this step was done for you automatically.
Helpful related articles: Finding your way around LivePlan
Steps 1.02 and 1.03: Connecting to the accounting solution, initializing the Dashboard
Next, you'll connect this LivePlan company to your client's QuickBooks Online or Xero account. LivePlan will then import three years of your client's actuals to the Dashboard section, and also use that data to automatically build a starting point for the forecast in the Forecast section.
Note: The actuals from QuickBooks Online or Xero represent the past and present, and the forecast in the Forecast section represents the future.
Your future advisory meetings will involve comparing the Dashboard to the Forecast to see how your client's business is performing against his or her goals.
Basic instructions for this step:
Helpful related articles:
- Using the Dashboard overview
- Dashboard Trends: Comparing actuals to your forecast
- Metrics available on the LivePlan Dashboard
Note: If your client is using an accounting solution we don't currently support, you can also enter their actuals directly.
Step 1.04: Initializing the Benchmarks
In the LivePlan Benchmarks section, you can access average actuals from your client's industry, and display a comparison of these against the actuals you've just imported from your client's accounting tool:
This comparison offers a good starting point for discussion about your client's business goals and how to reach them.
Basic instructions for this step:
Helpful related article: About our benchmarks data
Step 1.05: Initializing the Pitch
The Pitch in LivePlan is a one-page business summary document. It's the basis of our "Lean Planning" approach. And for the Kickoff meeting, the Pitch is a impactful visual that elicits emotion and helps get your client excited about the advisory relationship.
You don't need a lot of information for this step - we recommend completing only these sections:
- Company name
- Logo
- Headline
- Team member names and photos
You can generally obtain a logo and team member names and photos from the client's website. If the client's website has a mission statement or tagline of some kind, that's a good basis for the Headline. (You may end up revising the Headline later on, after talking more with the client.)
To share the Pitch page during your Kickoff meeting, you can publish it as a secret web page to project in your meeting room, or display on a computer screen.
Basic Instructions for this step: Preparing your one-page Pitch
Helpful related article: Publishing your Pitch as a web page
Step 1.06, 1.07, and 1.08: Prepare and host the Kickoff meeting
The purpose of this one-hour meeting is to get to know your client and his or her broad goals. You'll want to learn more about what makes him or her passionate about the business. And, armed with the Dashboard and Benchmarks metrics, you can offer a few insights to demonstrate the value you can offer as a strategic advisor.
To request our Strategic Advisor meeting resource guides, just fill out the request form on this page.
Next Step: Plan Phase