Working with clients using CoPilot

This article explains how CoPilot works so you can start working with clients within FreeAgent using the CoPilot service.

CoPilot is a tool that allows your practice to connect with and manage clients all in one place. The service has been designed to give a seamless experience for you and your clients from initial contact, through onboarding with your practice and the ongoing delivery of the CoPilot service. 

As a CoPilot accountant, your practice will be visible to all qualifying FreeAgent customers who are interested in CoPilot, giving your business a real opportunity to grow. Prospective clients can access the CoPilot service directly from their FreeAgent account.

How CoPilot works

1. CoPilot will be marketed to suitable prospective clients

CoPilot will be marketed to suitable prospective clients, primarily via notifications within relevant areas of the FreeAgent application or via the Radar feature, which will direct them to find out more about the service and the accountants available. 

2. Prospective clients will search for a CoPilot accountant

A prospective client will first visit the CoPilot section under the Connections & Add-ons area in their FreeAgent account. From there, they can select their business type and search for a CoPilot accountant.

Your practice listing will only be visible to business types you have selected to work with and your listing tile will be displayed to prospective clients, ordered by the current number of clients you have within the prospective client’s business category.

If you want to update your advertised packages, please send an email to copilotsupport@freeagent.com detailing the changes you would like to make and we can review the changes and implement them for you. Once the price change has been completed by FreeAgent, confirmation will be provided via a response to the original email.

The client can select ‘Learn more’ to view your practice page which provides details on who you are and what you do.

3. Prospective clients will send an enquiry 

If they like what they see, prospective clients can complete an enquiry form which will be sent to you.

If you need to temporarily suspend prospective CoPilot clients coming into your dashboard for any reason, you can contact copilotsupport@freeagent.com highlighting which of the existing account types (limited companies, sole traders, partnerships, limited liability partnerships and unincorporated landlords) you would like to stop receiving leads for, and how long the leads should be suspended for. 

The switch will not be immediate, so please aim to provide the request three working days before the change is required. 

4. You’ll send the prospective clients a proposal

When a prospective client sends an enquiry, you’ll be notified via your Practice Dashboard and via the CoPilot lead email address for your practice. The client will appear in the ‘My CoPilot Leads’ area ready for you to contact using their preferred contact method. Read more about how to manage CoPilot lead clients.

This initial conversation allows you to discuss the client’s needs and establish the details of how you’ll work together.

After your conversation, you can create a package proposal to send to the prospective client. This will include any agreed one-off fee covering work required to get the accounts into a viable condition to start delivering the CoPilot services, and any additional services you have discussed and agreed with the client.

Most prospective clients will expect to hear back from you promptly after first contact, so it’s important to acknowledge their enquiry within one working day if you can.

5. The prospective client accepts the proposal and signs up to CoPilot

The prospective client will receive an email notifying them that your proposal is ready for them to review.

If they’re happy to work with you, they’ll agree to the proposal package and sign up to CoPilot.

Your new client will then be onboarded and appear under the ‘My clientsʼ tab within your Practice Dashboard. You can use the 'Client relationship' filter above the client list to filter this list to only your CoPilot clients.

Failed payments

Once you have onboarded a CoPilot client, you’ll be able to see the status of their payments. The status will show as either ‘Active’, 'Failed payment’ or ‘Suspended’.

If a payment fails for one of your clients, when you click into their profile you’ll see a message advising that you have access to the account for a further seven days after the date the payment failed while FreeAgent attempts to retake the payment. If FreeAgent is unable to retake the payment, the CoPilot subscription will be suspended and you’ll lose access to the client’s account.

To maintain the CoPilot subscription, your client can log in to their account and update their card details in the Billing section of their account.

What happens when a client wants to cancel the CoPilot services? 

If your client wants to cancel the CoPilot services, they must contact FreeAgent and provide 30 days’ notice. They can do this using the blue Help button at the bottom of the screen. On receipt of the request, FreeAgent will notify the named primary contact to start the scheduled cancellation.

If your client contacts you directly to request cancellation, you must ensure that they have notified FreeAgent of the request to cancel to ensure the subscription cancellation is processed.