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The Sleeter Group's Awesome Add-On Consulting & Awards Program

Awesome Add-onsOverview

The Sleeter Group's Awesome Add-On Consulting & Awards Program is designed to enhance the quality and quantity of add-on software solutions available in the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) accounting software marketplace. By "add-on," we mean products or services that add specific functions to accounting software applications such as QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree, Sage Simply Accounting, MYOB, Intacct, NetSuite, and others, as well as products that completely replace the core accounting software functionality.

Rene Lacerte TestimonialThe Awesome Add-On Program was developed in 2005 to seek out and assist developers that can benefit from The Sleeter Group's technical and marketing assistance, and also to recognize outstanding products that help our consultants and their clients improve their business processes. As more of the market moves to incorporate Internet-based working models, Web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) products and hosted application solutions are two of our key focus areas, and developers with products in these areas are strongly encouraged to participate in the program.

Eric Pulaski TestimonialThrough the Awesome Add-On Consulting & Awards program, developers engage The Sleeter Group's "Expert Panel," a team of technical and marketing experts who will evaluate the developer's product/service and provide detailed feedback about the product. This panel of experts is comprised of the most experienced QuickBooks and accounting experts in the world who bring a broad set of skills to software product evaluations. The panel will focus particular attention on how the product/service integrates with other parts of the accounting and business process systems, and help to educate the developer's technical and marketing staff about the "best practices" for integration with QuickBooks and other software solutions. Each developer in the program will receive access to our reference guides and white papers on best practices, as well as a written analysis of the panel's findings and recommendations for success.

Several participants in the Awesome Add-On Program will earn recognition with an Awesome Add-On Award at The Sleeter Group's Accounting Solutions Conference, where hundreds of accounting software professionals gather to learn about new solutions and innovative ways to build their practices and serve their clients. Extensive media and market exposure is delivered with this program, through public announcements and media releases with broad national syndication.

Awesome Add-On Awards are "lifetime" Awards, and are presented only once for each product line or solution. Once a company's product has been awarded this status, it remains with the company throughout the product/solution's lifecycle. Previous Award recipients of the Sleeter Group's Awesome Add-On Award include applications that provide solutions for specific industries (i.e., vertical solutions) in the manufacturing, legal, architectural, hospitality and warehouse industries, as well as horizontal solutions that provide better data viewing and reporting, data manipulation, form creation, and automation for the small- or medium-sized business.

Program Participant Benefits

This program is first and foremost a consulting program where our panel of experts provides valuable, in-depth analysis and input to the technical, marketing, and executive management of each participating company. The program is especially recommended for emerging companies that need to better understand the needs of the SMB market and the technical best practices for implementing quality products that are well targeted to the market.

Each participant in the program will receive the following, regardless of whether their product is recognized with an Awesome Add-On Award:

  • Access to The Sleeter Group's white papers and best practices documents including:
    • Best Practices for Integrating Add-Ons with QuickBooks, a white paper coming April 30, 2011
    • QuickBooks Consultant's Reference Guide
  • A 60 minute online meeting with the evaluation committee, during which the developer will present their product/service and receive feedback and suggestions directly from the panel.
  • A written evaluation from the panel for the developer's internal use in product or marketing strategy planning. Note: Written product evaluations and the opinions expressed by the panel may not be used by the developer for promotional purposes.

Marketing Benefits for Award Recipients

Awesome Add-Ons TrophyAwesome Add-On Award recipients will receive many marketing benefits through the various activities and promotions that The Sleeter Group conducts. Examples include the following:

  • The CPA Practice Advisor's "Successful Small Business Consulting" column by Doug Sleeter: New Award recipients are highlighted in the November issue.
  • Award recipients will be listed on The Sleeter Group's Web site for a minimum of three years, unless (a) the product is withdrawn from the market, (b) significant product defects are discovered subsequent to the Award, or (c) the receiving company's business practices fail to meet high standards in the opinion of The Sleeter Group.
  • Award recipients attend the Awards ceremony at The Sleeter Group's Accounting Solutions Conference and will be photographed on stage receiving the Award and at their exhibit booth with their team. Photographs may be used in the recipients' marketing collateral.
  • Press release that will be distributed by The Sleeter Group; additionally, recipients will be provided a press release "template" for their use.
  • Article in The Sleeter Group's newsletter, The Desktop Accountant, which is distributed monthly to approximately 12,000 subscribers.
  • Article in the Sleeter Group's members-only newsletter, Consultant Courier.
  • Mention in QuickBooks and Beyond, The Sleeter Group's blog.
  • We request that Award recipients use the Awesome Add-on Award branding in their marketing materials for a minimum of three years, on the company's Web site with a link to The Sleeter Group Web site's Awesome Add-On Awards landing page.
  • We encourage recipients to use the Awesome Add-On logo and/or trophy image in display ads.

Application Requirements

An applicant's product or service should conform to the following requirements:

  • Must be fully released and shipping in the U.S. by August 1, 2011.
  • Should integrate with QuickBooks using best practices of the QuickBooks SDK or IPP programming guidelines, or work correctly with other financial accounting software solutions.
  • Must conform to good accounting principles and operating standards.
  • Should use appropriate transaction types and field population for recording data into QuickBooks or other financial accounting software (FAS) packages so as to preserve and/or enhance the standard reporting features.
  • Although it is not a requirement that your product integrates directly with FAS data, if it does integrate it must use the best practices for integration in addition to using the latest integration technologies as appropriate in the view of the evaluation committee.
  • Conference participation: Receiving the Award draws a significant amount of attention by Sleeter Group Conference attendees; therefore, Award recipients must agree to exhibit at the Conference so that attendees will be able to visit them at a booth.
  • Award recipients must send a representative to the Awards ceremony at The Sleeter Group's Accounting Solutions Conference to receive the Award. The 2012 Awards will be presented on Monday, November 7, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Application Fee

Awesome Add-Ons WinnersOutside this Program, consulting at this level would ordinarily cost a developer between $5,000 and $7,000. However, in the Awesome Progam, we charge a one-time consulting fee of $1,500 per product, payable prior to scheduling the demonstration with the evaluation committee. The fee covers the following:

  • One hour Web-based demonstration and discussion with Doug Sleeter and the evaluation committee that will be recorded (for our internal use).
  • Internal review of your solution by Doug Sleeter and a panel of Sleeter Consultants who are experts in third party applications.
  • A written report from the evaluation committee detailing the findings and opinions of the committee.
  • For Award recipients, all of the marketing benefits described above.

Application Form and Deadline

The application period is closed, but will reopen for the 2013 awards in April of 2012.

Contact Information

If you have questions, please contact Nathan Fochler at nathan@sleeter.com, 888-484-5484.

For previous Awesome Add-on Award winners, please visit:

2011 Winners
2010 Winners
2009 Winners
2008 Winners
2007 Winners
2006 Winners